DSOTM is Rolling Stone's Top Prog Album of All Time

[Johnny-Too-Good]

From 'Brain Damage' -

Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon - Rolling Stone's Best Prog Album

Written by Matt
Tuesday, 23 June 2015

The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd's 1973 classic has been named as the Best Prog Album of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, with 1975's Wish You Were Here in fourth place. TDSOTM, which has sold in excess of 50 million copies, and is the subject of various stats and trivia due to its longevity in the charts, and the number of homes with a copy, heads a chart full of heavily established acts.

Notably, only two of the top ten albums WEREN'T released in what was arguably the golden era for the genre - King Crimson's In The Court of the Crimson King, which was released in 1969, and Rush's 1981 epic, Moving Pictures.

As Prog magazine notes, only eight later-generation prog acts make Rolling Stone's top 50 – The Mars Volta at number 25, Opeth at 28, Dream Theater at 29, Tool at 33, Porcupine Tree at 39, Meshuggah at 42, Marillion at 47 and Ruins at 49.

Commenting on TDSOTM, Rolling Stone said: "Easily the peak of prog rock's commercial success, Pink Floyd's lean concept album has soundtracked countless planetarium light shows and just as many critical unpackings. The album has endured as a pop culture touchstone since its release. Lyrically Roger Waters was universal yet personal, peeling back the human condition's paper-thin skin. For all its Alan Parsons-led studio innovations, the underlying accessibility is its greatest strength."

Rolling Stone's top 10 Prog Albums:
1.Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
2.King Crimson: In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)
3.Rush: Moving Pictures (1981)
4.Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (1975)
5.Yes: Close To The Edge (1972)
6.Genesis: Selling England By The Pound (1973)
7.Jethro Tull: Thick As A Brick (1972)
8.Can: Future Days (1973)
9.Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974)
10.Yes: Fragile (1971)

 

[JimJam]

A pretty good list but I prefer Wish You Were Here to DSOTM.
For Crimson, i'll take Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black and Red, all of them over In The Court (which I think is partly awesome).

 

[AboutAGirl]

Solid list.

 

[recgord27]

For a change, Rolling Stone magazine got it right Surprised to see Can so high up on the list, considering that it almost impossible to buy their music.

 

[Jake T]

DSOTM is a great album, but I don't even consider it Prog. Animals and Meddle are better choices IMO.

 

[Johnny-Too-Good]

DSOTM is a great album, but I don't even consider it Prog. Animals and Meddle are better choices IMO.

I know where you're coming from Jake. As a listening experience I prefer Animals and Wish You Were Here. But 42 years on from the release of DSOTM, even now, when I listen to it, I am astonished at the sheer quality of that album. It was a time when the four of them reached their artistic peak imo, and the various comments from each of them over the years tend to allude to that.

 

[AboutAGirl]

DSOTM is a great album, but I don't even consider it Prog. Animals and Meddle are better choices IMO.

It's not my favorite by a long shot but I do think it qualifies as prog. I mean it's a concept album about death, madness, and the moon, told as one long flowing song, with idiosyncratic embellishments (the conversation snippets, the vocal style of Great Gig, cash register in Money). Stylistically I wouldn't put it far off from any number of the prog albums that lean more to the commercial by staples like Yes and Rush. Definitely wouldn't call it the #1 most archetypal prog album but it should at least qualify as prog.