What Is Progressive Rock? (And Why Do All the Coolest People Like It?) 

You’ve got an insane level of quality for a youtube channel with only ~300 subscribers. Keep going man.

Prog never died, it simply progressed.

At 69 1/2 years old I was there buying albums when prog rock coalesced. Up till the mid 1960's (pop, rock, soul, western, country) music was 2 to 3 minutes long because that was all a 45/78 (rpm) "single" record could hold. Then the super groups (Yardbirds, Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Blind Faith, Traffic, Chicago, Moody Blues, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeplin...) started writing whole albums of great songs many 6,7,8...17 min long songs that would never be "singles" or had to be edited to be a "single". Then came themed albums or album sides with songs with movements which I consider to be the beginning of prog rock. The two I consider to be the 1st prog rock albums are: The Moody Blues-Days of Future Passed (1967, with an Orchestra!!) and Iron Butterfly-In A Godda Da Vida (17 min) with guitar that hint at King Crimson, Keyboards (synthesizers didn't exist yet) that hint at ELP/Yes/Wakeman and a 2 1/2 minute drum solo that hints of...... well hard rock (not exactly prog); but a damn good drum solo anyway. Check them out and form your own opinion.

I was gonna mention Zappa. And I agree he was a genre all of his own. He may well be a contender for a creator of Prog although he was certainly never full-on Prog. But as a musical hero of mine I'd give him his place.

Take a look at those bands in the outskirts of prog, like Alan Parsons Project, ELO, Camel, Saga, Barckay James Harvest, Supertramp...

I like the Robert Fripp definition the best, who said that prog is not a genre, but an attitude, a type of rock music motivated by an urge to innovate, experiment and blaze new trails. By this definition, of course Zappa is prog, as are numerous Italian, French, German, Benelux musicians who didn't rub shoulders with the likes of Genesis and Yes, but followed the same philosophy.

Gotta thank an anime called JJBA for introducing me to King Crimson, which made me explore more about the prog rock genre.

Prog is definitely a thing itself, but it's also a huge influence on other genres. There are a lot of acts that have those one or two songs that might qualify as prog, where they stretch out and experiment rhythmically and harmonically (and lyrically)--in obvious efforts to express themselves and to bring their audiences along. There are also a number of acts that might not truly qualify as prog, but for whom their entire catalog is prog-adjacent. It's made music better.

Van der Graaf Generator, a really underrated prog band

I was a teenager at the start of the 70's. Procal Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pale ticks all the boxes and deserves credit for putting down the first piece of the Prog Rock jigsaw puzzle. Also "Fire" by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, and also The Moody Blues. My take on what makes a Prog band or album, is that it rejectes the American influences of Blues, Country, Rock and Roll, Soul and RnB. and took inspiration from the world of Folk, Classical and medieval/Church music. Two of my favourite bands of the time were Curved Air and Barclay James Harvest.

The Nice (featuring Keith Emerson) were doing prog in 1968.

That sight gag with The WHO was terrific.

Very funny! I always liked the softer side of classic prog (well, in addition to favourites King Crimson and Peter Hammill/VdG), so would also throw recommendations for Norwegian band Popol Ace and Irish Fruupp into the ring

Excellent and very enjoyable video about a major favorite genre of mine. You really know your stuff. I was just bummed that you left out one of the biggest, best, and most important proggers of the mid 70s - Rush. (Aside from showing the cover of 2112 later). Major major players. Can't wait to watch more of your videos!

The Moody Blues 'Days of Future Passed', 1967, is probably the first Prog. Rock album, rather that 'In the Court of the Crimson King', which it predates by two years.

Wobbler is a recent prog rock band ive been really enjoying, merry macabre is a good starting point to them imo

Nice work! I definitely would recommend anything by Renaissance for anyone who wants a more folk directed prog band.

You covered a lot but the main thing that separates Prog from other forums of music is this: Average music has it's theme and it just hangs around it with some garnishment then it returns to the theme and then it's over Prog keeps progressing forward with the theme and in time. Beginning, moving forward 🕕the theme, progessing fordwad,➡️➡️➡️➡️ return to the theme and to the end

Great video man. I would love to hear you talk about the evolution of prog rock into the 90s and up to the modern day. Keep up the good work!

Right on. Thanks for sharing.

The one thing i really like about prog Is How "flexible" It Is, i consider anything from Bent Knee, to Can and Yes and Massive attack as prog, but that's just me

Miles Davis praise results in an automatic sub 🔥🙏 Great video!

