Fave Prog Band's Popularity In Your Home Country

Umm, yeah, sadly, most of my favorite prog bands are pretty unappreciated in the US.  Most modern prog artists pretty much need to crowd fund their albums . . . and tours.  Some of the old classics did pretty good over here, but yeah, most of the new bands are lucky to draw a few hundred people to their shows.

Dean wrote: All my favourite Prog bands had some measure of popularity here in England, if not in the "pop" charts then at least at "grass-roots" level. I feel myself pretty fortunate that I got to see live gigs by so many bands that I like (Pink Floyd, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Van der Graaf Generator, The Enid, Tangerine Dream, Phil Manz & 801, Gong, Hawkwind, Ozric Tentacles, Uriah Heap, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, [early] ELO, Focus, Mostly Autumn, Karnataka, Marillion, Camel, Caravan, Anathema, Therion, Threshold, Jon Olivia, etc...) so I cannot complain. Even though they were all released in the UK, it did take me a while to track-down and buy Amon Duul II albums back then, but that was part of the fun. Never did see them live - oh, hum :-(

Wow, Dean, that is impressive-you've lived through some real music history there. I have not seen any of my favorite bands in concert, unfortunately.

You got to see TMV live..

In Australia,  the biggest prog bands in terms of "mainstream popularity" would be Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull (especiallly), Yes, Focus (yes Focus!), Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Roxy Music (if you put them in prog), Supertramp (ditto re prog credentials) and ELO (ditto again re prog cred). Of the new brigade, Radiohead are massive in Oz (as they are everywhere else), Mogwai are very popular as too The Muse but Porcupine Tree and Dream Theatre are less so......I think.

Hi,
I am from Sweden. I should consider myself fortunate to be from a country which has fostered more than a few prog bands with international appeal in the last 20 years. Flower Kings, Opeth, Änglagård, Pain Of Salvation, Anekdoten, Beardfish to name just a few.
Being one of the major suppliers in the prog world of today, it may then come as a surprise to you, that you almost never hear any prog on any radio station or TV channel here, nor do you see any of them featured or interviewed in any Swedish newspaper or music magazine.
Prog is very much a cult underground thing here in Sweden, and if you want to find out what's going on in prog in Sweden, you need to check out the sites that specializes in prog.

Some of my favorite Prog bands, all from the UK, were almost unknown in the states but that was cool because I was able to see them at small venues like supper clubs and small theaters.

Edited by SteveG - August 04 2014 at 15:13

Triumvirat were so popular here in Portugal that besides topping the charts with "Old Loves Die Hard", a bit of "Panic on 5th Avenue" was used as a jingle for the opening of Tv News at the national TV.

Meltdowner wrote: elpprogster wrote: Triumvirat were so popular here in Portugal that besides topping the charts with "Old Loves Die Hard", a bit of "Panic on 5th Avenue" was used as a jingle for the opening of Tv News at the national TV. I didn't know they were so popular here. I though only Genesis and Pink Floyd were, because of the portuguese prog bands they influenced.

I wonder if Triumvirat played any concerts in Portugal? Maybe during the 1975 European tour they did opening for Grand Funk? There was no real tour in support of Old Loves Die Hard, unfortunately.

Rush was quite popular on US radio during the 80's and have always filled arenas for their concert tours.

presdoug wrote: Meltdowner wrote: elpprogster wrote: Triumvirat were so popular here in Portugal that besides topping the charts with "Old Loves Die Hard", a bit of "Panic on 5th Avenue" was used as a jingle for the opening of Tv News at the national TV. I didn't know they were so popular here. I though only Genesis and Pink Floyd were, because of the portuguese prog bands they influenced. I wonder if Triumvirat played any concerts in Portugal? Maybe during the 1975 European tour they did opening for Grand Funk? There was no real tour in support of Old Loves Die Hard, unfortunately.