That moment. When you find a prog album you love.

I was about 10, and had never before listned to anything like it.

In a way, i still havent.  

 

Strictly prog-wise, I'd have to say Genesis' SEBTP would be my 4th "cornerstone".  I distinctly remember the moment I first heard "The Battle Of Epping Forest" - on the RADIO!!

 

Other cornerstone lp's , though not prog:

 

"Black Sabbath"

"The Rise And Fall..." - Bowie

"More Songs..." - Talking Heads

"The Modern Dance" - Pere Ubu

 

You challenge the other album to a drag race.

 

The first "moment" for me was not "progressive", a term I am not a fan of but I understand.

 

It would have been in the 60's and the music that "woke" up my senses to music altogether. They were:

 

Gilbert Becaud -- Et Maintenant

Edith Piaf -- Hymn d'Amour

Ray Charles -- I Can't Stop Loving You

Maria Betania -- Carcara

 

Also heard the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Aftermath (thx Dean -- Paint It Black was on that album)  as was Between the Buttons (if I can remember that far back!) ... but the material in those albums was not as big an emotional switch as the other 4 songs were. The Maria Betania song was a vicious political song, btw.

 

The other album that we heard then, at the time, was West Side Story, which was a really big hit, and the music and singing in it, even for a musical at the time, was extremely progressive and already was featuring a lot of modern dance stuff that became huge a few years later in the big metropolitan centers. These things were far better than the "pop music" in general.

 

After that in Madison, WI, in slight order ... Bob Dylan -- Blonde on Blonde ... Beatles -- Magical Mystery Tour ... and I got into the heavies in the late 60's really quick because they were the spokespersons for my generation and how we felt ... period. Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi, Janis, Iron Butterfly, Crosby Stills and Nash, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Santana (before it became crap!), Chicago, Procol Harum, Moody Blues, Kinks ... and the music that was worth it and meant something ... instead of the blah and blah 2nd rate music out there that all of a sudden showed up and was not worth the hassle. I had not heard

 

In my book, too many of these so called "progressive" groups were not worth the mention. But I will never take away the incredible experience that King Crimson blew us up with, or the very valid and important style that ELP showed us int he first 3 albums. But in many ways, they were more "personal" where the others had been more socially conscious, and I had no issue with that detail at all.

 

This is why, for me, progressive needs to stop limiting the groups and the work itself. There is a lot in America specially that should be given credit that never will, because a comprehensive history of the "form" is not possible when most of the world is not shown as it should. But no one tallks about Bob Dylan and how he changed the way that lyrics were done in music ... which one could say had already started with Elvis some ... but took hold in massive fashion when Bob made it big ... because he was the voice of a huge generation ... that led to "progressive" much faster than otherwise.  I'm not sure that KC, ELP or any of the "heavies" in those days would have been successful without the folks before them lambasting the society that we were so dead set about changing. Unless you are modern prog'ist and don't give a $hit!

It's a simplistic question that does not have a single word answer for some people!

 

Why is that so difficult to understand? We're not all morons on this ship of fools, or so simplistic that one song or album was the difference in my life, or YOURS.

 

IT WASN'T.

 

Why is it that some of you folks that admin this board are so thick headed as a fudging brick that you still have to question and spend time trashing people because they see a different color, or ki$$ a$$ to a thread with a worthless answer. I gave you a 100% honest story and explanation -- and if that is not good enough for you, go back to read Cliff Notes dude, and stop trashing Dostoyevsky or Dickens!