Tell us about your first experience...

[3-LockBox]

with Prog. I realize that this may have been covered a few years back, but I'm too lazy to search...and since this place is fargin dead...

My introduction to prog could have been sooner than it was__About 20 years ago, I remember going to a guy's house who'd just got back from leave (we was in the Navy) and he'd packed up his stereo rig and some albums and shipped them from home to our base. His TT got damaged in transit, so he couldn't listen to his vinyl. He had almost every YES album on vinyl, had KC's In The Court Of The Crimson King, had a Gentle Giant album (it was the one with the octopus in a jar) and a bunch Allman Bros, bunch of old Floyd and other more mainstream stuff. Had his rig worked, I may have been initiated sooner. I know he wanted me to listen to KC cuz he heard me playing April Wine's version of 21st Century Schizoid Man.

Of course I had the Classic YES album on tape. I owned 'best of' tapes of a lot of bands. I had never heard PF's Animals or Meddle until I ventured to another guys house (again, in the Navy). He also had copy's of Kansas albums like Leftoverture and Point Of Know Return and Monolith. I had the Best Of Kansas tape, but man, what an eye-opener listening to these albums were. I decided then and there that I'd be on a mission to hear albums, and not religate myself to 10 or 11 song 'best of' comps.

But then I found this site, by way of the general board (what a bunch of hens they were). My first forays into Rave Recs was to ask about older, mainstream albums, like "where can I find a copy of _______?" Then I started reading about bands like Spock's Beard and Porcupine Tree and older stuff like King Crimson and Yes. It was actually a comp by HyFi that eventually sent me on a mission to buy all three 'Larks' era King Crimson CDs, every YES album from Time And A Word thru Going For The One. Then someone says, "have you heard Drama?" "have you heard Kansas' Masque?" Then I start doing my own searches and I would come back and ask you guys about stuff like Captain Beyond, Caravan, Camel, and on and on.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, you guys have cost me a small fortune...starting around 5 years ago.

So how long have you guys been proggin? Has it always been a part of your world? If so, is it becoming a 'been there, done that' for you yet? Will you always be a Progger?

Seriously though, I doubt I'd have ever come across 90% of my purchases of the last 5 years if all I did was listen to classic rock or smooth jazz, which is what I was doing in the '90s. Don't get me wrong, I like my jazz, but man, what a sad thing to think that the only new music in my house would be what someone else brought in to it. Or the occassional piece of mainstream pablum I might happen to like, every several months or so...yikes. I can't imagine a world where Sufficiently Breathless didn't exist.

[kexodusc]

Hmmm, good question.

My first introduction that I can recall would have been Rush, probably something from Moving Pictures or Signals caught my ear, and I remember deciding to try 2112...it was 2112 that did it for me. I had a music teacher who then referred me to Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, some Zappa, and even Marillion. I was also really digging Metallica and Megadeth's earlier works at the time, "...And Justice For All" still remains one of my favorite albums. This lead me to the more modern stuff like Dream Theater, Symphony X, etc. From there I guess I branched out to Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, Porcupine Tree, Arena, IQ etc.

Kansas is not a group I've ever had a chance to sit down and listen to, other than the odd radio friendly number I might know. Maybe it's time I looked them up.

[ForeverAutumn]

That's a good question...and a tough one. I don't think that I can pinpoint any one instance or place in time. With two older brothers, both listening to prog (although Barry was always the bigger music geek and proghead...and I mean that in a good way), I was raised on prog. Some of the first albums that I recall hearing were Yes, Kansas and King Crimson (along with Bowie and Alice Cooper). I remember borrowing Barry's Leftoverture album when I was about 14 or 15, to hear Carry On Wayward Son, and just totally being blown away by the rest of it! I didn't even know what Prog was or that Kansas was Prog. I just knew that I liked it.

