Before they became the sleek, stadium-conquering pop juggernaut of the eighties, Genesis were a delightfully strange beast. Long before I Can’t Dance proved that at least two members of the band couldn’t, indeed, dance, the prog pioneers were weaving dense, theatrical tapestries of pastoral English mythology, biblical allegory, and surrealist high art.
This was an era best represented by the classic five-piece lineup: keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford, guitarist Steve Hackett, drummer Phil Collins and frontman Peter Gabriel, a man who transformed rock music into avant-garde theatre. Gabriel variously sported a reverse mohican, a fox’s head, a batwing gown, and the bulbous costume of the Slipperman, which looked more like a terrifying, highly-contagious skin condition than anything picked off the racks at the popular Kensington branch of Biba.
Genesis moved swiftly from the boarding school cloisters of Charterhouse to the sprawling, conceptual madness of their early albums, each a masterclass in creative eccentricity and musical virtuosity. They didn’t merely write songs; they constructed entire sonic universes across albums like Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound. It was a time of uncompromising artistic risk, except that it never felt like risk at all. It was a time when whimsical folk melodies could instantly give way to apocalyptic, multi-part epics, and nobody would think it was weird. Why? Because it was their time.
So, how well do you know the band’s progressive golden age? Do you know your Supper’s Ready from your Musical Box? It’s time to channel your inner cosmic lawnmower and test your knowledge. And please let us know how you got on in the comments – but no googling. We’ll know.
(LouderSound)
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