I know some find this tedious, but having established (sort of) the 'Big Six' of prog in a previous thread, the discussion did revolve around prog rock's golden era of the 70s wherein our heroes scored big chart successes.  But what about the 80s? My starter for ten is that Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Pink Floyd maintained their positions.  So, who replaces ELP who officially split up in 1979?  I would suggest Marillion.  A complicating factor is the relative success of those members of the Big Six who since went solo - Gabriel and Hackett immediately spring to mind.

I wouldn't include any of the original "Big Six" in the 1980's "Big Six" of prog. For me, the 1980's belonged to the emerging new wave of Neo Prog bands, and with that in mind, here's my 1980's "Big Six" in order of prominence, but not necessarily in order of preference. 

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - September 20 2022 at 13:47

Rick1 wrote: Possibly a slight case for Pallas - IQ and Twelfth Night by a long stretch... Apart from Marillion, I don't think any of these other bands made a dent Stateside...(US readers may want to correct me...)

Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Rick1 wrote: Possibly a slight case for Pallas - IQ and Twelfth Night by a long stretch... Apart from Marillion, I don't think any of these other bands made a dent Stateside...(US readers may want to correct me...) I couldn't even name half a dozen American Neo Prog bands. The only two that come to mind are Echolyn and Spock's Beard, neither of whom were around in the 1980's.  I have to be honest though..... I didn't buy my first Neo Prog album until earlier this year when I bought three albums by Marillion, even though I wasn't a big fan of theirs back in the 1980's   American neo-prog is rare, neo-prog was a European thing, mostly British at first.   Echolyn and Spock's Beard are not neo-prog bands.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Rick1 wrote: Possibly a slight case for Pallas - IQ and Twelfth Night by a long stretch... Apart from Marillion, I don't think any of these other bands made a dent Stateside...(US readers may want to correct me...) I couldn't even name half a dozen American Neo Prog bands. The only two that come to mind are Echolyn and Spock's Beard, neither of whom were around in the 1980's.  I have to be honest though..... I didn't buy my first Neo Prog album until earlier this year when I bought three albums by Marillion, even though I wasn't a big fan of theirs back in the 1980's   American neo-prog is rare, neo-prog was a European thing, mostly British at first.   Echolyn and Spock's Beard are not neo-prog bands.  Echolyn and Spock's Beard both featured prominently in a Neo Prog book I read recently, even though they're not listed as such on ProgArchives.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Rick1 wrote: Possibly a slight case for Pallas - IQ and Twelfth Night by a long stretch... Apart from Marillion, I don't think any of these other bands made a dent Stateside...(US readers may want to correct me...) I couldn't even name half a dozen American Neo Prog bands. The only two that come to mind are Echolyn and Spock's Beard, neither of whom were around in the 1980's.  I have to be honest though..... I didn't buy my first Neo Prog album until earlier this year when I bought three albums by Marillion, even though I wasn't a big fan of theirs back in the 1980's   American neo-prog is rare, neo-prog was a European thing, mostly British at first.   Echolyn and Spock's Beard are not neo-prog bands.  Echolyn and Spock's Beard both featured prominently in a Neo Prog book I read recently, even though they're not listed as such on ProgArchives.  if you cannot see the difference between the sound of the bands you listed above and the sound of Echolyn and Spock's Beard, that's on you then...  No, I can't hear the difference. Echolyn and Spock's Beard both sound like Neo Prog bands to my ears, and up until today, I'd always assumed they were listed as Neo Prog on ProgArchives.

Edited by Cristi - September 14 2022 at 07:11

Back to the OP:

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Rick1 wrote: Possibly a slight case for Pallas - IQ and Twelfth Night by a long stretch... Apart from Marillion, I don't think any of these other bands made a dent Stateside...(US readers may want to correct me...) I couldn't even name half a dozen American Neo Prog bands. The only two that come to mind are Echolyn and Spock's Beard, neither of whom were around in the 1980's.  I have to be honest though..... I didn't buy my first Neo Prog album until earlier this year when I bought three albums by Marillion, even though I wasn't a big fan of theirs back in the 1980's   American neo-prog is rare, neo-prog was a European thing, mostly British at first.   Echolyn and Spock's Beard are not neo-prog bands.  Echolyn and Spock's Beard both featured prominently in a Neo Prog book I read recently, even though they're not listed as such on ProgArchives.  if you cannot see the difference between the sound of the bands you listed above and the sound of Echolyn and Spock's Beard, that's on you then...  No, I can't hear the difference. Echolyn and Spock's Beard both sound like Neo Prog bands to my ears, and up until today, I'd always assumed they were listed as Neo Prog on ProgArchives.  so IQ and Spock's Beard sound the same to you? Really?  Pendragon and Echolyn sound the same?  wow... I  have a feeling you're deliberately misinterpreting what I said: I don't recall saying that IQ and Spock's Beard sound the same, or that Pendragon and Echolyn sound the same either. If you recall, I said that Echolyn and Spock's Beard both sound like Neo Prog bands to me, which is not the same as saying they all sound the same, if you follow my meaning.

Grumpyprogfan wrote: My big four of the 80's Rush Pat Metheny Allan Holdsworth Frank Zappa