Why so much Genesis love?

Because if you don't like Genesis you're not a true prog fan.

Their early 70s music is complex but melodious, and their songs tell stories, some tragic, some funny. Peter Gabriel was not only a charismatic singer, he was also an actor who could bring several characters within a song to life.

micky wrote: easy listening prog..  non-offensive.. ie... not challenging.  Easy to build up a large fanbase..

Genesis had some advantages

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - August 11 2015 at 01:01

dunno

^ yeah.. let's put SWilson on the throne then

dr prog wrote: I find them no better than a dozen bands from the 70-75 period. Trespass and Foxtrot are pretty good. The other 3 albums in that period are hit and miss. Gabriel never did much for me. His 80s stuff is pretty terrible

Name a few ? That's not a challenge, merely that I'd be interested to see what you are comparing them with.

Steve is correct.

HackettFan dont. haha
I really love both parts of TAAB... if someone ask me, it could be in a dictionary as a definition for "climax" or "epic conclusion" (damn it, there is a word for this and I cant remember! )

Back to Genesis: MAYBE the succesfull career of Peter Gabriel and Phill Collins made people wonder if their early career were good, so, its a cycle of fans, perhaps.

Collins became a megastar and Genesis went along for the ride. Pre Face Value they were popular but not exceedingly so though I think they always wanted to be, probably more so than many of their peers. Watching the various docos I'm always struck by the constant talk about wanting a hit single. Not sure about that at all but nonetheless they were good at coming up with the hooks and compared to most of their peers they were exceedingly melodic and far more accessible than e.g VDGG and KC, even Yes. Reality is that for a Prog lover they were easy listening, with just enough Prog pomp and circumstance to convince me, at least,  they were the real Prog deal.

I've always felt it was the combination of good writing, a modicum of wit and excellent playing that sucked me in. Sure I wish they had continued to strive for art rock perfection but even so, and yes even in their later years, they still produced music that really took me with it. I was discussing CAS v We Can't Dance with someone here the other day and while doing so had yet another listen to Duke. I simply find that album along with others from the Genesis catalogue still puts a goofy grin on my dial that only some of Yes and Floyd achieved amongst the other big guns.  None however did it so often as Genesis.

They also adapted pretty well to the changes within the group. Sure losing Phillips was sad but Hackett was a damn fine replacement and Stuermer is undeniably a great player live while few other drummers could have covered for Collins as brilliantly as Thompson. Of course there is the loss of the fella in the frock to deal with but thankfully they did go with Collins instead of choosing a more typical rock singer. Yes that probably worked against them in the end but that is another story really.

So OK, there are plenty of other outfits that are more than likely superior to Genesis and these days I probably only listen to something of theirs occasionally but when push comes to shove they will always be my favourite prog band. I'll readily admit that without Genesis  (and Yes and Tull) I probably would not have explored this wonderful genre as much as I have.

You are right in that in the early day's, Genesis was not popular in the US....but across the pond they were popular from the position that people knew their music. Some US side had heard it, what did not help was the Lamb Tour in the US started before anyone even had the album.