A Beginner's Guide to Progressive Rock
Progressive Rock is a difficult genre to get into. The progressive rock of the Golden Age of Progressive Rock can seem willfully difficult to listeners with no idea of what to expect, or who value immediacy in songs over other things. But for those with open minds, with the patience or with an interest in musical virtuosity, progressive rock can be quite rewarding once you get into it. To this end, we are presenting a "beginner's guide" to help those who are intimidated by prog to get into it as easily as possible.
This guide will focus primarily on The Big Six progressive rock bands, the major progressive rock band's of the genre's golden age. There are more accessible progressive rock bands and there are better progressive rock bands (in some cases), but these bands represent prog best, and made the most famous music in the genre. The Big Six progressive rock bands are:
Progressive rock is an album-oriented genre, so this guide will focus on albums rather than singles.
The Most Accessible Progressive Rock
- The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by Pink Floyd
- Aqualung (1971) by Jethro Tull
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is arguably the most famous progressive rock album ever, and one of the two most commercially successful. However it is not necessarily the most ideal place to start because of how truly unlike the vast majority of progressive rock it is. But I think it's a good entry point, regardless. If you like The Dark Side of the Moon you may be open to progressive rock. If you don't like it, it's highly unlikely you will like more "progressive" prog rock records.
Why It's a Good Entry Point
Why It's Not a Good Example of Progressive Rock
Aqualung
