The Friday Canon: GENESIS FAMILY TREE

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

GEN-O-FACTS:
- Mike Rutherford invented the prog atom! Then he got bored of Physics (including LASERS) after watching the film Grease and decided to sing about fixing cars instead.
- The singer from Stiltskin replaced Phil Collins in 1997, but then they realised he was rubbish and Phil came back!
- Phil Collins dumped his second wife by fax!
- Peter Gabriel liked dressing up as Weed out of Bill & Ben to combat his stage fright! He also sang on the Babe 2: Pig In The City soundtrack.

The hoary old members of Genesis have had 64 UK Top 40 hits between them! That means you the reader get 21 TICKS to dish out between all of the songs below.

[Poll #999372]

East 17: (link)
1. House Of Love
2. Stay Another Day
3. Deep
4. It's Alright
5. Steam

RHCP: (link)
1. Give It Away
2. Under The Bridge
=3. Love Rollercoaster
=3. Scar Tissue
=5. Aeroplane
=5. By The Way
=5. Californication
=5. Otherside
9. Can't Stop
10. The Zephyr Song

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I know 0 Gabriel-era Genesis! What should I be searching/destroying?

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I ticked #s 1 and 3 here. I don't think they're great records, but they aren't bad, and it was a struggle ticking anything in this batch.

[ms-bracken.livejournal.com]

Saucerful of Secrets, mostly. I quite like prog, so am more open to that kind of action than many, but it's... self indulgent in a fun and self aware kind of way, rather than in the I AM WEARING A CAPE TO SYMBOLISE THAT I AM SAVING MUSIC way. I recently got a whole pile of Gabriel-era Genesis from the family home, so I can answer that better (and illustrate points thanks to YSI) once I've listened to more of it.

[friedslice.livejournal.com]

I Know What I Like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_EYU75uhKk) - LIVE! Feat. Gabriel mentalism

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Me and the former boyfriend had a drunken and rambling discussion as to the comparative merits of 'Salisbury Hill' (my pick) and 'In The Air Tonight' (his pick) which ended inconclusively. I am hoping this poll will clarify the situation, although obviously I still think I'm right.

My dad has a Genesis CD (two, I believe, in fact) is it worth a copy? I only know about three of their songs.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

in the air tonight has an AMAZING drum sound though...

She's got a hold on you, believe it

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I mean it! This is one of the best songs ever written. So many different sections (and no boring bits), great intermeshing of two contrasting voices (and contrasting instruments taking turns to do the melody line), tension building intro, intesely catchy hook, loads of bits to sing along to, well-described subject matter (Phil and Phil commiserating/warning each other about this lass or perhaps ALL WIMMEN, noes they can never trust/love again!) - all that PLUS the knowledge that YOU YOURSELF could probably sing it better than Phil Collins can, that YOU could be a popstar too. Awesome.

Re: She's got a hold on you, believe it

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten how fvcking ace it is- the video is barking mad, also. I cannot work out whether they are James Bond or Challenge Anneke but there are some very loud suits involved and also the hilarious sight of someone meticulously styling Phil's comb-over.

I'm going to go and try and find it in the parents' CD collection now. I feel it is v. necessary to listen to it before work.

Re: She's got a hold on you, believe it

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is excellent. So excellent we once won our house music competition with a cover version, back in 1903. I played bass!

I ticked fourteen!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is including any and all remixes of in the air tonight though.

Re: I ticked fourteen!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

18 for me, inc. a ridiculously generous tick for M&TM's 'Over My Shoulder' for reasons i have already forgotten.

Actual Best Track Here

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

BY A MILE: "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" - it is the male I Will Survive!

Best other Phil track: Oh go on then Easy Lover.

Invisible Touch and Land of Confusion have been boshed up well, they are the best Genesis things. I don't know the early funny stuff.

Best Gabriel: GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS come on you lot what's with all this Sledgehammer nonsense.

Best Mike and the Mechanics: Goodness is that the time?

How come TONY BANKS never had a solo hit? Or is he BANKSY?

Re: Actual Best Track Here

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

He released like seven albums or something, but according to wiki they were 'only bought by die-hard Gen fans'. Nothing on everyhit, anyway.

!!!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

freakytigger -- One or two genuine nuggets in a sea of dreck
stevem78 -- some sparks of gold among the seas o' shite
friedslice -- The odd good tune here and there among masses of shite.

Re: !!!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Do either of you other gentlemen have recommendations for a good pair of comfortable SLACKS?

Charlene Mitchell, so much to answer for

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Mike Rutherford was inspired for his side project band name by a certain Australian TV mechanic with a bright pop future?

Bone Thugs and Harmony ft Phil Collins - "Home"

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent record: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyBLAWIlAz0

PH34R Phil miming to his own sample in the video!

