Being more "avant garde" doesn't make something better.
Yes are not avant garde or anything and their music always has a strong sense of melody but they're not a band that played it safe either, at least not in their prime which was the 70s.
Most progressive rock bands are not inaccessible enough to be avant garde though some like Henry Cow and Can do fall into that category, prog was more about elevating rock and pop music to a more sophisticated level. Bands like Yes did indeed achieve a lot of commercial success in the early 70s but they still took many risks while at their peak, I think when bands like Yes experimented there was more risk than when an obscure group does it, the negative reaction becomes much more severe.
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