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Thread: Most successful current prog bands

  1. #26
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Well if you are adding album sales you need to focus on Muse & Radiohead. Muse's last 2 albums have been #1 or #2 around the World. For Radiohead every album since OK Computer has gone top 10 round the World.
    Ian

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  2. #27
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    Well said Ian, Muse must be up there near the top by now! I know some don't consider them prog, but we all know how the "what's prog & what's not" arguments go on PE! Let's not go there again!

  3. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    With Yes on the other hand, I remember when I first got into them seriously about 10 years ago, they were a big deal again, playing arenas. They are generally in theatres now (still better venues than most)
    Yes were certainly selling more tickets in 2004 when they split. I know Pollstar released similar figures at the time, which would provide an interesting comparison, but I can't find any online.

    Henry
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  4. #29
    Pollstar's top North American touring grosses for the 2000-9 decade is at http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/TopTourOfTheDecade.pdf Top three are Dave Matthews Band, Celine Dion and Kenny Chesney. The only vaguely proggy entries are Trans-Siberian Orchestra (20th, $194.9 million total) and Phish (49th, $116.7 million total).

    BTW, weekly data is published by Billboard at http://www.billboard.com/biz/current-boxscore -- although weekly means the data was released that week, but that can be a variable amount of time after the actual show. Reporting is also very patchy. Anyway, The Musical Box makes the latest list: 422 tickets sold for their 7 Dec show, grossing $15,493.

    Henry
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  5. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by martiprog View Post
    Well said Ian, Muse must be up there near the top by now! I know some don't consider them prog, but we all know how the "what's prog & what's not" arguments go on PE! Let's not go there again!
    It's certainly interesting that somewhat prog-leaning acts like Radiohead and Muse are some of the few 'sure bets' for the music industry when it comes to contemporary rock. All of the albums are huge worldwide and so are the tours. Most of the other bands being mentioned here, although working at a lower level, also have consistent levels of success. Whereas a lot of 'indie' acts I remember from about ten years ago that got huge amounts of breathless 'this band will change your life' hype, mean next to nothing now. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

  6. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    It's certainly interesting that somewhat prog-leaning acts like Radiohead and Muse are some of the few 'sure bets' for the music industry when it comes to contemporary rock. All of the albums are huge worldwide and so are the tours. Most of the other bands being mentioned here, although working at a lower level, also have consistent levels of success. Whereas a lot of 'indie' acts I remember from about ten years ago that got huge amounts of breathless 'this band will change your life' hype, mean next to nothing now. There's a lesson in there somewhere.
    A list like this will always be populated by the survivors. There will always be a high proportion in any genre that sink without a trace. I see plenty of 'this band will change your life' hype around bands in the prog community who (a) don't, and (b) fizzle out.

    Henry
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  7. #32
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    I mean bands who had major label support and positive, mainstream press coverage. Prog bands generally have neither anymore...yet those that are on bigger labels actually do well. Plus there are bands like Radiohead and Muse who would presumably not deem themselves prog rock bands, yet offer that same challenge to the listener that the 'album bands' of yore did.
    Last edited by JJ88; 01-14-2014 at 11:48 AM.

  8. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    I mean bands who had major label support and positive, mainstream press coverage. Prog bands generally have neither anymore...yet those that are on bigger labels actually do well. Plus there are bands like Radiohead and Muse who would presumably not deem themselves prog rock bands, yet offer that same challenge to the listener that the 'album bands' of yore did.
    I consider Radiohead to be truly progressive (in the real meaning of the word) and Muse to have elements of prog about them in terms of how bombastic and complicated some of their stuff is.

    In some ways, Radiohead are the new Pink Floyd and Muse are the new Queen.

    Radiohead are certainly more of a challenge to listen to and most of my friends adore them. Personally speaking, I love some of their more straightforward stuff but wince at some of their more experimental efforts. What absolutely amazes me is how such challenging and experimental music has manage to find such a massive audience with such reverential crowds at their concerts.

  9. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by bondegezou View Post
    Yes were certainly selling more tickets in 2004 when they split. I know Pollstar released similar figures at the time, which would provide an interesting comparison, but I can't find any online.

    Henry
    Someone posted this at AMY: As a point of reference, they ranked #65 in 2002 w/ an average attendance of 3494. #82 in 2004 2/ an average attendance of 3622.

  10. #35
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nov View Post
    What absolutely amazes me is how such challenging and experimental music has manage to find such a massive audience with such reverential crowds at their concerts.
    This is always a big surprise for me as well. It's like the general public has a blind spot and gives then a pass where they would run a mile from any similar band not called Radiohead.
    Ian

    Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
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    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.

  11. #36
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanks2014 View Post
    Not sure why that comment was needed. Ayreon is one of the more successful things discussed on PE, lots of fans here.
    I could only take about 20 minutes of the most recent album because the lyrics were so cumbersome, and the narrative so heavy handed. Not that this is the usual case with Arjen's projects, but definitely with this one, at least in the first 20 minutes.
    If anyone's heard Daniele Liverani's "Genius" rock opera (he was the keyboard player for the band Empty Tremor) it's similar to that - and those albums had some of the worst narrative parts I've ever heard.

  12. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by elliottnow View Post
    Someone posted this at AMY: As a point of reference, they ranked #65 in 2002 w/ an average attendance of 3494. #82 in 2004 2/ an average attendance of 3622.
    Thanks.

