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?"