Radio friendly PROG SONGS!

[andrey]

Of course, we all know about some famous prog hits such as:
Kayleigh- Marillion (1985)
Owner Of The Lonely Heart - Yes (1983)...
Not only radio friendly, but "MTV friendly"!

What other prog-songs from lesser known bands you could bring to radio-friendly list that would be happened at the time?
The songs must be not long and too complex, melodical, solid, memorizebly... able to please any common person's ears.

My list:
Caesar's Palace Blues - UK (1979)
Qu'est-ce que t'as compris? - Morse Code (1975)
The Night Step - Circus (1980)
Korsakov - Splinter (2007)
The Acrobat - Kestrel (1975)
Living In The Moonlight - Collage (1994)
Frau Y Man - COS (1978)
Esprit d'Amor - Minimum Vital (1997)
Gear Wheels - High Wheel (1994)
G 13 - Jadis (1992)
House Of Hire - Streetmark (1976)
Sierra Quemada - Steve Hackett (1993)
Solid Ground - IZZ (2012)
Spiders - McLuhan (1972)
Earthglow - Flaming Youth (1969)
..........

[Jubal]

Ezra - Everyday
Farpoint - Universal Light
It Bites - For Safekeeping
Kino - Leave A Light On
Man On Fire - Entertaining Angels
Mermaid Kiss - The Blushing Bride
Martin Orford - A Part Of Me
Porcupine Tree - The Sound Of Muzak
RPWL - Roses
Simon Apple - Significance
Sound Of Contact - Pale Blue Dot
Spock's Beard - Something Very Strange
Sylvan - Timeless Traces
The Tangent - The Sun In My Eyes
Toy Matinee - Last Plane Out
Yes - Lightning Strikes

[Classic Progressive]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmwarOWZXEE

Radio Friendly, Great groove. Great hook, and ya remember it! Always wanted to cover this song with a rock cover band... but no...never could get anyone to get away from the Journey or the other typical dance rock crap.

Not Prog enough to do it with the Prog Tribute work. Anyway, just one song I always thought should have gotten these guy's a lot of radio time.

[WeatherWiseCDC]

You guys will love this.


The radio edit of "Roundabout" that gets put on all of the Best of the 70s compilations.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQfuclXvf8A

3 minutes, 27 seconds of goodness.

[nycsteve]

Yes , Gates of Delirium is highly radio friendly.








:)

[ItalProgRules]

I don't know the name of the channel, but the World Gym I go to sometimes plays a Sirius XM channel that's mostly Proggy or Prog-related classic rock stuff. The time-frame of the playlist seems to be roughly late 70s-late 80s, which is a bit arbitrary and strange.

Still beats the usual mindless dance music they play in gyms.

They have not one, but two songs in regular rotation from the dreaded Big Generator.

But compared to what they usually play there, "The Rhythm of Love" and "Love Will Find A Way" sound pretty good in comparison.

[PeterG]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAEO3Dvugcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF_99Tyl7nc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5GsruFtRc

[helicase]

White Willow - Paper Moon
Caravan - Golf Girl, Hello Hello
Egg - Seven Is a Jolly Good Time
VdGG - House with No Door
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Supersister - She Was Naked
Czesław Niemen - Dziwny jest ten świat
PFM - Impressioni di settembre
Quella Vecchia Locanda - Realtà
Rare Bird - You Went Away, Beautiful Scarlet
Lots of Renaissance

[Scott Bails]

Ezra - Everyday
Farpoint - Universal Light
It Bites - For Safekeeping
Kino - Leave A Light On
Man On Fire - Entertaining Angels
Mermaid Kiss - The Blushing Bride
Martin Orford - A Part Of Me
Porcupine Tree - The Sound Of Muzak
RPWL - Roses
Simon Apple - Significance
Sound Of Contact - Pale Blue Dot
Spock's Beard - Something Very Strange
Sylvan - Timeless Traces
The Tangent - The Sun In My Eyes
Toy Matinee - Last Plane Out
Yes - Lightning Strikes

Solid list, Jubal. :up

[bob_32_116]

I think lots of songs from Porcupine Tree's "middle period" could have been radio-led hits if given the chance.

[andrey]

VdGG - House with No Door
Yes, the one and only VDGG song I also have discovered to fit somehow for radio wave...


Focus - Hocus Pocus
The first time I've listened for Focus via radio in 70's

[No Pride]

Toy Matinee - Last Plane Out

The first time I heard that was on the radio. It actually got some airplay when it came out, though I have my doubts that it made the Top 40.

