The Band "Genesis"

Twenty-Two years ago, at an exclusive private school in Britain, five teenage students - Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Anthony Phillips and Chris Stewart - formed a band which they called Genesis. As pioneers of art-rock, a combina tion of unorthodox, complex music and theatrical stage presenta tions, Genesis became one of the most influential bands of the early '70s. In more recent years, Genesis' versatility, as well as ability to create a more mainstream sound without compromising the musical talent and grandeur that marked early recordings, has made it one of the great influential bands of the 20 years since the breakup of the Beatles.

Genesis' debut album was an unsuccessful attempt at imitat ing the sounds that were topping the British charts (such as The Beatles and The Bee Gees). After that "the idea was to play music that was, as (Tony) Banks puts it `more imaginative than pop'" (Fricke, 1982, p. 56). Several personnel changes also oc curred in 1971, as Steve Hacketee (guitar) and Phil Collins (drums) joined Rutherford (bass), Banks (keyboards), and Gabriel (flute and vocals) and replaced Phillips and Stewart.

They began writing longer songs (between five and twelve minutes in length), in unusual time sequences requiring great musical ability to play. Robin Tolleson says," The band es tablished a standard for progressive rock, introducing finely tuned grand thematic phrases and darting from off time signatures to even odder ones" (Drums and Dru

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The album takes listeners on an incredible musical journey; it features a mix of mellow and hard-driving songs (and numerous instrumentals), all with tremendously dif ficult musical parts and Gabriel's witty lyrics. However, it was nothing compared to the incredible tour that followed its release. On the world tour, the band performed the entire story on stage, with elaborate sets, three giant projection screens, and Gabriel, playing the part of Rael. Genesis performed "The Lamb" more than 100 times in a sold-out world tour. Despite tremendous success, great tension arose within the band, because Gabriel, being the frontman and central character of the tour, received all of the credit. "The real frustration," says Collins in an interview with Joe Smith, "was when record people and fans came backstage after a show and would say, "Great show, man," as they walked straight by us to him. Everybody was responsible for the music, not just Peter" (Smith, 1988, p. 416). Audiences were focusing only on the theatrical aspect of the band and forgetting about what really mattered - the music. At the conclusion of the tour, Gabriel left Genesis, partly because of some personal troubles and partly because of the mounting tension wit

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