Admittedly, I might have given this way too much thought, but I wonder if there’s a historical sub-genre of music that we all mislabeled at the time. The historical orthodoxy is that we went from prog to punk to new wave and post-punk and, then, by the mid 1990s, into third-wave prog.
Could there have existed a third way, though, a melding of prog and new wave and post-punk? As such, I think of albums by traditional prog groups such as Yes (Drama and, to a lesser extent, 90125), Genesis (Abacab), or Rush (Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and, especially, Power Windows) that all benefitted greatly from new wave and post-punk.
But, I can also think of a number of new wave bands that employed very serious prog elements such as Modern English (After the Snow), Tears for Fears (The Hurting, Songs from the Big Chair), The Fixx (Reach the Beach, Phantoms, and Walkabout), Ultravox (Vienna, Rage in Eden, and Lament), Thomas Dolby (The Flat Earth), New Order (Low-Life), XTC (Skylarking), Echo and the Bunnymen (Over the Wall, Ocean Rain), Simple Minds (Sons and Fascination, Sister Feelings Call, and New Gold Dream), and Talk Talk (Colour of Spring). One might also think of a band like B-Movie.
Maybe, just maybe, Yes and Thomas Dolby have far more in common than we thought.
And, if there was such a sub-genre of New Wave Prog, it would help us understand shoegaze (Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Lush) in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as bands such as Catherine Wheel and even early No-man and Porcupine Tree.
Just my two cents. . .
Spirit of Cecilia 
I remember picking up the US version of Dolby’s The Golden Age of Wireless after my spiring 1981 trip to England (a college choir tour). The cover for that version of the album was the set for Brecht’s Life of Galileo, which I’d seen at the National Theatre with Michael Gambon (yes! Dumbledore!) in the title role. And even the music from that album, which dropped a year before “She Blinded Me with Science” became a hit and was stapled to a reissue of the album, struck me as proggy.
My theory is that at least Ultravox and Simple Minds knew they were drawing on prog (or at least pomp) but wouldn’t have dared speak its name until Marillion mounted the charts. And Marillion were screamingly unhip in New Wave circles, so it didn’t even happen then.
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Not sure how old you are but it happened in the late 70s and 80s New wave of British prog rock. It was an active scene featuring bands like Marillion, Pallas, IQ and twelfth night. Add pop prog of the likes of XTC & It Bites. Andrew Wild recently wrote a book on the time frame check it out.
Steven Wilson was a regular at the Marquee in this era and I know many of the 90s bands drew inspiration from this time frame as much as the so called classic mid 70s bands
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Thanks so much, Emma. I’m 56, but I’m American. So, a different experience from the British one. I do have Andrew Wild’s new book, but I’ve not read it yet. I look forward to doing so. Again, thanks for this.
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