(edit) According to Wikipedia, it made #23 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, as did another tune from that album, "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge."

[miamiscot]

Kansas' entire discography.

[Flightwave]

Kevin Gilbert - Goodness Gracious Me
Ayreon - Comatose
Porcupine Tree - Trains
Nightwinds - We Were Young
Iluvatar - Eagle
Roots of Consciousness - Candelabra
Multi-Story - Carrie
Devin Townsend Project - Where We Belong

[nearfest]

FM "Phasors on Stun"

[headcrash]

You guys will love this.


The radio edit of "Roundabout" that gets put on all of the Best of the 70s compilations.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQfuclXvf8A

3 minutes, 27 seconds of goodness.


I still have my copy. "Long Distance Runaround" on the flipside. My "entry drug" into prog.

[Boydie]

Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

[Classic Progressive]

Asia is prog right? :lol

[bill g]

Beardfish - Blue Moon
Camel - Freefall, Never Let Go, Fingertips, Summer Lightning
Renaissance - Back Home Once Again, Northern Lights, Kalynda
King Crimson - Matte Kudesai, Epitaph
Gentle Giant - Give It Back, The Moon Is Down
Tony Banks - Red Day On Blue Street
Marillion - This is the 21st Century
Life on Earth!- Then and There
Sanguine Hum - Settle Down

[Progbear]

Gentle Giant - Give It Back, The Moon Is Down

Prog fans sure have a rose-tinted view of their own music. I’d like to know on what planet these songs are “radio friendly.” :lol

[andrey]

Prog fans sure have a rose-tinted view of their own music. I’d like to know on what planet these songs are “radio friendly.” :lol

Not of these songs, but some other of Gentle Giant I'm ready to hear on Classic Rock FM:

VALEDICTORY - not too complex and great riff!
IT'S ONLY GOODBYE - ideal for airplay, but... not prog

[progeezer's ghost]

DT- Hollow Years
PT- many tracks from Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun
Marillion- too many to list
IQ- No Love Lost
Touchstone- Strange Days
D97- Open Your Eyes (not entirely in 4/4, but not a stretch)
Abigail's Ghost- many tracks from Selling Insincerity

...and countless others...

[Rarebird]

I think some Valensia stuff could be considered radio-friendly, though I wonder if it could be considered prog. Well, I reviewed it for a prog magazine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7pGnnxzQk4

[bill g]

Prog fans sure have a rose-tinted view of their own music. I’d like to know on what planet these songs are “radio friendly.” :lol

Yeah, I almost didn't include those, but 'Give It Back' has that almost raggae, warm vibe that I could almost hear on the radio, and 'The Moon Is Down' is not all that unfriendly to my ears, but yes, my ears are certainly 'rose-tinted' at this point. Can't be helped I'm afraid ;)

[arabicadabra]

How about the fact that Another Day by Dream Theater did NOT catch on radio, but Surrounded, with its second and third vocal verses in 9, DID? It's whatever they choose to cram down your throats. THIS is the planet on which these songs, indeed, ANY song, can be "made", i.e., forced to be radio friendly.

[mozo-pg]

FM "Phasors on Stun"

Was in constant rotation with FM stations in Canada in the 1970s.

[klothos]

Porcupine Tree - Halo is dance-y and poppy enough to have been a huge radio hit had it ever been released as one and properly promoted as such

[Digital_Man]

Isn't radio friendly and prog an oxymoron? I think it's why you rarely hear 70's YES(or Genesis from the same era)on the radio much anymore. And let's be totally honest here songs like "I know what I like" and "wonderous stories" etc aren't really prog. They are from prog albums but other than the keyboard solos or whatever there really isn't much to differentiate most of the short prog songs that you do or did hear on the radio from any other standard pop song. Not that there's anything wrong with short songs(I actually think it's important for prog bands to mix it up from time to time if possible).

[peterpyser]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wytMrhty1o

[bob_32_116]

Isn't radio friendly and prog an oxymoron? I think it's why you rarely hear 70's YES(or Genesis from the same era)on the radio much anymore. And let's be totally honest here songs like "I know what I like" and "wonderous stories" etc aren't really prog. They are from prog albums but other than the keyboard solos or whatever there really isn't much to differentiate most of the short prog songs that you do or did hear on the radio from any other standard pop song. Not that there's anything wrong with short songs(I actually think it's important for prog bands to mix it up from time to time if possible).
Oh dear: "not prog, not prog." :D

If people (not necessarily you, Digital) are going to claim that Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are/were prog, then I think "I Know What I Like" and "Wondrous Stories" certainly qualify.

