Tell us about your first experience...

[Mr Peabody]

FA, I love you even more now than I did. Not only do you like music, hi fi and concerts, now I learn you like Metal. You are the girl of my dreams.

Like many who already posted, I was always into Prog, I just didn't recognize the label. As a very young child bands like Grand Funk, Rolling Stones, Sabbath and, wow, my first Zepplin..... started turning me to rock over pop. I guess my first Prog would have been the ELP album with Lucky Man. From there I got Kansas Masque and Leftoverture. I liked Jethro Tull and Santana. By the time I was out of high school I had already a vast music collection, most of it hard rock but a fair amount of Prog. I had Aphrodite's Child back then, lot of Rush, some Yes, Uriah Heep. Anyone else heard of Pablough's Dog or Starcastle? But like 3LB I was rockin to April Wine before I found KC and like FA digging the Iron Maiden and Priest. A teenager in the Midwest, I had several Nugent albums

There were Prog/Fusion highlights though, like when I first heard Al Dimeola's Elegant Gypsy album or the first time I played the first Engwie Malmsteen album, Masque made a big impression as well, AAAAANNNNNNDDDDD the first time I hit Rav Recs and started checking out bands like PPT, Ozric Tentacles, Sigour Ros, Tangent etc. There was a post.... maybe more than a year ago where the light bulb came on and I learned what Prog meant and many here gave lists of Prog bands. I checked many of them and followed links to "people who bought ____ also bought" and in this last year or so expanded my Prog by a great deal. Opeth, Proto-Kaw, Sylvan, Cross, AtmosFear, Gordian Knot, Camel

There was a wide gap between graduation and this past insurgence of Prog but in that span I built my Pink Floyd collection and rounded off some of the other major Prog groups but it was great to discover Prog was going strong and to get my hands on good new music. It came just in time to rescue me from doing something desperate over the stagnation of commercial radio.

I really only like certain ELP and never did really care for early Genesis, Marillion, IQ or Arena, I think it's got something to do with that certain still of keyboards.

[3-LockBox]

I was 13, and the music teacher at our junior high was turning people on to prog left and right. This was 1976, and prog was way cool at that time...so it didn't take much to get me hooked.

First came ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition, Brain Salad Surgery and Trilogy albums. I wore those 3 slick, especially the BSS.

Then came Genesis with their Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering albums. I was absolutely hooked. When Seconds Out was released, I bought it right out of the carton before it hit the racks.

M.U. - The Best of Jethro Tull was next, and then Yes' Fragile and PF's DSOTM. Rick Wakeman's Six Wives of Henry VIII was also an early fave, as was the Recycled album from Nektar. Does anyone remember Nektar?

Oh yeah, and Kansas' Leftoverture and Point of Know Return were in there somewhere. It's all a bit of a bur now, I'm afraid.

About that time, I was also getting into harder-edged "head music," like Zeppelin's untitled fourth album and Presence, as well as early Aerosmith. But I kept coming back to Prog when it was time to really "get into" something good.

Of course I heard of Tull and ELP and Genesis, but never knew anything of 'prog' back then. Classic Tull and ELP were still pretty much staples of FM throughout the '70s and '80s. But I think I was in the Navy the first time I heard the song Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, and I never heard anything older than that until a few years ago.

[E-Stat]

Of course I heard of Tull and ELP and Genesis, but never knew anything of 'prog' back then. Classic Tull and ELP were still pretty much staples of FM throughout the '70s and '80s. But I think I was in the Navy the first time I heard the song Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, and I never heard anything older than that until a few years ago.

One of my early bass reference recordings was the "Fly on a Windshield" cut from LLDOB.

Re: moderating - yep folks don't get bent out of shape here like they do with cables and DBTs!

rw

[ForeverAutumn]

FA, I love you even more now than I did. Not only do you like music, hi fi and concerts, now I learn you like Metal. You are the girl of my dreams.

Oh, Mr. Body...your flattery will get you everywhere {bats eyelashes}.

[caniac]

Just like everybody else, Genesis, Yes, Floyd. Grew up listening to that stuff. Later on, I got into what is now called "power metal" (Maiden, Queensryche, and the like), then I happened upon Dream Theater and those related bands a few years ago.

I mostly listen to Genesis, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree these days when I'm in the mood for prog.

[Dusty Chalk]

You grew up?

Good point. Perhaps "went through puberty" would be more accurate.