NOTE: I may have made this thread before. I can't remember. Someone close it if I have.

So, I'm voting Genesis. Not because I love Genesis, but because no prog band at the time sounded quite like them, and yet loads of bands after their heyday (well, proggy heyday) are compared with them, and nearly every neo prog and post 70s symphonic prog band claims inspiration from them. And I am yet to here an album that sounds like Selling England by the Pound or Duke.

Went with Genesis.

1. Pink Floyd

2. Genesis

3. Rush

4. Yes

5. ELP

6. King Crimson

As for influence it would be different. If we are talking influence in hipster/music snob circles it would be PF then KC.

As for strictly influence in prog without taking sales into much consideration: 

1. King Crimson

2. Genesis

3. Yes

4. Pink Floyd

5. Rush

6. ELP

Prog popularity(as in over all popularity among prog fans):

1. Genesis

2.Yes

3.King Crimson

4.Pink Floyd

5.ELP/Rush tie

There might be one way to determine which was the most influential: round up every band in the world and see which prog band they take the most inspiration from. God help the person who does that. 

I'm tempted to say Yes but I'm leaning towards KC. If it wasn't for King Crimson you wouldn't have Yes, Genesis or even the whole genre as we know it. 

I personally much prefer Crimson but I see more bands following the Yes symphonic approach rather than KC's more angular stuff. For pure impact of one album then yes its' KC - ITCOTCK.

Yes, at their poignantly brief peak.  I just don't think anyone else was in the same universe.

Nope. As someone who studies album sales of certain bands intently I have to say I disagree with some of this.

First of all it's true that the first three albums went gold but in the case of the second and third only a few years later and not when they were first released. The first album didn't go gold until the 90's. Also, POKR and Leftoverture went four times platinum not more than that. If they sold more it hasn't been documented by the riaa(maybe someday but not as of yet). Finally, Monolith did not go platinum. It "only" went gold. If it has gone platinum then it hasn't been documented. It is certainly possible albums have sold more than what the riaa reports(they can only certify something if it's requested and since it costs money to make that request not all record companies do that until they are sure it's worth it if they do it at all)but we can only know what is official. 

Artistic success = King Crimson

Influential Success = Really only one of those bands falls away and that's ELP. All the others have been largely influential.

Oops, my bad on that one. Knew I shouldn't have trusted my memory. Still though, pretty good numbers for a band out of bumblef**k nowhere!

Well, like I said it's quite likely they have sold more then what is listed anyway. That holds true with other bands. For example, Dark side of the moon is listed as 15 million but that is from 1998. I'm pretty sure it has sold at least 22 million by now. Close to the Edge is certified as platinum(also 1998) but has probably sold at least 1.5 by now and maybe even 2 million. Who knows. There's probably other examples too. 

Monolith was listed on wikipedia at one point as selling one million but that hasn't been verified on the riaa website so it can't be considered official. I'm an editor on wikipedia so I had to change that so it only showed gold status. Trust, me that was hard to do. ;) I dont mind someone changing it back as long as it reflects the truth but so far no evidence to suggest it has gone platinum yet(only gold).

Floyd - made 3 fantastic albums but then 'died' as the band started to split apart

Genesis - nowhere near 'interesting enough'. Banks didn't embrace the keyboard tech enough

Yes - far too hung up on the whole cosmic thing it almost became a parody of itself

Rush - Yawn , not even really 'progressive'

ELP - Like Yes became a bit of a parody of itself especially around the time of Fanfare For The Common Man

so the clear winner is King Crimson

NEVER became a parody of itself.

ALWAYS remained fresh and inventive

STILL sold plenty of albums

AND massively influential

I'd like the OP to make it BOLD it's not about commercial success.... or even rethink the title, because frankly, successful = wealth + fame + recognition, mostly!

Back to the topic.

Pink Floyd - inspired many people outside of prog, but their most "famous" albums are easy listening really

Genesis - too little recognition in the 70s, maybe the most "obscure" of the lot in pre-Duke era. It must be said they influenced a heck load of bands later on, especially in the Neo Prog days

Yes - well they had recognition in prog days, had the money, inspired some artists - although their style and technical prowess was hard to mimic. Definitely a very successful and quintessential band, could be my pick

Rush - not that proggy, I think they influenced the nerdy crowd and maybe 90s prog metal, but for prog rock, they arrived too late

ELP - maybe the biggest name in prog rock, commercially, in the 1970-73 era. Emerson was a household name, Lake was too, and they lived up to the hype. They really fell out of favor later and never really "redeemed" themselves outside of prog circles. As richardh mentioned, "self parody" was a problem

So I pick King Crimson

I'd argue 9 out of 10 people will recognize the name Pink Floyd, less will know Genesis, ELP, and Yes - the rest don't stand a chance lol.

There's alternative and metal fans who like KC. The same thing with Porcupine Tree. I would say all of these bands probably have some kind of following or fans outside of strictly prog circles though. That's what happens when a band reaches a certain level of fame and notoriety. With some it's probably more on the classic rock side(PF, ELP, Yes) and with others it's more indie and alternative(KC and PF and to some degree Rush). Genesis probably are a mixture of those with probably a lot of "pop" fans also. Most metal fans are probably more into Rush, KC and PF then any of the others though.

Most people who like prog anyway.  

Also big in the anime scene. My younger brother rambled on for 5 minutes about 'JoJo's bizarre adventure' the first time I mentioned King Crimson to him.

