I also totally agree with you, I find myself totally envious of people who got to see Genesis in their prime! Imagine being in the crowd on a good night in say 1973 on the Selling England tour! If I close my eyes I can almost see and smell it! Or in 1976-77 on the Trick or W & W Tour? Would be incredible!
Genesis Fans.
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I also totally agree with you, I find myself totally envious of people who got to see Genesis in their prime! Imagine being in the crowd on a good night in say 1973 on the Selling England tour! If I close my eyes I can almost see and smell it! Or in 1976-77 on the Trick or W & W Tour? Would be incredible!
yes it’s interesting to think like that, but it’s the same with every generation I guess. I’ve seen a lot of groups and probably you have to who fans of today would probably give the Earth to see but can’t. Here’s a few I saw.
Oasis in their Prime / Soundgarden at the time of Superunknown coming out. Prince on the LovesexyTour / The Verve / Thin Lizzy etc etc.
The two shows I would have loved to see besides Genesis on the Lamb Tour are Zeppelin at knebworth or Earls Court in 1975 and Sinatra at the Royal Festival Hall in the early 1970s.
thankfully I do have the full Zeppelin shows at Both places on dvd and the Sinatra show in front of Princes Grace of Monaco which is a small consolation!. -
Yes, Zeppelin at Earls Court in May of ‘75 would be amazing. I have a bootleg of one of the Earls Court nights. It’s amazing. I also have a boot of the Munich show in ‘80, where Plant is telling the crowd to back up, give people space. Great stuff.
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I pretty much like all eras, but of course I don’t like all the tracks. Genesis fans tend to speak about “real Genesis” (often defined as the early years) or, even worse, don’t accept CAS as a proper Genesis album. I always wonder why. You may not like it, but the band decided what they released as Genesis, not the fans.
I know some die hard fans from other bands, they seem to be more relaxed (also Floyd fans, who are often discussing the split with Waters) -
Yeah I think anyone who says they like all the tracks of a bands’ discography is lying. There are always going to be tracks that just don’t work for you. Or maybe they didn’t work for you because of life circumstance, and then one day when you’re older, they just click for you. For example, One for the Vine just doesn’t do anything for me. I love the album, but just can’t really get into that song. Maybe someday it will change. That’s part of the fun though.
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Yeah I think anyone who says they like all the tracks of a bands’ discography is lying. There are always going to be tracks that just don’t work for you. Or maybe they didn’t work for you because of life circumstance, and then one day when you’re older, they just click for you. For example, One for the Vine just doesn’t do anything for me. I love the album, but just can’t really get into that song. Maybe someday it will change. That’s part of the fun though.
Going in the other direction, I've seen one or two on here dogmatically say that absolutely everything after Duke is rubbish and isn't worth listening to. I suppose it's possible they might genuinely think that but it just sounds like arms-crossly-folded stuff to me.
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I can understand people being passionate about the band and passionate about specific eras, based on their preferences. I have difficulty with people being passionate about an era where they seem to need to denigrate fans of other eras and the musicians themselves in those other eras. And I usually don't find their criticisms to hold up very well. They could simply say "I don't like the "X" era" and I would be fine with that. But instead they make overly simplistic and judgmental statements that are factually inaccurate, e.g., that Genesis sold out for the money, that Phil is wholly responsible for Genesis going pop, etc.
I wish everyone could be passionate about Genesis and let others like what they like about Genesis, even if they don't agree.
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People have to understand that the landscape of music was rapidly changing by the early 80’s. Sure, the guys could have keep doing long proggy tracks and stuck to their origins. However, that’s not where music was headed by the early-mid 80’s. I have absolutely no problem with their musician direction in the 80’s. I would love to ask those nay sayers, if you had the chance to make music that tops the charts, makes you rich, and sells out large stadiums, wouldn’t you jump at that too? It’s every musician’s dream I’m sure; having a stadium full of people singing your songs.
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Also, part of the fun of forums like this is getting to see other Genesis fans’ perspectives. I love it. We can respectfully disagree with one another, all the while knowing we’re disagreeing on something we all love, Genesis.
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Also, part of the fun of forums like this is getting to see other Genesis fans’ perspectives. I love it. We can respectfully disagree with one another, all the while knowing we’re disagreeing on something we all love, Genesis.
Absolutely agree. I see that in Genesis and other bands forums. It's just that there is a section genesis fans who are not just disappointed the that Genesis vetted away from the music store they loved but are plain angry and stylish off the band more than any other music critic anyone else. Anger aimed mostly at Phil. Which is sad as they did such wonderful music, which would not have been half as good without PC
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Absolutely agree. I see that in Genesis and other bands forums. It's just that there is a section genesis fans who are not just disappointed the that Genesis vetted away from the music store they loved but are plain angry and stylish off the band more than any other music critic anyone else. Anger aimed mostly at Phil. Which is sad as they did such wonderful music, which would not have been half as good without PC
Totally agree with the sentiments on this thread. Most of the fans I've interacted with are respectful but there is that small, unfortunate minority that aren't satisfied with enjoying what they enjoy, and want to attack other fans for enjoying something else. I find it pretty odd to be honest. Why do you give a shit if I love PC era Genesis? I also love PG era Genesis. There are tracks across their catalog I love. I don't prefer one era at all. There are a handful of tracks here and there I can live without, old and new (Battle of Epping Forest, I'm looking at you).
