Progressive rock is one of the most beloved and ridiculed of rock music’s sub genres. As a hilarious piece at Cracked.com says, it is “categorized by a sacking of traditional song structure, complex rhythms, odd time signatures,” and insane song lengths betraying the creators’ lack of awareness of when to stop a song.
The players tend to be average singers and extremely skilled musicians, often working with wacky instruments. As the piece amusingly states, it is “the only rock genre in which the term ‘flute solo’ has any meaning.”
Also prevalent are a propensity toward concept albums built on half-baked themes and philosophy. There tends to be plenty of drug inspiration and “a sense of inherent superiority over other rock genres.”
All kidding aside, it is a difficult genre to absorb. The stereotypes detailed at Cracked.com lean toward the truth more often than not, but prog rock is largely defined by not being definable. It is an experimental form which doesn’t play by the rules.
Depending on where you fall on the spectrum of loving or hating prog rock, you can use this list either as a guide to what should be in your collection or what to avoid at all costs. Either way, here’s hoping you get something out of the list. Note: this list was created by compiling more than 25 prog-rock lists into one aggregate.
Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.
1. Yes Close to the Edge (1972)
2. King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
3. Jethro Tull Thick As a Brick (1972)
4. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
5. Genesis The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)
6. Genesis Selling England by the Pound (1973)
7. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here (1975)
8. Yes Fragile (1971)
9. Van Der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (1971)
10. Rush Moving Pictures (1981)
11. Emerson, Lake & Palmer Brain Salad Surgery (1973)
12. Jethro Tull Aqualung (1971)
13. Genesis Foxtrot (1972)
14. Rush Hemispheres (1978)
15. Yes The Yes Album (1971)
16. King Crimson Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (1973)
17. King Crimson Red (1974)
18. Rush 2112 (1976)
19. Gentle Giant Octopus (1972)
20. Rush A Farewell to Kings (1977)
21. Caravan In the Land of Gray and Pink (1971)
22. Pink Floyd The Wall (1979)
23. Kansas Leftoverture (1976)
24. Marillion Misplaced Childhood (1985)
25. Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells (1973)
26. Dream Theater Scenes from a Memory (Metropolis Part 2) (1999)
27. Pink Floyd Animals (1977)
28. Soft Machine Third (1970)
29. Tool Lateralus (2001)
30. Pink Floyd Meddle (1971)
31. Camel Mirage (1974)
32. Camel The Snow Goose (1973)
33. Magma Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh (1973)
34. The Moody Blues Days of Future Passed (1967)
35. Can Future Days (1973)
36. King Crimson Discipline (1981)
37. Emerson, Lake & Palmer Tarkus (1971)
38. Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
39. Rush Permanent Waves (1980)
40. Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) Per Un Amico (1972)
41. Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970)
42. Dream Theater Images and Words (1992)
43. Gong You (Radio Gnome Invisible Pt. 3) (1974)
44. U.K. U.K. (1978)
45. Yes Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)
46. Supertramp Crime of the Century (1974)
47. The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)
48. Marillion Clutching at Straws (1987)
49. Porcupine Tree In Absentia (2002)
50. The Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream (1969)
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First posted 7/2/2011; last updated 8/28/2024. | 
