Ten Greatest PROG ROCK Bands of all time | Ranked | Part 2

I go VERY wrong in this video...I have kept all the wrong stuff in because I thought it was entertaining and exposed a bit of truth about the creation of this list.
The mistake happens when I mention 'Relayer' by Yes. I meant to say 'Fragile' but my mind was in a meltdown at that point...I'll say no more...watch and enjoy!!!!

Andy is a drummer, producer and educator. He has toured the world with rock legend Robert Plant and played on classic prog albums by Frost and IQ.

As a drum clinician he has played with Terry Bozzio, Kenny Aronoff, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman and Mike Portnoy.

He also teaches drums privately and at Kidderminster College

[steverickenbacher]

To go one step further, it was Fripp and company (especially with the game-changer albums Larks through Red) that pushed me off the fence and headlong into jazz 30+ years ago. To acclimate my rock-addled mind slowly into jazz, I found the easiest entry points - Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Lifetime, Return to Forever AND the daddy of them all, Miles Davis' fusion. Following the branches backwards, I fell into a lifelong love affair with jazz. I guess you could say that I owe it all to Fripp, and to this day, King Crimson remains the only rock band I can listen to happily over and over again.

[mononoaware]

Man I swear you speak my mind with everything haha! I too much prefer the 67-73 era Floyd, absolutely magical. They had way more improvisation and exploration going on, especially the live shows from that time. I really love the avant garde psychedelia, and rawer edge they had. I never cared for the Wall either, just not my thing. I think the music really suffered in place of Roger getting his story across. Agreed on Marillion too, always thought they sounded like a watered down Genesis. But again we can’t deny what they did for the genre. Great content man, subscribed! Last thing, I don’t think theres a more versatile guitar player than Steve Howe! Jazzy licks, country, classical, and absolutely shred his ass off with a solo. Probably my single biggest inspiration as a guitarist. Yes was the band that made me want to seriously dedicate myself to the guitar and music. Fripp and Crimson showed me that anything is possible musically, imo Fripp is a complete musical anomaly. One of the most original, innovative, and interesting guitarists to ever live. I’ve tried to work out some of his parts and remember being completely baffled by his approach and what he was doing. To me no band encompasses what progressive music is about better than King Crimson, maybe Yes too lol.

[sdrandazzo]

Great top 5 Mr. Edwards... you are forgiven on the ELP miss lol. King Crimson is also my number one prog band. I also love Van der Graaf Generator... hope you do a deep dive on them one day. Best regards, Sal.

[pauldenby]

I'm glad you mentioned VdGG because.. well just because!

[ganazby]

You gotta do a personal top ten, Andy. You know it’s going to be fun. Enjoyed this very much. Cheers.

[oldwindsorblues]

Nice rank, I am always 100% in agreement with you.The only exception is the order of the top three bands that for me should be from third to first: King Crimson, Yes and Genesis. But of course this is just my personal debatable opinion.
With regards to the first video I'm not quite so in agreement with you. I would have personally considered Van Der Graaf Generator, E.L.P. and Colosseum somewhere in the list.
Having said that I find your videos very good and interesting.

[VincentBautista]

Not having E.L.P. on your list tells me a lot! You didn't forget Marillion, Dreamtheater, and Frank Zappa! 🤣😂🤣 You dropped the ball Andy.

[rockforms]

Have exactly the same story as to how I found Yes. To this day The Yes Album is my favourite of theirs. Cheers for doing these videos!

[brucebrown]

Yes and ELP at top 2! I believe you have it right. King Crimson is a nice choice based on your reasoning. I saw Fripp in a small farm town in Illinois. He was incredible. Someone had to remind me who he really was. I was stunned that he played that venue.

[garygomesvedicastrology]

I know they are not incredibly popular, but you mentioned them and I would love to see you delve into some of the lesser known bands like Hatfield and Henry Cow...

[stuartfishman]

My top ten list would likely be German and English bands, but King Crimson definitely belongs at the top. Robert Fripp always followed his muse and made connections with whatever was happening in music. I remember reading an interview with both Fripp and Joe Strummer in Musician Magazine back in '81. Fripp impressed me with how open he was and his take on where Rock was going. I was a huge Clash fan (still am), and the two got on really well. In fact, Strummer mentioned that King Crimson impressed him at a festival show he went to. I think he also said that The Who were godawful that day. Seek out the article, if you can.

[scottmyers]

Nice list, no real surprises in the top five. I waver between Yes and King Crimson, but believe that KC should win for the reasons you stated: fully realized prog early on, and truly *progressed* through the decades. As much as I love my 70's Yes, nothing grabs me beyond that except Magnification. Discipline era KC, on the other hand, was absolutely blowing my mind in the 80s.
Funny stuff with ELP! I like the exact things you mention (especially the *song* Trilogy....amazing!) but it seems like they almost deliberately put a stinker on every album. Can't deny the "greatness"/importance, though.
Some random comments:
Jethro Tull absolutely belongs on the list. Thick As A Brick and Passion Play are both incredible, and I can't imagine how someone would argue that these are not "progressive".
No problem with Pink Floyd being on the list. I personally love the early stuff through DSoTM. Wish You Were Here certainly has a sense of grandeur, but I honestly find it kind of boring. My wife has commented about latter era PF that "it sounds like a perfume commercial"...HA! I have tickets to see Nick Mason's Saucer Full Of Secrets...that is right up my alley!
Out of all the list I have absolutely no use at all for Marillion or Dream Theatre. I love Rush, but am happy to hear them when they come on the radio, that's it. I think they are incredibly nice, entertaining guys....Geddy Lee is the poster child for "rock star aging gracefully".

[nicolelynnkucera]

I went a concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The headliner was ELP and the opening act was Mahavishnu Orchestra. I had heard about Mahavishnu, but that’s the first time I heard them live. It was absolutely amazing performance.

[ramoncardinali]

From a personal point of view Gentle Giant would be my number one! But i pretty much agree with your list!

[soubrierjean]

In America, bands like KANSAS, STYX, SAGA were also " prog metal " in the 70's, just like Rush. What separates them from the others is that they had really great singers that gave an " AOR " edge to their music.
STARCASTLE also sounds like an AOR version of 70's Yes.

[elecrocity]

The ELP bit made me a chuckle a lot. That was priceless.

[richardsutton]

I love the style of your videos, Andy. Keep in all the second thoughts, changes of heart etc, as we can all identify with your struggle as those of us who listen to more 70's music than any other decade go through the same issues every time we have to decide what to put on the turntable.
On a personal note, I'm so glad that I grew up with the 70's bands as it has to be the best music decade ever. That claim could be a future video subject!
Richard

[TractorCountdown]

Spot on analysis of Jethro Tull and how they changed from being a blues based. Genesis happen to be my favourite, from Trespass through the 80s. Like you say about Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot, there's an emotional depth that just hits, even now after all these years. I totally agree about KC at no.1, although when I first heard Discipline I thought it was a Talking Heads rip off. You could swap ELP for Rush (although Rush are the funniest band I've ever heard).

[jeffreytaylor]

Oink Floyd was not growing musically but were growing conceptually.
A big difference.
Thanks for the effort.
JT

[matteo]

What do u think about italian prog?
For example band like: PFM, Area, CCCP, Diaframma, Banco del mutuo soccorso, Balletto di bronzo.
Prog was one of the fews genres that we were able to do well in italy