Early 1990s saw the appearance of nightclubs in which DJs could play music tracks uninterruptedly with the use of beatmatching techniques.[citation needed] Therefore possibility of joining the cooldown of one track into the build-up of another increased immensely. In some cases this also allowed the integration of instrumentally rich samples, often piano, violin or synthesizers, onto a four-to-the-floor basis brought upon by musical genres of the late 1980s. To some extent, any subgenres of electronic dance music using the same structure today might be considered progressive, although distinction is more detailed in this case.

Progressive is thought to have served as basis for at least four different dance electronic music genres that strongly influenced each other in the first half of the 1990 decade in Europe. Two of the most precursory of these genres, house and trance music, have been colliding in style on numerous occasions, with the most prominent being Leftfield's Song of Life single, released in January 1993. Although their collision can be seen as influence of trance over house, trance music did not feature steady electronic beats prior to the point, whereas house did share complex musical structure before (already present in 1988—89 in some acid house tracks, for example).

Although Song of Life clearly defined the common base of progressive, similar sound has been reached by DJs Sasha and John Digweed in the Renaissance dance club, which opened in Mansfield in 1992. Earliest tracks were purely instrumental and featured dub-influenced basslines of house mixed with high-energy Roland TB-303 riff at various stages and posed over the regular 4-to-4 beat rhythm. The term itself was then coined by Mixmag editor Dom Phillips in 1994.

Derived from Great Britain, progressive met considerable success in nightclubs in France, Germany and Italy starting 1995. Upon becoming widespread in Western Europe, sound contrasted analogue instrumental melody (mostly violin or piano) with regularized basslines, with effort from such producers as Robert Miles and Nylon Moon. Miles has even defined the result as "dream dance" (often dubbed "dream house" or "dream trance" today), which is considered to be the first of the subgenres of progressive to reach mainstream popularity. By 1996—97, it gained attention from worldwide DJs, and also fused with other than prominent dance genres, notably breakbeat, drum'n'bass and techno.

The following years are considered to be the peak of progressive as practically any electronica composition produced around that time featured elements of progressive. As house-trance fusion remained the primary example of progressive, notable later tracks included mixed digital and analogue sound. Examples of this can be found in Luna Park's Space Melody (1998) and AnnaGrace's Castles In The Sky (2001). By 2000, the movement was strongly opposed by minimalist tech house and its derivatives, which gained moderate mainstream popularity after being featured in various TV commercials. Both genres shared the dance scene until around 2002, when electroclash started influencing tech house and progressive slowly lost popularity in house/trance scene, with techno being the last of subgenres to keep progressive prominence until 2004—05.

Although the term itself is no longer applied to tracks in electronic dance music, influence of progressive can be found today in many other genres, especially in those that remix or remaster popular 1990s tracks and incorporate new, fresh sound into old compositions.

Progressive house/trance is the main derivative of the progressive wing. Although no firm classification rules exist, the structure is generally reminiscent of house with notable variations. For example, phrases are usually a power of two number of bars and begin with the introduction of a new or different melody or rhythm. The tempo is a theoretical fusion of both, ranging from approx. 128 to 140 bpm (which is faster than typical earlier house, but slower than the one featured in more recent trance tracks). Such structure is intuitively described as consisting of three major structural elements: (1) build-up; (2) breakdown ; (3) climax. These three structural elements are expressed either temporally or in their intensity, if not both. A 'build-up' sequence can sometimes last up to 3 or even 4 minutes. Subtle incremental/decremental acoustic variations (i.e., gradual addition/subtraction of instruments) anticipate the transition to each subsequent structural element of the track. The initial build-up and the final break-down are generally very similar, adding a feel of symmetry to the general structure of the melody. Furthermore, a progressive trance/house track is usually longer than a regular composition, ranging in length from 8 to 12 minutes (as opposed to 5—6 of radio format).

