Who are "The Beatles" of Prog?

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: There is no prog equivalent of the Beatles.

True dat. With each record from the Rubber Soul/Revolver period forward, they were out on their own doing stuff that hadn't been done. I mean, I love Piper (just about the only Floyd I love) and I own S F Sorrow, but neither were quite like Sgt Pepper from the same year. And each Beatles album from the mid 60s on is widely considered a groundbreaking classic. You couldn't say that for Yes, Genesis, Crimson, ELP, etc, even during their heydays. Jaxon of VdGG once was quoted as saying that once Sgt Pepper came out, it opened everyone up to the possibilities of what could be done with rock music, it was a cultural event (Hammill said the same about the song "Tomorrow Never Knows"). That couldn't be said for anything put out by Genesis, Yes, et al. (well, maybe for ITCOTCK, but after that KC was on the runmill just like all the other Prog acts). So, there is no Beatles equivalent in Prog.

I'm in the camp of those who consider Floyd to be progressive (small 'p') but not Prog (people have different views on that, I know). But if one does allow for Floyd to be included as a Prog band, then they probably would be the closest to The Beatles. In the 70's, every album was greeted by much hoopla (radio went crazy, and everyone knew about the new Floyd album, whether you liked them or not). And they seemed to be respected by the critics, each album was something of an event (sort of like Zeppelin). That wasn't so much the case with Genesis or Crimson. I even remember TV commercials for some of their albums when they came out (definitely The Wall). Never my cup of tea, Floyd, but no denying that they were huge as far as having an impact on a pop (rock)culture.


Edited by bucka001 - September 05 2014 at 06:25

Svetonio wrote: Beach Boys might be a good equivalent of the Beatles, but for some unfathomable reason, they are not on the PA proto-prog / prog related list of the bands

Hmmm, Pet Sounds not Proto? Does anyone know why?


Edited by SteveG - September 05 2014 at 08:32

chopper wrote: Svetonio wrote: Beach Boys might be a good equivalent of the Beatles, but for some unfathomable reason, they are not on the PA proto-prog / prog related list of the bands But they're not a prog band by any stretch of the imagination, so they can't be the Beatles of prog.

Not even proto prog?


Edited by SteveG - September 05 2014 at 08:34