The worst thing about prog is that it is a genre, meaning that many bands fit into the prog genre but there is nothing proggressive about their music, and a lot of bands can be incredibly musically progressive and not fit into the genre. Genres suck!
A good point of view, but it's one of the genre that's created by the industry and the press, because to sell products they could not put into existing clear mesured genres like Jazz, Blues, C &W, R &R, Pop, Klassic a.o.
That reminds me when talked early 80s in Greece with a guy about
New Wave, he told me that his most important Wave bands were
UB40, Dr. Felgood & Talking Heads...(last one I agree)
Same it's with Progressive, that everybody defines this term individualy, mostly leaving out facts what really is New or Progressive
at all
Most progressive in music for me are Gene Krupa, by integrating Drum Solo,
Miles Davis, by leading Jazz to Rock (Fusion)
Bob Dylan, by electrifying Folk & turning The Beatles on Acid,
13th Floor Elevators, by creating the ''Psychedelic Sound'',
The Beatles, by changing from simple Beatband to Sgt. Pepper's,
Brian Wilson, by using never done before sound combinations (Beach Boys were the first Band performing live with a Moog at a Grateful Dead Concert!)
Moody Blues, by first collaborating with a Symphonic Orchestra
Shawn Phillips, by giving George Harrison first sitar teachings
and composing orchestral tunes without the knowledge of sheet-notes,
Cream, by extending the ordinary few minutes-tunes into long improvisations,
David Vorhaus, by creating first electonic music that's more than only
before done soundexperiments or imitaions of natural instruments
Ravi Shankar & Yehudi Menuhin, by connecting East & West
....all before 1970
and then ? Brian Eno, Rother, Roedelius & Moebius, by creating the Ambiant music,
Robert Fripp, by Frippertronics & Soundscapes