I must confess I didn't take to them easily when they first emerged because my musical ear was directed elsehere (heavy rock and some new wave/indie). By the time time they came on the scene the golden era of what is commonly described as progressive rock was long gone (Yes Tull, King Crimson, ELP). But they certainly helped to revive that scene, along with a few other bands like Pallas.

I know it's become such a cliche but "Kayleigh" is a timeless anthem that takes me back to that particular point in my life in a way that few other mid 80s songs do. And I have since learned to appreciate the Fish era albums, especially "Misplaced Childhood", mainly because as a guitar fan I love Steve Rothery's style of playing.

In the past decade I have seen both Marillion and Fish live. Who do I prefer? It's no contest. Fish by a country mile. The man still has charisma, a wonderful voice and way of putting across a song and despite all his troubles (arguably self inflicted) he remains a star.

The Hogarthian Marillion, on the other hand, despite delivering some good records in the 90s, are becoming a rather self indulgent and tedious listen. I saw them at the Astoria on the "Marbles" tour and it was a fair to average gig and I was impressed by Hogarth for his energy. Yet I saw them again a few years ago up in Kentish town (forget the album they were touring) and it was probably the most boring gig I've ever been to. Of course, the devoted Marillionites where all there and stood listening to Hogarth pissing about and droning on and on like they were watching Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount.

In the dark days of the terrible music of early 80s I was going out with a girl who lived in London, I lived in Reading; we both loved Genesis and had seen Time Out describe Marillion as Foxtrot era Genesis so went along to a gig near Victoria I think it was... It was packed. We thought them very derivative and when they played Grendel, which is essentially Suppers Ready with all the same notes in a slightly different order, we left (I'd have stayed but my gf was in charge!). Within a few weeks they were on tv and became reasonably successful. I was never much of a fan of the Fish era but already owned the How We Live LP featuring Steve Hogarth who replaced Fish. I was pleased when he joined but thought they should have changed their name; in the eyes of the ignorant masses they have never shaken off the shackles of Fish, despite makinga load more albums and changing musical direction. So anyway I have all the Hogarth studio albums, my favourites being Afraid Of Sunlight and Season's End. A few of the albums have been less than wonderful, eg Radiation and the last couple, but Steve has a beautiful voice. I guess I'm a fan. Tonight I noticed the bootleg vol 2 set for sale dead cheap (£47 off?) on Sendit and bought it - I may eBay it... http://www.sendit.com/cd/marillion/the-official-bootleg-box-set-vol.2/10... What was the question again?

80's, great. Will that do?

..I weigh about 11 stone, stand 6'2", have crimped, back combed, black hair, a Bela Lugosi's Dead tshirt and more female interest than I've enjoyed at any time before or since. Secretly, I'm listening to Script for a Jester's Tear and Fugazi. It was the love that dare not speak it's name and that's still the case today. Very fond memories, of both the attention and the records. The crimping irons, the cheekbones and the waistline are all lost to me now, but I still have the vinyl. Must dig it out again soon..

As a surrogate Genesis, for me Marillion ticked many boxes during their early years. Script for a Jester's Tear and Misplaced Childhood still get the odd outing and despite the derivative and overblown 'Grendel', the 'Market Square Heroes' 12" had merit, but I lost interest with the weak 'Clutching at Straws' and didn't pursue them when Fish departed. Despite initial enthusiasm, 'Fugazi' soon frustrated with its ridiculous verbosity. That said, Incubus is an excellent atmospheric track.

I saw them once at the Southend Cliffs Pavilion on the Misplaced Childhood tour and they were excellent. Tight interaction, quality musicianship, charismatic front man and imaginative lighting, but I guess their ambition and competence wasn't to be matched by long-lived commercial success - I drifted away.

Perhaps it's time for a re-investigation.

I saw them in a tiny place in Glasgow called Night Moves. Didn't think much of them except that they were very un-original - sounded ridiculously like early Genesis and singer had pinched Chris Squire's nickname.

Maybe 6 or 7 years later I saw them in a half empty Wembley with Steve Hogarth. They were so much better. I much preferred Hogarth to Fish, and the music had improved no end too.

They seem to keep him reasonably busy, and there's a fair bit of touring abroad. Saw them in the late 90s and thought they were OK, but more than anything I admire the way they've kept their career going.

Yes, they've been derided for the past thirty years as an easy euphemism for everything po-faced, wispy-bearded and derivatively unfashionable about white, male-oriented, middle-aged music, but you're all open-minded folk as members of the Massive, so don't resort to the tired cliches.

Forget your preconceptions and the jokes your cool mates told you in the eighties. Marillion in 2012 are as much about air-brushed symbolic artwork, twelve minute bass work-outs in the style of 'Supper's Ready', and pretentious sixth-form lyrical wordiness, as Nick Lowe is still about getting loaded and noisy with Brinsley Schwartz.