The toughest and darkest old school prog act was Van Der Graaf Generator. A revolting flower that opened up for some but not for all. Lighthouse Keepers will know what I'm talking about....

Would love to hear you talk more about caravan! Was glad to hear you mention them

This helped me a lot! I have to research a few music genres that are a bit similar, so this helps a lot!

I don't 'think' anyone has mentioned Focus yet, so I will.

Power and the Glory by Gentile Giant

got into prog at 14 or 15 years old, back in the early 70's...

Well done!!!

Nerd prog rockers be praised. I recommend Bacamarte - Depois Do Fim, superb brazillian prog album.

i have to do a presentation about prog and you just helped me so much

First Crimson album changed my direction of playing guitar as a kid. I'm known as a prog fusion artist thanks to Fripp and Howe. I've played shows with Almost all of my childhood prog rock heros. ❤🎸🎼🎶

Originally was shocked when Rush wasn't mentioned for proggy metal, but later there appeared the 2112 graphic!! Was fun listening, I love the "pretentious hippy virtuoso shit" of the mighty prog. Your talk definitely captures the essential quality of it, I'd say it was the desire to continue experimenting and pushing the boundaries of the journey sparked off in the psychedelia pop era. A huge difference was the album ruled, not the single, the concept album concept mattered. Thanks for an enjoyable listen despite not featuring music 😁😁

Solar Fire Manfred Mann's eart band. Totaly underrated Prog album. Fine melodies,groovy and kind of Funky. The title track has the smoothest 7/8 time signature in prog history 🤘

Great Analysis!

doing a music production project on prog, thanks for info , ill probably come back again

The tech improved a bit pushed by Keith Emerson of ELP and Mr. Moog. Keith continued to experiment. It would take a lifetime to investigate his continual experimentations in music. Others were in exhaustive too. Hundreds of them attributed to this ‘genre’ but many including ELP tried to disassociate themselves with any category.

I saw what you did there! Dewey rules!❤️

I the court of the crimson king album gave me the willies!! Nightmares!! I'm 72 and I started going to live concerts in the 60's. I love prog!! 💋💖💋💖🎶🎵🎸🌵🌵👵🐺😎🖖

I don't think you mentioned it, but Camel are great! Mirage is maybe their best album in my opinion (though I haven't heard it all)

Spot on!

Pretentious, pompous,... Pretty great, isn’t it?! Greetings from Illinois!

A couple of songs from the late 60's that kind of led the way to Prog are "MacArthur Park" and "Classical Gas".

You never mentioned Gentle Giant in this video. One of the most influential bands in the genre.

You should listen to Argentinian prog rock if you haven’t, it’s sublime. You can start with Invisible, it’s on Spotify. I also really like the album Crisálida (by Espíritu)

I like your statement on genres being fluid and unable to be distinctly categorized. I'm not entirely sure what you meant when referring to bands/artists as coming from a different cultural perspective and therefore not being clear-cut prog (i.e. Frank Zappa). Overall, fantastic video. This definitely deserves more views :)

Love the video. But Cream was very much at the forefront as well.. as well as some others you didnt mention.. how about a part 2? :)

I 98% Agree with everything in this video! There are two things I would disagree with: 1: Late 60s Prog definitely needs more recognition for its role in kicking off Prog. The Nice, Procol Harum, and Caravan are definitely Progressive Rock bands that had all the traits of early 70s Prog under their belts before King Crimson. Crimson were simply the band that popularised the style among many listeners in Britain. Though you are correct that it's a bit difficult to pinpoint where the first real Prog album was, and I'd attribute that to the blur between Psychedelic and Progressive Music. I've often considered Progressive Music to be synonymous to Post-Psychedelic, particularly in the 60s and 70s, whereas the more stadium Prog bands that came later like Queen, Rush, Kansas, and Camel were more of a 2nd wave of Prog that was completely disconnected from Psychedelic. But both genres, Psychedelic and Progressive, had the mindset of writing more experimental ideas in order to create a powerful force from the music. They went in different directions at the end of the road, but the path was mostly the same. 2: I think many people would consider artists like Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis to be Progressive, and we have a term for that style of more advanced R&B, Funk, and Soul; Progressive Soul. Something like Living For The City is as conceptual and lyrically advanced as Pink Floyd, while having interesting rhythmic and tonal dynamics and changes in the composition of something like Genesis. Then you also have artists in Rap and Pop that use these same modes of thinking for compositions, so they are called Progressive Pop and Progressive Rap. The former I think is what best suits Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, ELO and even late 70s/80s Genesis. The 80s also had Neo-Progressive Rock, bands such as Marillion and IQ, which was very similar to regular Prog Rock in the 70s, but used more 80s synth tones and production palets. While it wasn't as popular as it was in the 70s, it certainly retained a lot more of the feel than what those 70s artists would later start doing, with the exception of Genesis, but also sometimes including Genesis. The last time Progressive music was truly in the limelight, relatively, was the 90s-2000s with Progressive Metal with bands like Queensryche, Opeth, Dream Theater, Tool, Symphony X, et cetera. These bands definitely had hits and relevance, arguably still to this day, even if it wasn't quite as big as Yes, ELP and Pink Floyd were in the 70s. Progressive is simply another musical modifier rather than a specific sound, meant to highlight the purpose and intent of the music.

