Are you being genre-specific? Tangerine Dream, Rush, King Crimson, Saga and Goblin (except Volo) kicked serious arse in those years. So did a few other bands.

I meant overall. KC's best from the 80's was Discipline from 81 (imo).

^^ Crimson in '81, Saga '81, Rush '82 for sure.   But I can't say Beat or Grace Under Pressure or Silent Knight were nearly as good.

I love Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair.

A lot of great electronic music was released throughout the decade. I know it's not everyone's bag, but it's all prog to me.

Silent Knight is 1980 and, IMO, is Saga's finest hour. 

Grace Under Pressure is awesome, probably the one that gets the most spins here nowadays.

Hi,

I'm not sure there was a "worst" year for the prog scene. Many folks continued just fine, like Peter Hammill and VdGG and a lot of other folks, that we did not pay attention to because they were not listed in the top five of anything.

Music never died, and the sooner we wake up to that idea, the better. Music is constantly evolving and changing, and it would only be different in that it did not sound the same, but then, if we didn't like Marillion in those days, because everyone thought Fish sounded like PG ... which was not a good comparison at all ... Fish was a much better actor and story teller than PG was ... but PG attained a level of fame that allowed him to make us think he was better. I don't think of him, or Fish, as better or worse than anyone. They were very different in their approach, although I think that PG became just a pop singer, as opposed to Fish that did not exactly conform to that much.

As for "best" years, it's really hard to not pay attention to when it really busted out ... it was not only impressive, but magnificent. Unfortunately it was right after that that the "media" took control of things and started making sure that some sold more than others ... which didn't help later in the early 80's, but I see that a lot of music came up, all new at that time, that we did not exactly have ears for ... only now, with the Internet and crazy folks mentioning oddball stuff from yesteryear, are many of those folks getting some well deserved attention.

- -

As for the best years, I think they are now and yet to come. Prog may not be as mainstream as it was in the inevitable ‘70s years of the classic era that will be given as best by many, but it is far more accepted and prevalent now. Bands and artists from quite disparate genres are making some quite wonderful prog albums. Simply because there are more genres now, and music across a far wider spectrum than in the ‘70s, there is far more scope for prog.  2020 and 2021 were amazing years for prog - in part because of covid lockdowns, necessity being the mother of invention and all that.

Worst 3 Years for Prog:- 1980; 1981; 1982

best: 67 until 77

Worst: since 77

More seriously, though

Worst: 85 until 90

a few years since have also not been good

Depends who you ask. 85 to 90 saw the creation and developing (for lack of a better word) of the progressive metal genre, so not bad at all if you ask me. 

When looking at the top 160 all-time, I made in 2019 on basis of all the ratings on RYM and PA,

I'd say, the best three years are 1972-74 while the worst years are the second half of the 2010's.

( http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=127673 )

1971 ("Everybody: Get on Board!"), 

I can't say I am crazy about any Saga album but "Silent Knight" is my favourite for the closing track alone

Agreed.  However, Covid may have hampered the RPI scene.  I usually buy between 10-15 RPI albums per year. I purchased only six RPI albums from 2020-2021 combined.  2021 suffered more. I think that's because several Italian bands ( such as Logos) were working on their 2020 albums before Covid spread. 

You don't see Group 87 mentioned anymore.

From the yearly top 10 list threads I've been making I'm tempted to say 1990 and 2005 were the worst years for prog, solely because they're the only ones where I failed to put together a full top 10 :P

I rest my case!!!!

exhibit B : Neo-prog  

As someone who enjoys progressive metal, I find what you said a bit rude .

There are a few neo-prog bands I enjoy so, again... 

nothing personal, though 
 

Best

1974 - 17 albums with a 12 or above, 4 with 14 or 15

1971 - 16 albums with a 12 or above, 5 with 14 or 15

1975 - 15 albums with a 12 or above, 6 with 14 or 15

Worst

1993 - 0 album with a 12 or above, 5 albums with 10 or 11

1987 - 1 album with a 12 or above, 3 albums with 10 or 11

1982 - 1 album with a 12 or above, 3 albums with 10 or 11

I know it's not personal. 

I understand how you ended up discovering 60s rock and jazz, 90s alternative which no one could escape back in the day (I've grown to dislike because of that) also made me go back to the 60s and 70s music. 

