How did you find your way to Prog?

I got into prog because when my parents bought
their first real stereo system around 1971, they
bought the 8 track version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Being a church-going kind of kid, I immediately
grasped the story and was intrigued by the words
and music. In fact it remains a favorite album still
today.

In the meantime, I wanted to find more music that
had the same vibe. My older brother was beginning
to listen to Yes and ELP (Genesis came later,
around 1976) and I found a similarity in execution to
JCS. I instantly gravitated towards longer songs,
songs with a concept behind them, and songs that
had a hint of religion, either lyrically or in their
arrangements.

I think a great deal of English Prog rock grew out of
the Episcopal Church and European Classical
Music experience rather than Blues, which so much
of rock and roll drew it's inspiration from.   There's a
spacial aspect to the music, which feels "heavenly"
in some sort of way. While blues-based music
relied on a certain rhythm and chord structure, Prog
threw that out for more complex arrangements and
chord progressions.

So, Jesus Christ Superstar to Yes/ELP to Genesis to
a world beyond.

Pierre

joniox wrote: GFoyle you are fast. You should also get "Songs From The Wood" and "Heavy Horses" from Jethro Tull.

I would have but both of the releases I could find from here were copy-protected (which means they won't play on my equipment) so I have to order them later from the states.

It all started when I was in 7th grade. I took guitar lessons with this guy who was really into Rush. I bought Moving Pictures, and the rest is history, as they so often say. I loved the music, and I asked him the following lesson if he could teach me some. He said he used to play all of their songs in his band when he was in high school in the early 1980s. I was just beginning the guitar, and he said that it was really hard to learn Rush songs. I asked why, and he said, "Cause they're progressive rock." I didn't wanna seem stupid, so I went home and asked Google what progressive rock was. This site came up as one of the first few hits. I read up on Yes, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull, and the next thing I knew, I was a die-hard Prog-head. Thanks to Prog Archives, I now listen to the best and most talented musicians in the world, not some crappy singer like Britney Spears or Mariah Carey.

A half-year ago I listened to Dad's "Dark Side of the Moon" album because an anthology of creative writings at our school was called "The Dark Side of Words" and I brought the disc to school for the whole class to listen to. I'd heard a couple songs on there before but never the whole album, and nobody seemed to notice the music but me. So I went home, listened to it on headphones, and then again, and again, and again and again and again...you get the picture. After that I got "The Wall," and it inspired me to take up bass and buy Pink Floyd's other albums. Then I found this site and used it to find other prog groups, and there you go.

I should be this site's poster child; without this site I'd never have gotten into prog.

 

 

I was listenting already to things from the late 60's The Beatles, The Stones, Cream, Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Airplane, Zappa and the Mothers etc.

I heard ELP's first LP over at a friends house in 1972 I was hooked, then heard Tarkus, then heard Fragile by Yes, then heard Kansas's first LP then heard all early Genesis over the next two years. I also saw ELP in 1972 and 1973.  Of course I didn't call this music prog or progressive it was just Rock along with The Who, Led Zep, Deep Purple etc. 

My uncle is an incredibly huge Prog Rock fan. So one christmas, he bought my brother (who's 5 years older than I) 2112. Now at first I was turned off by the album, but after hearing the album a few more times, I was hooked. Now that may not sound like much, but soon after, my head was swimming with prog-rock. I soon got into Yes (Saw them for the 1st time in September), and after watching Dream Theater open, I got into them. I got into ELP because of a friend, as did I with Genesis, The Dregs, and Jethro Tull.

Well, I fall into the second category, but I must proudly say that I acquired my taste for this music all on my own.

In sixth grade, after having started to learn to play trombone I developed an interest in jazz. Away were the Matchbox 20, Barenaked Ladies and Third Eye Blind CDs!  Somehow I got hooked on jazz in 7th grade, and on my own, considering that my mom usually listens to Tori Amos and the Indigo Girls, so her musical tastes reflected very minimally on me. So, I developed an interest in jazz, and started out with smooth jazz, and then got into the good stuff, and I started buying Miles Davis, Jay Jay Johnson, John Coltrane, etc. Despite this, my old affinity for rock was creeping back, and the two merged, although originally in the favor of jazz. So, I moved from Kind of Blue to Bitches Brew, and after having discovered late 60s/early 70s Miles it led to my discovery of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and Weather Report. After buying most of the albums released by this power trio of fusion groups, I started to listen to Weather Report in favor of the others... after exhausting that obsession nearly ten albums later, I became more attracted to Return to Forever. This, my friends, is where I first crossed the bridge. The particular album that let me discover progressive rock was this one, Romantic Warrior.



