Awesome Music/Progressive

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This page includes examples of both Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal. Being a genre whose parent genres are Rock (or Metal) and Classical music, it deserves a page.

Dream Theater and Pink Floyd has its own page.

  • The Mars Volta has the EPIC "Drunkship of Lanterns". Seriously, try saying with a straight face that this song isn't awesome. Regardless of what you think of the band, you can't deny this song's utter epicness. Particularly the last 3 minutes.
    • Ditto with "Aberinkula" [dead link].
    • "Day of the Baphomets" is utterly awesome. Everything about the song is badass. From the bass solo to the dueling guitar/saxophone bsolo to the crazy percussion solo, everything just works to form one of TMV's best
  • King Crimson, just about the most influential and acclaimed prog rock band other than Pink Floyd. Most of their songs fit the crowning moment easily.
    • "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Epitaph", "The Court of the Crimson King", "Pictures of a City", "In The Wake Of Poseidon", "Cirkus", "Fallen Angel", "One More Red Nightmare", "Starless", and more...
  • The 4-part, 40-minute epic "Larks' Tongues in Aspic".
    • Anything played in In the Court of the Crimson King is made of progressive rock beauty.
    • Of course, it's impossible not to mention the absurdly epic instrumental "Red".
    • You think "Red" is absurdly epic? Listen to "Fracture". Or "Providence", which starts off sounding like a horror movie soundtrack before going out into a full blown rocker.
  • "Nobody's Hero", by Rush. It seems to be a fairly decent song... until you get to the chorus... and then it becomes pure awesome, not to mention thought-provoking.
    • Also, this encore on the Time Machine tour. It starts off as reggae, until Geddy realizes that he could live his life a lot better then he thinks he is. As someone who saw this live, I can testify that the entire crowd went nuts.
    • "Tom Sawyer". Think about every movie or TV show you've ever seen it in. It's always used to accompany some bad ass moment.
    • Are there anyone who wish to deride anything Rush did after Signals? Here, try "Mystic Rhythms" on for size. Yep, the thickest of the thick '80s, but still an awe-inspiring racket...
    • "YYZ" from Rush In Rio. This was the first time Rush ever played in Brazil and the screamingly eager 60,000 fans filling the soccer stadium are all joyously singing along -- to an INSTRUMENTAL.
    • Their three twenty-minute epics: "The Fountain of Lamneth", "2112", and "Hemispheres" all qualify.
    • The song "Countdown" would be cool by itself with wicked drums, a lot of cool synthesizer bits, and the lyrics themselves, not to mention the fact that it's about the flipping first ever space shuttle launch- but what makes it truly awesome is the pitch-perfect integration of the actual launch audio!
  • "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull has, as crazy as it may seem, an epic flute solo
  • Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds. The first track "Eve of the War" is one crowning music of awesome in its own right as is the whole album!
    • Those who don't get goosebumps after hearing Richard Burton's narration at the beginning of above mentioned track when the music kicks in don't know proper music.
    • "Dead London" is absolutely chilling.
  • "Proclamation" by Gentle Giant. In the link provided, pretty much everything the drummer does counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • The very best song ever recorded has to be either "Sound Chaser" or "Siberian Khatru" (both by Yes,) depending on the day of the week.
    • In fact, the whole of the Close to the Edge album pretty much embodies this trope. Three tracks of absolute awesome on one CD: the titular track with its epic scale, followed by the beautiful, rousing "And You And I", before kicking into the adrenaline rush that is "Siberian Khatru". The Yes Album is pretty bloody brilliant too.
    • How can't we mention "Roundabout" and its AWESOME BASSLINE!
    • There's a good reason why Close to the Edge has been rated more than once as the #1 progressive rock album of all time.
    • Especially the segment "I Get Up I Get Down," with the organ flourish at the end. Chills.
    • "The Gates of Delirium". Between that and "Sound Chaser", you'll be wondering why Relayer gets bashed.
    • "Homeworld".
    • "Fly from Here", proof that even without Jon Anderson, they're still in excellent form.
    • No love for "Starship Trooper" (especially on headphones)?!?!
    • No love for "Awaken", either?
  • The Alan Parsons Project's 1982 epic, "Sirius", is considered Crowning Music of Awesome, as it has been used in many different places, most notably as the theme for the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era.
    • For those who don't care for sports, The Weather Channel's decision to use the song in their 1987 documentary Clash of Seasons will work - there's no better music to complement footage of destructive tornadoes.
  • Michael Oldfield's "Tubular Bells". The first few minutes, having been used as the theme of The Exorcist, are the most well-known, but they don't sound like, do justice to, or even hint at the majesty of the second half, particularly the buildup to and entrance of the bells (begins at 2:25 in the video).
  • The year is 1989. For the first time in its history, a Grammy is given for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. The award is given to Jethro Tull for Crest of a Knave. Over Metallica. What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome??
    • Tull's record company published a press ad with a picture of Ian Anderson's metal flute, with the headline: This is a metal instrument.
  • Tool - The full version of "10,000 Days". Yes, the one where you have to mix 3 songs together just to hear the epic. "It's time now!/My time now!/Give me my!/Give me my wings!" If that doesn't send a chill down your spine when you hear it, you may not be human. Listen to it in its epic entirety here.
    • Tool does have their share of CMOAs that aren't quite so long; "AEnema" anyone?
      • The ending part of "Eulogy". Or "Parabola". Or most of Undertow.
