“The most influential prog band of all time”, according to Geddy Lee
Any band trying their hand at progressive rock will need to get their chops up. Even though the early days of prog consisted of bands stretching out songs into longer pieces, groups like Yes and Genesis were making the kind of sophisticated music that would take most mortals a fair amount of time in the practice space trying to master. While Geddy Lee would eventually pull off feats that didn’t even seem human, he insisted that King Crimson was far better than any progressive band he had ever seen.
Then again, it’s not like playing everything that Rush ever did was going to be easy, either. Even though the Canadian power trio started out in a simple bluesy mode when cutting their first album, they grew exponentially across the rest of their albums, making songs that felt like they should be played by a symphony rather than just three nerds with instruments.
Before Rush had even started, progressive rock was still in its infancy. The early days of Pink Floyd were still firmly in psychedelia, and the most progressive songs that got on the charts usually came from pop bands like The Beatles rather than the fringes of the rock scene. Once King Crimson emerged with In the Court of the Crimson King, though, no one was ready for what they were about to hear.
What separated King Crimson from their contemporaries was not just technical difficulty, but intent. They were not interested in showing off for its own sake or dressing complexity up as spectacle. Every rhythmic lurch, tonal shift, and abrasive texture felt purposeful, designed to unsettle both the listener and the musicians themselves. That seriousness of approach made their music feel less like entertainment and more like confrontation.
For players coming up in their wake, that attitude was as influential as any specific riff or time signature. King Crimson made it acceptable to be uncompromising, to value progression over approval, and to treat rock music as a living experiment rather than a fixed style. It was a lesson that resonated deeply with musicians who cared less about fitting in than about finding out how far the form could be pushed.
Having been well-versed in everything from jazz to classical music, Robert Fripp had formed the band to take rock to the next level whenever they sat behind their instruments. From the beginning of ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’, there was no way that the band were going to be concerned with having Top 10 hits, being better suited to making sweeping epics that had multi-layered solos on every track.
Progressive rock is always about moving forward, though, and what the band did later became too heady for most prog musicians to be used to. Outside of having complex time changes in their songs or elongated jams, Fripp would also expand the range of his guitar, coming up with his signature ‘new standard’ tuning that was meant to give him sounds that stretched the limits of what could be done on the fretboard.
While King Crimson would always be relegated to their first album by many fairweather prog fans, Lee thought that they should be far more revered by the masses. When talking about Rush being inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he thought King Crimson towered above everything prog band that came after them.
After singling out Jethro Tull as being eligible for the hallowed halls of rock legend, Lee said that King Crimson deserved to be in the Hall of Fame years before him, saying, “The other band that comes to mind is King Crimson. I mean, King fucking Crimson, the most influential Progressive Rock band of all time”.
It’s not like that “influential” part didn’t have an effect on Rush going forward. While Alex Lifeson may not have detuned his guitar to ‘new standard’ tuning, the band’s willingness to stretch the boundaries of their sound every time they went into the studio is derived from King Crimson’s formula. It’s not always the sound that influences you. It’s the mindset you have before you even go into the studio.
