Most influential Prog Bands

[dtguitarfan]

What bands would you say are the most influential bands in the Progressive Rock genre for each decade starting with the 70's? I'm especially interested in hearing what people would say about the 2000's and on - it seems like when you get that close to today, it's hard to really say who has been influential.

 

[lane_miller]

Great question. To me, an influential band is one that you can hear their music in later bands.

Most influential prog bands from the 1970's:
- King Crimson
- Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
- Deep Purple (Mainly MK I and MK II)
- Jethro Tull
- Pink Floyd

Most influential prog bands from the 1980's:
- Rush (clearly produced some great music in the 1970's)
- Queensryche
- Savatage
- Were there any others??? (I guess I would offer that Iron Maiden and Metallica incorporated progressive elements in their music.)

Most influential prog bands from the 1990's:
- Fates Warning
- Dream Theater (still making great music and still influential)

Most influential prog bands from the 2000's:
- Symphony X (clearly produced some great music in the 1990's)
- Riverside (debatable, but there are a lot of bands from eastern Europe that have mimicked their sound)

 

[dtguitarfan]

I'll give my thoughts. Note that while I agree with lane_miller that hearing a band's influence is a factor, really, whether we like it or not (for most prog fans, not), number of albums sold is a factor. I'm probably leaving some out, but these seem to me to be the most influential of each decade (note I'm also counting each band for the decade they began in, not the decade they are most influential during):
In no particular order for each decade:
70's:
Yes
ELP
Pink Floyd
Jethro Tull
Kansas
King Crimson
Rush
Frank Zappa

80's:
Dream Theater
Fates Warning
Queensryche
Savatage

90's:
Pain of Salvation
Symphony X
Flower Kings

2000's:
Redemption
Riverside
Pagan's Mind? (though they straddle the fence between prog and power, they seem to be influential)

It's really tough to say who's influential after 2000 though, I think.

 

[Nidstang]

70s:
King Crimson
Kansas
Rush
Gentle Giant
Jethro Tull
Soft Machine
ELP
Genisis
Yes
Aphrodite's Child.

80s
IQ ( everyone should hear of them if they havent XD)
Fate's Warning

90s
Pain of Salvation
Dream Theater
Symphony X
Opeth (they're super influential to me at least)
Threshold
Porcupine tree
Devin Towsend
Cynic
Conception

2000s
Riverside
Andromeda
Seventh Wonder
Frost*
The Dear Hunter

 

[modernwizardry]

what everyone said plus:

70's
URIAH HEEP
The Who
Van der Graaf Generator
Atomic Rooster

90's/00's
Muse