Why so much Genesis love?

Genesis, Floyd and Crimson are put on a pedestal in here for sure. Floyd and Crimson will never be top 10 bands to me because they never really had a strong composer

I know I like all Genesis albums except for We Can't Dance, Calling All Stations and From Genesis to Revelation.

My first record from them was their 1983 eponymous. It's pretty alright.

Genesis is very popular because they appeal to the lowest common denominator of prog fans

The Dark Elf wrote: Genesis was always very safe, very non-confrontational, very pleasant. Very little of their catalog verged on hard rock. Your parents would never get mad if you listened to Genesis. From a prog standpoint, they were not like Tull, who could piss your parents off by questioning Christianity and pointing out its hypocrisy, or Floyd with their occasional profanity, angry Roger Waters vocals and the psychedelic ambiance. Zappa also would be considered beyond the pale with the derogatory lyrics.   Genesis was just nice flowery prog with mythological asides, and they got safer the further they went until the 80s when your mum might actually hum a Phil Collins vocal. Safe as milk, but definitely not in the Captain Beefheart sense.

I'll give you the names of those you must kill,

All must die with their children.

Carry their heads to the palace of old,

Hang them high, let the blood flow.

Now, in this ugly world

break all the chains around us,

Now, the crusade has begun

give us a land fit for heroes,

Now -

Desperation and claustrophobia

"In The Cage"

There's sunshine in my stomach

Like I just rocked my baby to sleep.

There's sunshine in my stomach

And I can't keep me from creeping sleep,

Sleep, deep in the deep.

Rockface moves to press my skin

White liquids turn sour within

Turn fast-turn sour

Turn sweat-turn sour.

Must tell myself that I'm not here.

I'm drowning in a liquid fear.

Bottled in a strong compression,

My distortion shows obsession

In the cave.

Get me out of this cave!

If I keep my self-control,

I'll be safe in my soul.

And the childhood belief

Brings a moment's relief,

But my cynic soon returns

And the lifeboat burns.

My spirit just never learns.

Stalactites, stalagmites

Shut me in, lock me tight.

Lips are dry, throat is dry.

Feel like burning, stomach churning,

I'm dressed up in a white costume

Padding out leftover room.

Body stretching, feel the wretching

In the cage

Get me out of this cage!

In the glare of a light,

I see a strange kind of sight;

Of cages joined to form a star

Each person can't go very far;

All tied to their things

They are netted by their strings,

Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings.

Outside the cage I see my Brother John,

He turns his head so slowly round.

I cry out help! before he can be gone,

And he looks at me without a sound.

And I shout 'John please help me!'

But he does not even want to try to speak.

I'm helpless in my violent rage

And a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek,

And I watch him turn away and leave the cage.

My little runaway.

In a trap, feel a strap

Holding still. Pinned for kill.

Chances narrow that I'll make it,

In the cushioned straight-jacket.

Just like 22nd Street,

When they got me by my neck and feet.

Pressures building, can't take any more.

My headaches charge. My earaches roar.

In the pain

Get me out of this pain.

If I could change to liquid,

I could fill the cracks up in the rock.

But I know that I am solid

And I am my own bad luck.

But outside John disappears and my cage dissolves,

and without any reason my body revolves.

Keep on turning,

Keep on turning,

Turning around,

spinning around.

The water tasted strangely sweet.

Behind him the voice called again.

He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone

And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.

[Salmacis:]

"We shall be one

We shall be joined as one"

[Narrator:]

"She wanted them as one

Yet he had no desire to be one"

[Hermaphroditus:]

"Away from me cold-blooded woman

Your thirst is not mine"

[Salmacis:]

"Nothing will cause us to part

Hear me, O Gods"

Unearthly calm descended from the sky

And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged

Forever to be joined as one.

The creature crawled into the lake.

[A fading voice was heard:]

"And I beg, yes I beg that all who touch this spring

May share my fate"

[Salmacis:]

"We are the one

We are the one"

[Narrator:]

"The two are now made one,

Demi-god and nymph are now made one"

Both had given everything they had.

A lover's dream had been fulfilled at last,

Forever still beneath the lake.

4:30 p.m. The tube train draws to a halt. There is no station in sight. Anxious glances dart around amongst the passengers as they acknowledge each other’s presence for the first time. At the end of the train, a young lady in a green trouser suit stands up in the centre of the carriage and proceeds to unbutton her jacket, which she removes and drops to the dirty wooden floor. She also takes off her shoes, her trousers, her blouse, her brassiere, her tights and her floral panties, dropping them all in a neat pile. This leaves her totally naked. She then moves her hands across her thighs and begins to fiddle around in between her legs. Eventually, she catches hold of something cold and metallic and very slowly, she starts to unzip her body; working in a straight line up the stomach, between the breasts, up the neck, taking it right on through the centre of her face to her forehead. Her fingers probe up and down the resulting slit finally coming to rest on either side of her navel. She pauses for a moment, before meticulously working her flesh apart. Slipping her right hand into the open gash, she pushes up through her throat, latching on to some buried solid at the top of her spine. With tremendous effort, she loosens and pulls out a thin, shimmering, golden rod. Her fingers release their grip and her crumbled body, neatly sliced, slithers down the liquid surface of the rod to the floor. SPLAT! The rod remains hovering just off the ground, a flagpole without flag. The other passengers have been totally silent, but at the sound of the body dropping on the floor a large middle-aged lady wearing a pink dress and matching poodle stands up and shouts, “STOP THIS, ITS DISGUSTING!” The golden rod disappeared; the green trouser-suit was left on a hanger with a dry-cleaning ticket pinned to the left arm.  On the ticket was written- NAME……………………………. ADDRESS……………………… ……………………………………. ……………………………………. …………………………………….