I find it very hard to be objective about the band, because I fell very hard for them back in 1983, and they have soundtracked my adolescence and adulthood. I read so much on these blogs and in the magazine about the tremendously transformative and empowering qualities of music, and for lots of you the bands that mean the most are credible, esoteric and glamorous. Well, Bowie or Zappa or the Mahavishnu Orchestra may have done it for you...Marillion do it for me, and also for a surprisingly large number of fans around the world.

As musicians, they are delicious. Steve Rothery is a guitarist with a tremendously delicate touch and he decorates the songs rather than bolting solos on to them. Pete Trewavas is one of those bass players who does all of the housework and tidying up and de-cluttering without anyone ever noticing...he underpins tunes with no fuss but at the same time plenty of invention and lightly-worn skill. Fish was just right for me as an angst-fuelled teen, and Hogarth is just right for me now as someone who likes to hear knock-out singing. Yes, he's a berk sometimes...but his pipes are awesome.

Live, the band are as tight as you'd expect any group who've been doing it together since 1989 (in this incarnation) to be. I don't worship every note they record...indeed I dread some particular tunes cropping up in a set (the output in the late '90s and early '00s was a little patchy, and while a majority of the fans love 'Marbles' and 'Brave', I have to squint to see the charm in those albums). But when I go to see them there's an honesty and passion that always makes a show memorable and, for at least a few moments, eye-watering. I've been lucky enough to watch hundreds of bands in concert over the years, and I believe that Marillion have forged a relationship with their audience, and a desire to please and move them, that is matched only by Bruce Springsteen. Their set lists are mostly always tremendously paced and dramatically planned. These fellows are craftsmen...they work really hard at what they do.

From a business point of view, how they've managed to foster and cultivate their fanbase as a viable revenue stream has been very impressive, and they never seem to be doing things merely to make a buck. The sheer size of devotion they can still command, despite the years of sarcasm or blind indifference on behalf of the media, is a thing to behold. In 2011 they held three 'weekends'...three 'mini festivals' if you will...in three different countries (Holland, Canada and England) where they played three sets on successive nights. It's a bi-annual affair, and in Holland, they block book the entire Centre Parcs holiday camp and build their own five thousand capacity tent for the gigs. It's one of your ATP kinds of things, but for just one band.

So, they're still a thriving and musically valid band, not content to rest on those million-selling laurels from the past. They've not become a greatest-hits-touting machine, hawking 'Misplaced Childhood' around the nostalgia circuit (in fact, the liveliest debates at the marillion.com website are always about why the band seems to consciously shy away from trotting out the golden oldies).

Do try to take the time to listen to some of the recent stuff. You can even get free compilation CDs from their website.

And 'The Kidz' today are beginning to 'rediscover' them, with a number of GCSE students at my school trying to convince me that this band (who they're sure I'll never have heard of) out-rock and out-prog Porcupine Tree or Dream Theater or Muse...

I love reading about the music that moves you when I hang around these blogs. Well, for the first time, here's someone asking about the band that started it all for me. And I went from lurking around the backstage door at the Hammy Odeon in 1985 because I yearned to get Mark Kelly's autograph, to searching for Robert Johnson's grave in Mississippi ten years later, and then queueing for tickets to see the ROH's 'La Traviata' last week, all because this band made me want to listen to music of many different stripes. And isn't that what it's supposed to be about?

...er...and just in case you want proof that you can trust me, instead of nervously backing away from this post looking afraid...I am 'one of you'...I have seen Richard Thompson live almost as many times as I have seen Marillion...

Pallas copyists. Right down to the jester.

but weren't they way ahead of the game in terms of promoting/marketing via the web and doing all the kind of fan/band relationship stuff that bands need to do to survive these days?

So the fact that they're generally scorned by mainstream radio and the press has done them a favour hasn't it, as its prompted them to build their own macro music-industry around themselves, and it's given them a way to do the kind of fanbase management that all bands need to do in the face of dwindling CD revenue.

I love the fact you can write off to them for a free sampler CD of the band, that's a bold idea (I guess you have to weight that up against potential loss of sales of any 'Best Of's they might have out) but a great one nonetheless. I applaud ver 'Rillion for that.

In about 2008 had the radio on and the first lovely notes from "Out of This World" drifted across the room and been hooked ever since.Can't match "roberts" very eloquent post earlier and frankly not much of a one for posting but really love this band - they have a love and respect for their fans that seems rare these days and on a recent blighted trip to Egypt experienced a rare transcendent moment sailing out of Port Ghalib and hearing for the first time "The Invisible Man" from "Marbles".
For all their musical stumbles and cul-de-sacs this is, for me, a hugely important and greatly loved band and if you have yet to hear Marillion please try out either "Brave" or "Afraid of Sunlight" you could be genuinely suprised - hope so!

