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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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    Posted: May 11 2020 at 16:04
I decided to just have this be a conversation instead of making it a poll. 

As far as mainstream bands I think the 80's wins. Plus there was more going on with Rush, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and ELP offshoots not to mention bands like Saga, the Alan Parsons project, Marillion and Peter Gabriel all releasing proggy material than in the following decade. In the 90's there really wasn't much at all that was getting any attention unless you dive into other genres. There was Dream Theater and really that was about it. Yes's talk didn't get much attention, KC only put out one album and Genesis didn't really do much either as far as anything the older fans would like. However, the prog underground was bubbling at this time with a lot of new exciting acts starting up like Anglagard, Mastermind, Echolyn, Spock's Beard, Ozric Tentacles, Glass Hammer(yep, they started in the 90's), Arena, Anekdoten, the Flower Kings and of course Porcupine Tree. Plus there were hold over bands from the previous decade such as the neo prog bands and Djam Karet.

So for mainstream and more well known prog the 80's wins. For lesser known prog I would say the 90's wins. There was more lesser known stuff so over all the 90's are the winners imo.


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 11 2020 at 17:35
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Prog-jester Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2020 at 17:21
I'd say 80s underground was way more original and interesting - a lot of Avant/RIO bands actually started in the 80s, some punk bands like Cardiacs or This Heat were really pushing the envelope, Japanese prog was booming, etc. The early 90s prog scene, on the contrary, was all about the sweet 70s nostalgia - as much as I love Anglagard, Dream Theater, Anekdoten and Porcupine Tree, they all were almost tribute acts at first, openly wearing their influences on their sleeves
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Catcher10 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2020 at 19:36
Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I decided to just have this be a conversation instead of making it a poll. 

As far as mainstream bands I think the 80's wins. Plus there was more going on with Rush, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and ELP offshoots not to mention bands like Saga, the Alan Parsons project, Marillion and Peter Gabriel all releasing proggy material than in the following decade. In the 90's there really wasn't much at all that was getting any attention unless you dive into other genres. There was Dream Theater and really that was about it. Yes's talk didn't get much attention, KC only put out one album and Genesis didn't really do much either as far as anything the older fans would like. However, the prog underground was bubbling at this time with a lot of new exciting acts starting up like Anglagard, Mastermind, Echolyn, Spock's Beard, Ozric Tentacles, Glass Hammer(yep, they started in the 90's), Arena, Anekdoten, the Flower Kings and of course Porcupine Tree. Plus there were hold over bands from the previous decade such as the neo prog bands and Djam Karet.

So for mainstream and more well known prog the 80's wins. For lesser known prog I would say the 90's wins. There was more lesser known stuff so over all the 90's are the winners imo.
That's a great post, I easily chose the 80's but you make a good argument for the 90's to consider. All those 90's bands you list are some of my favs for sure and I do call them prog, but not progressive like probably the 80's bands. For sure those 90's bands were not shy about who is influencing them, I don't have a problem with that either, it is simply how it works. The seeds of the 70/80 progressive rock bands sprouted into those 90s bands you listed.

I have to go with the 80's prog, it may be the tail end of the progressive rock era but man was it soooo good!!
Great topic.... 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2020 at 19:38
Originally posted by Catcher10 Catcher10 wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I decided to just have this be a conversation instead of making it a poll. 

As far as mainstream bands I think the 80's wins. Plus there was more going on with Rush, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and ELP offshoots not to mention bands like Saga, the Alan Parsons project, Marillion and Peter Gabriel all releasing proggy material than in the following decade. In the 90's there really wasn't much at all that was getting any attention unless you dive into other genres. There was Dream Theater and really that was about it. Yes's talk didn't get much attention, KC only put out one album and Genesis didn't really do much either as far as anything the older fans would like. However, the prog underground was bubbling at this time with a lot of new exciting acts starting up like Anglagard, Mastermind, Echolyn, Spock's Beard, Ozric Tentacles, Glass Hammer(yep, they started in the 90's), Arena, Anekdoten, the Flower Kings and of course Porcupine Tree. Plus there were hold over bands from the previous decade such as the neo prog bands and Djam Karet.

So for mainstream and more well known prog the 80's wins. For lesser known prog I would say the 90's wins. There was more lesser known stuff so over all the 90's are the winners imo.


 
That's a great post, I easily chose the 80's but you make a good argument for the 90's to consider. All those 90's bands you list are some of my favs for sure and I do call them prog, but not progressive like probably the 80's bands. For sure those 90's bands were not shy about who is influencing them, I don't have a problem with that either, it is simply how it works. The seeds of the 70/80 progressive rock bands sprouted into those 90s bands you listed.

