Who Would YOu Put as a Fifth Member of the Big 4 of Prog, Making Big 5?
 

The Big 4 Bands of Prog are Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Genesis, and Yes. Believe it or not, that's the common and official decisiuon from fans and the media, such as the big four of thrash metal is Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer, and the big four of grunge is Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. All official. But if you could add a fifth member and make it Big 5, who?

For me, it would be Kansas. I feel their albums are very underrated, and they've contributed a lot to the progressive rock fanbase and to hard rock in general. I love most of their 70's albums, including their live album Two for the Show. They've had a lot of nearly perfect works.

PLEASE NO REPLACING ANY ONE MEMBER.

First, I would remove Pink Floyd because they're a psychedelic band. Duh.

I would then replace them with Rush.

Then I would put Soft Machine just because of their awesomeness. I can't say much in the way of influence.

Yeah, away with Pink Floyd.

Mine would be:
King Crimson
Genesis
Yes
Van der Graaf Generator
Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant
Yes
Jethro Tull
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
King Crimson

Then lots and lots of great acts. I love Pink Floyd but not really prog IMO.

The prog big 4's kinda been already decided by the populace...

Source? I've only heard The Big Four applied as a term to thrash metal. Google searches don't seem to help your case either.

Off the top of my head without thinking hard.

YES
GENESIS
KING CRIMSON
ELP
GENTLE GIANT

Sorry, dude, but Pink Floyd's not in it.
It's usually King Crimson, ELP, Yes and Genesis.

I'm not much up on prog but I like Pauls Jethro Tull pick and if at all possible i'd insert Mars Volta as a default.

Second (third?) wave though.

My reading comprehension allows me that authority. :drummer:

https://www.google.com/search?q=big+...utf-8&oe=utf-8

Did you even click the links? You'll find that this is the most common combination. Sure, some may say others, but just because Big 4 of Thrash is the only one you've heard, that doesn't mean it's the only one. Heck, the Big 4 of Grunge are Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. I would know since I am a part of multiple grunge websites, and that's the official decision. You'll probably find that this is the official prog decision if you go to progressive rock websites.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...6215431AA89qmT
https://rateyourmusic.com/board_mess...age_id=5131445

Big 4 of Thrash Metal is more officially decided on since metal is much bigger than prog. And this doesn't change the fact that you're the one not answering the question properly.

Meh, I still don't consider Floyd prog and you put in that little disclaimer after I made my initial post so...

I know, and I was going to comment on that if you brought it up. Still, I felt it was obvious, so I'm not trying to blame you for anything. But you were arguing about "my case" which wasn't something I was trying to prove. All I was trying to say was the thread has a question which I was curious about, hoping to get the opinions of MB on a fifth member and hoping to avoid an "Is Pink Floyd Prog" discussion.

Hey now, I did post a fifth member, even if it was after (rightfully) replacing the fourth. Seems like everyone agrees with me on that point too, therefore I'm right?

Well, I probably would say Rush instead of Kansas since they are more popular if I were going for that, but I never really had a Rush album blow my mind through a whole album. Kansas did it four times, but that's also an old childhood memory talking.

Also, their lyrics for the first few albums were fantastic.

I can appreciate the doubts that some of you might have with Pink Floyd being grouped in here, but if this 'list' were being formulated here in the UK then for certain Pink Floyd would be on this list, as nearly everybosy here associates the band in that cat. It's only their first few releases that get put in the psychedelic bracket and anyway psychedelic was a pre-cursor for prog anyway as Trollheart's prog journal nicely explains, when he can be bothered to do it :D.

YES
KING CRIMSON
ELP
JETHRO TULL
GENTLE GIANT


I would put Eloy in there but they are a bit too obscure to be in a BIG list.

One group I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned and strong candidates would be Camel.

Who Would YOu Put as a Fifth Member of the Big 4 of Prog?:confused:

In "set theory" that title really doesn't make sense, it would better if the question was posed as Who Would You Add as a Fifth Member to the Current Big 4 of Prog Thus Making It the Big 5 of Prog? or something to that effect.

My top five candidates in alphabetical order for the fifth member of Prog's Big Four are:

1. Egg
2. England
3. Emerson, Lake and Palmer
4. Flash
5. Mellow Candle

Erm where is Rush ???? :)

Cream with Eric Clapton. I would replace Floyd with ELP of those four.

I would arguably say Emerson, Lake, and Palmer for a "Big 5" of prog. Personal taste, however, places Rush at the top of the heap for me. Even though I really consider them progressive hard rock. But I digress. :love: