OK, so then: progressive rock. Hmm. Opinions differ about where prog rock began, with progressive elements even in certain jazz albums of the forties, but the general concensus is that albums like Sgt Peppers and Piper at the Gates of Dawn show the first proper elements of prog rock, along with other artistes such as Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. So you can say the seeds were properly sown in say the late sixties --- 1966/67 --- but really only began to bear fruit in the early seventies with that decade almost completely dominated by bands such as Yes, Genesis, ELP and King Crimson. These bands had some of their biggest (and in some cases only) hits in the 1970s.
With the arrival of Punk in 1976/7 as well as the advent of the NWOBHM, people began to question the, by then, overindulgent, overblown, pretentious monster that prog rock had become and it turned out not only to be a snake who ate its own tail, but that was attacked by predators on both sides --- punk and metal --- and was pretty much devoured by the end of the seventies.
A short revival in 1982 - 1985 took place with bands like Marillion, Pallas and IQ coming forward to lead what became unofficially known as the New Wave of Prog Rock, or neo-prog, and even stalwarts of the seventies like Genesis who had drifted off in a more poppy direction tried to "get prog" again, Genesis with their 1983 self-titled album before they went all commercial again with Invisible Touch and never really recovered.
The prog rock revival did not last really beyond '85 though, when Marillion almost got to number one with "Kayleigh" and had their most commercially successful album, Misplaced Childhood. Then later in the 90s prog rock became popular, in a way, in the USA with the emergence of bands like Spock's Beard and the move also towards progressive metal with bands like Dream Theater.
As a dominant force, though, I think prog rock can be charted thus:
1966-69: Emergence; fledging bands, albums released which would later be important to or an influence on the genre
1970 - 1977 Heyday, with some iconic albums released and some major bands dominating the scene
1978 - 1980 Pretty much dying/dead thanks to Punk Rock and NWOBHM as people looked for harder, more aggressive music that they could play themselves and that took on social and personal issues
1982- 1985 Revival for a short time with neo-prog as prog became fashionable again for a short time; prog metal also started up around this time.
1990 More or less done; some prog bands but many of the ones that had spearheaded the "invasion" already turning to other areas (pop, rock, jazz fusion etc).
A very very simplified timeline but hopefully it helps.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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