Genesis’s lifespan is divided into two parts: firstly, the high prog years with Peter Gabriel on vocals; and, secondly, the period where the prog part declines and the commercial AOR success with Phil Collins on vocals.
I was exposed to some of that first period by listening to a Saturday late night music show on the English Service of the SABC, which focused on prog rock and similar styles, and heard much more of the music from the second period because Radio 5 played the pop hits to death. They also heavily favoured Collins’ solo hits.
The music of the Gabriel years made no impression on me, mostly because it was too genteel, noodly and “intellectual” for me at an age where my preferred acts were Slade, T Rex, Suzi Quatro, Deep Purple and David Bowie. I actively disliked the releases of the Collins period because the music still didn’t appeal to me and because I actively loath Phil Collins’ voice and style of singing.
As a rule, I don’t care for prog rock and jazz fusion (both big genre in the ‘70s) at all and the only somewhat prog band I favour, if indeed they fall in that category, is Pink Floyd because the music is more standard rock, with intriguing lyrics, than the stuff of, say, Yes or Genesis.
I’ve recently listened to the Genesis albums of the Gabriel era in sequence and this experience has reinforced my assessment of the music and of my attitude towards it. It might be the top echelon of composed rock music intricately arranged and with thoughtful, thought provoking, poetic lyrics, but it’s still music I’ll never listen to again because there is no visceral excitement or enjoyment to be had, other than the simple intellectual appreciation of the effort.
I’ve also realised that Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins’ voices are rather similar, though the irritation factor on Collins is higher than that of Gabriel.
One of UK punk’s tenets was that it came to destroy “dinosaur rock” with endless guitar solos and drum solos, and if early Genesis is powered by keyboards and not so much my guitar, I would imagine that it was as much a dinosaur as anyone of their peer group. Punk didn’t succeed in killing prog rock, though it became considerably less fashionable than it had been in the early to mid-‘70s, mostly because the hardcore prog fans were fanatically loyal and no doubt sneered at punk rock for the technical shortcomings of the punk musicians. It seems, to this day, that there are many people, probably those who got into prog rock when they were in their teens, who still dote on and champion prog rock, and not only the classic bands but also more contemporary practitioners. My own tastes run to more basic, simple rock and I don’t think I will ever like prog rock. I suppose one’s musical tastes are formed by the bands or acts you like when you are a teenager and in my case that’s true, not so much for the bands but the style of music and I don’t care for music I must appreciate intellectually rather than with my gut. Genesis doesn’t make the kind of music that brings a stupid grin to my face and makes me want no get up and dance awkwardly.
