Five brilliant radio-friendly prog-rock songs from the 1970s and 1980s

As prog-rock fans will be well aware, it's not often a very radio-friendly genre. Typically the songs or music are long and complex. Intricate elements take time to build and tell their story. It’s usually much more suited to the longer time frame of an album.

Or even more so, to live performances where extended solos allow more exploration by individual artists. Being on stage also gives more opportunity for visual theatrics, you can look back to early Genesis with Peter Gabriel as a prime example of that. 

That doesn't mean you won't hear prog rock on the radio away from stations. Of course, there weren't as many genre-specific stations back in the 1970s when prog-rock was at a peak. When those progressive bands wanted to try and get some airtime they usually had to think differently. Let's take a look here at some examples of radio-friendly prog rock.

I’ve excluded songs where the band had changed genre significantly for the song or where the bulk of their career was something other than prog-rock music. That rules out quite a few songs and some absolute classics like, say, “Stairway to Heaven” with Led Zeppelin showing their occasional prog-rock side. It also excludes “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but then you could debate if that Queen extravaganza was ever radio-friendly despite forcing its way onto the airwaves. 

Five1970s and 1980s prog rock on the radio songs

Yes - “Roundabout”

There’s no doubting the credentials of Yes as a prog-rock band. To a great extent, their release of “Roundabout” as a single showed the way for others. It was released as a single in 1972 and taken from their Fragile album. On that album, the song was over eight minutes long. For the single release, it was heavily edited and a cut-back version clocked in at three minutes and 27 seconds. 

The song length is an issue, the solution of a shorter version won’t work for all songs. It has to retain the story, intensity, structure, and musicality. There was a lot cut from this song, but the single was still powerful, Full of trademark Yes sounds, extraordinary guitar work, clever keyboards from Rick Wakeman, and that crystal clear Jon Anderson voice. 

The single was like a sampler or trailer for the fuller version. It had good chart success through radio play reaching number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It led to a boost in sales of the Fragile album, too, as listeners wanted more. Mind you, if you really wanted to hear a full performance of the song then the Yes live set often featured around 15 minutes of “Roundabout."

Kansas - “Carry On Our Wayward Son”

Kansas represented the more commercial side of prog-rock. That didn't make chart single success necessarily easier, but their sound was a better fit for many radio stations even with its album-oriented rock underpinning. 

Some might be surprised at seeing the band labeled as prog rock, but if one listens to their top hits, “Carry On Our Wayward Son,” will easily confirm their status. All the signs are there as the song plays out, perhaps it’s the harmony vocals, the intricate guitar, or those keyboards, but the genre oozes out of the song. 

It was released as a single from their Leftoverture album in 1976. The song became their top-selling song with a four-times platinum ranking. It peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 11 and remains a well-known classic song from that period. 

Focus - “Hocus Pocus”

Dutch band Focus is an extraordinary group. Their instrumental “Hocus Pocus” was taken from their second album Focus II/Moving Waves. Now, I say instrumental and that might depend on your view of yodeling and another strange vocal section that appears in the song. But they are not words as we know them. 

The song itself has some amazing guitar led by Jan Akkerman, it drives the tune forward. The guitar, keyboards, flute, and other varied instruments still leave room for those ‘vocals’ by Thijs van Leer. It sounds very pacy, but the band is known for playing it even faster live. At this stage, if you don’t know the song, it’s a must-listen. The song was a number nine hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when released as a single in 1973 in the US. 

Marillion - “Kayleigh”

Marillion released “Kayleigh” as a single from their third album, Misplaced Childhood, in 1985. They were classed at times more as neo-prog, but whatever genre fits best, this was their big song and moment. It’s highly commercial and has a very recognizable melody, which helped it catch on. 

The record scored highly in the UK, they went all the way to number two on the singles charts there. The song seemed to trigger a rush of Kayleigh’s being registered as a girl's name there for quite a few years. The single was released in the US, too, and helped the band get noticed there. But it only got as far as number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. It proved to be the band’s best-selling song and broke another prog rock group onto the radio and charts. 

Rush – “The Spirit of Radio”

It was quite a heavy sound, but the radio connection was there, and not just from the title. There’s enough variation of style and sound in this single to help get other music fans on board. Released in 1980 from their Permanent Waves album, this was another example of commercial success helping push a prog-rock band higher and achieve wider success. 

The sound is typical Rush with powerful and intricate guitar, plenty of rocking drums from Neil Peart, and some catchy hooks too. It’s art rock in places and even has a touch of reggae in its final flourishes. That's quite a combination that brought in more listeners. Up to number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, their highest at that time. It reached number 13 in the UK too, and of course was a big hit, reaching number 22, in their homeland Canada

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