I can even pinpoint exactly where I first heard of it! It was when I was reading the review of this album on www.barnesandnoble.com, and i read this little segment:

"The most popular and successful lineup of Return to Forever -- Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, and Al Di Meola -- was coming off the Grammy-winning No Mystery when it recorded its third and final album, Romantic Warrior. It has been suggested that in employing a medieval album cover (drawn by Wilson McLean), using titles like "Medieval Overture" and "Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant," and occasionally playing in a baroque style, particularly in Clarke's "The Magician," Corea was responding to Rick Wakeman's successful string of albums on similar themes. Certainly, the music suggests that the musicians have been listening to Wakeman's band, Yes, among other progressive rock groups. But they bring more of a traditional jazz approach to their sound....."

After reading that, I read about Yes and the first progressive rock album I ever bought was Close to the Edge. What a choice!

Its funny to think now, seeing how I've changed as a person and how my musical tastes have made such a linear and logical progression. From album to album it makes sense, as anybody can understand how a RTF fan could get into Yes, or how a Yes fan could get into ELP.... but going back to when I used to listen to Richard Elliot, Kenny G, and Rick Braun... and then the other night listening to VDGG and Rush? I mean, its crazy...

I found it alphabetically, between "pop" and "prozac."

My introduction to progrock was when I was in the 8th grade. My aunt had bought me the best of Frank Zappa and the best of The Ramones (odd combination) She gave it to me thinking I would like it because it was funny (as I liked weird al at the time) and I started listening to it.  My initial reaction was it was good but not great. Then when I got into the 9th grade I started listening to music that wasn't novelty music. I started listening to The Doors (btw, I listened to the Beatles for years and forgot about them. Thank God I rediscovered them!) In the 2nd semester of the 9th grade, these bands were playing on the platform in the quad area. Everybody in school had an opportunity to vote for your favorite band. The guys in the band were 2 hippies and they had asked us to vote for them after they saw my peace t-shirt (This was in protest of Bush's war)  Since they were nice guys I voted for them, even though I hadn't been present during their performance. Since we didn't know what they sounded like, we asked them to come find us at lunch and play for us. When it was lunch they came and played for us at our table.  I was impressed with what they played so I asked them about the type of music they listened to, classic rock being their answer.  A few weeks passed by without talking to them until one day one of them invited me to lunch off-campus. I agreed to come with him to lunch. When we went to lunch this other guy who I'd never met came with us.  I then later learned 2 things. 1. He was really into Prog (Which I wasn't aware of the existence of) and 2 this guy was really into Pink Floyd, which I had (unfortunately) bought the Division Bell as my 1st Floyd purchase.  I asked him what a good Pink Floyd album was, considering the Division Bell sucked and I didn't know where to go from there. He told me to get DSOTM.  I took his  advice and ended up loving DSOTM. I asked him what this amazing music was called and he'd told me it was Prog rock.  About a week later my friend had discovered Jethro Tull and played Aqualung for me.  I was also amazed by that one song. I asked my mom about Tull and she got her copy of TAAB and played it for me.  After that I had fallen in love with Tull because it sounded so different.  A few weeks later my friend played me an album (Which turned out to be Relayer.) I asked him about it and he told me the band was called Yes and he went on to explain that it was also prog.  I was completely intrigued by this music my friend who looks like the long lost child of Robert Plant played me.  I went onto the website and looked up prog rock reviews and voila! Progarchives appeared.  So I checked out the site and found that Frank Zappa was prog.  I listened to the cd again and was blown away (Although the best of isn't all of his best) particularly by Peaches En Regalia.  I started only spending my money on music and became a proghead. The END

I was born in 1989 so obviously missed the prog boat...No big story here, I just discovered the music on the internet, I've been searching out different things and expanding my tastes for years.