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Genesis is a progressive rock group that was formed in 1967 when founding members Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks were still students at Charterhouse school. The band enjoyed considerable success in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
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2 History 3 Discography 4 External Links |
Members:
Genesis recorded its first album, 1968's From Genesis to Revelation, after striking a deal with Jonathan King, a songwriter and producer who had a hit single at the time called "Everyone's Gone to the Moon". The band recorded a series of songs reflecting the light pop style of the Bee Gees, of whom King was very fond, and King assembled these tracks into a pseudo-concept album, piling string arrangements on top of them. The album flopped terribly, and the band, feeling manipulated by King, told him they had broken up in order to get out of their contract with him. To this day, King is infamous among the band and its fans for bragging that he gave Genesis their name and trying to hawk the rights to the first album's songs for re-recording.
Genesis soldiered on, playing what gigs they could get and eventually landing a new deal with the fledgling Charisma Records. Anthony Phillips left the band in 1970 after the release of Trespass over disagreements about the direction of Genesis' music, and reported bouts of stage fright. The departure of Phillips was traumatic for both Banks and Rutherford, as Phillips had been a founding member, and there was doubt over whether Genesis could go on without him. Eventually, the remaining members rallied and renewed their commitment to Genesis, sacking drummer John Mayhew into the bargain. Steve Hackett and Phil Collins both joined the band after successful auditions, both musicians having answered ads in Melody Maker. Genesis released Nursery Cryme in 1971.
1972's Foxtrot, which featured the 23-minute "Supper's Ready" and the Arthur C. Clarke-inspired "Watcher of the Skies", solidified Genesis' reputation as songwriters and performers. Gabriel's flamboyant and theatrical stage presence, which involved numerous costume changes and surreal stories told as the introduction to each song, made the band one of the most talked-about live acts on the early-70s UK club scene.
Peter Gabriel left the band in 1975, following the tour to support the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. He had been feeling more and more estranged from the band, and his marriage and birth of his first child only added to his personal strain. The other members of Genesis essentially wrote all of the music to Lamb without Gabriel's participation, and he wrote the story and lyrics on his own. Gabriel's first solo album (Peter Gabriel, 1977) featured the single "Solsbury Hill," an allegory about his breakup with Genesis.
After considering various replacement lead singers — "We got quite a lot of weirdos, because of Peter and his costumes," Rutherford recalled in an interview — Genesis settled on using their drummer, Phil Collins, changing from a quintet to a quartet. Bill Bruford joined the band on tour in 1976 as drummer; later, the jazz fusion-trained Chester Thompson, a veteran of Weather Report and Frank Zappa, would take over live drumming duties, leaving Collins to step into the spotlight.
When Steve Hackett left in 1977, Mike Rutherford took over his guitar duties, and now the group was a trio (Collins, Banks, Rutherford), a fact reflected in the title of their 1978 album ...And Then There Were Three. This album ushered in yet another change in Genesis' musical direction, to shorter, more singles-oriented tracks and away from 10-minute-plus progressive epics. It yielded their first American radio hit, "Follow You Follow Me". Duke had two huge hits for the band, "Turn It On Again" and "Misunderstanding", and went platinum. Genesis' course into the 1980s as a pop singles outfit was assured — though some fans of their Gabriel-era music felt alienated.
The Collins-led trio enjoyed consistent chart success — fueled by Collins' own success as a solo artist — until he left in 1996. Rutherford and Banks elected to go on, and replaced Collins with ex-Stiltskin singer Ray Wilson. The album Calling All Stations sold well in Europe but went nowhere in America, where hip-hop, alternative rock, and teen pop were supplanting classic rock on the charts.
Genesis has, for all intents and purposes, disbanded, but the individual members (including Phillips and Hackett, but excluding Gabriel) are in regular contact, and have not ruled out some sort of reunion. Tony Banks described Genesis as "resting," and Collins (who has begun to lose his hearing in one ear) has even expressed hope that the entire original lineup, including Gabriel, might play together again.
List of Genesis members
Concert musicians:History
Discography
Studio albums
Live recordings and compilations
Other releases of interest
External Links