this is where Genesis failed their prog fan base over the years. They sacrificed the complexity for radio friendly fluff, and in the end lost a lot of their fans.
Each to their own of course, you can't like what you don't like. But still, I always think it's a pity that some fans see the band's development as some sort of failure, when it really isn't. In fact, to me when a band doesn't change its style, that's more of a failure.
I don't believe they 'sacrificed' anything. They retained their musical integrity, but just applied it differently and in a way that, as you say, many didn't like. At school there were quite a few Genesis fans and I ended up being the only one who liked Abacab, the others all reacted as you described. I've never had a problem with bands moving on and changing, I respect it. That respect increased when in the last few years I learned they junked a load of new material when recording the Duke follow-up, after deciding it was too similar to the last 2 or 3 albums. A bold move that I really admire. If they'd come out with more Burning Rope or Vine type stuff I'd have long gone off them. But I come back to accepting that if the bold move results in music you don't like, I totally get that.
But I can't agree about the 'fluff' thing. Hits consisting of 6-minute spiky songs about child abuse and being obsessed with a mature prostitute aren't what I'd call fluffy. Drippy songs about snowmen, cats and mice, and "poor little nemo" are well within fluff territory, though!
