Progressive Rock (also known as Prog Rock, or simply Prog) is a musical genre that was initially developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s and had its golden age in the first half of the 1970s.
The late 1960s and early 1970s was a time of musical exploration. Young musicians experimented with new musical instruments and incorporated and combined various musical genres in new, unexpected ways.
Progressive Rock was a natural outgrowth of the experimental Psychedelic period. What took Progressive Rock to another level was that the musicians who got involved had a more developed understanding of music theory and musical history.
Early progressive rock mixed rock with blues [SBB, Camel], classical music [Moody Blues, The Nice, ELP], folk [Renaissance, Gentle Giant, Strawbs], and jazz [Soft Machine, Caravan] elements, sometimes under the influence of hallucinogenics for psychedelic music. In addition to these musical influences, progressive rock musicians added other art forms such as literature, theater [Genesis] and innovative graphic design.
Early Progressive Rock
Although there are different perspectives about the beginning of progressive rock, early pioneers included the Moody Blues, Soft Machine, The Nice, and Pink Floyd. Experimentation by the Beatles, including one of the early uses of mellotron on “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and ambitious song suites for the second half of Abbey Road, was also highly influential.
The Moody Blues released a landmark album titled Days of Future Passed in 1967 that mixed rock and classical music in the form of a symphony orchestra. The original project, as conceived by the Deram record label, involved remaking Dvorak’s New World Symphony, but the Moodies decided to go with their own compositions instead.
Another British band called The Nice, led by keyboardist Keith Emerson, put out five albums in the 1960s and 1970, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (1967), Ars Longa Vita Brevis (1968), Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It (1969), Elegy (1970) and The Five Bridges (1970) that fused rock with classical music and jazz elements.
The Nice – The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack
Pink Floyd, founded in 1965, released The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) and A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) where they combined pop and psychedelic rock. With the departure of Syd Barrett and the arrival of guitarist David Gilmour, Pink Floyd steered towards a progressive rock direction, adding extended musical pieces, additional sound experimentation and incorporating electronic effects. Pink Floyd’s progressive era started with Ummagumma (1969) and Atom Heart Mother (1970).
The 1970s
The early 1970s produced some of the most iconic and memorable progressive rock acts of all time. Leading artists in the 1970s encompassed British groups Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, King Crimson, Yes, Gentle Giant, Van der Graaf Generator, Renaissance, Caravan, Jethro Tull, Curved Air, Gong, Camel, Greenslade, and Barclay James Harvest.
Simultaneously, progressive rock sprouted throughout the rest of the world. Italy produced some of the finest acts and one of the most prolific scenes with first rate bands that rivaled the British acts in creativity and quality. The top Italian acts at the time were Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso (also known as Banco), Celeste, Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Le Orme, Latte e Miele, New Trolls, and Quella Vecchia Locanda.
What stimulated the Italian musicians was their more comprehensive appreciation for classical influences and the incorporation of Italian folk influences.
In other countries, progressive rock was mixed with folk music as well. In Spain, bands combined progressive rock with flamenco [Triana, Iman, Cai] and Celtic music [Granada]. Meanwhile Argentine band Alas incorporated tango and Chilean group Los Jaivas featured Andean music influences.
The UK Scene in the 1970s
A few British record companies played an important role in the development of progressive rock. These were primarily Charisma Records, Manticore Records, Vertigo Records (as well as its parent company, Phillips), Harvest, Chrysalis, Deram, and Virgin Records.
Charisma Records released albums by Genesis, The Nice, Van der Graaf Generator and Rare Bird.
Virgin Records was, at the time, a cutting-edge indie label with a deeply adventurous spirit, releasing albums by Mike Oldfield and a large number of experimental, electronic and progressive rock artists from the UK, Germany, France and Finland, including Gong, Faust, Henry Cow, Hatfield and the North, Tangerine Dream, Kevin Coyne, Slapp Happy, Edgar Froese, Robert Wyatt, Comus, David Bedford, Clearlight, Steve Hillage, Wigwam, Pekka Pohjola, and Can.