I may be biased because I'm italian but Italian prog rock was the best. Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccordo, il Balletto di Bronzo and Le Orme were crazy good. They are the best when it comes to go crazy on the hammond

The first four or five albums by The Enid - beginning with In the Region of the Summer Stars - and a few thereafter.

1. Kate Bush may not have been virtuoso in playing instruments, but she was in singing - she had four octaves. 2. Prog recommends: do you know Curved Air? How about prog band solo stuff like Steve Hackett? 3. Where would you draw the boundaries with other genres like acid rock, space rock, Kraut rock, post rock? 4. Mansun got 'accused' of being prog, especially WRT the Six album. Of course they denied it. What do you think? 5. If you're going to look into genres, and you distinguish between the musical vocabulary or styles and the context or vibe they're put into, what do you think of Goth? Considering there are 8 or 10 different styles/vocabularies that have been counted as Goth/Darkwave and it ends up just being a vibe rather than a style. PS 6. I am among those who count the Moody Blues' 1967 album Days of Future Past as the first prog album, two years before the ubiquitously mentioned In the Court of the Crimson King.

Excellent explanation about Progressive Rock , definitely the 70s was the gold era of prog rock . Started with King Crimson and then followed by Yes , Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd , Mike Olfield, ELP , Genesis of Gabriel era. To me the best for my likes was Jethro Tull , in the 70s this band was impossible to beat . The two Albums from them Thick as a Brick and Passion Play are outstanding masterpieces, also from Yes , Close to the Edge and Tales of the Topographic Ocean, Genesis with Selling England by the Pound and Foxtrot, Pink Floyd with The Wall and Dark Side Of the moon, Mike Olfield with Tubular Bells, King Crimson with Lizard and in the Court Of the Crimson King. I don’t know what you think about Rush ? , is a prog rock band or a hard rock band ?

I guess Kate Bush could be seen as prog pop, maybe!

Hard to argue with any of that. As a musician and massive fan of lots,( not all), of both the progressive element within lots of genres and artists AND a fair amount of the bands that hardcore Prog fans love, I’d say you covered that analysis really well. Your final point is interesting in that members of Radiohead spent time digesting loads of Prog prior to writing and recording ‘Ok Computer’, before recounting in interviews that they thought it was generally all boring 😂😂 “Nothing worth taking away from that genre lads, let’s go and record a three chords and the truth album” Oops !!

did he just use the World Health Org logo to represent The Who..... the hell.... lmaooo!!!

Dear Big Yellow, Always remember the dictum of W.S. Bruford: - "When I was young I thought ALL music was "progressive" . . . that was until I heard country."

Heya guys, absolutely love these (not at all nerdy) sorta genre/band/style discussions.. From as far back as I can remember, Ive always wanted to... compartmentalize Prog bands!! To even come close, for my sanity anyway, it begins fundamentally. Proggy and progressive aren't the same thing. I've always associated proggy bands with having a real spacey/trippy vibe. Yno, your Shine ons... your Peruvian skies etc while when you say progressive, I automatically think more arty/experimental. So like everything else lol but specifically more a Crimson, Zappa or def early Genesis.

Not much on ELP who were as big as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd throughout the 70s. But then again, prog wasn't a genre until the 70s were at an end. It was all rock to those of us who grew up with it when it was all new...