Marillion were great for me as a spotty teenager in the 80s. I loved 70s prog but all the bands had fallen out with one another and weren't touring so the likes of Marillion were our only chance to see that type of music. My first gig was Marillion at the Glasgow Apollo on the Fugazi tour. Great show and the opening bars of Assassing are still pretty evocative, particularly the live version off Real to Reel. Lost interest after Fish left but admire them tremendously for their work ethic and refusal to be cowed by the trends of the music industry. A dinner lady at a school I worked at knew them and said they were great guys , very grounded and committed to their music and fans.
On Robert's other point, prog, particularly ELP opened up a lot of genres to me. Listening back to some of their stuff now yes it's a bit overblown but some of the music was very powerful and innovative. I saw them at High Voltage and although they creaked a little it was still a particularly powerful performance and was the fulfilment of a dream to see them live.
It brought a bit of a reaction against the darlings of the current music scene - the likes of the Fleet Foxes et al. To me they sound samey and if I want to listen to that type of music I'll listen to the Band, CSNY etc. I'm back listening to proggy stuff and loving it even if the GLW isn't a fan though my 2 year old goes bonkers at the start of Tarkus. Went to see Rush last year and they were fantastic.
So all power to Marillion and keep prog going on!

April 1982 and a mate asked if I wanted to go through to a pub in Broxburn to see a band that were, in his words, like early Genesis. Being 16 and into of that sort of thing I went along. At that time a lot of fans were practically begging Genesis to 'do some old' without much success. Along came Marillion complete with crappy sounding, but authentic, melotron.
I saw them a couple of days later at the International Hotel in Grangemouth. I remember it being Fish's birthday and there was a really great atmosphere - I think he turned 24!
The problem was that as an unsigned band they were relying on fans to put them up for the night. I had agreed, without mentioning it to my parents, that fish could stay at my place. My mum and dad took it pretty well when we arrived home. This was in the days of full-face paint which by then had sort of melted all over his face. My dad asked him if he really thought there was any future in the band. Fish was very clear about where the band was going and absolutely certain that they would be successful. I remember that the following morning my dad said he should take a pack of cigarettes if he wanted. Fish took a pack but left the money for them- even though he was totally broke at the time. My parents always considered him ‘a nice lad’.
I saw two more gigs on that tour, Alloa and Bathgate. Then there was a gig in a small venue above the Edinburgh Playhouse – I think this was around the time they got signed.
I last saw Marillion on new year’s eve (83 I think) when they played the Edinburgh Playhouse. It was packed.
I bought Script For A Jester’s Tear from Orbit records in Grangemouth when came out and thought it was great.
I only got the first three albums and I don’t listen to them very often now. It’s very easy to knock Marillion, prog rock was never that cool and they will probably always be seen by many as a sort of fake early Genesis. But for me, growing up at that time in central Scotland, they were a great live band. Hard to believe it was 30 years ago!

I must have seen them at least half a dozen times, from the Script tour at Manchester Apollo to Blackpool on the Clutching at Straws tour. That was the album which lost me, but it may just have been my shifting taste. The literary pretensions of the first batch of songs appealed to the 14 year old me and I would pour over the lyrics, and even learnt the script to write them out myself.

As I say, they lost me a little while later but two of the greatest thrills of my teen years were getting their autographs after that first Manchester show and seeing them debut Misplaced Childhood at Liverpool Royal Court (a benefit gig for the family of the drummer who had died, the drummer being the 'Milo' referred to in the album lyrics).

I rarely play them now but wouldn't have missed those early gigs for anything.

And not just in name.

Marillion really are 2 bands.
The Fish and Hogarth incarnations are distinct and seperate in a way that AC/DC's for example, aren't. I've seen them a fair few times over the years, and barely heard Steve Hogarth sing a Fish era song.
I loved the band as a kid, and love them now.
If you want an evening of proper grown up music, see a show. It may, or may not, be your cup of tea.
I'm a fan but I don't like all the stuff, but that's true of many bands these days, and over the years.
Marillion for me will go down in history as the first band to really grasp the idea of how the internet can harness and develop your fanbase and keep them "engaged". I've never been to a Marillion weekend, but how many bands have their fans at that kind of distance?

Were they the first band to get their fans to "pre buy" an album? If not, they must have been among them.
And as someone has said above, I respect them for not just rehashing the glory days, as appears to be the way to make a fast buck these days.

"King" is a tune that should be on any Word subscriber's ipod.

Someone once said that if Radiohead recorded a recent Marillion album note for note, it would be Q's album of the year. Maybe that says more about Q than anything, but you get the drift.

... every year prints a list of the 25 most eligible men and the 25 most eligible women in Scotland. I'd like to direct the attention of the massive to the 25th most eligible man in Scotland in 2011's list.

http://eligibles.scotsman.com/eligibles.aspx

Form an orderly queue ladies!

What's truly horrifying is it's just dawned on me that I am now ten years... TEN YEARS older than Clutching At Straws' point of view washed up alcoholic Torch character

It's rather chilling, isn't it?

Love this song, always have.

Genesis had got Fish in as a vocalist instead of the chap from Stiltskin when Phil Collins left...well they may have sounded a tad like this.

Fish (Marillion) Tony Banks (Genesis) - Shortcut To Somewhere

Bet Fish regrets that one now.