Your Growing Roots
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=44412
Printed Date: February 18 2025 at 16:49
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Topic: Your Growing Roots
Posted By: SpaceMonkey
Subject: Your Growing Roots
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 19:05
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What was your first prog album purchase and where did it branch off from there.
Dream Theater's "A Change of Seasons" was my first purchase and I slowly purchased the other ones. Some how I stumbled onto Symphony X shortly afterwards and later became very much acquainted with the LTE's. Then I looked for all of the side projects each member of Dream Theater did, such as Transatlantic and solo albums they did, and slowly started searching out albums from the artists they worked with. Than all of a sudden started purchasing album after album of random artists looking for something new. Slowly becoming an exspensive hobby.
So how about all of you?
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Replies:
Posted By: Evans
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 19:20
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Be prepared for some flak, since this is the second most common thread theme on the forums, just before "Which Dream Theater musician is best?" and "Phil Collins killed Prog!" Anyway, for me it was the wall. I had no idea what prog was, and i did not know any Floyd at all, but i remember the exact moment i was totally blown away by what i thereafter considered the best album ever for about a year or so. So i tried to hear all i could by Pink Floyd, and then one day i listened to Peter Gabriel's "UP" and the opening track was so powerful for one who has never heard anything past Floyd and ELO in his whole life, and it made a real impact on me. Shortly thereafter i decided it was time for me to check into some Genesis, since someone had told me before that's where he had his roots. But that was really it for me for a while, before i one day was on the imdb forum for "Pink Floyd's the Wall", reading an argument about something when one of the posters linked to this site. I started by reading the "what is prog?" introduction and then went straight into the hellfire. : ) First there was a lot of Symph, all the classics, when i decided (like all noobs) to explore the avant-garde side of the genre, because it sounded so cool. Unfortunately, i never got much farther than VDGG and Kraut into that section before i discovered that i much preferred Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac to all that... umm... "Challenging, progressive and intellectual" music.. There. You got more than you asked for, now i'm up way past my bedtime, hahaha... ------------- 
'Let's give it another fifteen seconds..' |
Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 19:31
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Stuff like Supertramp, Jean-Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield and later Pink Floyd quickly grabbed my attention as a kid.
It wasn't until I saw the cover art for In The Court... that my real journy started though. I got it and loved it and started to look for other stuff in the same vein. Genesis was my second love and I quickly started aqcuiring stuff like Yes, ELP and Strawbs etc.
A few months later, I got into stuff like Gentle Giant, Henry Cow, Soft Machine, Can, Gnidrolog, Passport, Gryphon and Soft Machine before finally dicovering this site somewhere in the spring of 2004. The rest is history!
------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 19:57
amen brother..... My vote is for ...oh what's his name... oh yeah.. Jack Myung. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Evans wrote:Posted By: ProgBagel
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 20:02
| A Change of Seasons, then Rush, then Yes and then every damn direction from there at the same time. |
Posted By: Snipergoat
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 20:46
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Pink Floyd - DSoTM. I was actually looking for psychedelic music and had no idea what prog was. PF basically led to everything I listen to now |
Posted By: prog4evr
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 22:03
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I liked songs I heard on the radio from Leftoverture, so that got me into Kansas in 1976 ('Song for America' is actually my favorite from that period for them). Then, my friend said if you like Kansas, listen to Yes Relayer. I still don't see the connection, but I am glad he connected me to that album - a true prog classic! From there, I got totally into Yes (from Time and a Word to Tormato - after that, I lost interest). Then, another friend introduced me to Genesis Foxtrot. I thought that was a strange album at first; I actually liked TOTT better for almost a year. Nowadays, I am a die-hard Gabriel-era Genesis fan, though TOTT and W&W get honorable-mention. In the late 1970s, UK caught my attention (since I had been familiar with Bruford and Wetton from King Crimson). In the early 1980s, I stumbled upon Marillion - the group under Fish put out some superb albums until 1987. In the 1990s, I was overseas and out-of-touch (internet was not yet as pervasive as it is today). By this decade, the first one of the 2000s, I was led to Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, and even Dream Theater and Symphony X (though prog metal is not really my thing). At the risk of that being "too much information," that's the short-version of my journey into prog... |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 01:17
My first prog album purchase was "Unfold the Future" by The Flower Kings (I figure if I can't find it on Limewire, the band needs the money  ). The first prog album I heard, however was DSOTM by Pink Floyd.  I didn't know it was prog back then, I was pretty much just into classic rock. One day my mom mentioned how she hated this band called ELP that made this song about necrophelia (Still... You Turn Me On), she had just heard it on the radio. So of course I immediately had to check the band out. I heard Tarkus and Trilogy (the songs) first and I thought it was the weirdest music ever, but I was intruiged, so I listened more and they quickly became one of my favorite bands. I learned it was called prog and I found out about the classics and then went on to more kinds of music like jazz and classical and then I found out about newer prog and now I'm into and all kinds of sh*t, all thanks to ELP. Thanks guys.
