| YEAR |
Events |
|
| ERA 1: |
The Classic Era |
|
| 1966 |
Five young men who attend Charterhouse
School in Surrey England form a group and record some demos--three of
their names: Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks. |
|
| 1967 |
The Beatles take music to the next
level with "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band"--a concept album that changed
the music industry forever. |
 |
| |
Pink Floyd releases their first
album,
"Piper At The Gates Of Dawn." |
|
| |
Procul Harum releases
"A Whiter Shade of Pale." |
|
| |
The Moody Blues landmark album
"Days of Future Past" introduces the world to what "Symphonic
Rock" can sound like. |
 |
| 1968 |
Jon Anderson and Chris Squire recruit
Bill Bruford and Tony Kaye to form Yes and open on Cream's
farewell tour. |
|
| |
Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and drummer John
Rutsey form Rush. |
|
| |
David Gilmour takes over for Sid Barrett,
beginning to move Pink Floyd toward the progressive sound it
would later develop. |
|
| |
Caravan releases their self-titled
first album,a hybrid of jazz and psychedelia. But it was their second
album,
"If I Could Do It All Over Again..." with its mixture of styles
including classical, jazz, and traditional English influences that
created what was called "The Canterbury Sound." |
 |
| 1969 |
The debut album from Genesis is
released,
From Genesis to Revelation. |
|
| |
Tommy transitions The Who from merely a singles band to a
legitimate artistic unit. |
|
| |
Yes releases its first album. |
|
| |
King Crimson releases
In The Court Of The Crimson King, what many call "the first Prog
record." |
 |
| 1970 |
The first Progressive Rock "Super Group
debuts,
Emerson, Lake and Palmer, with the Nice keyboard player Keith
Emerson, ex King Crimson singer and bassist Greg Lake, and ex
Crazy World and Atomic Rooster drummer Carl Palmer.
|
|
| |
Pink
Floyd releases
Atom Heart Mother, an album with a total of three tracks, one of
which runs 25 minutes. |
|
| |
Genesis released their second
effort,
Trespass, which began their careers as Progressive Rock's leading
statesmen. Sophisticated pieces like "Looking for Someone" revealed what
this band was all about. "Stagnation" revealed the true talents of
keyboardist Tony Banks, and "The Knife" became a live concert favorite.
|
 |
| |
At the end of 1970, the "classic
Genesis" lineup was created when Phil Collins joined Peter Gabriel,
Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Steve Hackett. |
|
| 1971 |
The Yes Album is released, the band's first Gold record, reaching #1
in the UK. "Starship Trooper" and "Yours is No Disgrace" distinguishes
Yes as a distinctively great band. |
 |
| |
Jethro Tull's
Aqualung bridged hard rocking Prog with accessible pop. |
|
| |
Pink Floyd releases the landmark
album
Meddle. The album is often called "Echoes" because the cover art is
a reference to the track which takes up the entire second side of the
album. |
|
| |
The classic Genesis lineup
releases the first great Genesis album,
Nursery Cryme. "The Musical Box" is as good as Prog will ever get,
and "Fountain Of Salmacis" is representative of the emerging Genesis
style that would remain throughout 70's. |
 |
| 1972 |
Yes releases
Fragile, which reaches #4 on the US charts. It starts out with
"Roundabout", a radio hit (in edited form) and an album-oriented FM
staple. "Long Distance Runaround/The Fish," "South Side of The Sky" and
"Heart of The Sunrise" show that Yes has finally arrived at the pinnacle
of their form. |
 |
| |
ELP releases
Trilogy, which reaches the top Five in both the US and Europe. |
|
| |
Yes releases
Closer to the Edge, featuring classics "And You And I" and
"Siberian Khatru." Bill Bruford leaves the band after its
completion to take part in a revival of King Crimson. Alan
White is plugged in for the tour and remains with the band until
Bruford linked back up with original bandmates for 1989's Anderson
Bruford Wakeman Howe and Yes' 1991 release Union. |
|
| |
Genesis begins its ascension with
the release of
Foxtrot, featuring the 23-minute epic "Supper’s Ready" that tells a
story of biblical proportions (literally! It ends with images from
Revelation). |
 |
| |
Gentle Giant's
Octopus reveals the multi-leveled talent of the band. Twenty years
later, the Giant's influence is heard in Neal Morse's compositions. |
|
| 1973 |
The "ultimate" Pink Floyd album,
Dark Side of the Moon reached No. 1 in the US shortly after its
release. Not much needs to be said about this classic... It spent
the next fourteen years on the US album charts, eventually selling over
34 million copies. |
 |
| |
Mike Oldfield's
Tubular Bells is a smash hit. An excerpt used as the theme for the
movie The Exorcist, would break the Top 10 in the US singles
charts. |
|
| |
Genesis gained its creative height
(which would last for years) with the release of
Selling England by the Pound. "Cinema Show" is a favorite of many.
"I Know What I Like" garnered their first hit single. But "Firth Of
Fifth" is perhaps the greatest song ever performed by the band, with
Tony Banks' Grand piano introduction, Peter Gabriel's powerful vocals,
followed by an extended instrumental section featuring Steve Hackett's
guitar solo. |
 |
| |
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer release
their definitive album, "Brain
Salad Surgery." |
|
| |
Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra
moves into their distinctive Beatlesque sound, blending orchestration
with pop music, with
On the Third Day. |
|
| 1974 |
After the release of
Tales from Topographic Oceans, Rick Wakeman leaves YES
to pursue a more lucrative solo career--releasing
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth the same year and
Myth and Legends Of King Arthur... in 1975. |
|
| |
Rush releases their self-titled
debut album. |
|
| |
Supertramp's first hit album,
Crime Of The Century, features such excellent songs as "School,"
"Bloody Well Right," and "Dreamer." |
|
| |
King Crimson's swan song,
Red, featured the final three members of the band: Robert Fripp,
John Whetton, and Bill Bruford. It can be argued that Whetton
and Bruford were the greatest rhythm section rock has ever
known--influencing heavy metal artists for years to come. |
 |
| |
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway defines what Progressive Rock is,
was, and always should seek to attain. The double album from Genesis
tells the story of Rael, a New York city street kid who finds
himself in a surreal other-world chasing after his brother John and then
coming to realize the moral reason why he had been sent to this world.
|
 |
| 1975 |
Pink Floyd's popularity after
"Dark Side of the Moon" is at its highly successful
Wish You Were Here, topping the charts on both sides of the
Atlantic and influencing many bands to follow. The album features the
nine-part "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", a tribute to their former
member, Syd Barret. According to legend, a bald, pale and fat Barrett
showed up at Abbey Road while the band prepared the final mix. Pressure
from their record label (and healthy dose of Water's cynicism) was
inspiration for both "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar". |
 |
| |
Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett
was the first member of the band to cut a solo record. While the band
was on hiatus following Peter Gabriel's departure, Hackett, along with
his brother John and Genesis bassist Mike Rutherford and drummer Phil
Collins, recorded
Voyage of the Acolyte. After tasting the creative freedom of
writing his own music, Hackett would feel constrained by the creative
leadership of Genesis' Tony Banks. |
 |
