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How did you get into Prog?

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A Bard View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 17 2020 at 14:59
I don't  have a remarkable story for finding prog I just stumbled on to it by sheer luck. I happened to like a meme that had roundabout in it, I liked and did a google search and it all snowballed from there.   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 15:18
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=114605

We've had a number of threads like this but I started in the old days being an old guy...started with bands like The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Zeppelin, etc...and just went from there.  I liked more complex and weirder sounds...than the top 40. When I heard Crimson in very early 1970 at college ...it was awesome and tried to find bands like them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hercules Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 15:22
I got into prog because I got sick of the bubblegum pop that was on the radio in the 60s. Was never a Beatles or a Stones fan, then I heard songs like A Whiter Shade of Pale and Conquistador by Procol Harum, Nights in White Satin and Ride My Seesaw by the Moody Blues and Living in the Past by Jethro Tull.
These were so much more interesting than Engelbert Humperdinck, The Partridge Family and the sort of crap in the charts.
Then I heard From the Witchwood and Grave New World by Strawbs, and that was that. Hooked. For life.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Satoshi48 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 15:30
I'm not sure but I guess it was something like this: I looked for Pink Floyd or some other group on wikipedia, looked for the genres listed under them and found progressive rock. 
It also may be caused by an manga and anime series called Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, the first season had characters such as Tarkus (referencing Emerson, Lake & Palmer album) & Bruford (referencing Bill Bruford the Yes drummer), and the ending theme is Roundabout by Yes. Also in the fourth season there are characters called Crazy Diamond (referencing Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd) Atom Heart Father (referencing Atom Heart Mother by PF) and of course Echoes (referencing Echoes by PF). These references go through the whole series it's now 8 parts long running since 1987, it's my all time favorite series. Perhaps these two situations both turned me in to prog but perhaps more strongly the second:)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 15:33
In the '90s, I was aware of and liked some stuff from Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull. I also bought Dream Theater - Awake cassette and Scenes from a Memory album in the 90s. 

But my main interest in discovering the prog sphere began in the 2000s.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Anders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 16:06
It was just that I listened to a lot of music as a kid, and some of the records I had access to belonged to what one might call progressive rock (Pink Floyd, ELP, Procol Harum and Jethro Tull). This was because my sister and other family members had these on LP. But for a long time, only Pink Floyd really intrigued me even though I liked (and still like) albums such as A Salty Dog and Stand Up. I knew a little bit about Genesis, but only their 80's-90's pop production with Phil Collins on vocals, and it didn't appeal to me at all, and still doesn't.

For a long time I think I was somehow influenced by rock critics who didn't usually look at the genre with mild eyes, so I guess I had some prejudice despite my love for Pink Floyd. Otherwise I was more to art rock, folktronica, classic 60's pop/rock, singer/songwriter and things like that. Favourite artists included the Beatles, David Bowie, Roxy Music and Talking Heads, but also a lot of Danish singer/songwriter. But when I studied at musicology in Aarhus, some of my mates had a King Crimson cover band which I heard, and it intrigued me. They mostly played songs from the Adrian Belew period. And then, after reading an article about prog in an underground magazine called Geiger which discussed the genre more thoroughly, including the criticism of it, I began checking out some albums.


Edited by The Anders - April 17 2020 at 16:21
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Tom Ozric Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 16:22
I guess it was through Pink Floyd, smoking weed, and discovering the trippiest music out there - Amon Duul II, Hammill / VDGG, Caravan, etc. Visiting the local 2nd Hand record shop was a weekly blast - asking the dude at the counter (Doug) what’s the weirdest music here......
But really, when I saw Floyd - Live at Pompeii, 1986 - I was 14, I just knew I loved the long, drawn-out jam-type stuff, heavy on instrumental play, then I nicked the ‘Encyclopedia of Rock’ book from the school library and it went from there. The smoke has cleared, and it’s a serious (and fun) affair to this day.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 16:27
Mine is a bit of an interesting story mainly because having first discovered it as a teen in the 80's(of all decades!)I feel like a bit of an anomaly. There were actually a few different angles so I will try to start at the beginning.

As an 11 1/2 year old I collected pop singles. I then discovered classic rock. One of those singles that I bought was "heat of the moment" by Asia which was probably one of the last ones before moving on to lps and cassette tapes but never thought much about who the musicians were and didn't know of any prog connection. I had heard of Yes because my dad had "The Yes album" (but nothing else by them)but didn't really know them that well. On my way to a local record store by bike I was going to pick up either the first Asia album or a Journey album. For some reason I wound up getting the Journey album(Escape). 

A couple of years later or so Yes put out the 90125 album and I bought that on cassette tape. By this point I was mostly listening to whatever was popular on the radio but mostly mainstream rock. I had stuff by Journey, Foreigner, Styx, Rush(signals), Def Leppard and also a little bit of new wave like Duran Duran and a Flock of Seagulls. I was also starting to get pretty big into Led Zeppelin around this time.

At some point I discovered my cousin was big into Genesis and I found out he also liked Yes(this was before I bought the 90125 tape though)so I eventually got more into Genesis after I realized they were similar to Yes. It was sort of a gradual process. I even had one or two Genesis singles from the days when I collected 45s(no reply at all and man on the corner I think; I might also have had abacab but don't remember). I didn't hear the album Abacab until much later though. 