    • Hell, the entirety of Lateralus deserves a CMoA, but the highlights would have to be Maynard James Keenan's epic metal scream at the end of "The Grudge", "Schism", "Parabol/Parabola" (especially the transition between the two of them, goddamn it's so amazing), Lateralus, and then the procession of "Disposition/Reflection/Triad".
      • Of course, Lateralus becomes much more coherent (and thus, extremely epic) when one realizes the album is really meant to played in an entirely different order, (hinted at by the repeat references to spirals in the lyrics) which brings it from merely being a very good prog-rock album to a insanely insightful concept album.
    • Don't forget about "Pushit" and "Vicarious" too. And as with most Tool songs, the endings are the best part, but you need to listen to the entire thing to get the full effect.
    • "Jambi" anyone? Mostly that awesome bassline and talk box...
    • Heck, their entire catalog qualifies as Crowning Music of Awesome. But you are forgetting "Right in Two"...
    • Keenan's side project band Puscifer brings us "The Humbling River".
  • REO Speedwagon's "Roll With The Changes." It's a joyous enough song to begin with, and guaranteed to make you sing along to it...and then the Hammond organ solo starts and makes it EPIC.
  • Genesis' crowning moment is their 22-minute apocalyptic epic "Supper's Ready". It starts as a ballad, becomes melancholy, then to Mind Screw levels, then rocking out about the Devil and the Antichrist, and then an Epic Rocking reprise of the opening. The best parts, unsurprisingly, come near the end, where, after being plunged in darkness near the end of the section about the Antichrist, the stage explodes in light and Peter Gabriel, bathed in white, sings his heart out in an adaptation of the last few lines of the bible.
    • Speaking of Peter Gabriel, "Sky Blue" is just awesome.
    • This agnostic-minded troper considers listening to the end of this song to be the closest he's come to having a spiritual experience.
    • See "Supper's Ready" and toss in "The Musical Box", "Mama", "Invisible Touch", "Land of Confusion", "Home By The Sea", and "Domino". Also, Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" and anything from Tarzan and Brother Bear.
    • "Feeding the Fire" is Phil Collins' best song, with or without Genesis. Why the fuck did they only use it as a B-side for?
      • Phil Collins' tenure as the lead singer tend to be more slow-burners than containing the sudden explosive and awesome parts like the end of "Supper's Ready", "Giant Hogweed", "Musical Box", half the songs from The Lamb Lies Down, etc.
    • Just slightly behind "Supper's Ready" is the "In The Cage" medley from Three Sides Live.
      • Hell, the WHOLE of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is awesome, start to finish. Especially the title track.
    • During a handful of shows on the Invisible touch tour, they pulled out an even better version of the "In The Cage" medley, culminating in the finale of "Supper's Ready". Considering most of the people at these shows had probably only heard the hit radio songs from the band, this probably made their heads explode.
  • Electric Light Orchestra:
    • For starters: The cover of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from On The Third Day. The intro sounds epic, not to mention it's one of the few songs with a VIOLIN SOLO. Then there's the rest of that album: "Bluebird is Dead", "Oh No Not Susan", "Dreaming of 4000" etc.
    • "Twilight", especially in Daicon IV.
    • "Fire On High" is 5 minutes of distilled instrumental ass-kick, and would not sound out of place as boss-battle music in an RPG.
  • Ayreon. Just... Ayreon.
  • Okay, seriously, how has Iron Butterfly's 17-minute epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" not been listed until now?
  • The Engineers in general, "Come In Out The Rain", "Home", "How Do You Say Goodbye?" and "Forgiveness" in particular.
  • Porcupine Tree's 55 minute "The Incident", as well as "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" and "Anesthetize", without mentioning countless earlier works. "Voyage 34", "Russia on Ice" and "The Sky Moves Sideways" anyone?
    • Also "Even Less" (14 minute version), "Buying New Soul", and "Radioactive Toy".
  • The Enid have been around long enough to have produced several CMsOA; the original recording of "In the Region of the Summer Stars suite", "Something Wicked This Way Comes", "Chaldean Crossing", "Tripping the Light Fantastic", "Riguardon", "Terra Firma" and "Malacandra" are among the finest musical works known to man (or perhaps one should say "largely unknown" due to the band's cult status).
  • Keith Emerson's oeuvre, starting with The Nice, later with Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Powell and solo projects, has produced many fine works (sic), but it all comes together with The Nice's "Five Bridges Suite" for group and orchestra, seamlessly, and apparently effortlessly, blending rock, jazz and classical styles.
  • Pure Reason Revolution. Oh, just listen.
  • An Endless Sporadic's "Impulse", considered by many to be the best Guitar Hero song PERIOD.
  • Emerson Lake and Palmer need their own section here. Brain Salad Surgery was pretty epic, and "Toccata". Seven minutes of some of their heaviest, darkest, and most awesome material.
  • Mastodon. "Divinations", "Colony of Birchmen", and "Oblivion" are just their most public examples. Their albums are consistently amazing. They're just made of Awesome.
  • Chris Squires' "Hold Out Your Hand" is pretty epic. Keep in mind the lead instrument in the song is bass guitar!
  • Prog superband Transatlantic's 70+ minute epic The Whirlwind has some truly amazing moments. Part XI, "Is It Really Happening?", in particular the second half.
  • Strawberry Fields Forever. It practically invented Progressive Rock
  • The band Dead Letter Circus. All of their songs probably count, but standouts include "Here We Divide", "One Step" and "The Space On the Wall".
  • If you ever thought The Eighties didn't produce any good prog (besides perhaps Marillion) then I'll be very happy to prove you wrong with "Outer Limits" from IQ. Dated 1985 and suitably epic in scope. There is no soul left to save in you if the climax of the song doesn't do anything for you:

You're not alone, so don't look back
You better see it's getting black
You're not alone, surrender now
You're gonna fall in line, you better learn this time
I'm trying to get there
I'm falling from nowhere...

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