Video confusion

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Thanks to 'Sledgehammer' being on EVERY CHANNEL 24 hours a day in 1986, this was one of the first pop songs I was aware of being 'current' (as opposed to 'historical', i.e. nursery rhymes, Beatles, some Motown/Atlantic classics had ALWAYS been in existence whereas Sledgehammer was new). And MY GOD is that a TRAIN going in his MOUTH? Thanks to blimmin' stop motion animation I ended up getting Sledgehammer tremendously confused with Jackie Wilson's 'Reet Petite', released some months later.

ALSO because of video/lyrical content I got v confused between 'I Can't Dance' and 'Walk The Dinosaur' by Was (Not Was). Enter the primary school mashup crew: our other hits included "I'm Gonna Get You Baby With No Limits" by 2 Bizarre Unlimited Inc.

Re: Video confusion

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Walk The Dinosaur is a hundred million times better than I Can't Dance. As a child you were an idiot.

12-foot POPIST HEGEMONY REINFORCEMENT ALERT

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

aw they look such little SWEETIES!

Re: 12-foot POPIST HEGEMONY REINFORCEMENT ALERT

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Phil already looks ancient at 23!

Collins v Gabriel FITE!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Obv as I've not heard Gen w/Peter singing I can't compare them as suitable vocalists for proggin' it up. They're both pretty nasal though so I doubt the differences are many.

HOWEVER Phil has always seemed like a very dislikeable popstar, and I'm not sure why. Buster? Having lots of wifes and treating them badly? Omnipresence in popcharts throughout my formative years with little reward (save abovementioned Philip Bailey)?

Perhaps if I knew more about Gabriel I'd dislike him just as much!

Re: Collins v Gabriel FITE!

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

'Twas ages ago and I was at an impressionable age, but when I saw Gabriel, it was near on a religious experience (on execution, not on anticipation, if you know what I mean). The indie boy version of a really good rave on really good drugs, I wonder? Anyway PG has most of the objectionable qualities of say, Bono, without the popstar power. (Also at least one nasty divorce, if I recall correctly.) But Kate Bush thinks he's grand!

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I got to 21 ticks, though it meant some extremely marginal ones like "Groovy Kind of Love" and "You'll Be In My Heart" and "Steam". I just like filling up my allotment.

"That's All" and "The Living Years" are getting diddled here. "In the Air Tonight" is amazing. Drum fill! "I Don't Care Anymore" is the one Phil song I like not on that list.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

In The Air is bad and wrong! Invented horrible gated reverb drum noise that was done to death for the next ten years.

Injustice watch

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I'm disappointed that I'm the only one to have ticked these stellar rekkids:

Genesis - Spot the Pigeon EP (Marcello and Robin to thread)

PG - "No Self Control" (The Lex might love this. It's another one with K8 Bush on it. Plus this is the track on which Gabriel, Collins and Steve Lillywhite invented THAT Phil Collins drum sound.)

Phil - "If Leaving Me Is Easy" (100% self-pitying slush, but very very lovely), "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (Phil in "Easy Lover"-style EWF-lite mode. He kept writing songs to this template throughout the 80s and here's where he prefected it.)

Stop The Pigeon

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I was going to find a picture of Dastardly and Muttley to reply to this thread, but Google Image search for "Catch The Pigeon" instead of "Stop The Pigeon" accidentally brought up THIS!

HI THERE

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Big Time (1987)
5 (26.3%)

bah, i love this. esp. the start.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

My god people. Only 2 votes for 'Jesus He Knows Me' so far and only 1 vote for 'I Wish It Would Rain Down'! What's wrong with you?

In The Air Tonight = shite
Against All Odds = dull shite
Easy Lover = class
Sledgehammer = second best Gabriel
Steam = best Gabriel
All I Need Is A Miracle = underrated

Overall, Genesis and their bastard offspring = distinctly average (but I did love them when I was about 10 years old.

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

SPOOKY, hoshuteki and I were just discussing whether Genesis were any good this morning! (Or rather, I was singing 'Turn it on' in dismayed enthusiasm and Ewan was shaking his head.) It's Radio 2's fault for constantly playing 10-second snippets of their songs as a prelude to their forthcoming gigs, which is just long enough for me to think "Gosh, this is catchy!" without having to think too hard about Phil Collins and Mike and the Mechanics.

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

Also, the rockin' vicar at my church was a big fan of 'Jesus He Knows Me', so I can almost forgive the VERY heavy-handed satire there. I wish Lady Sovereign had never incorporated 'I Can't Dance' into 'Love Me Or Hate Me' though.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I ticked all of Gabriel's solo stuff bar SW Live EP which I haven't heard, partly cos I am cheesy enough to have been quite a Pete fan when i were a nipper, but mostly ftb I could not bring myself to tick anything involving Phil or Mike & The Mechanics, and I don't know enough about Gabe-era genesis to have an opinion. My best mate says early Genesis is quite good, but I can't possibly say.