Bands that could have been successful, but weren't

England and Fantasy, to name just two of hundreds of British bands who should have been successful but weren't, many of whom I've featured in my Prog Britannia blog, although I wouldn't describe Caravan as an unsuccessful band in all honesty, as they have achieved a modicum of success and well-deserved recognition. After all, they were one of the few bands I'd actually heard of long before I discovered ProgArchives back in 2010, although I had no idea they were part of the Canterbury Scene at the time.

Success as in commercial success. 

PT were successful, they could have been bigger, but then again, and i mean no offense, the average listener, the causual listener will not touch a band like PT. 

This is an insult to better bands with a weaker marketing team.

Anyway, it depends on what we mean by successful. Some of the bands mentioned in this thread have been successful. Sometimes it amazes me that Yes became as big as they did considering what they were doing musically. It's not all about getting your song on the radio. Porcupine Tree weren't played much on the radio(I actually only heard them played on the radio once and that was sort of in the middle of their career just after IA)and neither were the Mars Volta.  Only a few prog bands get to rise above the others. It's the same in most genres. These days Big Big Train seem to be one of them but there's a few others(mostly ones with a metally sound).

Well, they never quite became a household name like Radiohead, Coldplay or Muse if that's what you mean. But yeah I think you get what I meant and I agree. However, I would say they became nearly as big(maybe as big) as Dream Theater at one point. DT has the advantage of still being around but that's not always a good thing since it depends on the quality of the output and DT it seems hit their peak a long time ago.

Logan wrote: While success is relative, I do think that Comus could have found a much larger following and bigger carreer in the 70s had things worked out differently. Not as a really mainstream band, but as a much more significant band having a cult-like status.

Absolutely! Comus should have been a much more recognisable band. I find 'First Utterance' to be one of the finest moments of 70s folk/prog.

A more recent band that comes to my mind is Beardfish. Even Between the Buried and Me which have the potential to be much bigger.

I don't know, but I think mid-90s wasn't optimal. 

It was for Dream Theater. Anyway, that particular album is from the late 90's. 

Maybe but PT are still way more well known than 99 percent of modern prog bands. There's maybe a few that are more well known but most if not all of them have other elements that make them fringe bands(ie Coheed and Cambria and Muse). Also, as well known as DT are they still aren't played on the radio and still aren't as well known as Tool. So there's almost always going to be a bigger dog. Unless you're Pink Floyd. :P