When were you infected by Prog?

It was 5 to 6 years ago, when I first listened to Coheed and Cambria's In Keeping Secrets of SIlent Earth: 3.  A pretty poppy album but was fairly experimental and contained some very proggish elements.  They became my first "favorite band" and I was really into them... I started hearing comparisons of Rush and Coheed, so I went out and bought 2112 and Moving Pictures.  I thought these were absolutely amazing pieces of music and I listened to each dozens of times.  I eventually learned that these were considered "progressive" rock bands, so I started researching the genre.  I visited a website that said that King Crimson's ITCOTKC was the number 1 prog rock album of all time, so I thought, I HAVE to get this album.  Eventually found it and I haven't looked back since... eventually discovering dozens of the old great bands and many newer ones.  It's just such great music to listen to.

1977. I was 12. Rush had just released A Farewell to Kings, and "Closer to the Heart" was all over the radio. I liked the song,and asked for the album for Christmas. I got it--on 8-track  -- and played it constantly, taking it with me between my mom's place and my dad's place. One day, when Dad and I were talking about our musical preferences, I told him that I liked hard rock. He took one listen to the music with which I had commandeered the stereo, and said, "Actually, you like progressive rock." That settled it. I had a name for it. Since then, of course my tastes have varied, but prog has been my home, musically speaking, since that conversation.

Well as a child my dad owned a lot of blues and stuff like iron maiden. Now while this isn't prog, he at least showed me what skill and talent could be (although he did own some prog albums like zappa and floyd).  I really didn't get into prog until my friend a few years ago gave me some dream theater and ayreon and I fell in love with prog. 

I was 12 when the guitarist in my Dad's Country band (Dad's a bass player) died at a ridiculously young age and left him a pile of albums, among other things.

A few weeks later I was looking through them when I found an odd green album cover with a strange swirly logo on it that just said 'Yes'!  'Close To The Edge' was my first 'real' Prog experience, although I'd been listening to Mike Oldfield, Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre already, CTTE is when Prog entered my life - the title track blew me away!  B->

And I haven't looked back!  I also found a compilation album with 'The Knife' by Genesis and 'Sylvia' by Focus.   I rapidly bought albums by Genesis, Hackett, Gabriel, Kraftwerk, Rush & Pink Floyd and pretty soon some more of my Dad's friends started taking me to Prog gigs - my first two big gigs were Weather Report in Nov '80, followed by Yes in Dec '80, on the 'Drama' tour.

The next two albums to have a massive impact on me were King Crimson's 'Discipliine' and Marillion's 'Script For A Jester's Tear' - both are still favourites nearly thirty years later.

The first gig I went to on my own was an Electronic Music festival (UK Electronica, I believe it was called) in 1983 in Milton Keynes, which featured Mark Shreeve, Robert Schroeder and Hawkwind!

</cliff>

http://www.progzilla.com

I didn't look into prog heavily until I realized it was still around today (Tool paved the way for me in that regard), but I had been a fan of select prog bands for years prior, thanks to the eclectic tastes of my father and uncle. 

This is so cliche, but I got into Prog two years ago with Pink Floyd.  Before then, I didn't even really care for pop music (except for Weird Al Yankovic,) thinking that it was inferior to cinema, literature, and video games.  I would say the real pivotal moment was hearing "Time" on the radio.  It was magical, as it was long and beautiful (or at least a 7-minute song seemed long at the time.)  I was impressed how it seemed to break the conventions of most other pop music, like the two-minute instrumental opening which sounded like clocks, the spacey and ethereal guitar solo, and the reprise of "Breathe" at the end.  This caused me to buy The Dark Side of the Moon, and I listened and enjoyed.  Wish You Were Here followed suit a few days after, and it wasn't long before I pretty much had every Pink Floyd album.  I didn't know how to categorize them; I just considered them a special kind of Rock that was willing to break the mold.

Muse.  Knights of Cydonia made me realise that wild, crazy, extended songs could be incredibly awesome. From there I got into Radiohead and then Pink Floyd.

I don't listen to Muse anymore but I'm passionately thankful that they are a "gateway" band for so many Twilight-loving teenagers to get into prog. Eventually.

Well, I've been listening to prog since i very young because my father is a huge fan of genesis, vdgg, gg, procol harum,elp,yes,triumvirat etc...

I started to listen to Peter Gabriel on my own since 8 or 9 y-old, the secred world tour vhs, from 94 i think.

Then when i was 12 i started discovering my dad's LP collection, and the first album i got addicted to in terms of prog was 1 of these 3 (i don't recall which one exactly), Gentle Giant's octopus, Van der Graaf's GODBLUFF or Jethro Tull's Bursting Out. I saw Jethro tull in late 1999 and from then on i became huge prog fan.

Funny fact, by the same time, i was all over Deep Purple - Made In Japan and thought of it as one of the greatest things ever done and i'm happy to say that i still think the same. eheh

It must have been around 17/18. At that time I didn't have internet, nor even CD player. Only my CC player, and even the blank cassettes were quite expensive for me. So I listened mostly to things on the radio (though even then I knew how to tell heaven from hell ). Through the radio I fell in love in early Depeche Mode, and early The Cure. That's about when I started appreciate older music than from 90's. Well I kept digging, and finally I remembered about two old CC's that belonged to my dad. They were Pink Floyd "DSOTM" and King Crimson "ITCOTCK". And that's how it started :) Prog had finally introduced me to classical music, which is now my main area of investigations ;) oh, I'm 21 now, but through these 3 years I got to know lots and lots of bands and artists.

You say it like it's a bad thing 

I'm a relatively new recruit to the wonders of prog, I first heard Genesis in 2007, but I only listened to their Platinum Collection compilation for 2 years. For my 18th birthday I got their three box sets, including every album barring their debut. (which I got shortly afterwards) After hearing hundreds of their songs for the first time, I was compelled and amazed, and since then I've compiled a small but powerful array of prog bands in my collection!