Quinticencialy English

From their roots at Charter House school the band continued to mature and develop musically drawing heavily from classic poetry and novels which made them a very quinticencial English band. Genesis came from a privileged background growing up, insulated from the real world and in Charter House circles the band members may have been considered rebellious. At the time of their first album release and the single The Silent Sun the band had hardly gigged and the music was a far cry from the music early Genesis would later become to be known by. Despite this privileged background the band still had to work their way up playing pubs and clubs and student halls. The first guitarist Anthony Phillips left Genesis after the album Trespass due to stage fright and his frustration with not being able to produce live on stage what he could produce in the studio and he was eventually replaced by guitarist Steve Hackett, whose guitar style was much more aggressive than Phillips.

Trespass

The album Trespass is considered a Genesis classic and was to pave the way for the conceptual themes and stories with tracks like The Knife and White Mountain. The Knife is a great example of what defines the Genesis sound as was apparently something else to watch performed live. Another track from the Trespass album was Stagnation, which was lyrically a story about nuclear war and again was a track that needed to be listened to closely to truly appreciate. This track optimises what prog rock was all about.

Nursery Cryme

The next Genesis album was entitled Nursery Cryme and was a big jump dynamically for the band. Steve Hackett’s aggressive guitar style was firmly planted in the band’s sound by this point and the album is considered one of their best by some fans. Again we find that the musical form is very symphonic and that Genesis where considered by some the classical music of their time and more so with this album. One major track that was mentioned earlier is The Greek mythology track the Fountain of Salmacis. Again the inspiration for this track came from the band member’s academic background. The track has been described by the band members as more of an Odyssey rather than a song and the track would vary from performance to performance. The track was a big hint as to what the band would later produce on successive albums. Another track from the same album that again was quinticentialy English is The Return of the Giant Hogweed, which was based on the true events of an indestructible weed which had taken over the south coast of England. The track had a very comical feel both lyrically and musically.The melodies and form to the tracks on Nursery Cryme again are very symphonic. It was at this point to the wonder of the other band members that Peter Gabriel began wearing makeup and masks and elaborate costumes on stage. These theatrics did in fact build the bands audience but would cause a clash later with the other band members. Also on this album we come across the musically and lyrically dark Musical Box track.

This track was a fusion of different styles musically and was a viechle for Gabriel’s theatrics and storytelling as the track tells the tale of a boy and girl playing croquet. The girl in the story goes on to decapitate the boy with her croquet mallet. She then heads to the play room of the house and opens the boy’s musical box which plays Old King Cole. Once the box is opened the boys ghost appears to the girl and begins to age rapidly and turns into an old man. In the live production, Gabriel describes the theme of the track to the audience before the song begins. The music of the track ebbs and flows and dips and dives between long keyboard and guitar solos and is an epic piece of progressive rock. The track is thought of as a classic Genesis piece and was a staple of their live performance for some time. This dynamic piece of art rock is an intensely complex performance and must have taken a lot of effort to perform. Gabriel’s performance as the old man with his mask is a wonder to watch.

Foxtrot

The album Foxtrot followed Nursery Cryme and to some the two albums are linked and as mentioned before even share a link in the album artwork which was painted by Richard Whitehead, who also painted some album covers for the prog band Yes. One track from the album is Watcher of the Skies which the band began to use as an introduction to their live performances. The track was written by Banks and Rutherford and was inspired by the view from their hotel balcony. The track is very powerful and draws in the listener or live audience. The track much like the Musical Box became a live mainstay again with Gabriel presenting the track in a costume of bat wings on the sides of his head and donning a cape.

It was around this time that Gabriel first began wearing the foxes head and red dress on stage. Gabriel took the idea of the fox head from the cover of Foxtrot which shows a figure in a red dress and with a foxes head. Also shown on the back of the cover are the six saintly shrouded figures from the lyrics to the epic 20 minute track Suppers Ready.

Suppers Ready was a collection of 7 tracks with the same story running through them. As mentioned earlier, it is the story of the lovers going on a mystical journey only to return in time for the apocalypse. Gabriel got the idea for the track when he was with his wife in a room at his parent’s house when, as Gabriel has been quoted, he saw his wife’s face change into someone else’s and he thought she was possessed by a spirit. Suppers ready is considered one of the first great prog classics and is a favourite of many fans. The 20 minute track again was an amazing feat to perform live without sheet music. It was around the time of this album that it is thought the band members were becoming more aware of each other’s playing styles, which allowed them to predict each other and write such an epic piece of work as Suppers Ready. The parts in the track seem to be magically linked together and quite seamless. There are not many bands that would attempt such a lengthy piece or would consider it to be popular, but some prog fans believe that if it’s long then it must be good. A lot of fans have tried to describe the theme to the track, yet Gabriel has been quoted as saying, “do not try to read too much into it, it is after all just fantasy”.

