How old were you when got into prog? how

Prometheus wrote: haha...i'll offer my story since i'll be the first person not from the 70's. a modern prog story: i was probably 14 and caught a listen of Tool...became obsessed with them for probably two years and then desperately wanted more. my girlfriend was learning The Mahavishnu Orchestra on the piano ("dance of the maya" --eccentric music teacher) and she burned me the CD..i loved it. then a friend of mine suggested Radiohead, picked up Kid A, as a fluke, and became obsessed with it. then, just by chance i found this site...and you people have made me spend too much money. (oh..and now i have a college roomate who listens to thrash and death metal...so being subject to his music allowed me to see the merits of extreme prog like Meshuggah and Ephel Duath. that's been the biggest evolution for me since prog itself; every other prog genre came easily)

Edited by Chus - March 13 2007 at 21:31

Back a few years ago (13-14) I used to listen to stuff like Linkin Park. After a little while I got an interest in music and started exploring classic rock. I discovered all the important bands like Zeppelin and Floyd and dove into "good rock". I was into Rush and Floyd and certain popular prog bands for a while, but I didn't really know what progressive rock was and didn't explore it.

I can remember vividly! It was 1977 and I was 17. Our english teacher allowed us to listen to the radio, (can't remember why). When "Roundabout" started I was immediately immobile. Mesmorized, hypnotized, I was rivited. I never heard anything like it. Of course, after the song was over, the DJ played another song without mentioning who the previous band was. I asked one of my classmates who the band was and of course the rest, for me, is history. I will say that I listened to Kansas having both "Leftoverture" and "Point Of No Return", but neither album gave me the reaction that this one particular song did. In hindsight, maybe listening to Kansas made me appreciate longer songs, kinda softening me up for more complex song structures. I remember going to the local record store, buying "Fragile" and had to have everything else Yes did. I never did thank my english teacher ;-)

About 2 years ago, I wasn't terribly into music, just barely stumbling my way through some really shallow classic rock.  My friend recommended I picked up this really weird album from 1969 by some group called King Crimson.  

My prog evolution had three distinct stages:

Around age 14: Through friends and my father, I got into classic rock, which led me to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Pink Floyd. I also got into 80's thrash at this time. My only true prog album then was Selling England By The Pound. I also discovered Tool at this point.

At age 21: I discovered Opeth, randomly while messing around on the Internet. This led me to Porcupine Tree, Meshuggah, Dream Theater, and others.

At age 24: I was desparately searching for new music, and managed to discover Muse, The Mars Volta, Rush, Ayreon, Riverside, and others. I eventually stumbled upon this website in May of 2006, and now I have a 300+ CD collection that is made up of mostly prog, prog-related stuff, and metal.

Approx. three/four years ago.

about 3 years ago, when i was in high school. i was in a friend's place and he apparently just bought Dream Theater's Train of Thought. after a few listening, the album clicked with me, and i bought one myself.

enteredwinter wrote: At age 21: I discovered Opeth, randomly while messing around on the Internet. This led me to Porcupine Tree, Meshuggah, Dream Theater, and others.

yaaa opeth and PT.  I have a similar story...kinda.  About 3 years ago i was really into Yngwie Malmsteen (not prog obviously) and my friend and his brother (who was also my guitar teacher) told me about Symphony X.  I listened to Symphony X for a while just cause it was awesome.  I also listened to bands that were related to Symphony X but didnt quite discover Prog then.  It wasnt until I found this website that I realized that Symphony X was part of a genre that had intelligence behind it that I discovered Prog.  From then i got into Dream Theater, Adagio, Kamelot, and more recently I've gotten very into Opeth and Porcupine Tree (PT was recommended to me from my dentist!).  I've loved actual Prog for about oh 1.5 to 2 years now and i dont think ill stray too far away from it.

When I was quite young, maybe nine, I saw and immediately liked the Tarkus cover-- the music was way over my head but I loved that a rock band was using a space-age armadillo for a theme. About a year later I bought Hemispheres - again because of the cover - and though the music was a bit much for a ten year old, I kept it and enjoyed it years later when I began to appreciate the music.

I have two distinct prog periods in my life, with a long (less active, but not dead) time inbetween: