Genesis biography

In a 1982 interview in ''Sounds'', Phil Collins talked about the band's reputation in the music press and claimed that he only knew of one music journalist, Hugh Fielder, who openly liked Genesis.

Reviewing ''Genesis 1976-1982'' in ''Q'', Andy Fyfe wrote: "... in spite of 150 million album sales the bottom line is that little of the band's output has aged well ... There are moments of impressive songwriting, such as the tender "Many Too Many", the darkly tragic "Duchess" and the epic "One for the Vine", but little of Genesis's music transcends in the way real classics do, and that is why they will remain perennial whipping boys for decades to come."

Music critic J. D. Considine wrote of the band: Genesis has had a hard time getting respect. In the early '70s, when the group specialized in ambitious, theatrical story-songs, it attracted an avid cult following but was largely ignored by the rock press and public at large. Later in the decade, lead singer Peter Gabriel was finally recognized as a major talent - but only after he'd left the band, who were at this point being derided as middlebrow throwbacks still in thrall to the pomposities of art rock. Even in the early '80s, when Genesis did finally shed its art-rock inclinations and move toward pop, becoming international stars in the process, the press was unimpressed, dismissing the group as easy-listening lightweights. By the '90s, even the solo success of members Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford was being held against the group, by then one of the best-known rock acts in the world. All of which, to be honest, has been grossly unfair to the group. Granted, Genesis has made its share of mediocre albums - perhaps even more than its share, considering how long the band has been around. But bad albums? None to speak of."

In a 1991 interview with ''Rolling Stone'' during the promotion of ''We Can't Dance'', Tony Banks admitted, "Well, we've never been fashionable. We've never been the critics' darlings." Phil Collins summed up in the same interview, "We know that people like us, because our records sell."

Studio albums

''From Genesis to Revelation'' (1969)
''Trespass'' (1970)
''Nursery Cryme'' (1971)
''Foxtrot'' (1972)
''Selling England by the Pound'' (1973)
''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'' (1974)
''A Trick of the Tail'' (1976)
''Wind & Wuthering'' (1976)
''...And Then There Were Three...'' (1978)
''Duke'' (1980)
''Abacab'' (1981)
''Genesis'' (1983)
''Invisible Touch'' (1986)
''We Can't Dance'' (1991)
''Calling All Stations'' (1997)

Live albums

''Live'' (1973)
''Seconds Out'' (1977)
''Three Sides Live'' (1982)
''The Way We Walk, Volume One: The Shorts'' (1992)
''The Way We Walk, Volume Two: The Longs'' (1993)
''Live over Europe 2007'' (2007)

References

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