Selling England

The follow up album to Foxtrot is Selling England by the Pound and the title track was about the privatisation of England. This album had more contribution from guitarist Steve Hackett, who not being a Charter House old boy felt a bit outside of the band at first. Hackett felt that this album was a good showcase of the band member’s individual talents. He preferred his own playing on this album compared to contributions to the previous albums. One track from the album, I Know What I Like was the band’s first attempt at a chart single and the track got into the top 20 in Britain. The track is very similar to something produced by the likes of Jethro Tull and has very popular traits musically for its time. It is believed that the band members felt popular music was a bit below them. The live rendition of the track Dancing with the Moonlit Night begins with Gabriel on stage dressed as Britannia as he proclaims “I am the voice of Britain.” Here we have one of Hackett’s biggest contributions with the opening guitar riff. The album however is believed by some fans not to be as much a classic as Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot.

The Lamb

By 1974 Gabriel had decided to leave Genesis but before his departure the band had one more album to come. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the pinnacle of early Genesis and is the ultimate concept album. As mentioned earlier the whole album is one long story about a New York gang member who is taken on a mystical subterranean journey. This concept moves away from the bands quintessential English themes. Gabriel took control for much of the Lamb as he wrote the story entirely on his own. Like Suppers Ready the Lamb is an epic classic, however it is thought by some that the lyrical concept is hard to grasp and this may be the reason the live concerts initially had a poor turnout. The lamb is lyrically and musically quite incredible with such moving tracks as The Carpet Crawlers and the continuing themes from The Lamb Lies Down and the Lamia to the Light Dies Down on Broadway. The keyboard solos near to the end of the album are spectacular. Some fans and even band members believe that compared to their other albums the musical content in the Lamb is a bit empty. Some of Gabriel’s antics and costumes for this performance became a bit too much for the rest of the band. Tony Banks is quoted as saying that the costumes began to come before the music and Phil Collins felt that the costume of the Slipper-man was the last straw for himself and the rest of the band. It is believed by fans and academics alike that the Lamb stretched the band to breaking point and eventually Gabriel and Genesis went their separate ways.

Gabriel’s departure from Genesis is described in his track Solsbury Hill from his first solo album. Seeing how big other prog bands were becoming Gabriel is quoted as not wanting to turn into a stadium band like bands such as Jethro Tull or Emerson Lake and Palmer and this made it easier for him to leave. Macan states about stadium rock, “[…] the fact that the critics consistently refused to acknowledge any meaningful role that progressive rock may have played in the lives of its audience does not mean they were totally incorrect in their assessment of the style's more negative qualities,[….] the relationship of the major progressive rock bands with their fans (and, for that matter, the demographics of the progressive rock taste public) underwent a profound shift during the early 1970s, as the major bands made the move from clubs and smaller venues to stadiums and arenas (not to mention from Britain to the United States). There is no doubt that as these bands lost the opportunity to enjoy a symbiotic relationship with a distinct regional subculture, they increasingly called upon virtuosity, visual spectacle, and a certain sense of imperial remoteness to cement (and then hold) their large American fan base. To the degree that this is true, one could say progressive rock's love of spectacle was self-indulgent, its fondness for virtuosity and technical pyrotechnics exhibitionistic, and its penchant for fantasy a form of self-absorption. But were these qualities not a hallmark of the 1970s as a whole? This period was not, after all, labelled the "Me Generation" for nothing. One can see the same tendencies in such diverse seventies styles as heavy metal, glam-rock (here I would lump a whole spectrum of acts from David Bowie to Alice Cooper to Queen and Elton John), [….] ( Macan, 1997. p 176 - 177.)

The late 1970's-1980's

The late 1970’s saw the emergence of Punk and the DIY idea of music production. This moved music away from the virtuosic prog musician to the simpler idea of learning a few chords and writing a song. Around this time a lot of Punk Rockers had a distain for the Hippy movement and especially for the Prog scene which a lot of punks viewed as pretentious and boring. This view is comically referenced in the 1980’s English TV comedy series The Young Ones were the character Rick proclaims, “God I’m so bored I may as well be listening to Genesis”. By the 1980’s progressive rock had more or less died out and Gabriel and Collins and other Genesis band members went on to have successful solo careers. One band however that kept the progressive scene going was the 1980’s prog band Marillion who, keeping in with the ideas of mythology named themselves after the book The Silmarillion by J.R.R.Tolkien. Marillion were heavily influenced by Genesis, especially the front man Fish who would wear makeup on stage like Gabriel. Marillion are even referred to by some as "Poor Man's Genesis." They were aptly classified neo prog and although not as successful as the current mainstream artists they did have one hit with the track Kaylie from the album Misplaced Childhood. Marillion offered a good release for the diehard prog rocker and opened up the genre to a new generation of audience.