IQ are a British neo‑progressive rock band founded in 1981 by Mike Holmes and Martin Orford, following the dissolution of their earlier group The Lens. Although the band have never achieved major commercial success and have undergone several lineup changes, IQ have built a loyal following over the decades. As of 2025, they remain active, performing with their original recording lineup (with the exception of Orford). Throughout 2021 and 2022, IQ played a series of concerts across the UK and Europe to celebrate their 40th anniversary. IQ were named one of “The 11 Best U.K. Prog Rock Groups of All Time” by Loudwire. IQ were part of a wave of British bands formed in the early 1980s — including Marillion, Pendragon, Twelfth Night, Pallas and Solstice — who continued the progressive rock tradition largely abandoned by 1970s groups such as Genesis and Yes. The music press later coined the term neo‑progressive to describe these bands, often accusing them of imitating earlier prog acts. Martin Orford has strongly rejected this label and the associated criticism, arguing that IQ draw on a wide and eclectic range of influences and that the term “neo‑progressive” was not used at the time the movement emerged. In History of Progressive Rock, author Paul Stump acknowledged IQ as part of the neo‑prog category but noted that the band offered “a more individual palette which, while just as derivative in its way, gave the impression that the choice of arrangements was indivisible from the choice of notes played — that the similarities with older bands arose accidentally from their own personal approach to music.”
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The Road Of Bones
A Missile
Perfect Space
The Seventh House
Ten Million Demons
Failsafe
Fire And Security
Leap of faith-live 1993
Sacred Sound
Nostalgia/Falling Apart at the Seams “Live” 93
Shallow Bay
The Narrow Margin “Live” 99
IQ Holland 2007
The Wake 1985 Full Album
Ever 1993 full album
Subterranea 1997 Full Album
Seventh House 2000 Full Album
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