First Prog
 

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?

Re: First Prog
 

1st prog was for me yes

Re: First Prog
 

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.

Re: First Prog
 

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!

Re: First Prog
 

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!

Re: First Prog
 

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.

Re: First Prog
 

Genesis Live back in 1973 I discovered mellotron mainly with Led Zeppelin The rain song8-)

Re: First Prog
 

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

Re: First Prog
 

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

the band was Starcastle.

:D

Re: First Prog
 

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

Re: First Prog
 

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.

Re: First Prog
 

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.

Re: First Prog
 

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

Re: First Prog
 

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.

Re: First Prog
 

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)

Re: First Prog
 

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 :D

Re: First Prog
 

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!

Re: First Prog
 

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.

Re: First Prog
 

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...

Re: First Prog
 

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

Re: First Prog
 

Not me.

Then again, I don't like fantasy or know computers either. =8^O

Re: First Prog
 

Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons...I heard too much radio in my youth...so those were the bands I liked the most of the progressive rock...(by that time I didn't know prog exists)...Genesis not because I discovered the pop Genesis...so it didn't count...;) :angel:

Re: First Prog
 

Gasp, gack, gulp, golly Mr Wizard, say it ain't so! :jawdrop: Proggers aren't all D&D + computer geeks? :hmph: :rulez:

Re: First Prog
 

my World of Warcraft main character's name is Gaack.
:thumbsup:

Re: First Prog
 

I thought nearly all proggers were D+D.....most of those that I've met have been Drunk and Disorderly at the end of the evening. :D

Re: First Prog
 

ok, not counting the beatles' trippier songs (like when "day tripper" turned my head sideways - i still remember the exact moment it came leaping out of the old radio in the garage), i believe it was the first elp album when i was about 12 or 13. it's been a great ride ever since!

Re: First Prog
 

My journey with progressive rock began last winter in school when we had to give a talk on some music genre. Somehow I ended to be pair with a dude who wanted badly to give a talk about progressive rock. I hardly had any idea what prog actually is so this dude borrowed me some of his prog albums including:

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: One Size Fits All
Jethro Tull: Thick As A Brick
King Crimson: Red
U.K.: U.K.
and Yes: Fragile

And so begun the revolution of my musical world...

PS. After those events I have given that dude a prefix "proge". (Prog in Finnish) :rolleyes:

Re: First Prog
 

It occured to me that I left off a huge influence out of the early groups, The Beatles - White Album, and Santana's first album and Abraxas. They were one of the earliest. Then came Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Nectar and PFM.

Re: First Prog
 

All the same year - 1975...
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Gentle Giant
Tod Ruddgren's Utopia
ELP - (In Quadrophonic Sound)
Jean Luc Ponty
Chick Corea's Return to Forever

Re: First Prog
 

My first Prog album was Court of the Crimson King, then Fragile. But they were just part of the overall landscape to me. Selling England By The Pound was my turning point.

Re: First Prog
 

When I was small, my mother played classical, incl Grieg, Bach, etc. on the 'HI-FI'. My father played Hank Williams and Chet Atkins. When I first had money to buy records, I bought the Beatles brand new one: Abbey Road. Then came all the rest...Genesis, Moody Blues, Crimson, Tull, Oldfield... but most especially Yes' Relayer.

Re: First Prog
 

And then King's X.:neener:

Re: First Prog
 

Thanks all for responding to this thread, what an ear opener. I've been motivated to look even further back at what may have drawn me to this rythem, canto, feeling, etc and am goining to share some of the home grown tunes (and some closer to the border) that stared it off for me. In-town home grown, a late 60's, semi funk band called Mandela and the tune "Loveites" stilled played on my second favourite radio station Q107 on a weekend Sunday program called Psycadelic Sunday. Other ones that are not so popular, but still hold an impact, are from just east of me and some south and of the border 1st Roy Buchanan and The Messiaih Will Come Again , Paul Butterfield Blues Band and One More Heartache and Harmonium 100000 Raisons. Home grown or close by, at least for me, are the starting point whats your first? If you have a link please include it. Many thanks, keep on truckin'. PS what about your first concert?

Re: First Prog
 

I got into prog for the first time in 1969, with Moody Blues, Yes and Pink Floyd. I then graduated to harder stuff with King Crimson and Genisis and was totally addicted. About that time, I heard my first Weather Report and I obtained a double addiction. My life took me away from prog and jazz in the 80's and then I fell for Rush and Dream Theater and my addiction was back.:dogpile:

Re: First Prog
 

Hi Ken ! My first Prog LP was Selling England By the Pound, many Years Ago aprox. 1973, this was my debut Prog. LP!!
Before This LP I was Listening only Heavy Metal: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc.
In the beginning my debut Prog. LP chocked me, because was another style but after I began to loved it, and at same time Fotrot, Nursery Crime, and other groups too.
Bye!

Re: First Prog
 

Genesis has always been my #1, friends have called me a 'Genesis Freak" but this was what hooked me and gave an identity to what I liked or to quote "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" lol. Pink Floyd, Caravan, Harmonium all favs but now I know about Porcupine Tree, Clarion and many others thanks to Aural Moon and all Moonies. My first prog concert was Pink Floyd touring Dark Side in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada at Ivor Whynn Stadium, wow, what a party.

Re: First Prog
 

For me it started with Queen's Prophet Song. From there it went to ELP, Tull, Rush, T2's Boomland...for some reason I could not stomach Yes or Genesis...in the case of the latter I just did not dig deep enough, the former I just found too bombastic, the stuff I heard anyway. And - except for ELP - I was into the guitars, and I found Howe too squealy and messy, not meaty enough. I had (still have) one foot in serious hard rock.

Then, in 1981 - by the time it was all over for them - Van der Graaf Generator blasted onto my scene. They went totally against the guitar-based stuff I liked so much. Saxophones? WTF? but it just WORKED.

Now I've branched out a bit more with the prog - I still enjoy the rock, a little progressive metal, jazz and fusion, et al - but keyboard wizardry is not a big thing for me. Not because I avoid it, it just generally leaves me cold. The keyboard/synthesizer washes on a lot of the mid-period Rush albums are a bit annoying at times.

Aerosol

Re: First Prog
 

It seems that AM triggers historical retrospective from time to time. I too am guilty of this.

To answer your question directly, my friend at the time (1974) had just bought Isola di Niente by PFM. I liked it enough to go out and buy my own album which turned out to be Live in USA on Battisti's Numero Uno label (see avatar). You may also know this as PFM Cook from Greg Lake's Manticore label.

About the statement I bolded above, are you saying you didn't know that Pink Floyd is considered Progressive Rock or you were not aware that a genre called progressive rock exists?

Re: First Prog
 

Hi brother!!
There was here in Rio at 1974 aprox. a Telecast named Sabado Som meaning Saturday Sound, was there which I saw the first images of a Genesis apresentation with I know what I like.
In the beggining the telecast was black and white , some years after the color system was implanted, but never more occured a program like that.
Now the things are easier, we can found many songs of this big bands of this years , colored, in the You Tube.:winkies:

Re: First Prog
 

I can't really remember the first prog band I owned. I was into Top 40 when I was a young lad 'cause that's all there was in Oklahoma. My favorite bands when I was 13-14 was The Who, Queen, Yes, Pink Floyd, Triumvirat, Rolling Stones, BTO, and of course my fave was Elton John. So I would have to guess Yes was my intro to prog, but I didn't really know what prog was I guess at the time. But my first Yes LP was Fragile. My first 8 - tracks were Kiss and PF Dark Side of the Moon and when Cds came out my first cds were Branford Marsalis and PF's DSotM.