Now, having said that, I was a Metalhead before I became a Progger. I spent my teens listening to Sabbath, late Floyd (which I don't consider prog), 80's era Rush (also not prog), Iron Maiden and lots of 80's hair bands. It wasn't until my early 20's when I started to go into some of these bands back catologues and listen to albums like Meddle, WYWH, 2112, Hemispheres, etc. And lots of Yes. Old Genesis came into the picture only about 5 or 6 years ago. And, of course, newer bands like Porky Tree, Spock's Beard, IZZ, Dream Theater, only came into my life in the last three years, since I joined this board.

Although I was listening to it, I don't think that I ever really started defining anything as "progressive rock" until I came here. I never thought of music in terms of genres. It was just "stuff I like" and "stuff I don't like".

In the last year, I've taken a break from prog to focus on expanding my horizons and discovering some of the great Indie bands talked about here. But in the last month I've found myself migrating back to my prog and metal CDs. It's in my blood.

[Dave_G]

I was born in 1960 and had 2 older sisters.

By the time I was 10 I had been exposed to the Doors, The Beatles, and so forth, a LOT.

That age is when I really started getting into music. One of the first albums I ever bought was Machine Head.

Anyway my venture into prog started with "Kansas". From what I can recall, I liked the cover (while crusing thru my sisters collection) and popped the lp on the turn table. I immediatley liked what I heard! Can't remember what year that was, maybe 1972 or so...

Anyway then I found Genesis - Trespass. That pup slammed me as well. I then finally found Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme and by that time I was sucked into the Prog fold big time.

Then I heard Yes. Maybe in 1973. I frikking loved the artwork on those albums. (I hadn't even started "partying" yet!) Close to the Edge and the Yes album were very influential on my listening.

Then I found Rush. Their 1st album. Not prog but I liked it enough to want more. By the time 2112 came out I was way heavy into them.

But probably the biggest slam on me was the day Leftoverture came out. I'll never forget that first time I heard "Carry On Wayward Son". I knew something special was contained in those grooves. I had Kansas and Masque and Song for America of course, and loved them, but at 16 years of age, Leftoverture had the right mix of rock and prog and so forth to push it all over the edge. I still love that album to this day. (30 years later!)

By the time 1976 arrived prog was in full swing, big time. Yes and Genesis were my favorites, and of course my beloved Jethro Tull. I never really considered Tull to be prog, but I liked them as much as any of my prog favorites. I also of course had Pink Floyd, but they were never as high up on my list as the others, even tho I listened to them a lot, too.

In my teen years I also liked hard rock a lot. Old school AC/DC, Blackfoot, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, Led Zepplin, stuff like that.

Oh yeth I gotta mention Bob Marley. 1976. Went over to a friends to do some partying. He pulled out Rastaman Vibration and played that. My jaw dropped at the first note, I had never heard reggae, and was in the proper state of mind, and it knocked me out. That day I went to the record store and bought about 5 BMW albums and loved them all. Still do, too, but not quite as much as prog. Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" and Bunny's "Blackheart Man" also were staples in my collection way back when.

These days I still like prog a lot, IQ, Marillion, Rush, all those bands I still adore. I do have to give music boards credit for exposing me to some of the obscure bands, it's cool.

Dave

[Mike]

I was 14 she was 22.....oops sorry that's another story

I have an older sister who first introduced me to Pink Floyd DSOTM when it first came out what would that be about 1972? and I thought whoah what is this so after that it was exploring more PF back catalogue and moving onto King Crimson, Yes/Rick Wakeman, Genesis, PFM (anybody remember them?) etc. But looking back I'm not sure I would call Pink Floyd prog, to me 70s prog was always Yes, Genesis, ELP (how can you take a musician seriously who wears a cape!) etc. Rick Wakemans Six Wives and Jouney were particularly good at the time.

In the late 70s it just seemed so out of date with Punk and New Wave and I kind of lost interest but over the last few years I've begun to appreciate some of the new recent prog that's out there and started to listen to some early Yes and Genesis again. The Yes material stands up well but I'm not so sure about the early Genesis though.

Cheers
Mike

[Dave_G]

I think the early Genesis is still as fresh now as it ever was, except the 1st album...