Second point you mentioned about the music not being as good without PC. This. Is. So. True. Tony Banks can write great music, but it takes a superhuman effort to make his songs rock. How Phil could take his lyrics and make them soulful or rocking is no mean feat. I think that aspect of Genesis is often overlooked. To be fair, Mike did his fair share too, being an incredible bassist.
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Hi Everyone,
This is my first post ever here. I might be a weird outlier in that I began liking Genesis as a kid and liked Land of Confusion, Invisible Touch, Throwing it All Away, Abacab, etc. I had no idea they were ever a complex, experimental, intricate prog band. I knew nothing of the Pete years.
In high school I became a Yes and Rush fan through a friend. I steadily got into prog. Yes is the band that truly reeled me in and hooked me. Later I found out about the 1970’s Genesis. It was pure bliss! What a band!!!!
My favorite years are the Nursery Cryme through Wind & Wuthering albums. Peter and Steve years....epic, out of this world, brilliant, mind-blowing! They are the only band I enjoy as much as Yes.I don’t understand the Pete vs. Phil stuff. I don’t hate the pop years. I thank them for being my introduction to this group of legends, but when it comes to prog Genesis vs. pop Genesis, it doesn’t even come close for me!!! Just my two cents.
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Welcome aboard. I found Genesis around 1979. A mate of mine kept going on about them and coincidentally my brother gave me Genesis Live as he was bored of it. That was what hooked me, especially Hogweed and The Knife, although The Musical Box is the best track. I shared my mate’s disappointment with And Then There Were Three but gradually bought all albums up to Wind and Wuthering and now have everything they’ve done, including all the box sets and most of the solo output. I’m firmly in the pre- 78 camp if I had to choose but I also like most of what came after and some tracks of the later period still scale the heights of the earlier times I think, I also really like some of the shorter songs. We are lucky as fans to have such a rich catalogue to dip in and out of. I still feel the band do not do us justice - lack of a decent website, available archive material for younger fans and set lists that are not representative of their whole career- but they have still given me so much entertainment, humour, solace and comfort over the years of my adult life - so nothing to be bitter about! I just wish younger fans could get hold of box sets etc as I was able to. Having said that many listen online now anyway I guess. Enjoy your time on the forum!
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Welcome aboard Art!
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Welcome aboard. I found Genesis around 1979. A mate of mine kept going on about them and coincidentally my brother gave me Genesis Live as he was bored of it. That was what hooked me, especially Hogweed and The Knife, although The Musical Box is the best track. I shared my mate’s disappointment with And Then There Were Three but gradually bought all albums up to Wind and Wuthering and now have everything they’ve done, including all the box sets and most of the solo output. I’m firmly in the pre- 78 camp if I had to choose but I also like most of what came after and some tracks of the later period still scale the heights of the earlier times I think, I also really like some of the shorter songs. We are lucky as fans to have such a rich catalogue to dip in and out of. I still feel the band do not do us justice - lack of a decent website, available archive material for younger fans and set lists that are not representative of their whole career- but they have still given me so much entertainment, humour, solace and comfort over the years of my adult life - so nothing to be bitter about! I just wish younger fans could get hold of box sets etc as I was able to. Having said that many listen online now anyway I guess. Enjoy your time on the forum!
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My frustration is that Genesis really only values their stuff mostly from Duke onward. Their concerts are the “hits” as Tony calls them, and medleys of the old school stuff or stuff like Carpet Crawlers. Their greatest hits album had just a couple Peter era nods.
I am a big fan of Steve Hackett. We went back and forth a bit, he and I, during the early COVID19 shutdown on emails, and he sent me an autograph. I was having a blast with that. Steve’s band is fun. I bought a couple of his blue ray concerts. I just don’t see any vintage Peter era concerts on dvd. I get on YouTube and see some neat restored stuff, but nothing one can buy? I’d love to find such things!!!
I have a slouch of Yes dvd concerts, zero Genesis from back in the day.Even though Steve Howe and Jon Anderson parted ways and remain at a weird impasse, Yes has had a bunch of lousy up’s and downs, but they still have been together off and on enough to create some recent enough magic. Genesis, however, the version I prefer, was disappearing the year I was born, 1975. And since then, the three guys have moved Genesis history around the pop sensibilities. I wish there was more balance.
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Welcome aboard Art!
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Thank you, Len! I’m so happy to be here!
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My frustration is that Genesis really only values their stuff mostly from Duke onward. Their concerts are the “hits” as Tony calls them, and medleys of the old school stuff or stuff like Carpet Crawlers. Their greatest hits album had just a couple Peter era nods.
I don't know if 'value' is the right word but I know what you mean. I get the feeling they know what their catalogue is worth musically, but they naturally play more new material on a given tour and sacrifice older songs. They also have said they have to satisfy all the fans - the people who are there because of the hits and the hardcore fans who would be happy with three hours of b sides. I remember Phil specifically saying that we might be surprised by some of the songs he'd like to play, but that they don't or can't (presumably because they feel the constraints of playing what they view as a commercially viable show).
It bugs me as it bugs you, for me because the so-called problem of having a massive back catalogue and fans of very diverse material could be addressed in some measure by playing different songs on different nights.