I have to go with the 80's prog, it may be the tail end of the progressive rock era but man was it soooo good!!
Great topic.... 

Well, there are no wrong answers here. I'm just wondering though, which 80's bands or albums do you have in mind?


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 11 2020 at 19:39
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Catcher10 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2020 at 23:35
Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Originally posted by Catcher10 Catcher10 wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I decided to just have this be a conversation instead of making it a poll. 

As far as mainstream bands I think the 80's wins. Plus there was more going on with Rush, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and ELP offshoots not to mention bands like Saga, the Alan Parsons project, Marillion and Peter Gabriel all releasing proggy material than in the following decade. In the 90's there really wasn't much at all that was getting any attention unless you dive into other genres. There was Dream Theater and really that was about it. Yes's talk didn't get much attention, KC only put out one album and Genesis didn't really do much either as far as anything the older fans would like. However, the prog underground was bubbling at this time with a lot of new exciting acts starting up like Anglagard, Mastermind, Echolyn, Spock's Beard, Ozric Tentacles, Glass Hammer(yep, they started in the 90's), Arena, Anekdoten, the Flower Kings and of course Porcupine Tree. Plus there were hold over bands from the previous decade such as the neo prog bands and Djam Karet.

So for mainstream and more well known prog the 80's wins. For lesser known prog I would say the 90's wins. There was more lesser known stuff so over all the 90's are the winners imo.


 
That's a great post, I easily chose the 80's but you make a good argument for the 90's to consider. All those 90's bands you list are some of my favs for sure and I do call them prog, but not progressive like probably the 80's bands. For sure those 90's bands were not shy about who is influencing them, I don't have a problem with that either, it is simply how it works. The seeds of the 70/80 progressive rock bands sprouted into those 90s bands you listed.

I have to go with the 80's prog, it may be the tail end of the progressive rock era but man was it soooo good!!
Great topic.... 

Well, there are no wrong answers here. I'm just wondering though, which 80's bands or albums do you have in mind?
Rush: Signals, Power Windows, GUP
Marillion: Script, Misplaced Childhood 
IQ: Tales, The Wake
Saga: Worlds Apart

These are the ones that come to mind right now.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2020 at 23:55
Probably the eighties just for
Rush
Eloy
IQ
Marillion

the progressive electronic scene was also blooming
Tangerine Dream
Vangelis
J M Jarre
and plenty of others

I like a lot of the New Age in that decade that I consider to be 'light prog' but prog nevertheless
Caudel ,Isham , and the like

Iron Maiden were absolutely brilliant in that decade as well and for me Seventh Son of A Seventh Son and Somewhere In Time are prog!

The best thing about the 90's was the revival of symphonic prog with the likes of Anglagard , Par Lindh and Glass Hammer. There were also a bunch pf British bands with a greater sensibility about music and determination to write their own songs and they could play. I'm thinking Mansun , Radiohead, Blur, Muse and Oasis. They all had some prog influence and some are on PA!  However its not enough to trump the eighties which was more interesting and diverse musically , prog or non prog.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Frenetic Zetetic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 01:22
Wait...there's prog after 1977?!

Cool Wink

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote essexboyinwales Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 03:13
My immediate thought would be '80s (for Marillion and IQ mostly), but '90s is where Ayreon came along....and IQ and Marillion released some of their very best albums in this decade too...

So, I vote for "both equally"Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 03:58
I have a look at my personal favourite stuff, there's much from both 80s and 90s. Let's see.

My avatar Holger Czukay had a somewhat underwhelming phase in the 80s although there are highlights of song length, but in the 90s he did two really strong albums Moving Pictures and Good Morning Story. The live Clash (1997) is even better.
King Crimson's early 80s trilogy is in my view probably the best album triplet ever (and Thrak is good as well)... together with Colour of Spring to Laughing Stock by Talk Talk, which is end 80s, early 90s. The 90s have the amazing debut by Talk Talk spin-off .O.rang and also Mark Hollis' album.
Art Zoyd did well in both the 80s and 90s with Phase IV - Berlin - Nosferatu - Marathonnere I - Häxan; probably for this band 80s will win for most but for me it's a draw.
Cardiacs' run of great albums stretches from the 80s to the 90s as well. I may prefer their 80s every so slightly, but Sing to God is not to be neglected.
Further amazing work came from David Sylvian (probably better in the 80s; the 90s look a bit "identity seeking" but there's good material, too), Kate Bush (80s clearly winning, they have almost all her best stuff), Fred Frith (end 80s Step Across the Border as well as early 90s Helter Skelter belong to my favourite albums), Camberwell Now's amazing The Ghost Trade, Eno & Byrne's groundbreaking My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (both 80s), and some cool post rock cropped up in the 90s like Tarentel - From Bone to Satellite. 

