During the early 1970s, after an inauspicious debut, the British group Genesis was one of the foremost bands in progressive rock, winning critical plaudits for elaborately constructed albums and a challenging live-performance style. By the 1980s, however, the group had transformed itself into a slick three-piece group playing large venues, with a middle-of-the-road formulation that helped make it one of the world’s most commercially successful rock acts.
The group began in 1967 as the Garden Wall, formed by pupils at Charterhouse Public School. The original line-up included vocalist Peter Gabriel (b. May 1950); keyboard player Tony Banks (b. March 1950); guitarists Mike Rutherford (b. October 1950) and Anthony Phillips (b. December 1951); and drummer Chris Stewart. Their 1969 debut album for Decca Records, From Genesis to Revelation, was a flop. In fact, the band almost folded because of lack of interest from the public and consequently also from their record company.
However, by the end of 1970, the band was reinvigorated by signing for a new label (Charisma), and there was a new line-up: Gabriel, Rutherford, and Banks were now joined by drummer Phil Collins (b. January 1951), and guitarist Steve Hackett (b. February 1950).
Genesis was now able to build a highly original act that centred on Gabriel’s surreal lyrics and flamboyant performance involving mime, costume, and bizarre makeup. However, the stage act did little to enhance the band’s record sales. Their first commercially successful album was their fourth, Foxtrot (1972), which included the 20-minute epic “Supper’s Ready.” Further hit albums followed, including Selling England by the Pound (1973), and the double-album The Lamb Lies Down (1974). In true progressive-rock style, the group had ostensibly turned their backs on the pop charts. Nevertheless, in 1974 they had their first hit single, with “I Know What I Like.” Ironically, this song created a large and dedicated audience for Genesis.
In 1975, in a move that shocked the group almost as much as its fans, Gabriel suddenly left the band for a solo career. He pursued his personal vision in a succession of strong, musically inventive albums that often saw him collaborating with other musicians and that revealed his knowledge of worldwide ethnic musical cultures. His 1986 album, So, for example, has contributions from British singer-songwriter Kate Bush (b. 1958), and the rich-voiced Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour (b. 1959), introducing this extraordinary singer to a wider audience.
Genesis, meanwhile, with Phil Collins as its lead singer, gradually moved toward mainstream rhythmic rock, a process hastened by the departure of Hackett, who left in 1977 to follow a solo career. By the time of the 1980 album, Duke, for which Collins wrote his first compositions, the transformation was complete. Peter Gabriel’s departure had prompted many to predict the end of Genesis, but they were mistaken. The sometimes overblown sound had been scaled down, and the group was even producing catchy Top 10 hits, the 1986 “Invisible Touch,” for example, reaching No. 1 on the charts in the U.S. The 1991 album We Can’t Dance reached No. 4 in the U.S. charts, but it was the group’s last with Collins. From the early 1980s, he had enjoyed a string of solo successes, including several No. 1 albums and singles in the U.S. In 1996, he departed from Genesis to concentrate on his solo work.
Having achieved success as a progressive rock band, Genesis truly did progress—tailoring its music to fit changing musical tastes. It is a feat few groups have managed to perform with such ease.
Graham McColl
SEE ALSO:
PINK FLOYD; PROGRESSIVE ROCK; ROCK MUSIC; YES.
Bowler, Dave, and Brian Dray. Genesis: A Biography
(London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1993);
Clarke, Steve. Genesis: Turn It on Again
(New York: Omnibus Press, 1984).
Genesis: Selling England by the Pound; Genesis;
Phil Collins: No Jacket Required;
Peter Gabriel: So.
A group of percussion musicians (above) in Arusha, Tanzania, playing drums and xylophone. African music is comprised of a vast mix of styles and sounds, and these musicians in their local dress perform traditional rhythms. The percussive sounds of northern Africa have greatly influenced much of the 20th-century music in the West, from classical to jazz.
Clifton Chenier (left) performing at the Cajun Music Festival held in Lafayette, Louisiana. Chenier played a style of dance music known as zydeco, which is a blend of black and creole rhythms that is accordion led and originates from southeast Louisiana. Called the “King of Zydeco,” Chenier, who died in 1987, did more than any other Cajun musician to popularise the style’s unique sounds.
Joan Baez (above, right) performing (it a freedom rally in 1964 at the University of California at Berkeley. In the early 1960s Baez was considered the “queen” of folk music in America, and her high public profile helped to further many liberal causes throughout the decade. Her voice was endowed with an intense vibrato and a maturity and sadness beyond her years, for many perfectly reflecting the general mood of the time.
Dame Joan Sutherland (left) appearing in /959 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Usually performing under the baton of her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge, Sutherland became one of the greatest bel canto sopranos if the century. Her voice possessed extraordinary tone and coloratura well suited to the soprano roles from the operas of Bellini and Donizetti.
Provocative on stage yet elusive in private, few rock musicians have earned as much respect and recognition from both peers and fans as Prince (left). In the 1980s as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist his talent was considered boundless. In the early 1990s, however, he spent more time disputing his recording contract with Warner Bros, than producing the innovative funk for which he was known.
Although Caribbean music is made up of many different sub-genres, the sound is essentially a heady blend of latin and African beats and rhythms. One of the most popular sub-genres is merengue, which is a rural dance music. The group Tropical (below) are one of Havana’s many merengue bands who regularly perform at restaurants and in public places around the city. Merengue has also become popular throughout the rest of South and North America.
Dance music more than any other genre has dominated the music of the 20th century. As a popular form of entertainment, dance steps have evolved from the Charleston in the 1910s through to the free form of rave in the 1990s. One of the most famous dances of the 1950s was the jive (left). Originating on a televised dance programme in America, it, along with others of the time, such as the bop and the twist, spread quickly across the Atlantic and was enjoyed by teenagers across Western Europe.
Chamber music in the 20th century has endured and prospered in the midst of the modern evolution of music. All of the major composers of the past 100 years, including Schoenberg, Messiaen, and Glass, have written influential chamber pieces of outstanding quality. Thus the romantic ideal of a quintet (below) performing within a Venetian palazzo remains as potent an image today as it was during the time of Mozart.
