Most influential Prog Bands

What bands would you say are the most influential bands in the Progressive Rock genre for each decade starting with the 70's?  I'm especially interested in hearing what people would say about the 2000's and on - it seems like when you get that close to today, it's hard to really say who has been influential.

Haha, that's exactly what I was saying!  But I'd love for you to take a stab at it anyways - it would be interesting to see what people come up with and how different everyone's ideas are.

For 2000s I think

We can't say it.

I don't know if I'd agree that Rush were the first Progressive Metal, in the same way that I don't know if I'd agree with someone who said that Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath were the first Metal bands.  Were they actually metal, or were they precursors to metal?  They were definitely heavier than other bands before them, but does it make them metal?

And I think it's easy to say who was most influential - who was the most talked about?  Who sold the most albums?

I started a thread a while ago about doing a History of Progressive Rock radio show, and a couple people threw Magma in that thread as well, but I honestly never heard of them until this forum.  Were they really well known, or just the favorites of a few people on here?  Honestly, I'm not trying to offend those people who love them, but are they really influential?

in the 60s, the Beatles, Procol Harum and Moody Blues  and maybe also Pink Floyd
70s (69), King Crimson, , Roxy Music, Kraftwerk, defenitly Pink Floyd, Genesis, Return to Forever,
80s,  Saga,
90s, Radiohead, Neurosis, Tool, Meshuggah

I don't know if there are truly any influential Prog Bands in the 2000's. As an entire movement, it seems that "Prog" originates in the 60's with The Beatles and King Crimson, but from that point was picked up by pioneers. All those big time Prog names we all name off (Rush, Opeth, Pain of Salvation, The Mars Volta, etc.) I think simply developed the concept of Progressive music and mixed it into their own preferred field of music making. There seems to definitely movers and shakers of prog (those named above) who actually helped progress progressive music, but I don't think they are actually the most influential, especially considering the vast amount of sub-genres of prog found under progressive labels. That's maybe complete nonsense, or actually somewhat true, but that's just my 2 cents.

Influential....where?  And FROM where?  For example, there are non-English European prog bands who had quite a bit of influence on later groups.  (PFM comes to mind.)  And if we are talking influence ON non-English European bands, then Gentle Giant would have to be pretty close to the top of the list (along with Genesis, Yes, ELP and Floyd).

Originally posted by dtguitarfan I don't know if I'd agree that Rush were the first Progressive Metal, in the same way that I don't know if I'd agree with someone who said that Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath were the first Metal bands.  Were they actually metal, or were they precursors to metal?  They were definitely heavier than other bands before them, but does it make them metal? And I think it's easy to say who was most influential - who was the most talked about?  Who sold the most albums? I started a thread a while ago about doing a History of Progressive Rock radio show, and a couple people threw Magma in that thread as well, but I honestly never heard of them until this forum.  Were they really well known, or just the favorites of a few people on here?  Honestly, I'm not trying to offend those people who love them, but are they really influential?

Originally posted by Zombywoof Its interesting to see what everyone has to say on this subject. I still don't get why everyone comes back to The Beatles. To me, they are a rather overhyped pop group and have very little to do with prog. Or perhaps I'm listening to the wrong Beatles material.