Looking at this list, the 80s will win narrowly, but I can say that these 20 years actually dominate my prog taste. There honestly isn't as much from the 70s that I can list that is up with these (and we can look either at 80s or 90s there on their own), let alone later material.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dougmcauliffe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 04:38
I'm really getting into 80s RIO/Avant Garde, but the 90s were a very special time for prog. You had Death, Dream Theater and Opeth doing genuinely awesome prog/tech death metal. A bit of a Symphonic resurgence and no, I don't think Anglagard is retro prog. I think they have their own sound but whatever you think, dropping that album in 92 was pretty damn balsy! We have post rock coming in (Slint, Sigur Ross, Godspeed), as well as many other great releases (OK computer, Rajaz, Cardiacs etc)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Deadwing Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 04:43
The 90's were a great phase for space-rock with Ozric Tentacles and Porcupine Tree. Also love Anglagard, Flower Kings, Pendragon 90's albums, Opeth and some of Dream Theater or Spock's Beard.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mortte Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 06:27
In Finland I think nineties was better time to prog than eighties. Prog was really bad word here in eighties. But of course then Jukka Gustavson made one really great album and Pekka Pohjola made 6 really good, although most of them have quite bad eighties synth sounds. But in the nineties here were also kind of alternative moving in prog, YUP made really great punkprog album Toppatakkeja ja Toledon Terästä, also Absoluuttinen Nollapiste started and make some good and one great prog-related albums. Wigwam made comeback and made one ok album, Haikara made comeback and made really great album. Pekka Pohjola released his first symphony and two others really great albums, Jukka Gustavson made two really great album and one ok jazz-album.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote progmatic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 09:14
I just woke up and am tired so no long essay here, but I don't distinguish "classic" prog from "modern prog." I divide prog into two categories: prog I like, and prog I don't like. That said, there was more prog I like in the '90s.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 09:48
I'd have to sit down and make a list anyway to give an accurate response from my perspective but I tend to agree that there wasn't so much in the way of new prog bands in the 1980s but some of the older bands were still producing higher quality.  In the 1990s a lot of new bands came in.  

In the 1980s, the Germans were still going great guns, with Eloy and Novalis still doing good work in the first few years, and Anyone's Daughter producing most of their work in the 1980-1983 time frame.  plus a few bands like Amenophis.

In the 1990s, the prog revival in Italy was helped along by bands like Eris Pluvia, Ezra Winston and Il castello di Atlante, the latter of whom were actually a much older band that never did an album until the 1990s
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 10:15
There weren't a lot of newer bands in the 80's because no one told them they could do it. In the 90's bands decided they were going to do it anyway. Wink Actually, some of them started in the 80's but didn't really get going until the 90's. The first proper Ozric Tentacles album was released in 1989(they had cassettes before that). I think the lesser known bands were more visible in the 90's because of a growing awareness of an underground scene(even before the internet caught on and separate from it) so they maybe got a bit more exposure than the underground bands from the 80's. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 12 2020 at 11:24
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 10:40
I'll add a big movement in Polish prog was initiated in the 1980s but flourished in the 1990s with Collage, Albion, Annalist, Quidam, Abraxas, and others
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote geekfreak Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 12:20
I have to say that there`s a positive/negative view point for 80/90`s bands there are a few excellent, great and some not so good ones.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 13:41
How I view these two decades:

1980s = Tangerine Dream, King Crimson, Eloy and Rush kicked a lot of ass.

1990s = Japanese prog and fusion bands kicked a lot of ass.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 16:11
Originally posted by dougmcauliffe dougmcauliffe wrote:

I'm really getting into 80s RIO/Avant Garde, but the 90s were a very special time for prog. You had Death, Dream Theater and Opeth doing genuinely awesome prog/tech death metal. A bit of a Symphonic resurgence and no, I don't think Anglagard is retro prog. I think they have their own sound but whatever you think, dropping that album in 92 was pretty damn balsy! We have post rock coming in (Slint, Sigur Ross, Godspeed), as well as many other great releases (OK computer, Rajaz, Cardiacs etc)

Wait a second. What year were you born again? WinkLOL I didn't know babies or toddlers listened to prog! I joke of course. Anyway, what 80's RIO/avant do you have in mind? There was Univers Zero, French TV, However, Rascal Reporters, and Art Zoyd. What else? 


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 12 2020 at 16:12
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dougmcauliffe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2020 at 16:57
^ So far i'm digging Univers Zero and Art Zoyd a lot. I wasn't around, but compared to the lackluster 80s prog scene I can only assume the 90s resurgence felt specialLOL
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