Dave

[Duds]

My borther, sister and her now ex-husband were all huge Genesis/Gabriel fans. I was in the 6th or 7th grade, and they introduced me to Genesis, Marillion, Floyd, etc. Basically Genesis was all I listened to. I used to draw the characters on the "Trick Of The Tail" album, and my brother hand painted some of the album covers on sweatshirts. Wonder if those are stashed away at my parent's house?!

Then in college i became a metalhead, must have been pissed off at the world or something. Still a metal head, but I listen to that stuff at work or while working out. I've been getting back to listening to old Genesis and Gabriel and Marillion on my main rig in my home, brings back a lot of memories!

with Prog. I realize that this may have been covered a few years back, but I'm too lazy to search...and since this place is fargin dead...

My introduction to prog could have been sooner than it was__About 20 years ago, I remember going to a guy's house who'd just got back from leave (we was in the Navy) and he'd packed up his stereo rig and some albums and shipped them from home to our base. His TT got damaged in transit, so he couldn't listen to his vinyl. He had almost every YES album on vinyl, had KC's In The Court Of The Crimson King, had a Gentle Giant album (it was the one with the octopus in a jar) and a bunch Allman Bros, bunch of old Floyd and other more mainstream stuff. Had his rig worked, I may have been initiated sooner. I know he wanted me to listen to KC cuz he heard me playing April Wine's version of 21st Century Schizoid Man.

Of course I had the Classic YES album on tape. I owned 'best of' tapes of a lot of bands. I had never heard PF's Animals or Meddle until I ventured to another guys house (again, in the Navy). He also had copy's of Kansas albums like Leftoverture and Point Of Know Return and Monolith. I had the Best Of Kansas tape, but man, what an eye-opener listening to these albums were. I decided then and there that I'd be on a mission to hear albums, and not religate myself to 10 or 11 song 'best of' comps.

But then I found this site, by way of the general board (what a bunch of hens they were). My first forays into Rave Recs was to ask about older, mainstream albums, like "where can I find a copy of _______?" Then I started reading about bands like Spock's Beard and Porcupine Tree and older stuff like King Crimson and Yes. It was actually a comp by HyFi that eventually sent me on a mission to buy all three 'Larks' era King Crimson CDs, every YES album from Time And A Word thru Going For The One. Then someone says, "have you heard Drama?" "have you heard Kansas' Masque?" Then I start doing my own searches and I would come back and ask you guys about stuff like Captain Beyond, Caravan, Camel, and on and on.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, you guys have cost me a small fortune...starting around 5 years ago.

So how long have you guys been proggin? Has it always been a part of your world? If so, is it becoming a 'been there, done that' for you yet? Will you always be a Progger?

Seriously though, I doubt I'd have ever come across 90% of my purchases of the last 5 years if all I did was listen to classic rock or smooth jazz, which is what I was doing in the '90s. Don't get me wrong, I like my jazz, but man, what a sad thing to think that the only new music in my house would be what someone else brought in to it. Or the occassional piece of mainstream pablum I might happen to like, every several months or so...yikes. I can't imagine a world where Sufficiently Breathless didn't exist.

[Troy]

I was also born in 1960.

I remember 1967 when my older brother (8 years) got Sgt Pepper. He played it about 17 times a day for a month. I think I liked it more than he did. Being all of 7 though, I didn't really understand at the time how much that record changed rock music. To me, it was just how music was supposed to sound. Is Sgt Pepper prog? It's borderline. It's generally considered pure psychedelia by most people, I suppose, but there is little doubt that it influenced all the progressive artists that bloomed 5 years later.

It was from 67 on that I had a transistor radio welded to my ear. I was an AM junky, but I also was discovering the family collection of 45s. That was where I first heard Stan Kenton which completely blew my little mind. That stuff didn't stick with me into adulthood, but it did make me realize that there is a LOT more to music than what the radio would feed me.

In the late 60s, there was a spate of early Moog-based albums around the house. Dick Hyman, Gershon Kingsley and Walter Carlos. Those records sounded utterly unlike any music ever made by humans. I instantly became infatuated with the sound of synthesizers. To this day, I find them to have a richness and buzzy warmth that makes me melt.