[Kanukisbrave]

I think some Valensia stuff could be considered radio-friendly, though I wonder if it could be considered prog. Well, I reviewed it for a prog magazine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7pGnnxzQk4

first I've heard of this....Valensia seems to be a cross between current Enid (Joe Paine & co.) and early Kate Bush... kind of neat..

[No Pride]

Not of these songs, but some other of Gentle Giant I'm ready to hear on Classic Rock FM:

VALEDICTORY - not too complex and great riff!
IT'S ONLY GOODBYE - ideal for airplay, but... not prog

For me, some radio friendly GG songs would be "Think of Me With Kindness," "I'm Turning Around" and "Words From the Wise."

[Lopez]

A bit more than lesser known, but any of ELP's shorter numbers: Tiger in a Spotlight, I Believe in Father Christmas, C'est la Vie, Still You Turn Me On, etc. Lucky Man was a fairly decent hit in the top 40 when I was in high school in Providence.

[No Pride]

Lucky Man was a fairly decent hit in the top 40 when I was in high school in Providence.

Still You Turn Me On was too.

[JKL2000]

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (the song)

[Digital_Man]

Oh dear: "not prog, not prog." :D

If people (not necessarily you, Digital) are going to claim that Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are/were prog, then I think "I Know hat I Like" and "Wondrous Stories" certainly qualify.

It depends on the songs by Deep Purple and Black Sabbath just like it does for Jethro Tull, Styx, Queen, or any other band. Some bands played mostly in the style and that's fine but even those bands had songs that don't fit the strictest definition of prog(not that there's anything wrong with that). I think of DP and BS as heavy rock or proto metal not really prog. But yeah some of their songs(both bands)were proto prog metal.

[rich]

Camel had a few, City Life, Lost and Found, Wait, Your Love is Stranger Than Mine, Wing and a Prayer, Breathless

Brand X Soho, Don't Make Waves

[MysteryChallenger]

Prog fans sure have a rose-tinted view of their own music. I’d like to know on what planet these songs are “radio friendly.” :lol

FAIK, the one G G song that got mainstream radio play was "Underground" from Citizen

-Couple more that come to mind
Marillion - Beautiful
Flower Kings - Chicken Farmer Song

[bigbassdrum]

Jethro Tull - Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day

[andreynovox]

I'd add to the list:
Quartar - Conqueror
Ann Too Much - 8 Days In April
Contracorriente - Ad Honorem
Sally The Green - Anyone's Daughter
Distance - Asturias
Blue Moon - Beardfish
Old Air Head - Castanarc
I Can Only Wonder - Cirrus Bay
Be Free - D Project
Standing At The Corner - Fax Ignis
King's Mischief - Hands
Take The Road Across The Bridge - Junipher Greene
Destruction - Message
Days when we are free - Mashmakan
Honoris Causae - Opale
Stardust and Dreams - Water Garden

[Steve983]

Rather than commercial tracks by Prog Bands I was thinking of actual hits from the 70's that had proggy elements:

Queen - Bo Rhap
10cc - I'm Mandy Fly Me
Wings - Band On The Run
The Eagles - Hotel California
John Miles - Music
Joe Walsh - Life's Been Good
Rush - Spirit Of Radio (yes this was an actual minor hit here in the UK)
Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Styx - Come Sail Away

I'll post more when they come to mind.

[Stevie B]

I'm struggling to bring to mind the "proggy elements" in Hotel California...

...the double-neck guitar in the video maybe? :lol

[Halmyre]

I'm struggling to bring to mind the "proggy elements" in Hotel California...

...the double-neck guitar in the video maybe? :lol

Partly written by Ian Anderson? :cool

[andreynovox]

Rather than commercial tracks by Prog Bands I was thinking of actual hits from the 70's that had proggy elements:

Wings - Band On The Run.
More to add - "With A Little Luck" - Wings....

[SongForAmerica]

Rare Bird: "Peace of Mind": https://invidio.us/watch?v=hVEQPvMSscc

[bill g]

I think 'Blue Moon' by Beardfish, from "The Sane Day' is a great blend of progginess and radio friendliness.

[prog_frog]

I always thought that "Toys" by Frost* could've caught on with the right exposure.