10 Rock Bands Who Sold Out (But We Love Them Anyway)
5. Rush
Prog rock - it's not for everyone, and it's easy to see why.
The genre associated with Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Yes is more about making an artistic statement than any sort of rhymical sense. If prog isn't your thing, then it's almost impossible to enjoy, but for some, it's the peak of what music is supposed to be.
Another band at the forefront of the style's golden years was Rush. On their first few albums, they were all about complex musical layouts, abstract lyrics, and songs that lasted for days on end.
Whilst they did find success when prog was at its peak, that bubble soon burst and the Canadian outfit would need to adapt in order to survive.
This brought on the era of '80s Rush; big production, big synth use, and big guitar solos all round. Through songs like Tom Sawyer, XYZ, and The Spirit of Radio, Rush found themselves a new home in more conventional rock circles and thrived like never before.
Prog fans can be pretty tribal, so there was some backlash to this swap, but this was absolutely the right call for the band's longevity and its members' bank accounts.