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.

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