3:20 It wasn’t just once! They had 2 full fourty minute songs that reached number one, back to back

Very interesting video. Prog certainly will cause controversy among its listeners as to who and what it is because it's a very broad encompassing term. Its musical elements can cross a wide variety of genres making attempts to simply classifying it easily very difficult. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder and Prog may be in the ear of the listener. 😊

I could write on English but, скажу на родном, чтобы проще было выразить свои мысли. Я познакомился с прогом буквально год назад, благодаря своему другу и за это время успел познакомиться с основными представителями. Я бы сравнил эту музыку с головоломкой, она не проста для восприятия, поэтому лично мне приходиться несколько раз переслушивать композиции и концентрироваться на этом действии. Прог это не то, что ты можешь включить в наушниках для расслабления или для того, чтобы процесс мытья посуды или другой уборки был чуточку увлекательней, хотя некоторые люди могут и так его использовать. Эта музыка воспаляет твоё любопытство, ты пытаешься искать в ней что-то и о чудо! ты находишь. Следствие всему этому, что коммерческий успех и популярность обходят эту музыку стороной и тут мы доходим до второго тезиса, который я бы хотел озвучить. Группы одноальбомники, которые появились и пропали тут же, порой выпустив какой-то просто смешной тираж в 100 пластинок.Это так странно, что до сих пор, спустя полвека находятся эти редкие пластинки (например последний альбом группы Faust), мне кажется это странным и вот моя теория - В будущем музыкальное искусство настолько деградирует, что занятие музыкой станет чем-то наподобие кёрлинга, но вместе с этим будет изобретена машина времени, которая позволит ценителям прога отправляться в конец 60ых, чтобы образовывать эти самые группы одноальбомники, выпускать один релиз и исчезать, тем самым оставляя след в истории, но не нарушая пространственно-временной континуум.

Gentle Giant: My Fave! Also, they did one punk song: "Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It", from The Missing Piece

The term Art Rock was used in the late 60s and early 70s. Prog is a retrospective term. As a musician I appreciate the level of musicianship in this genre. Nektar

For me it has always been VdGG, Caravan, Soft Machine, Gong, and all the related acts and solo artists. Amazing. More recently I have discovered some greats like lesser-know Gnigrolog (amazing!) and well-know Gentle Giant (whom I love, especially watching them live, albeit on video). I do not enjoy Genesis at all, sadly, but not for lack of trying. Most other prog acts are hit and miss for me. Some good moments, but no obsessive love-affair like I have with the prog of my adolescence. Feel free to suggest stuff based on my preferences. Thanks! Also, I'd love to interview you about prog on my religious podcast! Get in touch if you have the time and the inclination.

Is it odd that I first heard of "The Court of the Crimson King" in a Venture Brothers joke?

lets not forget Amon Dull,Can!! hawkwind.........! I luv magma Thanks for mentioning them!

I like the prog sound although I've only started exploring rock at all. For me the third self titled Deep Purple album (One of my all-time favourite albums) and first (four or five) Uriah Heep albums are fine examples of prog rock.

Prog is a Baroque form of psychedelic rock, Which is fairly baroque already.

Gentle Giant. Hawkwind. Amon Duul.(Sic?). Cheers to all who love Prog n Punk. And all other global Genres, idioms and Styles of Mu$ick.

Brilliant video! Can I make a couple of suggestions? 1. If you're not already aware of it, I would suggest you look up Andy Edwards RU-vid channel. He does a lot of these types of video about Prog 2. Please check out the Swedish band, Moon Safari. They have a new album out on December 8 2023. Andy Edwards has also done a review/interview with them!

I'm a simple man: if it is on prog archives, so it is prog.

I heavily recommend Thirsty Moon. An amazing German prog band, i hardly hear anyone speak about them and in my opinion should be known more

I'd include short-lived Canadian band Secret and Whisper, and Falling Up from Captiva and later. You mentioned Dream Theatre, but not Spock's Beard or Transatlantic.

*******Check out "OU"(pronounced Oh) from Beijing. For me their like Kate Bush, Bjork and Djent. I love Lynn Wu's vocal lines and the Slurry of Lush vocal Harmony layered over some Heavy, Seasoned, Technical music. Btw... Devin Townsend helped produce one of their Albums!******* Just purchased both.👍

Don't forget Stravinsky!

