When were you infected by Prog?

In the 70's "Dark side of the Moon" was my first introduction to prog. And after it was Genesis, through my sister, and then came Yes with my friends and Rush by myself. After that i went to the New Wave stuff in the 80's, but i was still listening to prog. Then i discovered the neo-pro scene with IQ "Tales from the Lush Attic", "The Jewel" by Pendragon and in the 90's i was blown away by Ronnie Stolt "The Flower KIngs", thinking that Yes was back with a modern sound. Today, i am still not cure after this infection...

I can say when I was infected by "modern prog".  Back in about 2000, I read about about a band called Spock's Beard on a Yes Message Board.  At that time, I did not know that there was a modern progressive rock scene.  I thought that music was dead.    I went to my local Borders and they had a copy of Beware of Darkness which I purchased.  I remember listening to the first song driving back home and immediately  falling in love with the music.  I became obsessed with Spock's and bought all of their albums.  That led to me Transatlantic, which led me to The Flower Kings.    Although The Flower Kings eventually became my favorite band, I will never forget that moment.  Eventually I found about about internet prog radio and the rest is history....

Welcome, RockHound.

I have very similar memories. The 2112 Overture is one I remember my dad listening to. He especially liked organ music. I think he liked some of the ELP he heard through my bedroom door but he wouldn't admit it.

Of course there was no internet, so we relied on a few magazines to categorize music. Genres weren't that important back then.

Trouser Press, Circus, and Creem were the ones I read. Always avoided Rolling Stone. They hated Progressive Rock or anything adventurous.

Frank Zappa was never considered to be anything like the bands that were considered Progressive at the time. It wasn't until the '80's when "Adrian Belew, formerly with Frank Zappa, Talking Heads and David Bowie" joined King Crimson that suddenly there was a connection.

That's how I remember it anyway.

I was 11 when my older brother came back from college in 1969 and played me "In The Court." Although it certainly unnerved me to some degree, I was hooked immediately. The next prog album I specifically remember hearing was the Moody's "On The Threshold" (1969). The rest of seminal prog followed quickly thereon: Yes, Genesis, GG, Tull et al.

I never looked back.

Stage 1: Classic Rock and Rebellion

I learned about progressive rock when I was 16-17 I think, through internet. before that I had never heard that term before.

My first obsession with music happened at about age 5 , maybe 6 when I heard Peter Baumann's Transharmonic Nights. Listening to that album was among the strongest music expreiences I've had. Maybe it is enhanced by experiencing stuff more vividly when you are just a kid. But no other music had the same effect. I would just stare at the LP cover while listening.

But I wasn't actively exploring music as a kid, I just responded to whatever I heard, a lot of stuff I heard through my brothers .  I had a cassette with favourite songs, mostly pop oriented with synth elements. Scotch -  "Primitive Man" became my favourite song for some time. It's italy disco but their biggest imfluence was actually progressive music. My brother introduced me to Jean Michel Jarre which I heard at 8 or 9 years old, which I liked , although not quite the same as the Baumann album. But I loved "Ethnicolor" which I had on cassette, 11 minutes, dark and very sci-fi-ish. I also liked some classical stuff like the 4 seasons and an album with Hugo Alfvén.

I had a period were I was crazy about A-ha and the Hunting High and Low album, about 11 or 12 years old. I wasn't too fond of the happier song "Love is reason", but otherwise it's a pretty dark album. I also liked Howard Jones after being given "Human's Lib". I liked stuff by sisters of mercy and The Mission,  which my brother listened to. The other brother listened to Saga among other stuff and I only caught some of it but some melodies stuck in my head. But I wouldn't get into Saga until I was 14-15, by finding a cassette in the kitchen table drawer with "Silent Knight" recorded on it. I played it everyday. I was obsessed with it. Then I moved on to the other albums. Started playing drums and Saga inspired that a lot. When I was around 16 I got the opportunity to look up Saga at the internet in school. I wasn't even expecting to find anything for some reason, and was surprised to find a fan page and many  fans of them.

 I saw Marillion being recommended as a similar band, which didn't turn out very similar but I liked it. Then I heard about progressive music and found GEPR (gibraltar encyclopedia of progressive rock). That's when I started exploring music more by free will rather than responding to stuff I heard around me. Bought a hifi-system, and got into 70's music, Camel, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Magma and other stuff. This coincided with the time when commercial radio exploded somewhere around -96 or -97 I think, hits oriented radio channels with commercials and crazy jingles which to my horror became extremely popular. I had always believed you could hear all kinds of music on the radio, but it became apparent that in general only singles and hit songs are played, and whole genres are not represented at all on radio. But that was what people wanted, which was very saddening. For example, no one new about Saga, and that's because it was never ever played on radio or in public places. So naturally I ignored contemporary music and culture.

That's my story of getting into prog but in the 2000's I became addicted to internet radio and got into other stuff that I had been missing , a lot of goth related music but also dream-pop, shoegazer, post-rock and indie. But everything I like usually have some progressive elements, showing some ambition for the sake of the music.

Most of the stuff I've liked in the past I still like now. I don't like A-Ha and Howard Jones nearly as much though , but Saga is still a big favourite.


Edited by wilmon91 - May 14 2013 at 16:46

When I was 12, I heard ELP's "Lucky Man" on the radio and the synth solo got me.  Didn't get my first prog album until 3 years later when I bought "Brain Salad Surgery" then "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends".  Tull's "Minstrel in the Gallery" was next and I was on my way 

I remember it well. I was at my dad's house, we were putting records on, and then Wish You Were Here came on. I still remember how amazing the opening synths of Shine On sounded to me.

I was 14 in 1974 and I was into Slade, T.Rex, Sweet etc. My older sister would tell me on a regular basis that I would grow out of this and would start to listen to 'proper music'. One day, in early 1975, her boyfriend gave me his copy of Argus by Wishbone Ash. This album set me on my way and to the type of music that I would like for the rest of my life, for which I shall be eternally grateful. (Even though her boyfriend turned out to be a total sod) Looking back on all this, however, I think Slade and Sweet were excellent bands. I saw Sweet at a Rock Against Prostate Cancer gig near Devizes last summer, and they were brilliant.

OK, I'm new here, just discovered the forum.