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Posted By: E-Dub
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 01:48
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Probably my first one was Kansas' Monolith (well, got it for Christmas in 1979, along with Styx Cornerstone and Steve Walsh Schemer Dreamer), then I branched off to Rush and Moving Pictures. E ------------- 
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Posted By: SpaceMonkey
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 02:44
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I knew it was one of those common thread topics and was expecting expecting the worse for the first few replies. If it happens, oh well, I wasn't apart of the last how ever many times the question popped up so I figured one more wouldn't hurt too much. Thanks so far. |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 03:06
| My very first prog album was Italian, namely Delirium's Dolce Acqua - bought at the age of 11, when it was first released. In the following couple of years I got The New Trolls' Concerto Grosso, UT and Searching for a Land. As to my first foreign prog album, it was definitely something from Pink Floyd, bought a few years later, when I was in my late teens. |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 03:16
Naming Italian prog and then calling Floyd foreign prog, I guess you're from Italy? That's some pretty obscure stuff for just starting out, and age 11, wow. I was rocking Smash Mouth at that point.  I know you're older than me but that's pretty intense.
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Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 03:21
| Yes, I am from Italy (Rome to be precise), and at the time (early Seventies) Italian and foreign prog were HUGE there. They got lots of exposure on the radio, and kids who started bands were mainly inspired by the likes of Genesis, PF and KC. It was another age indeed... |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 03:33
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Italian prog on the radio. Whoa, that seems like an alternate universe nowadays. I always thought only mainstream stuff was on the radio back then like it is today, but I guess it really was a more open minded time for music like people are always saying.
Cool cat, by the way. 
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Posted By: Abstrakt
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 03:38
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My "roots" were based in hard rock basically.
I loved Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, AC/DC and the likes...
But while later, i found out that the hard rock from the 70's was so much more interesting. It had longer songs and sometimes even included organ! Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin & later Pink Floyd were my favorites for about a year.
I had periods when i was deeply into one of these bands, and in spring 2005, it was pink floyd mainly. (and BTW, a friend of mine got me into Zappa around this time, but all he knew was his most famous songs)
So after searching Pink Floyd on the net, i found PA. Then i found out that the genre was called "Psychedelic/Space Rock". So i started downloading the samples from PA of bands like PF, Eloy, Nektar, Triumvirat, Yes and maybe something more.
Then i registered to PA, had a short time active. Then, i lost everything on my computer, and didn't log on to PA again until April 2006.
Then that spring/summer i discovered loads of new bands, including Gentle Giant, The Flower Kings, Jethro Tull etc...
Then, i was getting into more and more bands, and then i started buying CD's all the time.
...
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Posted By: Evans
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 05:35
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'Let's give it another fifteen seconds..' |
Posted By: paloz
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 07:59
| I only remember my first prog experience. Wish you were here |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 08:37
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My first experience was "Carpet Crawlers" by Genesis, sounding out of the room of my brother, who is 10 years older than me. I was 5 years old at that time (the album had just been out) and was hooked. I became a constant guest in my brother's room. He was a big collector and showed his little sister the way into the wonderland of prog. He was especially into Kraut, all this weird and trippy music. I heard sounds I had never heard before. Needless to say all this usually happened with the room being filled with "sweet smoke". My brother always had some incense sticks burning to explain the smell, though my parents appeared doubtful lol. He and his friends were a pretty freaky bunch at that time.
