'Everyone knows rock music achieved perfection in 1974: it’s a scientific fact.’
Those are the wise words of none other than Homer Simpson. And while he was probably thinking of classic rock legends like The Who, Queen, The Rolling Stones, or David Bowie – all of whom released albums that year – I like to imagine he was actually tipping his hat to the true peak, more than 50 years ago, of that wonderfully weird genre: Progressive Rock. Or, as it’s less elegantly known, Prog Rock.
What was prog rock?
Rather than being glam, hard, soft, or bluesy, this mostly British sub-genre emerged from the psychedelic swirl of the late 1960s, with The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper as a key spark. It blossomed into a global phenomenon – until Punk, its raw and rebellious opposite, tried (only somewhat successfully) to shut it down just in time for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.
From my first teenage listen, I knew this was 'pop music' with the soul of classical. It had the same ambition and scale, the lush harmonies, technical brilliance, and rhythmic complexity that ventured far beyond the usual four-beat stomp. Its sprawling structures and dynamic range—from whisper-quiet to thunderously grand – felt every bit as rich and dramatic as a symphony.
With the help of iconic album cover artwork from the likes of Roger Dean (Yes) and Storm Thorgerson/Hipgnosis (Pink Floyd/Genesis), the music has a very particular look, evoking an era of loon pants, lank long hair and the wafting clouds of perfumed joints. As a result, some of it fares badly from being locked into that period and sounds badly dated now.
Prog's leaders... and followers
Yes, much of prog rock has been consigned, with the assistance of elapsed time, to the category of barely listened to and the second-rate. Just as there are a lot of Vanhals and Wagenseils for every Haydn and Mozart, the prog rock giants like Genesis, Yes and King Crimson have their Caravans and Gentle Giants in their rear view too.
Progressive influences are present in sibling contemporaries. Some say, for example, that because of their broader, more varied canvases, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is Queen’s proggiest moment, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Led Zeppelin’s and ‘Fool’s Overture’ Supertramp’s. There is a more composed, proto-minimalist aspect, meanwhile, to Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ or Tangerine Dream’s extended synthscapes.
Via trace elements in anything from Kate Bush to Radiohead, prog lives on decades later in bands like Porcupine Tree and Big Big Train, or the burgeoning tribute band scene. But if we are thinking about what was happening back in 1974 or thereabouts, in the studio or in concert, the essence of Progressive Rock at its very best is defined by the work of just 20-or-so young men – yes, they were all men – in just a handful of bands.
This was THE prog rock instrument
Outstanding craftsmanship and technical gifts were a necessary match for the music’s adventurous spirit. There was the dexterity and distinctively stylish sound of guitarists David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Steve Hackett (Genesis), Steve Howe (Yes) and King Crimson's Robert Fripp. There was the outrageous facility and precision of jazz-honed drummers Phil Collins and Bill Bruford (who managed to get the full house, playing with Yes, King Crimson and – briefly on tour – Genesis). And then there were the keyboardists.
If many associate rock music with the dominating forces of strutting singer and scene-stealing guitarist, the larger appeal of prog rock for many has always been the relative importance of those sat at the Hammond, Mellotron or synth. Genesis would be nothing without the bedrock of Tony Banks’s compositional input and sound, and it was the infinite possibilities of those black and white keys that enabled him to create his unique harmonic and textural world.
Music to get the girls? Definitely not
Rick Wakeman’s often virtuosic contributions to Yes had maximum impact, and Keith Emerson’s dexterous work with Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) – perhaps, too often, a triumph of display over substance – was remarkable. In contrast, Richard Wright’s Pink Floyd input was far less showy, but crucial to their less-is-more sound.
Prog’s pomp, theatricality and ambition inevitably laid itself open to derision, especially from the cooler crew. With the founder members of Genesis all coming from one of England’s grandest private schools, Charterhouse, and with many other bands bringing into their work an earnest, educated, grammar school/art college sensibility, this was not the kind of music that was going to get all the girls or be danced to. The 1984 ‘mockumentary’ This Is Spinal Tap isn’t a singular pot-shot at Prog, but lands some blows hilariously well in that direction.
Prog and classical: a tapestry of influences
As for references to classical music itself, you’ll find plenty in Prog Rock, from nuanced to plain obvious. ELP, above all, regularly plundered the classical repertoire for the likes of ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ and the Alberto Ginastera-inspired ‘Toccata’. Still alive when the songs were written, Copland and Ginastera were approached in person by ELP for permission to use their music, and both gave the resulting songs the thumbs up. (Would Mussorgsky have been so in favour of ELP’s ‘The Great Gates of Kiev’? Possibly not…).
Of a similar ilk on Yes’s 1971 Fragile album is ‘Cans and Brahms’, a solo keyboard take on the Allegro third movement from Johannes Brahms’s Fourth Symphony. It’s the handiwork of the Royal College of Music-educated Rick Wakeman, who has since described it as ‘dreadful’.
And while Pink Floyd steered clear of any such classical cover versions, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony makes a brief appearance on Wish You Were Here. Floyd’s Roger Waters would later tackle classical head on with his French Revolution opera Ça ira; ditto Genesis’s Tony Banks, with three orchestral suites, more of which shortly.