Fast forward to 1974. For my 14th Birthday my brother gave me his hand-me-down 8-track player and a pile of tapes he didn't like. It contained Aqualung and Dark Side of the Moon. That stuff really scratched my itch, so I began to explore other similar bands like Yes and ELP. By the time I was 17, I was a total prog geek.

Will I always be into it? Sure. It's waxed and waned over the years, but I've ALWAYS really been into arty-farty music in one form or another. I've always put more favor on music that is rich sounding and harmonically complex. I find a vast amount of rock music is frankly, pretty boring. All I see is a lot of posturing, the bad poetry of disaffected teenagers or the general sense of angst as the aspect that seems to get everyone else off. Maybe when I was a teenager I liked some of that, but my interest in that is pretty much gone now in my mid-40s.

I get deeply moved by the sound of music. Artists like Bob Dylan that seem to move so many people bores me to tears because the music in his songs is just simplistic, harmonically unchallenging rhythms that carry his lyrics. I don't care about his lyrics. Not one bit. Writing words that will move an audience is easy. Creating instrumental music that will do that is VERY difficult. Instrumental music can evoke any kind of emotional response just like words can. It's much more visceral and emotional because it doesn't have the filter of language to stumble over. It's much more open to interpretation by the individual.

Rambling idiot . . .

[jasn]

It was just Rock when I started praying at the Prog altar. The first band that comes to mind is The Moody Blues and Days of Future Past.

At 17 I used to sneek into a local pub with forged ID (The Copper Kettle in West Nyack, NY, to be precise), and listen to a cover band play all sorts of proggie tunes under blacklight. Nights in White Satin was always the highlight and dates actually used to dance to it. The keyboard player had a mellotron wand mounted on the edge of his Hammond that would freak everybody out as he moved his hand in and out of it's electronic field.

[Dave_G]

Nektar.

I bought Remember the Furture probably in like 1974 or so, still is a great album.

By the way, they filmed their gig at Nearfest a few years ago and it is an EXCELLENT dvd to try and find.

Never got much into the Moodies...

Brain Salad Surgery? Awesome. Side 1 kills.

Dave

[richmon]

I was hatched in 1954 which made me 15 in 1969. The local old geezer pervert was named Floyd, a well known pedophile and subject of ridicule. My companions and I spied an album one day called 'Pink Floyd' ''Ummagumma' and it just struck us as too funny so we bought it. A piece of dung was my impression, I was into Hendrix, the Doors, Deep Purple, this was too strange for my young ears- funny how much changed in a few months, it became a regular favorite by the next year .
I went to a party that summer, where they were playing In the court of the Crimson King. An Eureka moment, a revelation that album was, so different, with lyrics about fire witch's, walls that prohphets wrote on, and paranoia's posion door. This cooincided with lysergic explorations which helped open my head to seek new musical experiences.
But what really turned my musical tastes around was an 1970 concert with Procol Harum headlining, Van Moression opening and an unknown band ELP in the middle. There first album had just come out, I was going to see Procol (with Robin Trower).
Holy paradigm shift batman, ELP was intense, stabbing the keys with knives, energy off the scale. Funny, it was known as classical rock back then, nobody called it prog.
From that concert on I was a changed man, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes, Mahavisna Orch, Jethro Tull - it helped that my buddys older brother was in a progressive band and let us borrow his albums, Audience, Family, Walter Carlos, Greenslade, Atomic Rooster, East of Eden, his supply of new soundz was bottomless.

