This is a sort of a 'family tree' of progressive rock that spans from the 1970s to the 2010s; I found that image some years ago somewhere on the net. There are some missing sub-genres and movements but generally it seems complete enough for the people that would be interested to explore the surface and maybe sub-surface levels of prog.

What do you think about this image? Would you add/remove/replace something? Do you agree with the labels and the bands that are their representatives? I am curious to see what comments will come up.

 

 

That's what I felt when I saw it. It's nice though, and by all means, it's almost impossible to come up with a tree like this and not to miss something.

It's not bad for a basic overview but I suspect the Prog Archive police are going to have a field day with this! 

The Dark Elf wrote: Yes had nothing to do with the development of Jethro Tull. So that's plainly inane. And starting a "Progressive Rock Family Tree" at 1970 is even dumber and misinformed. Overall, the tree is a clusterf*ck.

Agreed it probably needs to start somewhere in the mid 60's, and the chart generally does seem to gloss over the 1970's, arguably the most important decade in the genre's history & development.

Blimey, don't hold back.

well at leas they avoidedthe bogus Ecclectic and Crossover

As well as the aforementioned issues with missing genres, when put against the family tree of just three prog acts, it does seem more than a little lacking.

Now that's the kind of prog family tree I like, with more branches than the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. 

Maybe this one makes a bit more sense.

Some of the answers here gave me an idea for another thread related to prog rock history... I will think about it, formulate it and maybe post.

They were in Sounds originally, and then moved onto Kerrang.

Not really. A "continental breakfast" is relatively cheap with a limited menu. 

now which continent is it? 

In what way? Geographically or musically?

Does Italian heavy prog sound distinctively Italian? Ditto Italian folk prog?

What about our German friends? Is there something about Krautrock which is so distinctive that it is set utterly apart from, say, some of the more British avant stuff being produced at the same time?

This has got me in a wee bit of trouble in the past, but I am old enough to remember this argument raging over the years. Did we distinguish these sub-genres because of the nationality of the participants, or because they were so musically unique and the nationality aided this? What if a British band were to come along and record an album which sounded like, say, PFM at their height? Would that be RPI? We do have this problem with Canterbury Scene, which was so called because of a group of musicians who got together and created music and a feel in, erm, Canterbury, and yet we allow bands from, say, deepest Glasgow who make an album sounding like a scene album into that sub-genre, which is so historically incorrect it is painful.

I say this not to be controversial, but to highlight an ongoing debate which will, frankly, never be satisfactorily resolved.

Ah yes, I used to buy Sounds every week back in the early 70's.

I used to love Sounds. Very happy memories of those bizarre and pointless arguments about the death of punk and the rise of Oi Oi, led, of course, by that paragon of British quality journalism. Garry Bushell.

Happy days!

I think maybe the Harmony Encyclopedia of Rock. I discovered some prog bands that way. I think his family trees showed up in other places though. The one at the top of this page I think is from the progressive rock files book by Jerry Lucky. However, I don't think that one was done by Pete Frame(I could be wrong though). 

AWESOME!!!

And, where's the "Drugs" category?

P.S. If you think Prog could have/would have happened without the western mind being exposed to Indian music through the American and European tours of Ali Akbar Khan starting in 1955, and Ravi Shankar starting in 1956--not to mention the influence of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Transcendental Meditation (1959+)--as well as the legacy set down by John Coltrane's post-1963 production, you are vastly under-prog-educated.

Hi,

As can be seen by so many of the posts on PA, I'm not sure that a "nice" family tree makes sense, specially when things are so different between America and England ... where the tree would not satisfy the many ranges and differences.

In my silly way of seeing (you know the old geezer's way!), this is what you get as an example of someone that is not aware, or considering the history of a lot of the music ... it's a chart BASED ON NUMBERS and the "top bands", and as such it really leaves behind many of the other originals that deserve to be there, that were left behind, since the person putting it together, despite the well meaning desire for it, did not have the ability to see the history, and how/when it all came about ... it's still thought by many of the folks that post here, that it all came from an album or two ... and we all KNOW that not only would not be possible, it is virtually unlikely to happen ... (I call this the Adam and Eve Theory by the way ...!!! )

I don't mind these things, but the older I get, the more I seem to notice the lack of ability to see the history of the music as an important factor in the creativity ... and seeing SF, NY, Chicago and other areas pretty much ignored is scared ... and difficult!

Exactly how I feel. It would be an endless argument, lasting a few generations.

I'm IN!

Hi,

I think, that many of us that are older, would likely come up with something that is very different ... many of us heard Miles, and saw many others at that time, whose strength was incredible and it went on to help further a lot of music around the world ... not that it wasn't already happening ... I really think that Miles helped put a face on it, and it was already there, ignored by record companies because many folks were black!

One can not ... create these things, without a history, and a more inclusive history ... not just a history that lasts a total of 20 years ... and dies out ... our music now has at least almost 60 years of life ... and it is scary when it is reduced to just a few years ... and it makes it easy to say that there is a serious lack of educational knowledge that would help the chart and the discussions ... beyond the social media styled comments, of course ... that don't belong in the history!