Some excellent choices. I would have ordered the bands differently, but what proghead will agree with another about such details? I have to say that I am pleased that you included Camel; it is a band that is too often overlooked, and when not overlooked, underrated. And the song you chose, Lady Fantasy, is one my top three favorite songs by that group. There's a guitar solo in it that still floors me. Even after 40 years of listening.

While I enjoy both Marillion (I have a specific memory of hearing Script for a Jester's Tear for the first time--a transcendent moment. Thanks, John) and Eloy, my own list would contain, instead, UK and Kansas. That's the nature of personal choices, though, isn't it? They're personal.

Way back when. Oh, yes, an "old" guy is about to pontificate. Back when I was (thankfully) introduced to the genre of progressive rock, parents, friends, and just-regular folk criticized the song lengths, the odd time signatures, Steve Howe's guitar sound (in particular), and the "spacey" lyrics, among other things. All of which characteristics (and more!) enchanted me. In the 80s, when prog rock groups were labeled "dinosaurs," I was as offended as any of my fellow proggers was. So after having sustained decades of animus from disco bunnies and punks and parents and teachers and top-40 lovers, prog is experiencing a well-deserved resurgence. (So there! Nyah!)

Something I would note: Though it is impossible to know "what would have been," I feel strongly that my current eclectic taste in music would never have developed if not for my having been pointed in the direction of prog. I wonder, would I ever have heard of the Penguin Café Orchestra? If I had, would I have given ear to a group with such a strange name were I not already enjoying measure after measure of song from Happy the Man, a group with--it seemed to me at the time--an equally odd moniker? Where would I stand today on Steve Reich? How would I react to The Aristocrats? Would I ever have experienced the blazing guitar lines of Al Di Meola? And really, would I still name Take Five as one of my favorite all-around pieces of music (just ahead of--or is it just behind? I can never decide--Gymnopédies) Prior to progressive rock, I listened to the radio and my father's albums. That's what there was, as far as I was aware. To be fair, my dad had Sgt. Pepper's and In Search of a Lost Chord, so I guess I had already been nudged in the right direction.

Prog Rock, the gateway music.