CYGNUS X-2

Robert Peña

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SPECIAL COLLABORATOR: Honorary Collaborator

Member since: 12/24/2004 • Forum posts: 21342 • Last visit: 3/4/2014 11:27:37 AM EST
Location: Bucketheadland

Progressive Biography

Hi, my name is Robert Peña and I was born on April 4, 1989. Throughout my life, I've always been into music. Although when I was younger, I was into the more popular mainstream music, I grew up on groups such as The Beatles (I have some of my first memories watching films like Magical Mystery Tour and Help!) and Simon & Garfunkel. When I was about 12, my brother got me into Metallica. For about the next year, I was in my mind Metallica's greatest fan, I listened to all their albums heavily and didn't think twice about other music. While I still love Metallica, I don't find myself listening to them quite as often anymore.

My first real dabbling with progressive rock came when I was 14 when a couple of friends of mine were intrigued by the whole Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz phenomenon, so I dug up an old copy of Dark Side of the Moon from my mom's cd collection (she grew up on groups like Cream and Jethro Tull). A couple of months went by and Christmas soon came around to pass. That year, my uncle gave my brother and I both cds. He received Pink Floyd's The Division Bell, and I received Rush's 2112. I consider 2112 to be the first progressive I ever bought because it helped jump start my interest in prog rock. Liking what I had heard I soon bought Exit... Stage Left because it had a nice array of songs I had heard from Rush.

My next real interest in progressive rock came from when the same uncle that gave me 2112 asked me if I wanted to go see Yes with him and my brother (we had already seen Rush that summer). I had heard of Yes before through Owner of a Lonely Heart, but was intrigued at what may happen, so I accepted to go see them. I went out and bought two Yes albums that following week, Close to theEdge and Fragile. Around the same time I began posting on a website called Digital Dream Door (fellow collaborator Ivan Melgar Morey was also a poster there). After I had seen Yes, I was immediately intrigued by Dream Theater (who had opened for them on the night of the show). So my next mission was looking into Dream Theater.

Then on a whim and the recommendation of many people on Digital Dream Door, I bought Brain Salad Surgery by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Soon, I found myself buying many albums completely on a whim without hearing a single note on it (Red by King Crimson being my favorite of those early blind purchases). A couple of months later (based on the recommendation of member DallasBryan), I came to this website and began what I consider the greatest musical journey of my life. Within just a year of my membership on this site, my record collection has almost tripled, and I have now gotten into many many groups.

Here's a short list of some groups that I enjoy:
Rush
Frank Zappa
Marillion
King Crimson
Genesis
Fish
Peter Gabriel
Steve Hackett
IQ
Pink Floyd
Dream Theater
Adrian Belew
Yes
Guapo

My Top 5 Favorite Albums:

5. The Beatles- Abbey Road
4. King Crimson- Red
3. Frank Zappa- Zappa in New York
2. Rush- Permanent Waves
1. The Who- Quadrophenia

Reviews distribution by sub-genre

	Sub-genre	Nb of reviews	Avg rating
1	Eclectic Prog	57	3.75
2	RIO/Avant-Prog	55	3.58
3	Neo-Prog	49	3.59
4	Symphonic Prog	46	3.57
5	Progressive Metal	30	3.73
6	Heavy Prog	28	3.79
7	Proto-Prog	17	3.65
8	Prog Related	15	3.47
9	Psychedelic/Space Rock	14	3.50
10	Crossover Prog	13	3.62
11	Jazz Rock/Fusion	7	4.29
12	Post Rock/Math rock	6	3.50
13	Tech/Extreme Prog Metal	5	3.80
14	Experimental/Post Metal	5	4.20
15	Progressive Electronic	3	4.00
16	Prog Folk	2	4.00
17	Zeuhl	1	2.00

Reviews and Ratings

353 ratings/reviews total Sort by By ratings | Alphabetically | Chronologically(default)

ANDERSON - BRUFORD - WAKEMAN - HOWE An Evening of Yes Music Plus