For the discussion of this list:

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/b ... sprog.html

1. Yes
2. King Crimson
3. Genesis
4. Emerson Lake & Palmer
5. Pink Floyd
6. Rush
7. Jethro Tull
8. Mothers of Invention
9. Dream Theater
10. Kraftwerk
11. Traffic
12. Dixie Dregs
13. Gentle Giant
14. Van der Graaf Generator
15. The Moody Blues
16. Marillion
17. Frank Zappa
18. Magma
19. Gong
20. Kansas
21. Tangerine Dream
22. Caravan
23. Mahavishnu Orchestra
24. The Soft Machine
25. Family
26. Hawkwind
27. Mike Oldfield
28. Uriah Heep
29. Camel
30. Rick Wakeman
31. Peter Gabriel
32. The Flower Kings
33. Premiata Forneria Marconi
34. The Strawbs
35. Renaissance
36. Can
37. Goblin
38. Wigwam
39. Queensryche
40. Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
41. Electric Light Orchestra
42. King's X
43. Anglagard
44. Amon Düül
45. Procol Harum
46. Brian Eno
47. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band
48. Eloy
49. Porcupine Tree
50. The Alan Parson's Project
51. Bo Hansson
52. The Beatles
53. Spock's Beard
54. Asia
55. Vangelis
56. Le Orme
57. Tool
58. Fate's Warning
59. Ayreon
60. Baryclay James Harvest
61. Ange
62. IQ
63. Utopia
64. Opeth
65. Ozric Tentacles
66. Symphony X
67. Liquid Tension Experiment
68. Transatlantic
69. Steve Hackett
70. Aphrodite's Child
71. Focus
72. Supertramp
73. Adrian Belew
74. California Guitar Trio
75. Anekdoten
76. Savatage
77. Area
78. Hatfield & the North
79. Styx
80. Happy The Man
81. Nektar
82. Henry Cow
83. Robert Fripp
84. Saga
85. Primus
86. Bozzio Levin Stevens
87. Niacin
88. The Nice
89. Shadow Gallery
90. UK
91. The Mars Volta
92. Atomic Rooster
93. Birth Control
94. Andromeda
95. Pain of Salvation
96. Comus
97. Roxy Music
98. Pendragon
99. Rhapsody
100. Stratovarius

King Crimson has had much more influence on the general direction of Prog than Yes.

In the sense that In the Court of the Crimson King was probably the album that sparked it all, I'd agree. In the longer term, though, I think Yes has had a slightly larger influence. Bands like Rush, Dream Theater and The Flower Kings, huge in their respective sub-genres, owe much more to Yes than King Crimson, for instance.

That said there isn't a great deal in it, or indeed between any of the big 4: that is Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and Pink Floyd.

I'll start righting the list now:

1. King Crimson
2. Yes
3. Genesis
4. Pink Floyd
5. ELP
6. Rush
7. Kraftwerk
8. Marillion
9. Jethro Tull
10. Mothers of Invention

I think this is a better top 10. I give the nod to King Crimson for the top spot, as they're really the band that got the whole Prog movement started, proto-Prog bands like The Moody Blues and The Nice aside.

I put Pink Floyd last of the top 4 because, although their influence is massive, they're not as widely associated with Prog as the 3 bands ahead of them, except maybe Genesis if we factor in the post-Hackett pop albums.

It's recognition as a Prog band that gives ELP their place on the list, as their excess is legendary amongst Prog's fans and detractors. Their impact and influence is also substantial - though not quite to the same level as the 4 bands above them - particularly when it comes to artists who use keyboards as the main lead instrument.

The remaining bands are placed due to their massive importance in forming some of the larger, non-symphonic subgenres of Prog Rock.

Kraftwerk is an incredibly influential band, but their influence isn't as much on prog as it is on electronic music. They're not a Top 10 band for that reason. And as good as Marillion is, they sort of just ripped off Genesis for a while.

Switch one of them with Soft Machine and one of them with Gong. And combine the entries for The Mothers of Invention and Frank Zappa, because he did write most of their music. It seems a bit redundant to have them separated.

The rest of this list is pretty much good though.

I agree that Kraftwerk shouldn't be top 10 for the same reason beaverteeth stated. And I'd personally would put Rush ahead of ELP. They have much more acclaimed albums, a massive influence (even the Smashing Pumpkins cite them as an influence) and they are far more commercially successful, I think.

I would say Jethro Tull > Kraftwerk

I think I have to agree with you on Rush. They're still incredibly popular, even though they've been around for almost 40 years.

I agree on Rush going ahead of ELP and Frank Zappa being paired with The Mothers of Invention. As for replacing Kraftwerk, I can see where you're coming from. The problem I have is which band to replace them with: Gong and Soft Machine - and the development of Prog generally - are both very important on the Canterbury scene, but so too were Caravan.

Marillion are staying top ten. They may have been a bit too derivative of Genesis in their early years, but they are the biggest factor in the creation of an entirely new sub-genre, one that kept Prog alive throughout the 80s and early 90s. They also have a large amount of influence on Progressive Metal and "New Prog".

Updated the top 10:

1. King Crimson
2. Yes
3. Genesis
4. Pink Floyd
5. Rush
6. ELP
7. Soft Machine
8. Marillion
9. Jethro Tull
10. Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention

This is the shortlist for the next load of bands:

Camel
Van Der Graaf Generator
Gently Giant
Gong
Caravan
Kraftwerk
Dream Theater
The Moody Blues
Focus
Mike Oldfield
Dream Theater
Magma
Premiata Forneria Marconi
Can
Henry Cow
Tangerine Dream

Any suggestions as to order or important bands I might have missed?

Camel and Van Der Graaf probably should go up a bit?

Sounds good except for Oldfield. He's extremely good, but is really only known for Tubular Bells and Amarok. I'd fill in his space with either Can or Henry Cow. Can has ridiculous amounts of influence on Krautrock and any beat-based music in general, and Henry Cow had a huge influence on the Rock in Opposition movement.

And Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge.



I'll certainly consider them for placement in the next 20 or so slots.

Well what I was trying to get at is that Oldfield's discography isn't nearly as consistently good or popular as some other groups, like Can and Henry Cow.

As far as importance King Crimson is #1
As far as technique and skill I think Yes(or rush)
As far as Popularity I think Pink Floyd

so they should be in the top 3

I'm not sure it's wise to advance quality as an argument for an artists greatness. For a start I strongly disagree, as I think The Songs of Distant Earth is his best work. I don't even think that it's a good idea to base an artists placement on the list on how high a proportion of their discography is Prog, as bands like Genesis are clearly extremely important artists in the genre.



How would you define importance? Technique isn't part of the criteria and if it was Yes wouldn't win. Pink Floyd may be the most popular generally, but for the purposes of this list I try keep things within the realms of Prog. Otherwise bands like Queen and Supertramp would be considered greater than lesser known bands who had greater influence, impact etc on the sub-genre.

The top 5 is pretty much interchangeable anyway.