-------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 09:45
| First purchase? King Crimson's Red, first press vinyl. |
Posted By: sean
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 10:13
| for me it started about five years ago with dark side of the moon. i had no idea what prog was but i loved pink floyd, and i also discovered rush and kansas around that time. from there, i just branched out in several directions, but mainly symph and metal, and it wasn't until recently that i discovered the more obscure, avant garde prog. |
Posted By: Walker
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 11:08
| I inherited some vinyl albums in 1978 from a neighbor who was moving. Close To The Edge and Relayer were among them........ |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 13:13
| Meddle (PF) --> Dark SIde of The Moon (PF) --> The Division Bell (PF) --> Octavarium (DT) --> Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (DT) --> ... The Road Home (JR). |
Posted By: razifa
Date Posted: December 16 2007 at 00:15
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The first prog album I purchased was "Carved in stone" by "Shadow Gallery". From this moment on I fell in love with prog rock and this album turned to be my favorite prog album in history. ------------- ********** **razifa** ********** |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: December 16 2007 at 00:31
 ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: December 16 2007 at 00:33
Merry Kalikimaka! ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Zwerg Bart
Date Posted: December 16 2007 at 11:26
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I had purchased some prog albums which I didn't really think of as prog in my younger years... Tool's early stuff, DSOTM, basically the more mainstream prog releases... Then I discovered Opeth which really led to my prog awakening by introducing me to Camel and Porcupine Tree, and it has snowballed from there... ------------- "Freud's cranium is a snail!" - Dali |
Posted By: Nucleus
Date Posted: December 16 2007 at 21:58
| Four years ago (I was thirteen then) I overheard my dad playing Yes's "America" and I was instantly hooked. Then he gave me Close to the Edge, and the rest is history. Since then I have been a prog fanatic in every sense of the word. |
Posted By: nightlamp
Date Posted: December 18 2007 at 15:09
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It's a long and convoluted tale, so here are the benchmarks... First prog album: Rush - A Show of Hands; I raced out and purchased it after hearing "The Rhythm Method", courtesy of a fellow HS drumline member. After acquiring and digesting their complete discography, I moved on to the relatively-well-known British prog bands (Crimson, Tull, Yes, ELP, Genesis), space rock (early Pink Floyd, Ohr-era Tangerine Dream), and fusion stuff like Mahavishnu and Return to Forever, which satisfied me for a few years... My later college experience was like a trail of prog rock bread crumbs-- one group or subgenre would lead to others and yet others in turn. Edward Macan's book Rocking the Classics introduced me to some Iesser-known prog bands (VdGG, Gentle Giant, Camel, Jade Warrior, etc.) and Canterbury stuff; during that time (mid-90s) I was also turned on to post-rock, space rock, krautrock, and ambient music. |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: December 18 2007 at 17:37
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I swear I do not dye my hair grey.
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: pianomandust
Date Posted: December 19 2007 at 12:21
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Lateralus (Tool)--Scenes From A Memory (DT)-----The Odyssey (SYX)------the rest is history...lovely welcoming into the world of extreme metal and prog. ------------- and then there was music... |
Posted By: heavyhery
Date Posted: December 19 2007 at 17:41
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king crimson in the court of the crimson king
emerson lake and palmer
yes the yes album
what else i got to say?
