Artist

Genesis

Surrey, United Kingdom

Genesis is a music group from Surrey, United Kingdom. Their discography on Gatefold includes 24 records.

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Biography

There are at least three bands using the name Genesis: 1. Genesis were an English rock band formed at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. The band's most commercially successful and longest-lasting line-up consisted of keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist and guitarist Mike Rutherford, and drummer and singer Phil Collins. In the 1970s, with singer Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett, Genesis became one of the pioneers of progressive rock. Banks and Rutherford have been the only members to remain throughout the band's history.

The Arc of Genesis

The pivots — what forced Genesis to reinvent.

The Pastoral Gothic Era
After the disastrous pop-leaning debut on Decca, the band retreated to the English countryside to forge their actual sound on Trespass and Nursery Cryme. The departure of guitarist Anthony Phillips and the arrival of Steve Hackett and Phil Collins solidified a lineup that could handle complex, shifting time signatures. They traded short pop songs for sprawling, multi-part epics based on Victorian horror and mythology. You hear this era in the delicate balance of twin 12-string acoustic guitars suddenly giving way to Tony Banks's crushing Mellotron swells.
The Theatrical Peak
By 1973, Peter Gabriel was wearing masks, makeup, and bizarre costumes to illustrate his surreal lyrics, culminating in the double-album concept piece The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The band recorded the album at Headley Grange using the Ronnie Lane Mobile Studio, but the atmosphere was toxic as Gabriel worked on lyrics in isolation while the others wrote the music. Brian Eno even showed up to run Gabriel's vocals through an EMS VCS3 synthesizer, adding a gritty, proto-punk edge to the band's final statement with their original frontman. The resulting record was dense, challenging, and fractured the band permanently.
The Trio and the Padgham Gate
When Steve Hackett walked out during the mixing of the 1977 live album Seconds Out, Mike Rutherford took over lead guitar duties, reducing the band to a core three-piece. They pivoted toward shorter song structures on And Then There Were Three... before fully embracing the eighties at their newly built Fisher Lane Farm studio. Working with engineer Hugh Padgham, they ran Phil Collins's drums through the famous Solid State Logic listen mic compressor to create a massive, dry drum sound. This technical shift defined Abacab and their self-titled 1983 record, transforming them from art-house darlings into a sleek, pop-rock powerhouse.

Influences

The Beatles — Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel openly admitted that seeing the Beatles perform in the mid-sixties was the catalyst for starting the band. You hear it in the early, baroque-pop vocal harmonies on From Genesis to Revelation and their lifelong obsession with tight, melodic songwriting beneath the progressive arrangements.
The Moody Blues — The Moody Blues pioneered the use of the Mellotron in rock music on Days of Future Passed, which Genesis directly adopted as a core element of their symphonic sound. Tony Banks bought his first Mellotron directly from King Crimson, but he used it to mimic the lush, orchestral textures popularized by the Moodies.
King Crimson — The sheer power of In the Court of the Crimson King in 1969 forced Genesis to toughen up their sound and embrace darker themes. The heavy, syncopated rhythm section of Giles, Giles and Fripp directly shaped the syncopation Collins and Rutherford brought to tracks like 'The Knife.'
The Who — Peter Gabriel cited Pete Townshend's rock-opera ambitions with Tommy as the primary blueprint for the band's narrative song structures. You can hear this influence in the explosive, dramatic dynamic shifts on Foxtrot and the conceptual scope of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
Family — Before forming Genesis, the band members frequently watched the British progressive rock band Family perform at the Marquee Club in London. Singer Roger Chapman's intense, vibrato-heavy vocal delivery directly inspired Peter Gabriel's early, raspier singing style on Trespass.