I still appreciate and adore this music as much as I do that of many classical composers. Some might say it’s a case of arrested development – I often wonder whether, if I was rid of all the baggage of its associations, I would hear it afresh, and with the indifference, even horror, that someone like my wife hears it. But the best stuff – listed here in a very personal and no doubt contestable (sorry ELP and King Crimson) Top Ten – still absorbs and thrills. I hope that at least some of it might have the same effect for you too.
Ten classic prog rock tracks
1. Yes 'Close to the Edge' (1972)
After an opening of particularly hardcore guitars/keyboard interaction, this totemic track hits its stride with complexity and contrast. Part III is a showpiece for Rick Wakeman’s spangly, caped-wizard act, including a grandiose organ climax dubbed in from London’s St Giles Cripplegate church. But the whole thing is just extraordinary, and arguably prog's dazzlingly inventive high water mark.
2. King Crimson 'In the Court of the Crimson King' (1969)
The definitive blueprint for symphonic progressive rock, this track traded blues-rock clichés for operatic grandiosity. Driven by Ian McDonald’s haunting Mellotron washes and Greg Lake’s regal vocals, it created a vivid, medieval soundscape that felt both ancient and futuristic. Its expansive structure and dramatic crescendos proved that rock music could possess the weight and complexity of a classical symphony, launching the prog movement in 1969.
3. Genesis 'Dancing with the Moonlit Knight' (1973)
This masterpiece serves as the definitive anthem of the Peter Gabriel era, blending wistful Englishness with complex, symphonic ambition. The track transitions seamlessly from a haunting, a cappella opening into a tour-de-force of propulsive drive, featuring Steve Hackett’s pioneering guitar tapping and Mike Rutherford’s aggressive bass pedals. Concluding with a dreamy, pastoral 12-string guitar coda, it remains a taut yet varied essential of the progressive rock canon.
4. Pink Floyd 'Echoes' (1971)
The lava-lamp indulgence of Pink Floyd’s earlier, improv-hippie phase meets with a growing discipline in this languid, atmospheric forerunner to Dark Side. The central stretch of avant-garde soundscape is strikingly creepy and evocative – a trippy journey into prehistoric wastes.
5. Caravan 'For Richard' (1970)
A cornerstone of the so-called 'Canterbury Scene', this evocative suite perfectly balances whimsical jazz-fusion with soaring, melodic rock. Starting as a delicate, flute-led ballad, it gradually evolves into an intense, improvisational workout driven by Pye Hastings' fluid guitar and David Sinclair’s distorted organ solos. A classic that captures prog’s spirit of adventurous exploration without losing its essential sense of warmth, melody, and English charm.
6. Yes 'Awaken' (1977)
A very satisfying three-parter, where Rick Wakeman’s influence is strong – lots of Bachian church organ and background angelic voices – and where the expansive, metrically intricate climax returns affectingly to the opening.
7. Camel 'Nimrodel' (1974)
Based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (rock went big on Tolkien in the 1970s), this three-part epic showcases Camel’s mastery of cinematic atmosphere. Andy Latimer’s lyrical, emotional guitar work –reminiscent of David Gilmour – intertwines with regal synthesizers to tell a wordless story of heroism and mysticism. It is a classic for its impeccable pacing and storytelling without lyrics, proving that instrumental virtuosity could be used to build immense, evocative emotional worlds.
8. Genesis 'Firth of Fifth' (1973)
Tony Banks’s solo career hasn’t touched the commercial heights of his bandmates Gabriel or Collins, yet this solo-written number is one of the greats. It has rock music’s best ever piano introduction, the band’s most majestic guitar solo from Steve Hackett… and some of Gabriel’s less distinguished circa Grade 6 flute playing.
9. Pink Floyd 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' (1975)
A spacious, classy tribute to Pink Floyd’s departed founder/bandmate Syd Barrett. Bookending the album Wish You Were Here, the pacing of often slow-moving material is impeccable, generating expansive instrumental stretches where keyboard player Rick Wright and guitarist David Gilmour are at their best.
10. Gentle Giant 'Knots' (1972)
This track represents the pinnacle of 'complex' prog, featuring staggering avant-garde vocal counterpoint inspired by R.D. Laing’s poetry. The band’s ability to weave medieval madrigal singing with jagged, dissonant rock rhythms remains unparalleled. It is a classic because it pushed the boundaries of human performance, requiring mathematical precision and multi-instrumental brilliance that still sounds incredibly modern, challenging, and utterly unique decades later.
11. Genesis 'Supper’s Ready' (1972)
The ultimate progressive rock odyssey: a 23-minute, seven-part masterpiece that captures the 1972-vintage Genesis at their creative zenith. This through-written tour de force showcases an extraordinary musical and technical range, oscillating between delicate pastoral folk and aggressive, dissonant organ solos. That such sophisticated, spiritually ambitious music was composed by five musicians barely in their twenties remains staggering. It is the definitive example of the genre’s capacity for narrative grandiosity.
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