“Well, the band really liked it. They thought it captured the spirit of the music. And Charisma Records were also very pleased with what they saw, as were the management. But the fan reaction was interesting. There were people who were genuinely shocked at what they saw on the cover. You can imagine what it was like in those days for the unsuspecting record browser. They would be going through the racks in their local record store when they'd be confronted by this image! It created quite a stir back then. Of course, this was before the slasher movies became popular. Now, the cover wouldn't get that sort of reaction at all. But in 1971, it was really seen as being controversial. All those heads on a croquet lawn. It's odd, because at the time I never painted this for any other reason than to represent the music. I had no clue it would be so contentious.” https://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-02-11/cover-story-genesis-nursery-cryme

While Henry Hamilton-Smythe minor (8) was playing croquetwith Cynthia Jane De Blaise-William (9), sweet-smiling Cynthia raised her mallet high and gracefully removed Henry's head. Two weeks later, in Henry's nursery, she discovered his treasured musical box. Eagerly she opened it and as "Old King Cole" began to play, a small spirit- figure appeared. Henry had returned - but not for long, for as he stood in the room his body began ageing rapidly, leaving a child's mind inside. A lifetime's desires surged through him. Unfortunately the attempt to persuade Cynthia Jane to fulfill his romantic desire led his nurse to the nursery to investigate the noise. Instinctively Nanny hurled the musical box at the bearded child, destroying both.

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - August 16 2015 at 01:10

Let the battle begin!

rogerthat wrote: Let the battle begin!

TGM: Orb wrote: SteveG wrote: ^Isn't that what I said? Barring Italy of course. But still not a worldwide smash phenomenon. True to an extent, though they were certainly a reasonably successful act in their time. The reputation has kind of gone the other way to, say, ELP, which were colossally supergiant at the time and have kind of suffered retrospectively.

ELP created great music but no lore, no mythology, no stories of consequence. Gong was certainly not any more successful than Genesis back in the heyday, but they fare well on PA not just because they made good music, but because they created (rather hilarious) mythology that was extremely consequential.

rogerthat wrote: I don't necessarily disagree with that.  But it raises the question that how were so they successful if they were neither very bold nor hard rock-ing. See, Kansas was a pretty sheep like band too but at least they had a lot of rock in their sound.  What's the hook w.r.t Genesis.

No major English language prog rock band was half as conceptually bold as Genesis with Gabriel and the band's whole sound has often been copied but noone's ever managed it because it's such a specific set-up for the members they've got.

Svetonio wrote: Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Genesis had some advantages 1.- In the early days they had no personal ego.....All the members played for the band, not for personal glory...They were a BAND <span style="line-height: 1.4;">not just a collection of stars trying to be better than the rest.</span> 2.- They combined heavy material, with pastoral tunes and complex but accessible stuff. 3.- Peter had a unique charisma. 4.- They released 5 super albums in a row, hardly anybody did this (7 with the two first Collins releases) 5.- The lyrics were superb and created a mysterious atmosphere like nobody. 6.- They didn't abused of the epics, they were able to make in 6 or 10 minutes, what others did in 25.  7.- Peter had a great communication with the audience. 8.- They were able to play their music on stage as well as in the studio albums. 9.- They quit Prog before they became a caricature of themselves. 10.- The adult contemporary era is clearly separated from the Prog era, while most of the bands started to became a hybrid.

I don't really agree with point 4 (nor point 5 actually, but I just posted about it). There's about no single Genesis album I like as a whole... they all have at least one song I rather dislike. For me the band to really have such a line of masterpieces would be Pink Floyd... or at least almost. I would say Dark Side, Wish you were Here, and Animals are among my very favourite albums from any band. I guess I can include The Wall too, even though that one is somewhat lower in my apreciation, but still a monster of an album. And I could put Meddle there too, but it may be even a bit lower in my apreciation (a few songs I don't really like, though Echoes makes up for it), plus, I would have to ignore Obscured by Clouds (also nice, but not in the same league), which would actually be cheating. Actually, if I wanted to have a listen of 5 great albums from Floyd, I might start with Live at Pompeii instead of Meddle, and then go from Dark Side to The Wall.