From those records then came genesis triumvirat gentle giant flash pink floyd starcastle camel argent focus caravan etc. ------------- heavyhery |
Posted By: alanerc
Date Posted: December 22 2007 at 01:39
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unfortunately DT's Train of Thought and "images and words"
that's where everything started to me |
Posted By: flaxton
Date Posted: December 27 2007 at 13:21
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i remember the first lp i played on my first stereo record player was pictures at an exhibition in 1972. ------------- flaxton |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: December 27 2007 at 14:20
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My older brothers introduced me to "Prog," amongst other music, in the 70s. I heard a wide variety of now "classic rock." First purchase of an album in the archives might have been Pink Floyd's Works. I was very big on Floyd, Supertramp, Mike Oldfield, Camel, and Alan Parsons Project as a youngster. Some years later in the early 80s, a friend played Yes Fragile for me, Rush's Hemispheres, and Jethro Tull's Aqualung, and after that I identified myself as a fan of Progressive Rock, but I didn't know a great deal of it. Then my Creative Writing teacher in high-school let us play albums in class, which is when I discovered Gryphon's Mignight Mushrumps and Focus' Hamburger Concerto which became my new favourites. Into the early 90s, I worked as a bartender at a playhouse and Genesis' Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was a staple album after the show. Went through a New Age phase in the 90s with Kitaro and Vangelis being favourites. While I went through different syles of music at different times (classical, folk, jazz, classic rock like Santana, Zep, and Cream, New Age/ Electronic -- Laurie Anderson's Big Science still being one of my faves), I always had Prog albums that I would revisit. After getting married, I pretty much stopped listening to rock (and my biggest love, classical) for many years since my wife doesn't like it, and so shifted my tastes more to her liking (she did like stuff like Kitaro and Alan Parsons Project). Come 2004, we were preparing for a long road-trip, and I wanted to get some Prog albums even if my wife didn't like it. I knew someone from a forum who was always raving about "In the Court of the Crimson King," so I got it and loved it. I couldn't play it on the road-trip, but anyway... I also got Genesis "Selling England" (Genesis for nostalgia sake) and loved Cinema Show and Firth of Fifth. This was the start of my new Progressive Rock phase, which I'm still in even though my tastes have changed somewhat. That led to rediscovering old albums I knew, and many more new to me ones -- Gentle Giant is the band that solidified my particular love of Prog (though I rarely listen to it now). Then I got in to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van der Graaf Generator, Le Orme and PFM, then more Prog Folk albums, then Canterbury (startting with Caravan and Hatfield of the North), Zeuhl with Magma, and then Avant Prog with bands such as Univers Zero... And a lot of music along the way. Wasn't really in that order though, Avant Prog and Krautrock largely did come later in my journey (I've liked Zappa for many years). It was when I discovered French Prog that I really expanded as a progressive music fan. I was using various resources including this one a few years ago to discover popular classic albums and then newer ones. It's great that there's so much variety of music here, because I probably would have left so-called "Prog" quite some time ago if it stopped with music like Yes, Genesis, and ELP (or indeed the more traditionally "Prog" groups). |
Posted By: Woodbridge
Date Posted: December 27 2007 at 15:13
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I wish a huge classic/melodic fan in high school and constantly sang the praises of Journey, Foreigner, Boston, Styx, and Toto. Luckily enough I had a class with three friends who decided to stir up a music conversation one day, and that changed my taste forever.
One guy said his favorite band was Porcupine Tree, and happened to have the IN ABSENTIA album in his backpack. He let me borrow it that evening, and I was blown away. I bought it less than a week later.
Another guy said his favorite band was Dream Theater, and he let me listen to "Under a Glass Moon" on his portable CD player. I believe the only two words I said after I checked it out were "holy sh*t."
The final guy also liked Journey, Foreigner, etc. but claimed Rush as his favorite band. I had listened to the "hits" from Rush (Tom Sawyer, Spirit of the Radio, Freewill, Limelight, Fly by Night, and Working Man) but no more and no less... I liked them but wasn't a huge fan. The guy let me borrow the "2112" CD the next night. Again, blown away, again, another one added to my collection! Since then Geddy's voice grew on me alot, my taste became more refined, I got 2 DVDs and saw the band live, and now Rush is my favorite band.
From branching off Dream Theater/Porcupine Tree/Rush and using my classic rock roots as a bit of a base, I've run the gamut from Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Camel, King Crimson, and Gryphon to Opeth, Riverside, Oceansize, Paatos, Liquid Tension Experiment, Tool.... and thanks to sites like ProgArchives I've discovered Marillion, Can, Gong, dredg, Explosions in the Sky, Pelican, Red Sparowes, Radiohead....
