10 Albums That Will Make You Love Prog Rock

Progressive music isn't really known to be the most user friendly of genres. Since this is supposed to be building on the foundation of what modern music can do, you can't really blame people for not getting into something that doesn't fit inside the normal confines of pop or rock music. If an artist has that certain spice though, they can manage to find their way into your heart regardless.

As prog has made different twists and turns over time, there have been artists that are willing to bend the genre into something that can be a lot more accessible for what your average rock fan might be listening to. In lieu of your traditional time signature changes left and right and songs that go on and on for minutes on end, these are the kind of prog records that appeal to the mainstream, with songs that work just as well being played on the radio as they do for the seasoned prog head that's looking to dissect the inner workings of the tune.

Granted, these records are not necessarily a walk in the park for the fairweather rock fans either. These are the kind of records that might require a bit of homework before you really let everything sink in. If school taught us anything though, it's that doing your homework does help you grow as a person.

The biggest hurdle that comes with prog rock is how much you have to take in at one time. When you have something that's really meticulous from one note to the next, it's going to become a bunch of mush when you try to take that into stadiums around the world. If you want to play prog in arenas though, you make music that sounds good playing out of arenas.

Granted, it's not like Muse is necessarily the most prog centric band of the bunch these days. Going further down the rabbit hole with different pieces of arena rock and electronic rock, they have certainly carved out their own niche. Upon their first arrival on the scene in the '00s though, Black Holes and Revelations is where everything came together, making for songs that Queen would have made if they somehow went into an even more art rock direction than they were before.

From one song to the next, it's almost like you're getting a completely different experience every time, like the power ballad Starlight put right next to the dance funk of Supermassive Black Hole. Muse definitely had the stadium crowd in mind here too, and songs like Assassin and Invincible have riffs that seemed designed to be played only through the massive speakers that you see in the likes of Wembley Stadium. Compared to the other garage rock acts out at the time, this was more than just another rock album. This was a full blown rock opera coming from space.