Progressive rock | ProgBlog

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Most people have heard of progressive rock (or prog rock, or simply prog) but the great majority of them treat it with mild disdain (at best) or outright hatred (at worst). Most of the criticism is a mindless rejection based on current trends and a misunderstanding of the genre; “dinosaur” is a common term of abuse, neatly parodied by Adrian Belew on King Crimson’s 1994 album Thrak.

There is an increasing quantity of literature on the subject, ranging from the analytical or academic (Edward Macan, Rocking the Classics; Kevin Holme-Hudson, Progressive Rock Revisited) to the fairly straightforward lists (Charles Snider, The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock.) There are also thousands of fans out there who not only continue to attend concerts, but also contribute to a growing network of fanzines and on-line forums. Fans are even served by Prog, a glossy magazine from Future Publishing entirely devoted to prog in all its forms founded in 2009 and still going strong.

The ProgBlog has been put together to encourage discussion about progressive rock music illustrated by personal observation.

New Blog

ProgBlog goes to Sweden

(published 29th October 2025)

I spent a few days in Sweden in 1983 as part of the northern Europe InterRail adventure that inspired the last blog. At the time I'd only heard of one Swedish prog artist, Bo Hansson, and when the third wave of prog started 10 years later I didn't actually realise that Sweden was at the heart of the movement.
I finally discovered the depth of prog in the country in the early 2000s and over the last 20 years I've seen some of the leading lights perform live and amassed a collection incorporating a few of the most important releases.
However, there's still more to collect. It's about time I started to think of revisiting Sweden.

Latest album review

Yak - The Pink Man & The Bishop

(2025)

The Pink Man & The Bishop is Yak's fourth release, coming a decade after Quest For The Stones which is reviewed in these pages.

It's almost entirely the work of original member Martin Morgan, it's unmistakably Yak and it's excellent keyboard-dominated symphonic progressive rock.