Most important band in building prog

Tony Banks credits influence from Procol Harum, and I don't think he was the only one of that early prog generation...

Robert Fripp on hearing the Beatles Sgt Pepper

Robert Fripp- When I was 20, I worked at a hotel in a dance orchestra, playing weddings, bar-mitzvahs, dancing, cabaret. I drove home and I was also at college at the time. Then I put on the radio (Radio Luxemburg) and I heard this music. It was terrifying. I had no idea what it was. Then it kept going. Then there was this enormous whine note of strings. Then there was this colossal piano chord. I discovered later that I'd come in half-way through Sgt. Pepper, played continuously. My life was never the same again.

CPicard wrote: Really? I would have thought Fripp would have been more aware of some musical experimentations before hearing Sgt. Pepper. Well, we learn something everyday.

A B Negative wrote: I'm going to ignore the Beatles and say that Krautrock would have been very different without Pink Floyd's influence (especially Interstellar Overdrive, A Saucerful of Secrets and Careful With That Axe Eugene).

Could you please count The Beach Boys (releasing the great album Pet Sounds) in?

Atavachron wrote: none on the list for building prog,  I'd say the Nice --> ELP, early Yes & Genesis, Egg, Soft Machine, a few others

Wait, all of those bands were prog bands. They took what bands like The Beatles started, and made prog from stuff like that. Bands like The Beatles and Deep Purple built prog up to real prog, and then Yes and ELP took off fom where they left off.

peskypesky wrote: Where are the Monkees?

Time to close the poll?  The Beatles have an insurmountable lead.

Atavachron wrote: I was just being argumentative..  however, the Beatles didn't "build" prog at all nor many of the bands in the poll;  the Doors, Iron Butterfly? ..these were rock bands with a unique style, not protoprogressive as it relates to the British prog era..  sure the Beatles influence is clear in early Prog but they weren't 'the most important band in building prog' , they were the most important in building pop

Building pop???? Don't try to tell me that Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, and Revolver helped build pop music. And seriously, if The Doors, The Beatles, and Iron Butterfly didn't contribute to the building of prog at all, then what did?

progrocker2244 wrote: Atavachron wrote: I was just being argumentative..  however, the Beatles didn't "build" prog at all nor many of the bands in the poll;  the Doors, Iron Butterfly? ..these were rock bands with a unique style, not protoprogressive as it relates to the British prog era..  sure the Beatles influence is clear in early Prog but they weren't 'the most important band in building prog' , they were the most important in building pop Building pop???? Don't try to tell me that Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, and Revolver helped build pop music. And seriously, if The Doors, The Beatles, and Iron Butterfly didn't contribute to the building of prog at all, then what did?

the musicians themselves;  no one seems to consider the possibility that the first true prog artists - Brian Wilson, Emerson, Zappa, Fripp, Bo Hansson, McLaughlin, etc. - were taking from their own background and experiences, using the classical, jazz and traditional training they'd had and applying it to modern rock/psych    ..it is possible these guys did not simply say "Hey, them Beatles are cool, they're usin that there classical music and stuff",  but rather that their inspiration came from somewhere other than the dazed and confused sounds of psych and pop rock.  It's true the Psych scene did foster Prog in England and Europe - the conditions were right - but it was less a musical impact and more a cultural and marketing one.. to assume that the Doors, Beatles, Iron Butterfly and a few other 60s pop groups was the reason Prog developed is highly dubious.  The time was right, the proper musicians had arrived, and the world was ready.  If the Beatles and Doors had never existed, I wager we still would've had Prog.