I was rummaging through my old magazines in the attic when I came across this issue of Prog Magazine entitled "The 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time". Now if you think they mean the likes of Da Vinci or Mozart, you've obviously never read the magazine. Forget the "artists" in general and the "all time" label, we're talking strictly rock groups and solo musicians here. Can you guess who's Number 1? Yes... Not as in "yes, you guessed right, of course it's The Beatles" but as in the band Yes. One would have thought that they meant to name it "the greatest strictly prog rock bands and musicians" in which case it might be alright, but no... keep reading and way down near the bottom of the list at no.80 you'll find... The Beatles! The Grateful Dead barely made the list at no.94 while Frank Zappa fares better at no.18. None of those artists can be considered prog in any sense of the word, so what gives? This is by far the craziest list I've ever seen: suppose Yes themselves compiled a "greatest artists" list, I can't imagine they'd place themselves 79 places above The Beatles. And that's not all. Marillion actually feature 3 times: as a band at no.6, while their original singer Fish is at no.60, and his replacement Steve Hogarth at no.76. Jeez, can any of you even name one Hogarth solo album? More duplicates ensue: Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson, Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd/Roger Waters, VDGG/Peter Hammil, King Crimson/Robert Fripp etc. A band called The Cardiacs (ever heard of them?) sits directly above Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Peter Gabriel and Zappa. I wonder in what way are they more culturally significant than them. But they're not the only ones - at least a dozen unknowns feature between bands that either sold millions of records or revolutionized prog rock. Make up your mind, gentlemen, is it a cult heroes list, a giants of prog list, or what? Here's the list for your own information, and possible comments:
1-Yes
2-Genesis
5-Rush
6-Marillion
8-Steven Wilson
9-ELP
10-Gentle Giant
12-Camel
13-VDGG
14-Cardiacs
16-Opeth
18-Frank Zappa
19-Transatlantic
20-Kansas
21-Kate Bush
22-Anathema
23-Tool
24-Big Big Train
25-Hawkwind
26-Gong
27-Renaissance
28-Steve Hackett
29-Spocks Beard
30-Moody Blues
31-Soft Machine
32-Riverside
33-Flower Kings
34-Caravan
35-Focus
36-IQ
37-Neal Morse
38-Thinking Plague
39-Magma
40-Gryphon
41-Haken
42-The Enid
43-Henry Cow
44-Mike Oldfield
45-Pain Of Salvation
46-Supertramp
47-UK
48-Brian Eno
49-Pendragon
50-PFM
51-Robert Fripp
52-Alan Parsons Project
53-Peter Hammill
54-Rick Wakeman
55-Arjen Lucassen
56-Mahavishnu Orchestra
57-Mastadon
58-Nektar
59-Roger Waters
60-Fish
61-Muse
62-Tangerine Dream
63-The Nice
64-Anglagard
65-Arena
66-Eloy
67-Enchant
68-Oceansize
69-Saga
70-Strawbs
71-The Mars Volta
72-Anekdoten
73-Ayreon
74-Devin Townsend
75-Knifeworld
76-Steve Hogarth
78-Mostly Autumn
79-Sigur Ros
80-The Beatles
81-Asia
82-Grpbschnitt
83-Haze
84-Magenta
85-Ne Obliviscaris
86-Public Service Broadcasting
87-Robert Wyatt
88-Sanguine Hum
89-William D Drake
90-Can
91-Dave Stewart
92-Frost
93-Galleon
95-It Bites
96-Ian Anderson
97-Pallas
98-Queensryche
99-And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
100-Amon Duul II
Some entries will open to relevant posts in my blog, expect more of them in the future as I continue to present my record collection. Prog or not, I have albums from most of these artists.
Some entries will open to relevant posts in my blog, expect more of them in the future as I continue to present my record collection. Prog or not, I have albums from most of these artists.
Nice cover. Burn the magazine, though.
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