20 years of 'it': Sönke Bohm

The Genesis fan club from the perspective of its readers and members – writing about this is no easy task without delving into the history and stories of the Genesis world or digressing into my own experiences as a fan. This could fill entire volumes. So I won't do that here – just this much: if I had known twenty years ago that a Genesis fan club was forming somewhere in the south, I would definitely have been there from the start. I was twelve at the time and the internet age was still a long way off. So I joined much later – initially only passively, but since 2006 also actively in the forum.

Now, the fan club website has long been a daily port of call. There are other fan websites and forums, but here—and only here—do the discussion threads on all members of the Genesis family converge. And there are quite a few of them, especially when you consider the more distant relatives.

I would like to reduce what the fan club means to me to three essential aspects: information, discussion, and action.

Information

Without the constantly updated information on the website and in the newsletter, I would certainly have missed one or two releases from the Genesis world or would not have been at many concerts. Which would have been very annoying in any case. In that respect, I really ought to buy them a drink. Then there are the numerous reviews, which are always worth reading, especially when the authors present arguments with which I disagree, or—even better—when they mention aspects that I had previously overlooked. So there is always something new to discover. And in addition to the "official" information, there is also the information provided by other members of the forum: sometimes musicological, sometimes textual, sometimes technical, sometimes about dates, and sometimes about completely different topics unrelated to Genesis. This is also interesting—not always, but often.

Discussion

Discussions in the forum can sometimes get quite heated. When I was new to the forum, it seemed to me that the lines were drawn between fans of the Gabriel era and those of the post-Gabriel era, to generalize a little. That was probably always the case, still is, and always will be. But that was new to me at the time, as I had never given it any thought before. Peter or Phil, or even Ray? I didn't and don't care. The merits of one don't have to detract from the others. On the other hand, the discussions show that being a fan has a more or less common denominator, but that every fan has their own perspective on it, their own idea of it. And in the fan club, everyone can share their ideas with others. This is also evident, for example, in the often page-long exchanges of ideas about the song of the week or the album league. And the discussions actually work. Fortunately. Most of the time, anyway. On the whole, the manners are also appropriate, which I have not seen in any other forum.

Action

For me, there have been two real fan club highlights recently. First, there was the last fan club meeting. The long journey to Remscheid was more than worth it. Steve live and in color, The Watch, the collectors' market, and last but not least, the other fans—it was all great and very well organized. Secondly, there was the 2010 Christmas quiz: it was a new challenge every day and, last but not least, educational. In addition to these rather large events, the fan club also offers smaller ones from time to time, such as the numerous competitions, which have actually paid off for me a few times.

In the meantime, it has somehow become part of my Genesis world. Oh dear, that might sound a bit over the top. But it's true: the fan club is fun, and my perception of Genesis would be different without it. What would I write in five, ten, or twenty years' time? I suspect something similar to today, even though a lot will certainly have happened again in the Genesis family and also in the fan club.

Thank you, it! All the best & keep up the good work!