Meanwhile, Manticore Records, a record label developed by Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s production company, released albums by Emerson Lake and Palmer, singer-songwriter Peter Sinfield and superb Italian bands Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco.
Instrumentalists like Anthony Phillips (former Genesis guitarist), keyboardist Rick Wakeman (Yes), and guitarist Steve Hackett (Genesis) released essential progressive rock solo recordings.
Progressive rock subgenres
Progressive rock subgenres include avant-garde rock, Canterbury, jazz-rock and fusion, Krautrock, neoprog, post rock, progressive folk, progressive electronic, progressive psychedelic, rock andaluz, Rock In Opposition (RIO), rock progresivo italiano, space rock, symphonic rock, and Zeuhl.
Rock in Opposition (RIO)
Rock in Opposition, also known as RIO and Avant Progressive, representes a mix of progressive rock acts, artists inspired by Frank Zappa’s combination of humor and virtuosity, as well as avant-garde and experimental progressive music bands in the late 1970s that joined to promote its members and shared their opposition to the recording industry that refused to recognize their music.
The leading RIO acts include Univers Zero (Belgium), Aksak Maboul (Belgium), Henry Cow (UK), Stormy Six (Italy), Samla Mammas Manna [later known as Zamla Mammaz Manna and von Zamla], Etron Fou Leloublan (France), Art Zoyd (France), Art Bears (UK), Aranis (Belgium), Thinking Plague (USA), Ruins Alone (Japan), Yugen (Italy), Guapo (UK), Hamster Theater (USA), Luz de Riada (Mexico), and October Equus (Spain).
The documentary Romantic Warriors II explores the origins of the RIO movement in the late 1970s.
Zeuhl in France
A French band called Magma astonished the progressive music world with its powerful mix of rock, jazz, operatic vocals, and contemporary classical music. The band used lyrics written in a rare new language called Kobaian that was constructed by its founder, drummer, composer and vocalist Christian Vander.
Magma became a popular underground act and generated a new sub-genre within progressive rock called Zeuhl that spawned acts created by former members and new bands inspired by Magma like Weidorje, Eskaton, Zao and Shub-Niggurath.
The international scene
Aside from the UK and Italy, other nations produced significant progressive rock acts:
Argentina: Alas, Arco Iris, Bubu, Crucis, Espiritu, La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, and MIA (Músicos Independientes Asociados).
Australia: Sebastian Hardie, Mario Millo, and Windchase.
Austria: Eela Craig, Isaiah, Paternoster.
Belgium: Cos, Isopoda, Machiavel, and Univers Zero.
Brazil: Bacamarte, Os Mutantes, and O Terco.
Canada: Et Cetera, FM, Harmonium, and Maneige.
East Germany: Stern-Combo Meißen.
Finland: Apolo, Fantasia, Finnforest, Kalevala, Pekka Pohjola, Tabula Rasa, Wigwam.
France: Ange, Arachnoid, Atoll, Eskaton, Halloween, Magma, Mona Lisa and Pulsar.
Germany: Anyone’s Daughter, Birth Control, Eloy, Grobschnitt, Hoelderlin, Nektar, Pell Mell and Triumvirat.
Greece: Aphrodite’s Child, Socrates, and Vangelis.
Japan: Shingetsu, Bi Kyo Ran, Ain Soph, Magical Power Mako, Kenso and Quaser.
Netherlands: Alquin, Earth and Fire, Focus, Finch, Kayak, Lady Lake, Supersister, Trace.
New Zealand: Ragnarok.
Poland: SBB and Budka Suflera.
Romania: Sfinx.
Spain: Atila, Azahar, Bloque, Cai, Canarios, Cotó en Pel, Crack, Fusioon, Gotic, Granada, Guadalquivir, Gualberto, Khorus, Iceberg, Imán, and Mantra.
Sweden: Dice, Isildurs Bane, Kaipa, Samla Mammas Manna.
USA: Ethos, Fireballet, Happy the Man, Kansas, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, and Starcastle.
