Ironically, I'm still one of the newer ones to prog, at least within the context of much of the user base on this site. There's still so much to explore and this site gives me something new to sample every day. I only wish I had found this place 10 years before I did. 

And certainly nothing wrong with Yes as an introduction.  For me, my earliest prog was Yes, Rush, Tull, and if you believe that they were proto-prog, The Beatles.

Oh, and I'm envious of your dad too. I never got to see Yes in concert. 

Right on! That's part of the reason why I love this community; lots of perspectives and history in one spot. YES is the best!

that said...  Rush is a good entry point for new people to Rush.  Get it out of the way quickly.. weed them out quicly. if you are put off by silly hyper intellectualism by muso's no smarter than the guy who cleans your toilets at the office and often painfully bad lyrics. You need not apply further with prog hahaha.  

My first Prog music was Genesis, ELP, Enid, Camel, Greenslade, Rick Wakeman, PFM, Certain Yes music, Stackridge, Supertramp and the Nice...

Well, maybe Yes and Tull etc are bands they just haven't been exposed to much or maybe their parents liked them. What I'm basically getting at here also is that there is a hip or "cool" factor. I'm not sure how much mellowness figures into it because they like Pink Floyd and not just because they are so obvious but because they are also seen as being cool. So there's the social approval/peer pressure factor which makes them decide to like certain bands(at least to some degree imo). 

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: SteveG wrote: Starting with Yes is probably safe too. Very complicated music for sure but very accessible IMO. I agree especially if they are open minded and can get past the fact that most of their fans(and thus those who show up at their concerts)are probably old enough to be their parents(if not grandparents). That is assuming the people getting into prog for the first time are in their twenties or younger(which actually might not be the case).

I don't think just recommending seemingly "accessible" prog will do the trick if you don't know who you're trying to convince. Lets say you have a friend into Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth - Yes would probably be completely wrong. They're not that great for people coming from the less perfectionistic -or darker music scenes. King Crimson Red among the classics could work better as a start - or perhaps something like Ege Bamyasi by Can... or other Krautrock-classics. That's the kind of approach that makes sense to me. In my experience extreme metallers tend respond more positively to Zeuhl, R.I.O or early Progressive Electronic than symphonic prog. So I agree with most of this post:   

You seriously think Rush lyrics are bad? I can honestly say I think this is the first time I ever heard anyone say that. I actually think quite the opposite. I think they are some of the best lyrics not just in prog but in music period. I would love to hear who you think has better and more intelligent lyrics.