I knows what you mean: 

86/87/88, I don't even have a prog album above 10  (and I don't have any non-prog albums either)

86 & 89, I've got two 11 & above

The best?  lots of good stuff right through the 70s and since 1990, so, yes

We all know you hate 97.4936% of what's out there, so that's nothing new. 

So here is my ranking of best to worst years of prog. Not that I really think of them as beat or worst. But for the purposes of this post….

I don’t have a database of my collection, so I’d have to go through all my CDs and downloads to find the years of release. I knew the approach I took was not going to be 100% reliable or accurate, and would still take some time, but it still seemed the “easiest” way to go about it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Worst: 2022, 2021, 2020.

LOL

Yeah! I guess a lot of people here just listen to symph.

So what I discovered is that prog collection diverted from the mainstream pretty much once the classic period was over

In the 70's I averaged 25 top 100 albums per year with the peak being 72-75 with 30% each year. Around 55% of my 70's collection is top 100 albums.

The 80's and 90's were pretty fallow averaging 8 top 100 albums per year in a period where I have 400 albums. So around 40% of my stuff is actually top 100. So I wasn't finding anything anywhere else either.

From 2000's forward I average 12 top 100 albums per year in a period with 1200 albums. So the percentage of top 100 albums in this period has dropped to 20%.

By my method of deciding the best and worst years for me, 2022 is shaping up to be a great year. We’re only a quarter of the way in, and it’s already better than than 23 other years between 1969 and now!

When you put it that way, my results somewhere above are quite misleading. Because I am probably fairly similar percentage wise. Almost all of the ‘70s music in my collection is prog. But only a small proportion of my collection is prog when it comes to the music of any of the decades following.

But I guess that doesn’t change the idea of which years were best for me. As great as the ‘70s are, there’s so much more I enjoy from today’s music.

I think the ultimate answer is one so many have already given, including myself, and that is that there are no worst years for prog. There are just some years that don’t cater for personal preferences as much as others.

I certainly won't disagree with you!

However, the question I've always asked is WHY?  What was it in those years that made such an amazing period of musical performance? 

Was it youth and enthusiasm?  Introduction to new instruments (synth, Mellotron, devices)?  The drugs? 

I think it was a blend of those three!! 

However, for all the high quality, I find it odd that women were largely left out of the formula from 1971-73.  Annie Haslam being the lonely exception.  Even today, we don't have nearly as many women in prog as I think we should have...they can bring remarkable energy, instrumental skills and passion! 

Grace Slick was also doing some great stuff in this period, culminating in "Manhole", which was recorded in '73 and released in January '74.

I’m not sure anyone is trying to argue otherwise, if looked at objectively, and in terms of impact, innovation and influence. But I think many people here are sharing what are the best and worst years FOR THEM, which is quite independent of what are recognised as the best years, if we attempt objectivity (without getting into that messy debate AGAIN).

Ian made me take another look at the ranking I gave (for me!), when he spoke about percentage of collection by year. And that really does indicate the objective over the subjective, as while it might appear that the 2000s are better years than the 1970s, that’s looking only at the prog albums (as per the PA top 100) in my collection. If I look at my entire collection, the 1970s appear better than the 2000s, simply because almost the entirety of my 1970s albums are prog, while prog makes up only a tiny portion of my 2000s albums.

So, again, I think most people will agree the best prog years FOR PROG were the ones you specify, regardless of personal preference - but the best prog years FOR THEM are likely to highly different and individual.

As for worst prog years, I think objectively it probably is somewhere in the mid to late 1980s, where (regardless of how good any prog released at that time might be), prog simply wasn’t important or impactful in the mainstream.

The 2000s have seen a renaissance for prog, though - so that much even if it can never make the impact it did in the 1970s, it has a relevance and popularity that is second only to the 1970s. And, for this reason, the best years for prog for many will be….now!

The women in prog back in the day definitely stood out, and we possibly had to, because they were in a minority. But prog is nowhere near the male-dominated domain it once was. If it appears so, still, that is possibly more an indication of which genres of prog one listens to, rather than a lack of women in prog. This forum is rather male-heavy, but I think that is down to the type of medium. As I have said before, this sort of forum is rather outdated (even though it serves a purpose), and a lot of people simply won’t visit this sort of forum when they can get the interaction they want from social media. Any FB prog group or page I’ve frequented has had a good deal of female participation. On FB, at least, the stereotypical old man prog fan is effectively a dinosaur that is nearing extinction, and which tend to meet in their own groups where they can be the echo chamber they desire.