Fantasy Artwork
The cover artwork of many LPs of the era reflected an interest in fantasy and science fiction. Roger Dean’s designs fascinated fans with colorful, highly creative album covers for artists such as Yes, Gentle Giant and Greenslade, and even African music group Osibissa.
Another famed illustrator who worked with progressive rock album cover artwork was Patrick Woodroffe. He made the sleeve art for Greenslade’s Time and Tide and the magnificent illustrated science fiction book+LP “The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony.”
Also of note is Paul Whitehead, who not only painted covers for Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot, by Genesis, but then went on to paint a cover for the Italian group, le Orme.
Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger made very few album covers during his lifetime. Two of his cover designs were made for progressive rock acts: Brain Salad Surgery (1973) by Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Attahk (1978) by French band Magma.
Music fans enjoyed the cover artwork of full 12” vinyl album covers. They sat down with the music on, and the album in hand to read the lyrics. The larger size artwork made the discovery of new music a complete experience that many younger fans raised on CDs, and now streaming, will hardly ever experience.
Roger Dean and Paul Whitehead are still creating musical works of art to this very day.
The Influence of Electronic instruments
The arrival of new technical gear and electronic musical instruments played an essential role in the development of progressive rock. Early synthesizers were originally enormous modular devices that were practically impossible to carry on tours.
Companies like Moog and ARP miniaturized synthesizers and made them portable and affordable. Progressive rock bands, who would normally not be able to afford a real orchestra, were able to use orchestral effects with the aid of string synthesizers and especially the Mellotron.
The Mellotron is perhaps the most cherished instrument for many progressive rock enthusiasts and musicians. Its synthetic orchestral, flute and choral sounds played, and still plays, a key role in authentic progressive rock music.
Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues worked with Mellotron to test their machines. The Moody Blues were perhaps one of the earliest full-fledged adopters of this musical instrument. The Beatles used it for effect but it literally became part of The Moody Blues sound.
Musicians who used Mellotrons, Moog synthesizers and other electronic keyboards included Keith Emerson (The Nice, ELP), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Tony Banks (Genesis), David Sinclair, Thijs van Leer (Focus), Rick Van Der Linden, Vittorio Nocenzi (Banco), Vangelis, and Patrick Moraz.
New electric guitars and effect pedals and other devices added a wide spectrum of new sounds and possibilities for guitarists and bass players.
English guitarist Steve Hackett placed an ad in Melody Maker about looking to join a band “determined to strive beyond existing, stagnant music forms”. His use of pedals, volume and other devices added to the sound textures.
Late 1970s Decadence
Several factors contributed to the decadence of progressive rock in the late 1970s. Some of the leading groups suffered musical transformations and notorious desertions. When Genesis lost vocalist Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett, it changed direction, shifting to pop, and became a chart topping band.
Another iconic act, Yes, eliminated its captivating long suites and replaced them with radio friendly Adult Oriented Rock (AOR). Coincidentally, the first Yes album to not feature at least one long suite since before The Yes Album featured a torn-apart tomato across its cover (Tormato). Did that torn-apart tomato symbolize how their majestic ambition got torn apart?
After making legendary progressive albums, Emerson, Lake and Palmer drifted towards melodic rock and AOR on albums like Love Beach. Similar cases happened in other countries. One of the most bizarre changes happened to Italian band New Trolls. It switched from classical music-influenced progressive rock to Bee Gees-style disco and pop in the late 1970s, disconcerting its fans.
The pressure from record companies had a major influence in the decline of progressive rock. Record companies wanted pop hits and insisted on making the music more commercial. Radio stations also played a key role. The restrictive formats of commercial FM radio did not contemplate extensive ten, twenty or thirty minute tracks.
Radio stations played a severely edited “Roundabout” single from Yes. Even though it proved to be a big hit, fans were confused when they discovered the original track was actually twice as long.
Spanish progressive rock band Crash mentioned at the time how one of their most ambitious long pieces was sliced into four or five different tracks by their record company.
