BIG FIVE

ELP is bad. 

I would probably give at least one slot to a significant Krautrock or RIO group.  The traditional Big 5 are there mainly for their popularity and influence, and there is good reason for that, but I'd want to recognize some of the leaders of the (relative) outer fringes of prog.  Say, with Can, Magma or even Zappa.

The big five will always be the big five. They, along with several other bands (some of whom were less successful than these five) created the genre. No matter what new bands arise and no matter how old these bands are and whether people like them or not, they will always remain responsible for creating the genre. Now, bands like Porcupine Tree, The Flower Kings, The Tangent, Dream Theater and so on and so forth, may have helped revive the genre, and some have even taken the genre in new directions. But they didn't start it. They weren't at the forefront of the progressive rock movement of the late 60s/early 70s and barring the invention of time machine technology, they never will be.

Tull is missing from your list dude.

I feel like it would be more interesting to try listing the BIG FIVE of post 1970s prog rock.

So my post-1979 BIG FIVE list would be:

The Mars Volta
Dream Theater
Porcupine Tree
Muse
Radiohead (could probably replace either Radiohead or Muse with Tool actually.)




Basically, they fall under the same criteria that the original BIG FIVE did: prog groups who were popular (thus bringing prog into the modern mainstream), sold a lot of albums, and/or influenced a lot of bands.

i´d probably replace ELP with Tull since then we have covered symphonic, eclectic, psychedelic and folk prog 

a post 70s BIG FIVE would be very interesting though

Guldbamsen wrote: If we're talking Prog with a big P, then I have a hard time seeing Tull taking ELPs slot. If people were to sweep all notions of self-inflicted fanboyism aside and look at this from an objective point of view, then we could possible (for once) look at this wonderful genre in the light of music history........not through some rose-tinted glasses fuelled by the gift of hindsight, a bottle of red wine and a little buddha. Anyway, there were never anything called the "big five". All internet nonsense conjured up by folks who seem equally taken aback by words such as "greatest" and "underrated"

I think we all want to squeeze 15 bands into 5 slots but you know how that goes!

Edited by SteveG - June 23 2014 at 14:58

rushfan4 wrote: When I first joined PA, the talk was of the Big 7, which also included Jethro Tull and Rush.  People who didn't like these bands or didn't feel they were prog enough, offered up their replacements, which generally consisted of the likes of Camel, Magma, Can, Gentle Giant, or VDGG.  Although all good bands, and all big within the umbrella of being important and influential within the prog community, none of these bands had the commercial appeal and success of the ones listed under the Big 7 umbrella.

Yep.

Heh I was just thinking to myself: "Haven't I seen Van Der Graaf Generator mentioned in these "big 5" accumulations before?"

i get your point, guldbamsen. however, to satisfy my rational brain´s need to categorize and make top lists, i will try it anyway

not an easy task but...
the objective BIG FIVE of bands i know of, judging by influence would probably be

Marillion
Rush
Dream Theater
The Flower Kings
Porcupine Tree
?

and i just totally failed to name my personal top 5 so this post ends here..^^