But actually, I do recall that Genesis was extremely popular in Italy during the early 70s - and seeing the scene that came out of there, I'm quite inclined to believe that they were extremely influential, at least in that part of the world.

 

I'm figuring out what's the point: For a core prog fan the most successful prog rock bands were the most influential  in the whole rock and roll world - that's too much for my mindset, for I realized I'm NOT that core prog fan since I began to frequent this forum.

If they are american then that's MC5:

 

 

Yes, The Motor City 5. 

And that's rather unfortunate as people who only know their 'pop' music will probably never experience this group when it was on the cutting edge of art music and creating music that blurred boundaries. Such a shame.

I listen to Mama just as much as any other PG song. 

If there is any band ( other than early Marillion) that have similarities to each other it would be Genesis and Rush, especially from circa Signals/ATTWT. Rush instrumental passages sound very " Down and Out" like but I would put this down to both bands morphing at the same time, Rush though never went overly commercial however.

Collins

From the Collins era, I like A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering. That's about it. 

Always considered Rush to be a 'hybrid' of Heavy Rock and Prog Rock. They cleverly kept a foot in either camp until maybe Signals saw them completely develop their own style which I struggle to compare to anyone. As an ELP fan I always felt that Rush were the band that I wanted ELP to be . Power WIndows is so drenched in keyboards and orchestra it could almost be a version of ELP in a parallel universe (ignoring the vocals of course). Rush never sounded much like Genesis at any time to me although they had similar aims of making their sound and style more sleeker and contemporary in the eighties.

not sure I fully understand this. Genesis sold shed loads in the late seventies and eighties when they moved away from 'full on' prog. The earlier albums were not massive sellers. They clearly influenced a lot of eighties neo prog bands and that was partly because they remained visible at a time when many seventies bands just disappeared. Also they were easier to copy than ELP and Yes who tended to push boundaries on the musical/instrumental/technical side more. The appeal in Genesis music is that its more rounded and accessible. Even Lamb has many good tunes that wouldn't be out of place on the radio. Genesis represented the commercial template for prog rock. Thats how I see it anyway.

I remember them as both 

Exactly.  Most, if not all of the great tappers (Steve Vai, for another one) look back to Hackett as a great innovator and one to imitate and expand on...

 

I had some prog friends that loved Genesis - I liked some of their songs, but most just elicited the 70's version of "meh". 

 

"And Then There Were 3" finally brought radio prominence.  But "Follow You, Follow Me" was hardly a prog masterpiece.

 

Many keyboardists I played with in those days were highly influenced by Genesis.  Most could easily master the arpeggios of Tony Banks, and were apt to show this to the other musicians.  Few would dare to imitate Emerson or Wakeman.

 

But the 80's seemed to be when Genesis-sounding bands really began to flourish.  I'd tell you my theory on why that was, but many Genephiles would get angry at me.

quite likely true just as Aphrodite's Child 666 didn't go unnoticed either

 

Sadly, sometimes it's like you are talking to folks that do not know "history" and on top of it, they think it didn't exist.

 

You see, they live in the age of Harry Potter sorcery and occultness, thus the ability to define "progressive" other than some over rated pop music, is really scary! Specially when they think the world was stupid, not intelligent at all, and could not play a Fender or a Yamaha keyboard, or heaven forbid a Hammond organ!

 

All of the stuff you mentioned and then some ... way before Genesis ... in Santa Barbara, Genesis didn't really get started until AFTER the import "Selling England By The Pound" made its way, and that was almost 6 months AFTER the English release, to give you an idea. After that, more Genesis got played on Friday and Saturday nights courtesy of my roomate, since the other folks in the station thought it was just pretentious music.

 

And the same roomate played "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" in its ENTIRETY as soon as he got it, TWICE, in the same night.

 

True story!

Peter Gabriel used Phil Collins on drums for his second solo album after leaving Genesis, and asked him not to use any cymbals on the album, which is what caused Phil and producer Hugh Padgham to invent the gated reverb, which is now an industry standard effect that is found in every studio and musicians effects. It  became widely known and was called the Phil Collins drum sound in the 80s.

Then there is the Lighting which they pioneered with Showco in texas, The Vari-lite in 1980, which is also now an industry standard. They were the first band to have intelligent lighting in the world, and for many years afterward everyone else rented them from them. It took until 2000 for the industry to catch up with the vari-lite, which now you will never see a show without moving intelligent computer controlled lights, but for ten years they were the only ones in the world who had them in large amounts.

And the issue is really that with refinements it has overcome most of the rattiness. Phil however used what is known as the "stone room" to achieve the sound back then, not a inferior reverb of that time.

I'm so glad other people are discussing this. The first thing I thought when I first heard "The Return of Giant Hogweed" was "Holy hell, this is like pre-EVH stuff!", lol. I remember EVH once mentioning that he borrowed the technique from Jimmy Page, but I wouldn't doubt if he was spinning Genesis records in his room back in the day as well.

Weird ... considering that Marillion was around for at least 10 years before PT!

 

btw ...just as an FYI:

PT has 5 four star albums and many 3 star ones...close to 4 stars

Marillion has 4 four star albums and about the same number of highly rated 3 star albums.

 

Of course this is based on ratings from members here and what do they know about prog rock anyway.

There is no rule that states you cannot be influenced by a band that came later. Marillion have changed over the years. I guess he is referring to Marbles?

I'm not a great fan of Porcupine Tree, but I would never say they 'suck'. Grow up! Porcupine Tree members are all accomplished musicians.

Why can't you just say you don't like them? Saying something 'sucks' to me means that they're completely abysmal, which obviously isn't true at all.

I suppose I should stop feeding the troll? 

Either that or just let him make himself look more and more like a moron. 

That would work as well. 

But to me, you're putting down the band in an unfair way and somehow trying to elevate yourself in the process, which is something an elementary school kid would do.

The second someone calls you out, the tone of your posts gets so defensive and innocent. Stop acting like an a****le and just post your opinion. 

Nah, i'm 100% serious. 

Posting on a public forum page where anyone can read and respond? 

"I hope your tiny little brain can get it"