First Prog

[Ken]

I never knew prog exisited until Aural Moon, to me it was just the best music I ever heard. The first time for me was back in the 70's Pink Floyd. When was your's and who?

[Moonoffruits96]

1st prog was for me yes

[KeithieW]

This could descend into "What was the first ever prog album" thread

I suppose my first prog album was "The Moody Blues" - Days of future past WAY back in 1967.

Pass the sanatogen.

[Rick and Roll]

My crossover was Discipline-era KC. But the first true "different" band for me was Gentle Giant. But that's only because it was one of the more popular Progressive bands. There are so many others!

[jrstudioboss]

Alan Parsons' I Robot, then into Floyd, later Marillion, lost track of the genre in the early 80s, found it again a couple of years ago when I stumbled onto radioparadise.com and kept hearing these great songs by a band with a crazy name "porcupine tree". my cd budget may nevr survive!

[mossy]

It was Genesis. I was aware at the time of Trespass, Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot but I started loving the music at Selling England by Lb. When Hackett left I got into a time warp and no longer listened to any of their new output. But I understand this is fairly common.

Running along concurrently was Traffic. I came in on John Barleycorn, and really got into them with Welcome to the Canteen. It grew from there to 1974 and When the Eagle Flies. So, a four year love affair and then I lost track of their direction.

[mailotron]

Genesis Live back in 1973 I discovered mellotron mainly with Led Zeppelin The rain song

[lotus]

Moody Blues (we used to cover some tunes to impress the girls playing guitar and singing at the beach, specially, nights in white satin.. ) and PF, Ummagumma and Meddle)

[roger]

I read an ad in some music magazine for a band withy "celestial synthesizers" and I never looked back.

the band was Starcastle.

[schupdoggy]

All around the same time frame...

Yes
Jethro Tull
ELP
Gentle Giant
Moody Blues
Genesis
Pink Floyd

Don't remember who was the very first

[eloy1964]

I used to be a real metal head and would not consider anything progressive. I went to see Eloy because they had been signed by 'heavy metal' records and this dumb 16 year old thought they must then be cool. A trip to the old Marquee club in London, a few watered down beers! and Eloy at their best and I was a total convert to progressive rock, especially Eloy.

[Michael]

When i was growing up(70's more so the 80's).My Sisters boyfriend now Husband Now my brother in Law would play all kinds of cool stuff from the early 70's late 60's and to be honest with yous i hated it at first.Then like someone turned on a light i loved it.Whats funny is now its me who is hooking him up with the new prog.Funny how things change .But ill give em this he hipped me pretty good onto Jon-Luc Ponty so all is good.

[NorCalKurt]

from the early 70's Zappa, Yes etc..

[OverHillandDale(Admin)]

I blame George Gershiwn and other eartly 1900 classical composers that fused Jazz and classical music. the only logical next step was blending it with rock. So in the mid 60's I was diggin' Hendrix and Janis, Cream, Doors, like everyone else and also started hearing Chicago, BST, Moody Blues and perhaps what became the most influential group in my life, Yes. Zappa was introduced to me about '68. Genesis came shortly after, as well as Tull and King Crimson.

Being a theatre enthusiast, I remember the early Rock Musicals having a big influence too, J.C. Superstar, Godspell, Hair.

[podakayne]

funny...i'll still say first "real audiovision" was king crimson "i talk to the wind", though i lived in berkeley and was listening to lots of pscho-delic stuff of the hippie era, including early PF that i didn't know was floyd (didn't start tracking music til the 70's — when along came YES) ...so i'd be on track w/dale's hendrix, cream, doors etc., loved rock & jazz but always a soundchaser for the unusual, where else could i end up at but in a progressive vein.

and like dale at that time i was into dance and singing so jc superstar, and hair were the thing! (though to be truthful i like musicals)

[progdirjim(Admin)]

For me, progressive began with Aeolius, (circa 39 A.D.), as he was the first to transpose the 3rd and 7th overtones in the Doric ascension of the original Gregorian chant scales. Also, he had the idea to have the baritones alternate between whole and half notes, whilst the tenors were alternating between the diminished 7th and flat 5. As the timing cycled, he accidentally discovered running a melody line in 13 over the bass in 5 (which Zappa stole, by the way), and what could be more progressive than that?

Yeah, I'm older than I look

[Rick and Roll]

Originally Posted by progdirjim

For me, progressive began with Aeolius, (circa 39 A.D.), as he was the first to transpose the 3rd and 7th overtones in the Doric ascension of the original Gregorian chant scales. Also, he had the idea to have the baritones alternate between whole and half notes, whilst the tenors were alternating between the diminished 7th and flat 5. As the timing cycled, he accidentally discovered running a melody line in 13 over the bass in 5 (which Zappa stole, by the way), and what could be more progressive than that?

Yeah, I'm older than I look

By definition then, this should be in the library!

http://www.sabbatum.com/band

Or a more modern take...

http://cdbaby.com/cd/tcoj

Enjoy!

[Yesspaz]

My dad bought on tape the Journey album "Frontiers" because of "Faithfully" and just listened to that song over and over. I loved it to0 (I was about 8 - about 1986-1987). He used to listen to it loud too. We were sitting in his S-10 in Pearl Park with the key turned back, waiting on Momma and my sister, listening to "Faithfully" about six times. Eventually I begged him to just let it play over onto side two ("Faithfully" ends side one). If you know that album, you know "Edge of the Blade" exploded out of those loud speakers. Daddy reached to turn it down, but I wouldn't let him do it. I'd never heard anything like it. We sat there and listened to "Edge of the Blade," "Troubled Child," "Back Talk," "Frontiers," and "Rubicon." I've been hooked ever since.

And yes, those five songs are prog songs. Period.

This led me to classic rock radio, where I heard some song with a high pitched singer, and it's hooks were so different from anything I'd heard. I was infuriated that the DJ didn't say who it was. Later I heard a different song with the same singer - again, band not named! It took me a month to learn that it was Yes and the songs were "Roundabout" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart," respectively. I've been the Yesspaz ever since.

[MrMagoo]

Damn OHD, my musical journey is almost the same as yours! Grew up on classical & big band, played the same in jr & sr high. A smattering of folk from folk & square dancing. Morphed into Woodstock bands in the early 70's, then KSAN/KSJO/KZSU in the Bay Area started a bit of prog occasionally, and I was running sound for my friends band. Started doing concerts & shows, including JCSS/Hair/etc. My first 2 albums were Yes Fragile & ELP Tarkus. All was lost thereafter...

[OverHillandDale(Admin)]

Originally Posted by MrMagoo

Damn OHD, my musical journey is almost the same as yours! Grew up on classical & big band, played the same in jr & sr high. A smattering of folk from folk & square dancing. Morphed into Woodstock bands in the early 70's, then KSAN/KSJO/KZSU in the Bay Area started a bit of prog occasionally, and I was running sound for my friends band. Started doing concerts & shows, including JCSS/Hair/etc. My first 2 albums were Yes Fragile & ELP Tarkus. All was lost thereafter...

Perchance we may have stumbled upon a recurring motif here. Do you think us proggers have a propensity for the dramatic?