Some influential pop music critics in the UK, USA and other countries frequently launched vicious attacks against progressive rock, calling it pompous, self-indulgent and bombastic. Many of these critics confused progressive rock with the highly commercial AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) format.
Another word critics often used was “pretentious.” Jerry Lucky’s analysis of this is that the critics never understood progressive rock and in fact never wanted to understand it. Much of their vitriol was nothing more than projection rather than honest critical reviews.
Progressive Rock Confusion
One of the biggest problems with progressive rock is the fact that many acts changed genre throughout their career. Poorly informed publicists, music critics and music fans were not aware that certain recordings in a band’s career were not progressive rock.
Radio friendly groups such as Styx, Asia, Foreigner, Saga, Toto, Supertramp, and Journey were categorized by the pop music media as progressive rock when they clearly were not, even if the line-ups included former progressive rock musicians.
Or if the band did include a track or two that bore all the hallmarks of a Progressive Rock composition as many of these bands did especially on their early album releases. Supertramp’s Fool’s Overture for example.
Asia had fantasy-style covers and featured prominent musicians from some of the finest progressive rock groups, such as Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer and hard rock band Uriah Heep. However, all their musical pieces were short pop songs intended for commercial radio. Unfortunately, many pop critics regarded as progressive rock any band that used a large number of keyboards.
Rock bands like Argent, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Rush had a progressive rock phase in their career and made progressive rock albums, but the rest of their discography was clearly not progressive rock.
Some of these bands (and others) took what they learned or created in the progressive rock sphere and attempted to incorporate it into their newer shorter compositions to varying degrees of success. Rush, for example, on their last couple albums went back to instrumentals, slightly longer compositions and even the use of the Mellotron.
The Progressive Rock Underground: Treasure Hunters
While it seemed like progressive rock was on its way out in the late 1970s, many fans across the globe were not ready to give up. This became the period of collectors and mail order companies. The word got around that there were progressive rock recordings worldwide and music fans found ways to acquire LPs through travel, friends and pen pals.
Registered postal packages circulated worldwide, bringing cherished treasures to collectors. For example, the album by Cuban progressive rock band Sintesis ‘En Busca De Una Nueva Flor‘ was very hard to get directly from Cuba, but a licensing deal in Mexico made it available to international audiences.
Japanese collectors and specialty stores were especially good at discovering progressive rock from all corners of the world. Sometimes they introduced rare albums by European bands to Europeans themselves.
Despite the difficulties, there were still musicians who braved the odds and continued to perform progressive rock. One of the finest British progressive rock bands of the 1970s, UK, was formed during that period. The supergroup included memorable singer and bassist John Wetton (King Crimson); masterful drummer Bill Bruford (Yes); virtuoso keyboardist and violinist Eddie Jobson (Frank Zappa); and groundbreaking guitarist Allan Holdsworth (Gong).
Despite all the efforts of the media and the critics, Progressive Rock never completely vanished from the music scene. By the late seventies many upcoming British musicians and bands raised on Progressive Rock began charting their own brand of the genre.
The 1980s, the Renaissance and Neoprog Era
In the 1980s, progressive rock experienced a comeback. Some critics and fans call it the Neoprog era.
The progressive rock renaissance took place in many nations during the 1980s, although, once more, it was UK bands that initially re-popularized the genre. The most influential was Marillion, a group inspired by early Genesis. Other popular acts included IQ, Pendragon, Pallas, The Enid, and Twelfth Night.
Additional British progressive rock bands of the era include Arena, Enchant, Haze, Final Conflict/FC, Fish, Dagaband, Galahad, Jadis, Janysium, Landmarq, Mach One, Mindgames, Clive Nolan, Quasar, and Shadowland.
Japanese Powerhouse
Japan went from an importer of international progressive rock to developing an explosion of first rate bands influenced by the 1970s pioneers. Leading Japanese acts from the 1980s include Asturias, Gerard, Kenso, Mr. Sirius, Negasphere, Outer Limits, Vermilion Sands, and the female led, ELP inspired trio ArsNova.