It's Crimson-mania....well maybe not to that extent, yet.

and the ranking was:

KC

Floyd

Yes

Genesis

ELP

Does that include KC concerts? 

I think I only heard them one time in public and that was in the parking lot of a book store. A guy was  playing something from Discipline in his car. This guy was pretty crazy because he claimed to be the guy who wrote the lyrics to some of their seventies albums. I know he was lying because he said the guy's name wrong(he was pretending to be Richard Palmer James).  I really can't think of anytime hearing them in public other than that one time though oddly enough. There was a guy playing a mixed KC disc(or tape) in his suv cd player but I won't count that because that was in the parking garage during a prog festival. 

The exact same reason I voted Yes. This seems to be what the OP was looking for.

Great post, and agreed!

Yeah, kind of weird that their biggest album(sales wise) isn't one that is very representative of their signature sound and style but I suppose you could say the same about Genesis. These days their most defining album however seems to be close to the edge. If you look up lists online of not just prog albums but even classic rock albums ctte usually pops up there somewhere and if it's a prog list it's usually at or near the top. 90125 rarely gets mentioned unless you are talking about 80's albums specificially and even then there are several others that are rated and ranked higher. 

To be very serious about this you would almost have to research what other bands say. Newer bands would probably say Rush and Pink Floyd. The older the "newer" band is you will start to see King Crimson Genesis and Yes mentioned.

What I think would happen is you will get more that a newer band is inspired by a particular musician rather than the band as a whole. 

In that case I would say Chris Squire, Neil Peart probably lead that pack. Phil Collins is always noted as an excellent drummer and Geddy Lee with his 3 ring circus talent bass, keys and vocals. We all love Steve Hackett and his playing, but rarely do you hear newer bands cite him as an influence individually.

I don't know how to answer but I really feel that Genesis, KC and ELP would be low on a list like this. As progressive rock fans we love these bands, I just am not sure other bands do.

I can't really disagree with that. King Crimson is starting to get this big hipster following or something. Actually they have probably had it for a while now but it's hard to tell since I don't really hang out in record stores like I used to. At some point just by judging things online they seem to be popular among younger prog fans and probably younger fans in general. I would be willing to bet that if you went to a KC show these days there would be a lot more younger people(say under 35) there than at a Yes show. Last time I saw Yes(the ARW version) it was almost like going to an AARP convention. Unless you are talking about hardcore prog fans Yes just doesn't seem to have many younger fans(for whatever reason). Also, I've noticed that that the number of "likes" for KC's facebook page is growing rapidly while the one for Yes is declining(as in people are clicking unlike for the band Yes). I wouldn't be too surprised if at some point KC's over all popularity exceeds Yes since they seem to be on the way to doing that already(maybe it's already happened. Who knows.).

It's......"Take off eh!"

If I had to posit a guess:

KC's popularity has increased because their music is now on streaming services. It's certainly why I've been listening to their albums from the 80s onwards, whereas previously, I had not.

Yes's popularity is decreasing because the official "Yes" is barely Yes anymore. Sure, they've had their fair share of line-up changes, but having Jon Davison (who is ok but not amazing or anything) front a bunch of geezers is not exciting. I saw them in Reno in 2017, and was unimpressed. In a sad way honestly. White had been injured recently and only played for some of the show. Howe can't play like he used to. Downes is one the worse keyboard players they've had, so having him on board isn't anything to be amazed by. The best one in the bunch was probably Billy Sherwood honestly. ARW are doing much better at carrying the Yes torch in my opinion, and they even keep the fan pool wide by playing stuff from the 70s to early 90s. Saw them at the Greek in LA in 2018, and it was a pretty fun show. Either way, at 19 and 20 years old respectively at each concert, I was one of the youngest people there.

KC has been an improv band since the mid-70s. While they've also been a revolving door of musicians, Fripp's music lends itself to flexibility. So having fresh younger members mixed in with the old guard helps a lot. Yes are a little bit stuck in tradition. So not only are KC gaining new fans, but Yes seems to be losing even old ones.

Gotta be ELP by the OP's criteria.

Much maligned but loved deeply by their fans, they were a force to be reckoned with. Innovators that were unmatched, and it was ELP all the music all the time.

But to quote Tyrell:

"The light that burns twice as
bright burns half as long.  And
you have burned so very, very
brightly"

You would be wrong in my case, though I obviously can’t speak for any other who voted for Floyd.

While, without reading the OP, the answer is clearly Floyd, in my opinion the answer doesn’t change for me, when it comes to influence (ie what the OP asks, as opposed to what the poll migh otherwise imply).

KC is undoubtedly influential, and I can understand why they get the votes, but I don’t think they are anywhere near as influential as Floyd, Genesis or Rush. Krimson is more influential, only if you stay with prog spheres, in my opinion. Because of a more mainstream and commercial appeal, Floyd, Genesis and Rush have been influential both within and outside prog.

Without thinking about it too much, I would say the order of overall influence is along the order of Floyd > Rush > Genesis > Krimson > Yes > ELP (which, just in case you are thinking it, does not at all match my personal order of favourites).

Where's Tull?

Didn't JT influence Rush or is this article below "fake news"!?

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rush-geddy-lee-favourite-live-band-jethro-tull/" rel="nofollow - https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rush-geddy-lee-favourite-live-band-jethro-tull/