[Javier]

Another 1960 here, raised in mexican folk and trios then my first intro into "US" music at around 10 years old with songs from elton jhon ( levon) and three dog nigth ( live album) then my older brother ( thanks to a subscription tp columbia house) received yes fragile on 8 track tape saw thw cover that caught my eye pop the thingh into the player and never went off for hours simply love at first listen in the same batch was also thick as a brick that also caugth my fancy ( not as hard as yes did of course), shess that was in 73, loving yes since then.
Around 1975 was exposed to rush's 2112 hated it that shiekring voice ( rush entered into my favs until 1983 with moving pictures).
1976 ELP pictures and exhibition and welcome back my friens liked it but just in places just until well into the 1990's liked all of them and also kansas leftoverture
1977 came my second love affair this time was genesis with selling england by the pound.
I like 3, was well away from rock listening mostly to new age and smooth jazz as well as some classical stuff until found this board so i started to renew my interest in prog so i started building my libary on all of the and some other, also got to know a lot of new bands and as most of you expending a little fortune buyind cd's
PDi remember also listenig to PFM at " the midnigth special" wich i liked a lot too but it wasn't until i came to this board that the named popped out and order most of the catalog.

[Dave_G]

Any of you prog nuts heard Wobbler?

Dave

[E-Stat]

Tell us about your first experience...with Prog.

I guess I'm getting old because I had no idea what you were talking about until I Googled it. Oh, progressive rock - why didn't you say so?

I clearly remember first hearing "Roundabout" from Fragile when I was 15 in '72. While I still enjoyed the more basic Hendrix and Zeppelin stuff, this was complex and intense. Love at first hearing. After that, immediately bought the earlier Yes Album. Soon after, a friend exposed me to ELP's Tarkus. More way cool stuff. As with Yes, I backed up and bought their first two albums and every one afterwards. I will never forget seeing them live around the time of Brain Salad Surgery. Palmer was simply amazing on percussion. I drove my folks nuts wearing out my first copy of that album. Pictures at an Exhibition started a gradual introduction to the classical stuff that I like today. Similarly, I like Genesis, Gentle Giant, Kansas, and although not prog I got into Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene that was unique sounding when it came out in '76 or so.

Lots of fond memories.

rw

[3-LockBox]

But then again, I didn't know what 'prog' was until I found this board.

By the time I really started paying attention to Rush, was when Permanent Waves came out. By that time, Rush was becoming a mainstream radio staple, then later, the song Tom Sawyer came out and I was just blown away. I was hooked all the way through until Hold Your Fire, then my interests in them waned. The '80s incarnation of this band is its least progressive, though. It would be much later that I ventured into their older catalog, though a friend of mine was always playing 2112 whenever I came over to this house.

Of course, my older brother was into Floyd (he had half-speed remastered versions of DSOTM and WYWH on vinyl) and of course Zepplin. I remember my brother listening to 2 and 4, and Physical Graffiti, but they didn't grab me right away. In my early 20s, I started becoming a real Zep-Head and bought everything. It started when I was 20 and had just transfered to Whidbey Is in the Pacific Northwest, and my brother would send me music that he'd transfered from CD to tape (TDK SA-X 90s to be exact). I had long since lost my tape copy of Rush Moving Pictures, so he sent me that on one side of a tape, w/ DSOTM on the other. I think that tape lasted 4 or 5 years before it actually snapped in two at one point. (a killer combo if you think about it)

[3-LockBox]

I guess I'm getting old because I had no idea what you were talking about until I Googled it. Oh, progressive rock - why didn't you say so?

You must done all yer postin elsewhere, cuz its been 'Prog' here for years

Just goes to show ya how often we need moderatin round here

[Davey]

Heehee, prog will be the new porn in the future, huh? Kids will be telling each other about the stash of old prog records they found in their dad's closet. I can't believe he listens to this stuff! It's kind of creepy, but I like it. Wanna hear some

I got into a lot of ELP and Moody Blues and Yes and Tull and PF and some of the others in the early 70s, but with me there was just so much else going on that I was more in tune with, it didn't really stick. I just had too much love of the more "simple" stuff, as Troy puts it. So much great music. But I never lost the appreciation for experimental music even though I pretty much abandoned prog in the late 70s and for all the 80s. Picked up some of it agian in the late 90s through a more modern filter, but it's not really what this thread is about. Still dig pulling out some of the early stuff like Tales From Topographic Oceans for a fresh listen one in awhile. And King Crimson will always fascinate me. But Genesis and all their descendents, not so much.

[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.

[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.

[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}.