    Henry
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  13. #38
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    Can we consider Radio Head as prog? If yes I would add also Pain of Salvation as one of the most successful current prog bands.
    “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

  14. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by Musitron View Post
    Can we consider Radio Head as prog? If yes I would add also Pain of Salvation as one of the most successful current prog bands.
    As for a major act setting the agenda for current creative developments in rock music at large - such as the "big" names of the 70s did - Radiohead definitely make for a 'progressive rock' band. They have constituted for '00s popular music what The Smiths did for that of the 80s and Oasis (ouch!) did for the 90s, in that they have retained credentials even with a certain "alternative" audience - although Radiohead (unlike those other two) have also made some remarkably bold musical moves.

    PoS, however, are rarely heard of outside of the indie-metal circuit. Tool or The Mars Volta would probably be a safer bet with that crowd as far as "big" names are concerned.

    Of course, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum should have crowned the pack if there'd been an actual hunger for radical experimentalism altogether in contemporary rock; they basically had it all.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  15. #40
    Member Lebofsky's Avatar
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    Honestly of all the mega-bands mentioned thus far in this article, Radiohead is my vote for the currently most progressive. Of course this depends on your definition of "progressive" (not to open that can of worms). I'm thinking of the sense that most of their career was pressing forward, instead of reaching back.

    - Matt

  16. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    As for a major act setting the agenda for current creative developments in rock music at large - such as the "big" names of the 70s did - Radiohead definitely make for a 'progressive rock' band. They have constituted for '00s popular music what The Smiths did for that of the 80s and Oasis (ouch!) did for the 90s, in that they have retained credentials even with a certain "alternative" audience - although Radiohead (unlike those other two) have also made some remarkably bold musical moves.

    PoS, however, are rarely heard of outside of the indie-metal circuit. Tool or The Mars Volta would probably be a safer bet with that crowd as far as "big" names are concerned.

    Of course, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum should have crowned the pack if there'd been an actual hunger for radical experimentalism altogether in contemporary rock; they basically had it all.
    The Smith's were not big per se. Their success was limited to the UK & they were a love/hate band. Cant be considered a big & influential band.

  17. #42
    Wish You Were Here for the indie generation


  18. #43
    Member emperorken's Avatar
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    Fabio Zuffanti, the mastermind behind La Maschera di Cera, Hostsonaten, Aries, and Finisterre, does pretty well I believe. He also has a new solo album out.

  19. #44
    Quote Originally Posted by Nov View Post
    Wish You Were Here for the indie generation
    I was there for that one

    I am of the opinion that in each generation something uniquely challenging and left field will rise to the top, simply because a huge swathe of people like to profess an interest in the arty and experimental. In our 70's day Yes and Pink Floyd would have been that animal, and today Radiohead and Sigur Ros and indeed Muse are claiming the crown. Decades on and Yes for the most part are left with those diehards who truly got it, and still love them for their history (not to denigrate Fly From Here at all). Whether Radiohead and co will continue making music for decades is debatable as they have earned uniquely stellar sums, but at some point the audience will reduce as those peripheral to the vision will seek the simpler sounds that advancing years decree. I'll still be listening though!

  20. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    The Smith's were not big per se. Their success was limited to the UK & they were a love/hate band. Cant be considered a big & influential band.
    Untrue. The Smiths were about to break tremendously big at their point of disbandment - but already had a substantial name in most of Europe, in Australia and parts of Asia and the South Americas. The fact that they never broke through in the US or Canada can not deride the fact that their influence became enormous during subsequent years (following on 1988), and especially with the ensuing endeavours of "alternative" rock during the early-to-mid 90s - extremely few serious rock historians would contest that assessment.

    But for the record, I am not a particular fan of The Smiths (and certainly not of Morrissey) myself, although I did collect their records during the 80s.

    The love/hate aspect was essential to their package as pop-cultural phenomenon, of course.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  21. #46
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    I consider at least some of what Umphrey’s Mcgee does to be prog and they are touring machines that sell out mid-sized venues all over the country, and appear to be doing very well.

    What about some of the prog metal side of the fence, bands like Nightwish and Kamelot. They have both had pretty successful tours in the past year or so.

    Steve Sly

  22. #47
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    What are the criteria for succes? Sales?
    Not in my book.

  23. #48
    Member Just Eric's Avatar
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    While they were active The Mars Volta were pretty successful and clearly Prog.
    Duncan's going to make a Horns Emoticon!!!

  24. #49
    Quote Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate View Post
    What are the criteria for succes? Sales?
    Not in my book.
    To quote the original question:

    "Going through various reviews, best-of lists and so on of 2013 raises the question of who are the most successful current prog bands. I don't mean artistically, because we'd spend forever arguing about that, but rather in terms of commercial success and penetration."

    Regardless of that, surely the goal of any band is to achieve artistic and creative freedom, and if that leads to some degree of commercial success (without sacrificing their creativity) then surely that's the icing on the cake for them

  25. #50
    Quote Originally Posted by Musitron View Post
    Can we consider Radio Head as prog? If yes I would add also Pain of Salvation as one of the most successful current prog bands.
    Pain of Salvation's last album charted in Finland (#31), but nowhere else. They've never charted in the top 150 of a large nation (US, UK, Germany, France, Japan etc.): Scarsick made #155 in France (according to Wikipedia). So, better selling than most prog bands, but not really up there with most of the acts discussed in this thread.

    Henry
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