Second tier of "big" bands?

They are very influential in musician and hardcore music fan circles. Your average person, even casual music fans have barely heard of them if at all. There's a big difference between popularity and influence though. The Velvet Underground are influential too. When is the last time you heard them or Can for that matter on the radio? But this is about prog and the prog community. No disrespect to Can or those who like them but other than Lewian no one else has mentioned them as a candidate for second tier so don't shoot the messenger. If we were compiling a list of the most influential bands among indie or experimental artists sure Can would be up there with the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, the Stooges, Tom Waits or who have you but for over all prog not so much. 

Pink Floyd were popular enough(in fact the most popular by far imo)that they pretty much indisputably belong there. Besides they were never really krautrock and sound enough like the other bands. Jethro Tull could make a big six list. I never said anything about Marillion(or PF or Tull for that matter) so please don't put words in mouth. My main argument is that the krautrock bands I listed are all about as well known and as influential as the others. Can are about on par with TD and AD2 so if we had Can in there we would have to have them in also and it could easily snowball from there. We all have to draw the line somewhere. You have yours and I have mine. I don't dislike can but imo they really belong on a list with other "krautrock" bands and yes Can are definitely considered krautrock(as are TD and Kraftwerk but I suppose it depends on the music site and how they label things). I would never put them on a list without TD personally but that's just me I suppose. Yes, it's all opinion. I'm going more by over all popularity especially within prog circles not my personal taste so much and because of that some subgenres get left out. If it was only about my personal taste then Camel and VDGG might make the big six.

 

I decided to remove albums with less than 1000 ratings as you suggest. The two lists then becomes:

 

Based on their highest rated album in the Top 100 list, the top 6 artists are:

 

 

and the next 6 artists are:

 

 

Based on the number of albums in the Top 100 list, the top 6 artists are:

 

 

and the next 7 artists are:

 

 

 

 

Well, maybe we need to expand the second tier then so there are eight bands instead of six and then we can add Gentle Giant and Van Der Graaf Generator. There's no rule that says the first or second tier has to be limited to only six bands.

Well WE'VE all agreed you are incorrect to omit GG & VDGG. We all seem to be ok with Camel. After that it looks like a crapshoot for the other spots & I'm ok with that.

 

PFM and BDMS are both immensely popular bands, and not just in Italy, but among people in the North America and throughout Europe, so I am sure that even in England they must be known.  PP, if you want to base your list off of only English bands, then go ahead, but since you are on a site that recognizes international talent, don't get all huffy when someone else lists bands that might be more recognized than some of yours.  There are a few on your list that aren't quite as popular elsewhere, and I would think that at least PFM is more popular on a worldwide scale than BJH whether they sing in English or not, that doesn't matter.  By the way, they do sing in English and Italian both, and have performed worldwide.  I even own one of their albums recorded live in North America.  The forum is about opinions, so stick with yours and don't argue about other people's opinions when you don't know what you are saying.

This is an international forum and website. Prog rock is international in scope. It really doesn't matter where a band is from to make any tier of "big" bands. If you would get off your English high horse, you would have noticed this a long time ago.

I disagree with Can because they are more Krautrock and not really traditional prog. If you had them then you would have to have Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Faust, Neu, Amon Duul II, Agitation Free, Popol Vuh and maybe a few others.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: ^^ Can there be anyone in England between the ages of 18 and 65 who hasn't heard of Emerson, Lake & Palmer?

Yes, plenty!!!