Page 1 of 6 12345 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 129

Thread: When did the "Prog Door" open for YOU?

  1. #1

    When did the "Prog Door" open for YOU?

    Was there a defining musical moment when you "went thru the door" and realized you really
    liked this stuff, and subsequently would be looking for more of it?

    I suppose the transition to Prog fan could happen gradually for some people.

    But for me, it was fairly sudden...

    Cut to the Spring vacation of 1970.
    I was visiting a friend at Stony Brook University on Long Island, NY.

    At my school upstate (SU Geneseo), I was super into Cream, Hendrix, and a newer band called, Blodwyn Pig.
    Also, I was starting to listen to Jazz seriously for the 1st time (but traditional jazz, not the modern stuff, yet).

    So I suppose the stage was set for me to "cross over". My sense of tonalities (that I found pleasurable to listen to)
    was expanding, and my mind was opening. I was a guitar player who worshipped Clapton/Hendrix/Beck.

    Stony Brook U at that time was a hotbed of drug activity (far more so than my quieter upstate school was).
    My friend (a longtime buddy, very accomplished guitarist, who won't even smoke a joint nowadays, 40+ years later), was, at that time,
    going thru a heavy drug phase (pot and psychedelics, with some of the milder speed, like BiPhetamines).

    So, it is maybe 1:30 in the morning, and I am sitting on the edge of a bed in his dorm-room in
    a dorm called "Learned Hand College" (a psychedelic name, if you ask me),
    with a bunch of very high people in the room.
    We had smoked hash and grass, taken Biphetamines, and split a multi-tab of acid.
    So, um, I guess, I was a little vulnerable at that moment.

    Anyway, somebody puts the LP cover of the first King Crimson album (Court Of The Crimson King) in my hands, and says,
    "Listen to this"!

    10 minutes or so later (after hearing "20th Century Schizoid Man" for the first time), my life had changed, forever.
    I was hooked on that music, or anything like it.

    But lest you think it was the drugs, I assure you, it certainly was not (although they added a definite extra-intense
    edge to the experience, for sure).

    No, it was the music.

    And I have never changed back.

  2. #2
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Near Philly, PA
    Posts
    6,583
    Yep. Absolutely.

    I've told the story before here, but I became a HUGE Steve Howe fan when Asia's debut came out (I was 13 at the time). Some friends of mine told me that I hadn't heard anything, played "The Clap" for me, and then gave me a copy of The Yes Album. After hearing "Yours Is No Disgrace," I was instantly hooked and had to hear more. These same friends turned me and a few others onto ELP, Genesis, and several others.

    And then the "Prog Door" re-opened when Mike Portnoy began talking up this little prog band called Spock's Beard, and I discovered that prog hadn't died. The Internet played a huge role here. Places like PE and ProgArchives were like an oasis in the desert for this prog fan.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

  3. #3
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Bucks County PA
    Posts
    0
    Mtv playing yes, genesis, Asia, gtr, rush and elpowell videos.

  4. #4
    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Vallejo, CA
    Posts
    1,012
    I've told my story, too... the year was 1985. I rather liked Yes's "90125" when I bought it, but my roommate told me that I should hear some REAL Yes. He played me their seventies selections, and I can even nail the moment when I fell in love with Yes of old and prog in general... it was when I heard the pipe organ come in for the first time after the "I get up, I get down" chorus in "Close to the Edge."

    "Wow," I said, meaning it.

    "Isn't that nice?" asked my roommate.

    Nice?! With that one pipe organ bit... I was prog's bitch forever and ever.

  5. #5
    As with you it started with In the Court of the Crimson King. I was also a big fan of Hendrix, and also Led Zepplin. I was at a party at a classmates house in late grade school. (it wasn't the drugs because there were no drugs or alcohol present) They played some music that really captured me. One was The Doors (I was already a fan) Crystal Ship. The other was Court. After I went home I was up most of the night with The Court of the Crimson King in my head.

    Soon after that I moved into the same Condo Complex as Dave Sr. (adapt2it) and he was my prog mentor through the mid to late 70's.

  6. #6
    13 watching ELP on tv, California Jam. On my bike the next day to buy BSS. Those were the days. Even the chicks listened to prog.

  7. #7
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    10,223
    I already knew Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd reasonably well but a friend gave me a mix tape with Genesis The Knife & Giant Hogweed on it. I was 16 and it was 1980.
    Ian

    Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
    https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/

    Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
    I blame Wynton, what was the question?
    There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.

  8. #8
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    South Hadley, MA
    Posts
    2,663
    For me, it was seeing Yes live in 1979. I was into Styx, Queen, ELO, Zeppelin, etc. But when I saw Yes, it was clear to me that these guys were performing at an entirely different level. It totally opened the door for me to bands of a more complex and experimental nature, though I certainly still like a good grounding in rock and roll and relative melodic accessibility. But seeing Yes in their prime (or just at the tail end) changed the game for me completely.

    Bill

  9. #9
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Near Philly, PA
    Posts
    6,583
    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    I was prog's bitch forever and ever.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

  10. #10
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    9,688
    When I went to see Genesis' Trick Of The Tail concert in Ottawa, in March 1976. I was already a fan but the live show left a life long impression. I was actually close to being on the ground floor with progressive music.
    Last edited by mozo-pg; 09-09-2013 at 12:49 AM.
    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  11. #11
    I absolutely remember. I was 12 when "Owner of a Lonely Heart" introduced me to Yes. After getting 90125 on cassette, I wanted to hear what other music they'd done. With my allowance money, I bought Classic Yes and Tormato on vinyl -- I think those were the only two the store had. I put on Classic Yes first, and I can still remember the first time I heard the rumbling intro to "Heart of the Sunrise." I'd always sought out quirky and unusual music as a kid -- to give you an idea, the first album I ever bought was Ummagumma at a neighbor's garage sale, because I liked the album cover and the song titles and lengths -- and "Heart of the Sunrise" just floored me. Yes has been my favorite band ever since, and over the next few years I got deeper and deeper into prog. I haven't been the same since.

