Rolling Stone Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Prog Rock Albums of the Seventies

Too much Pink Floyd, not enough Genesis, but at least people liked one good Rush album...

you got a link, man, i don't know what to be mad about yet

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/readers-poll-the-10-best-prog-rock-albums-of-the-seventies-20130821

I'm anti death penalty but ill make an exception here. Somebody needs to die

Oh I get it, the writer never heard any prog records before.

I like the choice of #1 but goddldam, where is Red, Fragile, Larks Toungue blah blah blah.

for those who don't wanna click through:

10. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
9. Pink Floyd - The Wall
8. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
7. Pink Floyd - Animals
6. Rush - Hemispheres
5. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
4. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
3. Yes - Close to the Edge
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1. Rush - 2112

Well there were only 5 prog bands so come on it's not like there was a lot to choose from.

I haven't liked prog since I was a teenager and often actively make fun of it now, but even I know that list is trolling.

o wait, READERS' Poll. Well, duh.

RS readers' polls are notoriously stoopid.

I've never really considered Floyd a prog band.

floyd is prog the way television is punk. birds of a feather

Some early Floyd does sound like prog rock, esp Atom Heart Mother, some of Secrets. The albums that are listed here (40% of the best 70s prog albums!) don't have most of the characteristics that I associate with prog rock, though. In particular, they don't stand out to me as fusions of rock with art/classical music.

Balletto di Bronzo must've just missed the cut.

no le orme, no credibility

lazy list?
saw the thread title and was hoping for a couple albums I've never heard of.
'the wall' sounds more cabaret than prog to me at this point. I would have picked 'meddle'

saw the thread title and was hoping for a couple albums I've never heard of.

Should have read the thread title more carefully: Rolling Stone Readers' Poll

I've never really considered Floyd a prog band

I've never really considered Rush a prog band either. They were, like, hard rock or something.

'prog' as an entity is disintegrating in my mind. there are universes between this stuff (most of which I love less every year) and the likes of VdGG or Magma (which I love more)

I discovered Henry Cow recently. Bloody amazing. obviously Soft Machine are on the side of the light as well (or were for a brief and sparkling period). but there need to be more distinctions drawn - describing it all as 'prog' is like equating fleet foxes to radiohead and justifying this by saying 'it's all indie, eh'

that's because genre as a substantive is utter bollocks.

must stop coming into genre threads just to repeat this.

better example: equating ministry to foetus, coz it's all industrial, brah

I dig the "Zeuhl" label but it runs into the same problem, a band like say Koenjihyakkei sounds nothing like say, Setna.

I can't really understand getting too upset at this, I don't see what Floyd has to do with Yes and Genesis either, but you're using one-word labels, how good could they possibly be?

i mean let's break down the past thirty years of post-punk into microgenres too

to me "prog" is a vibe. floyd, tull, yes, rush, genesis, moody blues, magma, vdgg, amon duul, caravan, hawkwind, soft machine, battles, koenjihyakkei, etc. a billion times over -- good soundtrack music for getting high and reading michael moorcock

If I were to make such a list:

1. Cardiacs - Sing to God
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Godbluff
3. Yes - Close to the Edge
4. Echolyn - As the World
5. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, a True Star
6. Ween - The Mollusk
7. Magma - M.D.K.
8. Ruins - Hyderomastgroningem
9. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
10. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

Of course the "is this really prog" argument applies to 1, 5, and 6 (if any get booted I'd probably put Gentle Giant's Octopus on the list)

But I only found out about 'Octopus' from the Prog Listening Club

someone actually listened to albums in Prog Listening Club?

Well, I'm pleased to see Hemispheres is in there at least.

fuck rush

There were shitloads of good albums in the Prog listening club.

there was good albums in all the clubs but after about 6 months people got bored. Would be up for taking part tho

fuck rush

― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, August 22, 2013 7:19 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm unsure as to whether they'd appreciate that :P

there are times I've sworn that Gentle Giant are perhaps the finest batch of proggers the 70's ever produced (well VdGG are probably my favorite but the two bands are so different)

Does anyone remember Spin's essential prog-rock list from 2003? I was a big prog listener and Spin reader and it felt like the Berlin Wall coming down. Still, some weird picks:

The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
The Mothers of Invention - We're Only in it for the Money
Yes - Fragile
Gong - Flying Teapot: Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery
Genesis - Foxtrot
Can - Ege Bamyasi
King Crimson - Red
Rush - Chronicles
Tortoise - Millions Now Living will Die

At least OK Computer wasn't in there

Viceroy has restarted said club
New/Improved PROG/KRAUT/SPACE/PSYCH ROCK Listening Club - New albums every Friday!

Eh...what prog albums would you think the average Rolling Stone reader would have and vote upon? I'd imagine every other Pink Floyd album is in 11-20 with probably the rest of the Yes and probably more Rush THEN a King Crimson record.

Top Pink Floyd albums of the '70s

1. Meddle
2. Dark Side of the Moon
3. Wish You Were Here
4. The Wall
5. Animals
6. Atom Heart Mother
7. Obscured By Clouds
8. Something by Jethro Tull
9. Something by Yes
10. Something by Genesis

No 666, no Love Beach, no credibility