What The "Progs" Are Missing About Genesis Post Gabriel

What are "Progs" or fans of progressive rock?  Progressive music is  defined as a rock music subgenre that originated in the United Kingdom with further developments in Germany, Italy, and France, throughout the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s. For some Genesis Fans, their is only one genre of Progressive music and that is the Gabriel years.

Many groups defined this era including Genesis. Most groups however faded into obscurity. Genesis however remained relevant much to the disdain of people fond of progressive music. Many loathe the Phil Collins era as being "POP", and refuse to listen to the albums post Gabriel. This in itself is short sighted. They will post forever that Phil killed Genesis and never give the new music a chance. To each it's own when it comes to their choice of music.

The problem with their thinking is that Genesis, while changing always stayed true to their progressive roots through clever incarnations. Sure there were pop songs, however each album consistently stayed true to a progressive format with many of the songs. In a sense, the "POP" music introduced new generations to progressive music. This led to an interest into learning about the Gabriel era. POP kept the Gabriel era from falling in obscurity.

Dukes Suite, Say It's Alright Joe, Squonk, Domino, Mama, Dodo and Home By The Sea, are examples of songs with complexities that brought new audiences to consider the older music. Plus, the live shows were creative and stayed loyal to providing audiences with a concert that introduced them to all eras of Genesis.

Progs will never give Invisible Touch, Misunderstanding, or Illegal Alien a chance. Of course this makes sense. However, they dismiss the other great songs the were the gatekeepers to future generations loving Genesis. It is this generation that embraces the old and new. It is this generation that truly appreciates that Genesis had multiple albums after Pete left the band.

Mama Was "That Song" What Was Yours?

We all have a time when it happened. That one song that made us realize, "whoa." My time was back in 1983. I was 16 at the time. Musically, my brother grew up with the Lamb. He loved early Genesis. I was sad that he moved away from NY. When home one weekend, he told me he had a friend that had connections at Atlantic Records, and he said Genesis was trying something new. You know, the shapes album, Genesis-Genesis etc....

I bought the album and fell in love with Mama. would see them play it live in Syracuse NY. The slow amber of stage lighting introducing the song with a pulse. Goosebumps for me. That song, would lead to further exploration of the band. From old to new, each album had "that song", that I fell in love with. However, all things have a beginning, and Mama started it all.

Mama was dark and haunting. It explored the darkest side of humanity. Phil's "heh heh heeh" was awesome to me at the time. Tony's keyboards were dark. When needed, his chords carried the lyrics to their darkest depths. Then came the drum intro in the middle. Whoa. Combine that with the MTV video and I fell in love with Genesis.

Each album had "that" song. Call it a hook or whatever you want. No matter what direction the group went, they always seemed to have that one song that encouraged listeners to want to learn more. It leads one to ask another Genesis fan, "what was your song?"