  12. #12
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    160
    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    I rather liked Yes's "90125" when I bought it, but my roommate told me that I should hear some REAL Yes. .

    + 1. Probably lots of us on this board have undergone such a story. Sure beats Thompson Twins and Gene Loves Jezebel.

  13. #13
    My first album i bought was Ummagumma, in fifth grade, $7.00 at Kings Department store. My brother is 9 years older than me so I was exposed to a lot of stuff. I was always attracted to more complex music, space, orchestral and psych. My first concert was Brain Salad Surgery. I guess in the beginning when the door flew open I never really thought about the prog title i dont think as much as now. And as above, the newer prog came with Spocks Beard and magna carta records. I spent a bunch of years with contemporary symphonies jazz and fusion in between. But my heart has always beenin prog for sure.
    And speaking of Blodwyn Pig, I just picked up A Head Rings Out at a record show in CT over the weekend, love that album, and without question one of the greatest covers ever!

  14. #14
    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    The Past
    Posts
    1,900
    I'd probably put it at August 1968 when I saw the Soft Machine open for Hendrix.
    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

  15. #15
    Member Teal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    0
    When I heard Yes & was really hooked when Misplaced Childhood came out.
    There was a time when Marillion and breathing were of equal importance.

  16. #16
    As a teenager, I somehow ended up with a second hand copy of Invisible Touch on cassette. I liked the album as a whole, but "Domino" seemed like the coolest thing I'd ever heard, with its multipart structure and changing tempos, etc. Then I had this friend who was familiar with older Genesis (through an uncle or something), and he lent me Trespass, and soon I was buying up the Genesis back catalog as fast I could. A little research in a rock encyclopedia at the library led me to Yes, Supertramp, ELO, King Crimson, ELP, Gentle Giant, etc., as being bands that sounded similar to Genesis.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by benson View Post
    Mtv playing yes, genesis, Asia, gtr, rush and elpowell videos.
    Sounds like back-in-the-day when MTV was good.

  18. #18
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Kalamazoo Michigan
    Posts
    9,578
    I have posted this before, but basically "Carry On My Wayward Son" from Kansas opened the door for everything else for me. To a lesser extent Queen and Styx were also gateway bands to prog to my ears back in the day.

    Steve Sly

  19. #19
    First memory of prog style in 76, was listening to heavys of the day, Zep, Beatles, Who, etc. had heard ELP and didn't like much, heard Trick of the Tail and it raised my recognition. That summer, my brother's college roommate left his record collection at the house as he hitched cross country. Found and fell in love with Lamb and several KC lps. Door was open. Saw so many great acts till, 1980, saw Asia, door closed.

    Door reopened In 98, got Genesis boxed set and an online forum talked about Marrillion, research found Brave and subsequent many other modern prog. Reunion of Nektar brought me to NearFest, door opened quite wide and saw every one thereafter.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by mogrooves View Post
    I'd probably put it at August 1968 when I saw the Soft Machine open for Hendrix.
    OMG. I might have seen the same concert, I believe (unless they had a whole tour together & had other dates).

    I saw The Soft Machine/Chambers Bros/Janis Joplin/Hendrix at the Singer Bowl in Queens NY, August, 1968.
    I remember the rotating stage, and Hendrix throwing a Stratocaster very high into the air, right up out of the lights.
    I was up in the stands. But the floor was jammed too.

    A few weeks earlier, at the same venue, I had seen The Who and The Doors (with Kangaroo opening the show)--A famous
    and notorious concert where a nasty riot, openly provoked by Morrison, broke out.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I have posted this before, but basically "Carry On My Wayward Son" from Kansas opened the door for everything else for me. To a lesser extent Queen and Styx were also gateway bands to prog to my ears back in the day.

    Steve Sly
    I had some "gateway" bands, too, before I ever got into prog. My best friend's mom had a big LP collection, and I remember always borrowing records from her. Lots of Styx and Rush. I'm sure that kind of stuff helped prime me for my later prog fandom.

  22. #22
    Hearing "Tarkus" on the radio in 1971 when I was nine. I was done for, immediately.

  23. #23
    Member emperorken's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Mesquite Nv
    Posts
    103
    As a young teenager in the late 60's, I immediately got into the early days of FM radio, specifically WNEW-FM in New York. I still remember the great DJ's like Scott Muni and Allison Steele. Probably started with the Moodies and just "progressed" from there. By my freshman year of college in 1972, I was well hooked.

  24. #24
    Member Since: 3/27/2002 MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    The Kingdom of YHVH
    Posts
    2,770
    1974...

    Stanley Clarke's s/t album with Tony Williams stomping out some heavy Rock drumming and Bill Connors ripping Guitar and Jan Hammer's intensity...

    of course, the next year was Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here

    After those, I worked my way backward into the previous history of Progdom with Return To Forever, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc
    Last edited by MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER; 09-09-2013 at 02:45 AM.
    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

  25. #25
    Unless you count me getting Supertramp’s Breakfast in America and ELO’s On the Third Day for my tenth birthday, it was probably hearing “that song with the cool classical guitar intro” (i.e.: Yes’ “Roundabout”) on the radio in my adolescent years. That led to me getting Yes’ Fragile and Genesis’ Nursery Cryme all in the same day on a trip to the record store.

    I think seeing this Laserium program (circa age 9) probably helped push me through the door, too:



    -------------
    MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

    "The world of the heterosexual is a sick and boring life." --Edith Massey

    N.P.:“Out in the Rain”-Jane/Here We Are

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •