Big 3's of prog and rock

[Digital_Man]

Entirely subjective, so I'm not going to post mine, but I will comment yours, ince you opened the thread...
though I kind of agree with your rather consensual choices...buuuuuuut, one has to think you're dealing with popularity rather pure personal tastes, here, right,

Sooooo:
- Genesis was not that big a name until the 80's... Tull or ELP are more appropriate choices for 70's prog (and KC was never in the samle popularity league)
- The Who left off from 60's rock (ok in favour of Kinks.... but in terms of pppularity???
- Again, The who placed in 70's hard rock??
- Bad Co doesn't strike me as hard rock >> arena or AOR rock, yes!! but hard rock???

Well hey I never said it was perfect and it was suppose to reflect how things are viewed now more than back in the day hence Genesis being in the big three and not ELP. It's an interesting thing because although ELP haven't entirely been forgotten or neglected, their influence on prog has definitely taken a back seat to Genesis these days.

As for The Who, I view them more as a seventies band even though they did get their start in the sixties but they didn't really start to get really big until the end of the sixties anyway. The Kinks would have been a much bigger band imo if they weren't banned in the US from sixty five to sixty nine. I put them in the sixties because for a while they were a major British Invasion Band. Like I said it's a personal thing. I heard a dj on a classic rock station say something like the Beatles are his "favorite British band from the sixties but the Kinks are his second. Sorry Rolling Stones" or something to that effect. Not sure I would go that far but they definitely deserve to mentioned right after the Stones imo. Like I said, the Who got huge in the seventies and did surpass the Kinks in popularity but.... ok I'm starting to repeat myself here and I'm not even under stress.

Anyway, like you said it is mostly about who I perceive to be the most popular for the most part but it's ultimately my personal opinion of that and how I want to spin it(ie the comment about Genesis and the Kinks in particular).

[Brian Griffin]

Most hated

Jodi Arias
Casey Anthony
Oscar Pistorius (or Ray Lewis)

BG

[simon moon]

Prog

Genesis
King Crimson
Gentle Giant

Neo prog

IQ
Marillion

New prog

After Crying
Deus Ex Machina
Anglagard

Prog metal

Pain of Salvation
Cynic
Wolverine

Fusion

Mahavishnu Orchestra
Return to Forever
Brand X

New fusion

Spaced Out
Forgas Band Phenomena
Counter-World Experience

20th Century composers

Stravinsky
Bartok
Schoenberg

Avant Garde composers

Joseph Schwantner
Ernst Krenek
Elliot Carter

[Progtopia]

I won't do the full lists, but I don't see how you can not consider Kiss for arena rock.