Timeline of progressive rock

This is an introductory page to timelines of artists, albums, and events in progressive rock and its subgenres. While this page shows the formation of significant bands in the genre, the detailed timeline is presented in separate articles for each decade.

Timeline by decade

Click on the header for each decade to see the detailed timeline.

1960s

Newly formed bands

• Golden Earring (1961)
• Phoenix (1962)
• Sfinx (1962)
• Omega (1962)
• Los Jaivas (1963)
• The Moody Blues (1964)
• Strawbs (1964)
• Pink Floyd (1965)
• Barclay James Harvest (1966)
• Soft Machine (1966)
• Procol Harum (1967)
• Aphrodite's Child (1967)
• Genesis (1967)
• Gong (1967)
• Jethro Tull (1967)
• Mike Oldfield (1967)
• The Nice (1967)
• Van der Graaf Generator (1967)
• Can (1968)
• Caravan (1968)
• Deep Purple (1968)
• Egg (1968)
• King Crimson (1968)
• Krokodil (1968)
• Rush (1968)
• Skin Alley (1968)
• Yes (1968)
• Ange (1969)
• Argent (1969)
• Atomic Rooster (1969)
• Audience (1969)
• Curved Air (1969)
• Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (1969)
• Beggar's Opera (1969)
• Magma (1969)
• Rare Bird (1969)
• Renaissance(1969)
• Supertramp (1969)
• Uriah Heep (1969)
• Triumvirat (1969)
• Congreso (1969)
• Nektar (1969)
• Quintessence (1969)
• Hawkwind (1969)
• Warm Dust (1969)
• Focus (1969)

1970s

Newly formed bands

• Dixie Dregs (1970)
• Electric Light Orchestra (1970)
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer (1970)
• Gentle Giant (1970)
• Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come (1970)
• Queen (1970)
• Roxy Music (1970)
• Styx (1970)
• Alphataurus (1971)
• Camel (1971)
• Captain Beyond (1971)
• Kansas (1971)
• Celeste (1972)
• Premiata Forneria Marconi (1972)
• Return to Forever (1972)
• Kaipa (1973)
• Bijelo Dugme (1974)
• Machiavel (1974)
• Ambrosia (band) (1975)
• England (1975)
• Steve Hackett (1975)
• The Alan Parsons Project (1976)
• Peter Gabriel (1976)
• Pallas (1976)
• Jon Anderson (1976)
• FM (1976)
• Cardiacs (1977)
• Crack (1977)
• Saga (1977)
• U.K. (1977)
• Pendragon (1978)
• Twelfth Night (1978)
• King's X (1979)
• Marillion (1979)
• Roine Stolt (1979)

1980s

Newly formed bands

• IQ (1980)
• Asia (1981)
• Queensrÿche (1982)
• It Bites (1982)
• Fates Warning (1983)
• Ozric Tentacles (1983)
• Pain of Salvation (1984)
• Fulano (1984)
• Cyan (1984)
• Dream Theater (1985)
• Galahad (1985)
• Shadow Gallery (1985)
• The Bleeding Heart Band (1986)
• Dreamscape (1986)
• Cynic (1987)
• Meshuggah (1987)
• No-Man (1987)
• Porcupine Tree (1987)
• Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1988)
• Psychotic Waltz (1988)
• Jordan Rudess (1988)
• Echolyn (1989)
• Enchant (1989)

1990s

Newly formed bands

• Iona (1990)
• Bad Dreams (1990)
• Anathema (1990)
• Big Big Train (1990)
• Opeth (1990)
• Tool (1990)
• Ulysses (1990)
• Anekdoten (1991)
• Änglagård (1991)
• Glass Hammer (1992)
• Spock's Beard (1992)
• Ayreon (1993)
• The Flower Kings (1993)
• Guapo (1994)
• Muse (1994)
• Symphony X (1994)
• Nad Sylvan (1995)
• Arena (1995)
• Coheed and Cambria (1995)
• Mew (1995)
• Sylvan (1995)
• Devin Townsend (1996)
• Evergrey (1996)
• Gazpacho (1996)
• IZZ (1996)
• maudlin of the Well (1996)
• Liquid Tension Experiment (1997)
• Karnivool (1997)
• RPWL (1997)
• Oceansize (1998)
• MullMuzzler (1999)
• Neal Morse (1999)
• The Pineapple Thief (1999)
• Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (1999)
• Transatlantic (1999)
• Wobbler (1999)
• Magenta (1999)
• Derek Sherinian (1999)

2000s

Newly formed bands

• Planet X (2000)
• Between the Buried and Me (2000)
• Mastodon (2000)
• Seventh Wonder (2000)
• MediaBanda (2000)
• Magic Pie (2001)
• Beardfish (2001)
• Leprous (2001)
• The Mars Volta (2001)
• Riverside (2001)
• Karmakanic (2002)
• Phideaux (2002)
• The Tangent (2002)
• OSI (2002)
• Born of Osiris (2003)
• Kayo Dot (2003)
• Moon Safari (2003)
• Pure Reason Revolution (2003)
• Architects (2004)
• Frost* (2004)
• Soen (2004)
• Scale the Summit (2004)
• John Petrucci (2005)
• The Dear Hunter (2005)
• Periphery (2005)
• Jolly (2006)
• Animals as Leaders (2007)
• Haken (2007)
• Stick Men (2007)
• Steven Wilson (2008)
• Lifesigns (2008)
• Bent Knee (2009)
• Django Django (2009)
• Thank You Scientist (2009)

2010s

Newly formed bands

• Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion (2010)
• Iamthemorning (2010)
• King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (2010)
• Polyphia (2010)
• Seven Impale (2010)
• Sithu Aye (2011)
• The Aristocrats (2011)
• Caligula's Horse (2011)
• Flying Colors (2011)
• Hällas (2011)
• Intervals (2011)
• Kyros (2012)
• Astronoid (2012)
• Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side (2012)
• The Neal Morse Band (2013)
• Eric Gillette (2013)
• We Came From Space (2013)
• Tiger Moth Tales (2013)
• Levin Minnemann Rudess (2013)
• The Mute Gods (2014)
• Southern Empire (2015)
• Lonely Robot (2015)
• Novena (2016)
• This Winter Machine (2016)
• The Cyberiam (2016)
• The Sea Within (2017)
• Sons of Apollo (2017)
• Black Midi (2017)
• Pattern-Seeking Animals (2018)

2020s

Newly formed bands

• TEMIC (2023)

See also

• Timeline of progressive rock: 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s - 2000s - 2010s - 2020s
• Progressive rock
• Canterbury Scene
• Symphonic rock
• Avant-rock
• Rock in Opposition
• Neo-prog
• Progressive metal
• Jazz fusion
• Djent

Further reading

• Snider, Charles. The Strawberry Bricks Guide To Progressive Rock. Chicago, Ill.: Lulu Publishing (2008) 364 pages, ISBN 978-0-615-17566-9 (paperback). A veritable record guide to progressive rock, with band histories, musical synopses and critical commentary, all presented in the historical context of a timeline. The book covers only 1967–1979.
• Lucky, Jerry. The Progressive Rock Files Burlington, Ontario: Collector's Guide Publishing, Inc (1998), 304 pages, ISBN 1-896522-10-6 (paperback). Gives an overview of progressive rock's history as well as histories of the major and underground bands in the genre.
• Macan, Edward. Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1997), 290 pages, ISBN 0-19-509887-0 (hardcover), ISBN 0-19-509888-9 (paperback). Analyzes progressive rock using classical musicology and also sociology.