Expansion of the Progressive Rock Indie Scene
Music enthusiasts turned their interest in progressive rock into a profession. Specialized magazines and fanzines sprouted in various parts of the world. Naohiro Yamazaki’s Marquee (Japan) was one of the most visible, with beautiful color covers and extensive information about the current and past progressive rock scene. Marquee also became an importer of international progressive rock, including rare recordings from all parts of the world.
In the United States, Archie Patterson’s Eurock magazine was a must read. The English-language publication specialized in progressive rock and other progressive styles like electronica and avant-garde music. Eurock also had an impressive mail order service that carried some of the best releases from numerous countries. Other American catalogs with an admirable collection included ZNR and Wayside Music.
In Europe, French progressive rock collectors Bernard Gueffier and Francis Grosse set on a mission to hunt down and reissue many of the international progressive rock gems that were out of print, while at the same time, they started to release recordings by new acts as well as new recordings by veterans. The name of their company was Musea and it grew to be one of the largest progressive rock labels in the world. Grosse and Gueffier also wrote and published a bilingual book (French/English) titled “La discographie alphabétique du rock français” in 1984. The discography featured an extensive list of French rock bands and solo artists from the 1970s and early 1980s that included a large number of progressive rock and electronic music acts.
The Exposure progressive rock compilation series gave opportunities to new bands through a collection of progressive rock samplers that included Exposure (No Man’s Land, 1986), the 2-LP Double Exposure (No Man’s Land, 1987) and Exposure 88 (Andraea crt, 1988). The people behind this project were British musician Steven Wilson (who later formed Porcupine Tree) and Spanish music journalist and record producer Angel Romero. For the third project of the series, Exposure 88, Dutchman Peter Lindenbergh joined Steven and Angel.
New progressive bands from the 1980s that appeared in the Exposure series included: UK: Abe Ganz, Colstfoot, Borag Thungg, No Man is an Island Except the Isle of Man, Twice Bitten, Comedy of Errors, The Bond, Mazlyn Jones, No Man Is an Island, Haze, Plenty, Wierdstone, Rog Patterson; Spain: Pharaon, Aletsesoida, Heimdal, Galadriel, Harnakis, Rivendel; Italy: Airspeed, Notturno Concertante, Barrock, Asgard; Netherlands: Egdon Heath, Odyssice, The Last Detail; Sweden: Isildurs Bane; and Germany: Rousseau.
The 1990s, the Third Generation
Although some of the second generation progressive bands from the 1980s continued into the 1990s, the new decade was characterized by a whole new wave of progressive rock bands. In the UK, the influential Ozric Tentacles released its first album. They are an unconventional act, a sort of progressive psychedelic rock jam band that has had numerous changes in its line-up, with electronic and world music elements added to the mix. Ozric Tentacles was the nursery for numerous projects that included other space rock bands and electronica acts.
In the 1990s, Scandinavia became a progressive rock powerhouse, with some of the finest third generations acts, such as Änglagård, The Flower Kings, Anekdoten (Sweden); White Willow and Wobbler (Norway).
Other essential acts from the era include Big Big Train (UK), the highly influential Spock’s Beard (USA), Finisterre (Italy), Höstsonaten (Italy), IZZ (USA), Echolyn (USA), and Iluvatar (USA).
Meanwhile, consolidated bands from previous decades continued releasing high quality progressive rock albums: Kenso (Japan), IQ (UK), Ain Soph (Japan), Djam Karet (USA), Miriodor (Canada), Galadriel (Spain), Pendragon (UK), Glass Hammer (USA), Eris Pluvia (Italy), Cast (Mexico), Amarok (Spain).
Prog Metal, Confusion Continues
Confusion in terms of what is and what’s not progressive rock still maligned progressive rock. While in the 1970s and 1980s Adult/Album Oriented Rock (AOR) was frequently confused with progressive rock, in the 1990s, heavy metal was thrown into the mix. Marketers, labels, and music writers started including heavy metal acts under the category of progressive rock and called it prog metal.