DAMN, I love "Prog." ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/ChiefKrazyHorse/?chartstyle=basic10">  (Weekly Plays)
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Posted By: BigHairyMonster
Date Posted: December 27 2007 at 23:25
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Although their prog merits can be debated, I would have to say my prog influence started with the first Beatles recordings I bought when I was a kid, say 10 or 11 years old in the late 70's. I then distinctly remember being influenced by Kansas "Leftoverture", Rush "All The World's A Stage", Jeff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds", "The Wall", and (of all things) Blondie's "Parallel Lines"...in particular, a song called "Fade Away And Radiate" which featured Robert Fripp. Around 15 years old, I was into Zappa's "Apostrophe" and "Joe's Garage", Return To Forever, KC's debut and "Three Of A Perfect Pair", as well as Yes (I remember the day I first heard "Drama" and "Relayer") and ELP. A year later, a friend introduced me to Marillion, IQ, and Twelfth Night. I didn't know that much other prog existed through the next few years, though I did become more familiar with Genesis, Tull, and Gentle Giant. It wasn't until around 1992 that I started becoming more aware of a whole other world of prog. Starting with Magellan, Eloy, and Mr. Bungle I began exploring more in depth, and I haven't stopped since! ------------- Big Hairy Monster's debut CD "View" coming soon! www.bighairymonster.com |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: December 28 2007 at 13:04
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First actual personal purchase, I think, was In The Court of the Crimson King (although I did get some other progressive albums at the same time, most notably CTTE). I already had a couple of Genesis albums from my uncles, and had rescued a dusty ELP collection from my parents. Probably my biggest influence towards prog (and music in general really, as I'd previously held a horribly elitist anti-anything-modernish attitude) was hearing Brothers In Arms as part of the soundtrack to Due South (a quality program) and consequently buying the Best Of Dire Straits. The track 'Telegraph Road' (even now my second favourite song) blew me away. Following this, I got a few more various albums and soundtracks (though mostly classical). Eventually I discovered (my parents') ELP's 'Fanfare For The Common Man' anthology (as well as Works Live). Tarkus converted me to the cause, although Take A Pebble has displaced it as my ELP favourite. Suffice to say, Schizoid Man, And You And I and Epitaph sealed my fate. |
Posted By: Fragile
Date Posted: January 01 2008 at 18:33
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It was the 'Yes Album'.' Yours is no Disgrace' simply blew me away in the summer of 1971.I had been on my Purple,Sabbath,Wishbone,Alice Cooper,and the mighty Uriah Heep rock overdose when I heard this new sound which shaped and changed my musical views for the past 37 years.Many years later I have listened to most.Although, I am not on here much these days i used to love my many jousts with the ' Three fates' and others from a few years ago.Porcupine tree currently holds a special place in this prog heart of mine. |
Posted By: Avantgardehead
Date Posted: January 01 2008 at 22:05
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Started out with Nursery Cryme and then did some research on AllMusic.com. Found out that Phil Collins was not the lead vocalist (one of my major reservations at the time) and investigated these other albums with this Peter Gabriel guy on them. I saw the word "art rock" used quite a bit and stuck to the albums which were said to be in their "golden era". I took very quickly to Foxtrot and Trespass, Selling England by the Pound took some extra time and I had to give The Lamb at least two tries to get into. After I realized what progressive rock really was and that great music came out of the 70's, I started looking into more of these bands. Tried out Pink Floyd, hated it. Tried Yes, hated it. Tried Gentle Giant, hated it. Tried King Crimson, hated it. Then as time went on and I realized that the major prog bands didn't share too much in common with Genesis, I tried them all again and most got in after the second try (except for Yes who took three tries). ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Avantgardian |
Posted By: activetopics
Date Posted: January 02 2008 at 19:21
| rush greatest hits lawlz |
Posted By: Philip
Date Posted: January 06 2008 at 13:09
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The first album I bought was Animals by Pink Floyd. |
Posted By: progodd
Date Posted: January 24 2008 at 10:23
| I don't know if any 12 year old kid started listening to prog at that age, I was fortunate to listen to Tales Of Topographic Oceans, Foxtrot, In The Land Of Gray And Pink at that age and this music blew me away. |