Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: progaardvark wrote: So, this may be a good starting point on determining which bands could make up the "big six" of the 1980s: https://tinyurl.com/2p98ttb9 (this is a tiny URL for the top 250 albums of the 1980s on PA) So Univers Zero, Eskaton, Cardiacs & Voivod are in with a shout!

To me the top 6 are the six that brought mee exieting sounds with progressive ideals, my favourites are as follows

SAGA
Marillion
Japan
Rush
Cardiacs
Controversial choise
Ultravox

Saperlipopette! wrote: Cosmiclawnmower wrote: Saperlipopette! wrote: Rick1 wrote: The Big Six - of the 80s? The simplest answer: There's no such thing - for a reason. There was a Big Four of Thrash Metal in the 1980's. But not in the 1990's. Same thing here. I suppose U2, Simple Minds and Big Country were the 'Big 3' of.. well i'm not sure actually.. big, overblown, stadium-pomp- rock in the 80's?? U2 certainly openly decried any perceived 'prog' influences.. Simple Minds and Big Country perhaps more open minded to a degree.. i cant stand U2 but have a soft spot for the Scots contingent.. Actually (briefly) Runrig were quite big.. Apart from the UK NWOBPR at the start of the 80's, Marillion were the only big venue fillers.. Rush, Zappa.. It was mostly padded shoulder jackets with sleeves rolled up and bad mullets There's probably a big four, five or six 1980's Stadium Rock, New Romantics, Synth Pop, Sophistipop, Hair Metal, Post Punk, Indie, Art Pop, Italo Pop etc... but an 80's Big Six of prog rock feels absurd to me. Prog wasn't really Alive and Kicking in that decade, and about as relevant as... Be Bop.

Someone earlier mentioned that Iron Maiden had three prog albums in the 80s. Really? What were they? As far as I know only Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son could be considered prog or prog metal (I think maybe they were trying to jump on the still nascent prog metal bandwagon). 

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Someone earlier mentioned that Iron Maiden had three prog albums in the 80s. Really? What were they? As far as I know only Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son could be considered prog or prog metal (I think maybe they were trying to jump on the still nascent prog metal bandwagon).

^ I concur that they were big in - at least parts of - Europe. Mid 80s I saw them at the Ahoy hall in Rotterdam that at that time in concert set-up could host at about 10.000 people (after renovation and the suppression of the velodrome this is now 16.000). And if I remember well, they had at least two dates there...

progaardvark wrote: Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: progaardvark wrote: So, this may be a good starting point on determining which bands could make up the "big six" of the 1980s: https://tinyurl.com/2p98ttb9 (this is a tiny URL for the top 250 albums of the 1980s on PA) So Univers Zero, Eskaton, Cardiacs & Voivod are in with a shout! I'd love to add Present, but I'm not sure if two albums is representative enough for an entire decade. But, wow, they were two amazing albums!

Edited by David_D - September 17 2022 at 14:58

I'm not sure what is meant by Big Six of the 80s.

Do you mean new Prog genres, like Progressive Metal?

Or do you mean bands who started gaining a foothold or were still holding strong in the 80s?

The original Big Six ...
King Crimson
Pink Floyd
Yes
Jethro Tull
Genesis
Emerson Lake & Palmer

These bands, or remnants of them, were still holding strong in the 80s. However, Genesis went pop and ELP became Emerson Lake & Powell. Yes started with Trevor Horn on vocals and Geoff Downes on Keyboard (still with Steve Howe) and then it morphed into Jon Anderson on vocals and Tony Kaye on Keyboard with Trevor Rabin on guitar. Both Drama and 90125 are amazing albums! King Crimson was incredible at this time, with Bill Bruford and Adrian Belew. Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason was huge, even though it typically gets a low rating since Roger Waters left, but to my ears it is way better than The Final Cut. Emerson Lake & Powell got a lot of radio airplay with Touch and Go.

So, by normal musical standards (with the usual disclaimers), all made tremendous impacts even in the 1980s.

If you want a new Big Six, then you might consider ...

Rush was at their peak commercially, so you'd probably want to include them.

Marillion

Alan Parsons Project

Sky

Saga

Kayak

Gentle Giant

Asia (Prog related or prog, depending on who you ask)

Caravan

Hawkwind

Talk Talk

Kansas (rendition with Steve Morse)

Camel


Prog Metal coming on the scene

Iron Maiden (Prog related or prog, depending on who you ask)

Watchtower

Fates Warning

Queensryche

King's X

Voivod


Prog Artists

Frank Zappa

Bill Bruford

Allan Holdsworth

Kate Bush

Peter Gabriel

Tori Amos

I'm sure that there were a lot of others, but those are some who come to mind.

Cosmiclawnmower wrote: Saperlipopette! wrote: Cosmiclawnmower wrote: Saperlipopette! wrote: Rick1 wrote: The Big Six - of the 80s? The simplest answer: There's no such thing - for a reason. There was a Big Four of Thrash Metal in the 1980's. But not in the 1990's. Same thing here. I suppose U2, Simple Minds and Big Country were the 'Big 3' of.. well i'm not sure actually.. big, overblown, stadium-pomp- rock in the 80's?? U2 certainly openly decried any perceived 'prog' influences.. Simple Minds and Big Country perhaps more open minded to a degree.. i cant stand U2 but have a soft spot for the Scots contingent.. Actually (briefly) Runrig were quite big.. Apart from the UK NWOBPR at the start of the 80's, Marillion were the only big venue fillers.. Rush, Zappa.. It was mostly padded shoulder jackets with sleeves rolled up and bad mullets There's probably a big four, five or six 1980's Stadium Rock, New Romantics, Synth Pop, Sophistipop, Hair Metal, Post Punk, Indie, Art Pop, Italo Pop etc... but an 80's Big Six of prog rock feels absurd to me. Prog wasn't really Alive and Kicking in that decade, and about as relevant as... Be Bop. Yep, kinda what i was saying

I suppose. But I said it better.