Around mid to late 85 I started to play guitar and someone(maybe my ex step mother)bought me a guitar book. This book had sections on various guitarists one of which was Robert Fripp. King Crimson was mentioned of course although I also knew about them from my cousin(same cousin I already mentioned). The first KC album I got was "islands" and I hated it so much it almost put me off from the band for a long time. I eventually got some others though and started to realize how good they were even if they were a bit weird at times. I also had a rock encyclopedia book(I think also a gift from my ex step mother)which mentioned bands that I already liked(Yes, Genesis, etc) as being "progressive rock" and so at that point(85/86)there was no turning back for me. I still liked other rock forms(especially classic rock)but prog rock was my favorite(still is). A few years later I discovered the prog underground through magazines which led to catalogs which led to a whole other rabbit hole. By the time the internet came along and by the time I got on it(late 90's)I was reading about people discovering bands I had already known about for ten years or so. 

So that's it. Yes and Genesis were the first two bands that started me on this journey with King Crimson right after them. My brother's friend was big into Rush which led me to get into them more and my uncle was big into Pink Floyd so I got to hear all their old albums from him. 


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - April 17 2020 at 16:29
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grumpyprogfan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 16:45
One of my first albums ever purchased was "Thick as a Brick". All my friends were listening to prog and jazz so it was common to me. And we were lucky to have good record/head shops in the mid 70's. They played music off the beaten path. You would hang out in the stores for hours, listening and talking to the staff, who were knowledgeable about prog. Great import section... I found Gentle Giant and other great bands by accident.... buy blind and hope you would get something you like. No internet back then.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 17:42
The first few Mellotron chords of the song "In the Court of the Crimson King" hooked me as a 12 year old lad in 1969.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote The Doctor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 18:31
I tripped over the decaying prog bodies of Genesis and Yes in 1983.  And never looked back. 
I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote A Bard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 19:13
Originally posted by The Doctor The Doctor wrote:

I tripped over the decaying prog bodies of Genesis and Yes in 1983.  And never looked back. 
Hope You didn't get invisibly touched by genesis LOL  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sidc58 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 19:32
Sometime (I thin k it was 1972) I was watching the late night show called The Midnight Special and I saw Genesis perform Watchers of the Skies and The Musical Box. Tony banks Mellotron sent shivers down my spine and was sort of spellbound by Peter's vocals and costumes. Also I started listening to FM album stations and discovered 21st Century Schizoid Man and many other groups. And the rest is history!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mudpuppy64 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 21:24
Smoked my first Joint. My friend put on some Tull . That was it .  early 70s
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tom Ozric Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2020 at 21:38
Originally posted by Mudpuppy64 Mudpuppy64 wrote:

Smoked my first Joint. My friend put on some Tull . That was it .  early 70s
Which Tull ??
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2020 at 00:03
small baby prog steps 1974-1976 as I went from being an 11 year old to a 14 year old

The Sweet---> Queen---> The Who--->ELP

I knew I wasn't interested in standard guitar based rock music so needed that extra colour that was apparent with bands that used some electronics. I could hear it in a track like Fox On The Run (wonderful intro) while Queen -Seven Seas of Rye was another step. That piano and drums combo is wonderful. Then I heard Baba O Riley and we were cooking on gas. The drums, piano and electronics all come together. Once I got to ELP and Tarkus I was sold. However I never had a wide interest in prog outside of the main players until the internet came along. What was it with all these Gentle Giant and VDGG fans lol. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Spacegod87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2020 at 00:20
Slowly over time.
Although when I was a teenager, I liked, 'Long distance runaround' but that was about it.

Jethro Tull was definitely the gateway band for me though, not Yes. 
I wanted to listen to other 70s bands after listening to Deep Purple, Rainbow, Zeppelin, etc. for so long, and I remember thinking about Tull, "Hm, this sounds kind of odd, but I like it." and then came the Moody Blues, Pink Floyd and Kansas. Then Yes, Gentle Giant and Camel. And then Genesis. I hated Genesis for the longest time, now I think they're one of the best prog had to offer.

Finally, it was Jazz fusion and Zeuhl. And most other prog genres.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Progosopher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2020 at 00:20
As a tween I listened to a lot of AM radio, but that was a time when Yes, Tull, ELP, and a lot of the proto-prog and prog-related bands were played regularly. When I started collecting at the age of 14 in the mid-70s I was into Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath mostly, but there were the above mentioned bands as well. The Prog bug really hit me in 1977 and I became both a major Yes-Head and Tull-Skull. Studying guitar at the time also helped me appreciate the music better.
The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2020 at 00:22
Originally posted by sidc58 sidc58 wrote:

Sometime (I thin k it was 1972) I was watching the late night show called The Midnight Special and I saw Genesis perform Watchers of the Skies and The Musical Box. Tony banks Mellotron sent shivers down my spine and was sort of spellbound by Peter's vocals and costumes. Also I started listening to FM album stations and discovered 21st Century Schizoid Man and many other groups. And the rest is history!

I also saw that performance on Midnight Special and was hooked on Genesis!!  I was already a huge fan of Yes, ELP and KC at the time, but only knew about Genesis from music mags like Circus. 

This is the actual performance, it was magical!


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Doctor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2020 at 00:32
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

small baby prog steps 1974-1976 as I went from being an 11 year old to a 14 year old

The Sweet---> Queen---> The Who--->ELP




Interesting enough, I just really started getting into The Sweet in the last few years, long after I got into ELP, Yes, Genesis and Queen  But they're fun and they had more going for them than just the bland stylings of a lot of their contemporaries.  I think there was actually some heat between The Sweet and Queen over who originated the multi-part vocal style that they both used.  While Mercury, May and Taylor beat them as far as talent, there's something about Connolly, Scott and Priest that was pretty damn cool too when it came to the vocals. 
I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
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