This video is great but I think there should be more talking points on modern progressive rock such as Porcupine Tree or Spock’s Beard

Good video! Basically if musical genres were levels in a computer game prog rock, going from simplest to most difficult, would probably be the last level - even classical music and opera (high art) seem to have less complexity and 'sub-genres' in them, they're a bit more predictable. What similarity is there between, say, Van Der Graaf Generator and someone like Renaissance!? And then there's people like Hawkwind and Mike Oldfield, who helped create their own genres whilst still being prog too... hey, some of it is even accessible, particularly as we got into the neo-prog era! Having just been to the Prog festival in Sheffield (again) I think it's actually prog's USP - not the musicianship, not the concepts, not the bizarre subjects, not the odd time signatures, flutes or Mellotrons, but the sheer diversity of the artists! And the other thing that characterises prog is something I heard about King Crimson - that it doesn't really 'come' from anywhere, unlike most music.

For me, it starts with Sgt Pepper, Freak Out and Piper at the Gates...Next !!!!!

As a life long Floyd fan I've never considered them a prog band...well apart from The Atom Heart Mother Suite when they showed how it should be done!! :)

There's a band Khan with Steve hillage and dave stewart with just one album called space shanty highly recommend giving it a listen

What about pawn hearts by van der graff generator?

It's heavy metal without the Heavy focus :D

Great video but who are “the coolest people that like it”?

The thing about prog, is that it can be anything. Prog is mostly the act of thinking outside of the box. ELO has a lot of poppy songs and it's a full prog band. Yes' Owner of a Lonely heart is a pop song and it's still prog. I think all major bands have dabbled into prog. Tears for Fears' Sowing the Seeds of Love is Prog. Now, modern Prog Metal, is not very prog. A lot of the sounds of the bands are very similar, they follow similar beats, similar sounds and timbres. The thing that makes them "prog" is long songs, very technically difficult, with different movements throughout. But they now do that in a very similar structure. A modern prog band that is incredible is 6:33. They are very different, the lyrics are not serious, they do different things, there's a lot of swing influences and so on.

I like Pink Floyd but for some reason never included them with the other prog acts, ditto for Ian Anderson. I think it's the blues feel of David Gilmour, I much prefer Syd's playing as the Blues is not exactly my favourite genre, though of course one is amazed by some of its guitarists' prowess, including Gilmour. I'm enjoying your Young Person's Guide to Progressive Rock; I was only nine when King Crimson formed.

Magma pioneered the genre zeuhl. Have you listened to any other zeuhl bands like Eskaton, J.A.Caesar, Koenji Hyakkei, Weidorje, Bondage Fruit, Ruins, Archaia?

Is anyone else who was young in the UK in tbe 1970s sick of being told by Americans that the genre "prog rock" did not exist at the time and that it is a name that was only applied retrospectively? Those of us who were there know full well that the music of Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson, Gentle Gisnt et al was definitely called progressive rock (and/or "prog", "prog rock") in the UK at the time the music waa being made.

I was a 70s progger. What killed it for me were the bloated double 'concept' albums like Tales, Lamb & The Wall.

How does Hocus Pocus fit in? Gentle Giant? How about the Who Quadrophenia album?

This video, like most Prog songs, put me to sleep about halfway through.

What do think about Radiohead and Muse in relation to prog?

Procol Harum should also be in your fringe list.

When you have a conversation about prog, you find yourself saying prog alot.... Prog is a funny word

How about aphrodite's child?

I was around when this music was popular, and there was nothing called ‘prog’ rock then. There was something called progressive radio which meant it was a freeform format where the deejay could play whatever they wanted and talk about anything. They tended to play album tracks and off the charts type things like Yes along with Elton John, Joni Mitchell, CSN&Y etc. as if it was all just one happy family. The target of punk was not the ‘progressive’ bands but the easy listening and corporate music of the mainstream charts like ‘the Pina Colada song.’ You have to be rich and in a leisure suit to relate to that. Even Johnny Rotten later admited he liked prog’ music. The Pink Floyd t-shirt was his own and he scrawled ‘I hate’ really just for fun and controversy. His guitarist for PiL was a Yes fan too.

I can't think of any station that would play prog if it came back. We have a couple of classic rock stations but music just isn't what it used to be. ELP is my favorite band.

I feel like without the psychadelic era we may not have prog in the state it is/was.

When you say Psychedelic rock, I tend to think of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish. The San Francisco bands. And I know that there are people out there who will say that it is more that that, but these bands lived, breathed, and wore psychedelia on their sleeves.

2 1/2 more minutes and I would classify this video as a progressive YT video!

A prog rock video without Steven Wilson? Whaaaat?