Heavy metal bands that some have reclassified as progressive rock include Dream Theater, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning.
The 2000-2010 Era
During the first decade of the 2000s, several bands consolidated their positions as leading progressive rock acts, including supergroup Transatlantic (Europe-USA), and Spock’s Beard (USA), as well as Glass Hammer (USA).
Other groups changed direction. Porcupine Tree (UK) moved away from psychedelic progressive rock and embraced hard rock and even blistering metal riffs.
Another act (that some called a supergroup), The Tangent, was formed during this decade. The initial lineup featured keyboardist and composer Andy Tillison and Sam Baine (Parallel and 90 Degrees), Roine Stolt, Jonas Reingold & Zoltan Czsorz (The Flower Kings), David Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator), and Guy Manning (Manning). Eventually, it became Andy Tillison’s project, featuring high profile musical guests. The Tangent’s first album was titled The Music That Died Alone.
Progressive rock legends from the 1970s returned. Yes reformed without a keyboardist and stylistically chose to pursue highly creative progressive rock with the release of Magnification, which featured a symphony orchestra instead of keyboards.
Van der Graaf Generator, another cherished band from 1970s, reunited and returned with a double album titled Present.
Kostarev Group, from Russia, proved to be one of the most exciting new acts, combining classic progressive rock with fusion and electronics.
A new graphic artist named Ed Unitsky entered the progressive rock scene in 2002. He made the cover for the Flower Kings album in 2002. The next project was the Tangent recording in 2003. Since then, Ed Unitsky has become a popular and highly reputable designer among the progressive rock community.
The 2010-2020 Era
[under construction] Steve Hackett, Rick Wakeman, Guranfoe (UK), Apogee (Germany), Flower Kings, Glass Hammer, The Knells, Frank Wyatt & Friends, Farmhouse Odyssey, Isobar, Sky Cries Mary, Yuko & Chronoship, Days Between Stations, Circuline, Samurai of Prog, Arabs in Aspic, All Traps on Earth – A Drop of Light (AMS Records, 2018) All Traps on Earth is remarkable progressive rock band led by Anglagard bassist, Jordsjo, Airbad, Dai Kaht (Finland). Modern-Rock Ensemble (Ukraine), The Worm Ouroboros (Belarus), Eternal Wanderers Russia, Lost World Band (Russia), Quantum Fantay, Floydian Canadian Rick Miller, Italian groups: Il Bacio della medusa, Rovescio della medaglia, La maschera di cera, Logos, Ubi Maior. Anima mundi (Cuba). Stratus Luna – Stratus Luna (Music Magick /Moonjune, 2019) One of the great surprises of the year Caravela Escarlate – Caravela Escarlate (Karisma Records, 2019) Caravela Escarlate is a Brazilian symphonic progressive rock band
Prog Rock Revisionism
Some music critics and record labels have cast a really wide net to include numerous artists and genres in the progressive rock category. This is the case of quite a few heavy metal bands who were labeled ‘progressive.’ In some circles the term ‘progressive metal’ is used, although most of these bands are heavy metal acts, rather than progressive rock.
A popular band that is frequently miscategorized is Rush. Although they ventured into progressive rock in two albums and frequently recorded long pieces, Rush was and is essentially a hard rock band. Rush was reclassified by some critics as progressive rock. This has created confusion with some music fans and young musicians who believe that any hard rock band influenced by Rush is automatically performing progressive rock.
Progressive Rock by Country
* Progressive Rock in Argentina
* Progressive Rock in Belgium
* Progressive Rock in Czech Republic
* Progressive Rock in France
* Progressive Rock in Germany
* Progressive Rock in Italy
* Progressive Rock in Japan
* Progressive Rock in Spain
* Progressive Rock in Sweden
* Progressive Rock in The Netherlands
* Progressive Rock in the United Kingdom
* Progressive Rock in the United States
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Edited by Angel Romero, Jerry Lucky and David Taylor