Although there is a general and increasing tendency to associate progressive trance with Progressive House (or vice-versa), virtually rendering these two sub-genres identical, there are however distinctive characteristics apart from the strong similitudes between them: progressive trance inherits from its parent genre (trance) a wider melodic flexibility, while progressive house is usually darker and more minimal. Examples of a resulted two-sided influence in later genre development include Luna Park's Space Melody (1998) and AnnaGrace's (formerly Ian Van Dahl) Castles in the Sky (2001).

Notable genre DJs include: Hernan Cattaneo, James Holden, John Digweed, Dave Seaman, Nick Warren, James Zabiela, Eddie Halliwell, Jason Jollins, Max Graham, Danny Howells, Anthony Pappa, Dinka, Germdude and Deadmau5. DJs who originated from the same branch, but have later on followed trance movement include Laurent Veronnez, the dirty socks, Sasha, Mike Dierickx, Matt Darey, Vibrasphere, Miika Kuisma, Brian Transeau (aka BT), Christopher Lawrence, Armin van Buuren, Dash Berlin, Above and Beyond, and Markus Schulz. Progressive house/trance usual labels include Acute Recordings, Anjunadeep, Armada Music, Audiotherapy, Baroque Records, Bedrock Records, Global Underground, Renaissance Recordings and Sudbeat.

Progressive breaks essentially grew out of nu skool breaks and progressive house. Due to its origins in those genres, progressive breakbeat typically features atmospheric pads and melodies. Most artists working in this genre also work in other closely related genres such as breakbeats and progressive house. Hybrid is one of the most popular artists in this genre. Other popular breaks artists include Digital Witchcraft, Luke Chable, Momu, and Way Out West.

Progressive drum & bass

There are a few forms of drum & bass considered progressive. Neurofunk, a variant of the techstep subgenre, incorporates elements of jazz, funk, and multiple electronic influences, including techno and house. The style also follows the progressive form found in other genres. Drumfunk, a relatively new subgenre, could also be considered progressive. Contemporary atmospheric drum'n'bass and Liquid funk have also been described as progressive.

Progressive techno (short "progtech") is a very limited term for a subgenre of progressive appearing in 1999—00, which consisted of mixing progression into elements of techno, usually resulting in half-dance compositions. Progtech songs tend to feature steadier than regular techno beats (ranging from around 100 to 120 BPM), but usually derive on higher tones where their electronic sound becomes heard. This has a purpose of indicating that the instruments themselves are electronic in nature. There are no notable definite progtech artists, however both Moby and The Prodigy used elements of progtech in their later albums.

Прогрессив-хаус (англ. Progressive house) — разновидность хаус-музыки. Возник в начале 1990-х на территории Великобритании.

Термин «прогрессив-хаус» впервые был использован в 1992 году главным редактором английского журнала Mixmag Домом Филлипсом (англ. Dom Phillips). Этим термином обозначалась та музыка, которую играл английский диджей Саша (англ. Sasha) — американский хаус с примесью итальянской музыки. В эту же категорию попали самые первые треки записанные в стиле прогрессив-хаус Gat Decor «Passion», Leftfield «Not forgotten» и «Song of life», React 2 Rhythm «Intoxication». Плюс на этой музыке стали специализироваться такие лейблы как Guerilla, Limbo (лейбл), Stress и Jackpot. Все, что издавали эти лейблы в середине 90-х можно считать классическим прогрессив-хаусом.

Условно говоря, прогрессив-хаус пережил уже два всплеска популярности. Первый был в середине 90-х, когда в английских клубах вроде «Drum club» и «Renaissance» звучала интересная танцевальная музыка, а одним из самых заметных диджеев в то время был все тот же Саша (работавший на пару со своим другом Джоном Дигвидом (англ. John Digweed). Постепенно, прогрессив-хаус становился популярнее, легче, понятнее и доступнее среднему обывателю. Из той формы прогрессив-хауса возник прогрессив-транс, где предпочтение отдавалось лирике, мелодии при явной простоте этой музыки. Вторая волна популярности возникла в начале 2000-х, когда Прогрессив Хаус снова стал мрачной музыкой, где главное место занимал ритм и звук. Главным человеком на этой сцене являлся Джон Дигвид и его лейбл Bedrock records.

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