Genesis (band)

Genesis were an English rock band formed at Charterhouse School, in Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. The band's longest-lasting and most commercially successful line-up consisted of keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford and drummer/singer Phil Collins. In the 1970s, during which the band also included singer Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett, Genesis were among the pioneers of progressive rock. Banks and Rutherford have been the only constant members throughout the band's history.

The band were formed by Charterhouse pupils Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel, guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer Chris Stewart. Their name was provided by former Charterhouse pupil and pop impresario Jonathan King, who arranged for them to record several singles and their debut album From Genesis to Revelation in 1969. After splitting from King, the band began touring, signed with Charisma Records and shifted to progressive rock with their succeeding album Trespass (1970). Phillips departed after the album's recording, with Banks, Rutherford and Gabriel recruiting Collins and Hackett before recording Nursery Cryme (1971). Their live shows began to feature Gabriel's theatrical costumes and performances. Foxtrot (1972) was their first charting album in the UK and Selling England by the Pound (1973) reached number three, featuring their first UK hit "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)". The concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) was promoted with a transatlantic tour and an elaborate stage show, before Gabriel left the group.

Collins took over as lead singer, and as a four-piece the group released A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering (both 1976) with continued success. Hackett left the band in 1977, reducing the band to a three-piece of Banks, Rutherford and Collins. Their ninth studio album, ...And Then There Were Three... (1978), contained the band's first major hit "Follow You Follow Me". Their next five studio albums – Duke (1980), Abacab (1981), Genesis (1983), Invisible Touch (1986) and We Can't Dance (1991) – saw the band embracing a more pop-oriented sound and were all commercially successful. Collins left Genesis in 1996 and was replaced by singer Ray Wilson, who appeared on their final studio album Calling All Stations (1997). The album's disappointing critical and commercial reception led the group to disband. Banks, Rutherford and Collins reunited for the Turn It On Again Tour in 2007 and again in 2021 for The Last Domino? Tour.

With between 100 million and 150 million albums sold worldwide, Genesis are one of the world's best-selling music artists. Their discography includes fifteen studio and six live albums. They have won numerous awards, including a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video for "Land of Confusion", and have inspired a number of tribute bands recreating Genesis shows from various stages of the band's career. In 2010, Genesis were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The founding members of Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Anthony “Ant” Phillips, Mike Rutherford and drummer Chris Stewart, met at Charterhouse School, a public school in Godalming, Surrey. Banks and Gabriel arrived at the school in September 1963, Rutherford in September 1964 and Phillips in April 1965. The five were members in either one of the school's two bands; Phillips and Rutherford were in Anon with singer Richard Macphail, bassist Rivers Jobe and drummer Rob Tyrrell, while Gabriel, Banks and Stewart made up Garden Wall.

In January 1967, after both groups had split, Phillips and Rutherford continued to write together and proceeded to make a demo tape at a friend's home-made studio, inviting Banks, Gabriel and Stewart to record with them in the process. The group recorded six songs: "Don't Want You Back", "Try a Little Sadness", "She's Beautiful", "That's Me", "Listen on Five" and "Patricia", an instrumental. When they wished to have them professionally recorded they sought Charterhouse alumnus Jonathan King, who seemed a natural choice as their publisher and producer following the success of his 1965 UK top five single, "Everyone's Gone to the Moon". A friend of the group gave the tape to King, who was immediately enthusiastic. Under King's direction, the group, aged between 15 and 17, signed a one-year recording contract with Decca Records.

From August to December 1967, the five recorded a selection of potential singles at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street, London, where they attempted longer and more complex pieces, but King advised them to stick to more straightforward pop. In response Banks and Gabriel wrote "The Silent Sun", a pastiche of the Bee Gees, one of King's favourite bands, which was recorded with orchestral arrangements added by Arthur Greenslade. The group exchanged various names for the band, including King's suggestion of "Gabriel's Angels", before taking King's suggestion of "Genesis", indicating the start of his production career. King chose "The Silent Sun" as their first single, with "That's Me" on the B-side, released in February 1968. It achieved some airplay on BBC Radio One and Radio Caroline, but failed to sell. A second single, "A Winter's Tale" / "One-Eyed Hound", followed in May 1968, which also sold little. Three months later, Stewart left the group to continue with his studies. He was replaced by fellow Charterhouse pupil John Silver.

King believed that the group would achieve greater success with an album. The result, From Genesis to Revelation, was produced at Regent Sound in ten days during their school's summer break in August 1968. King assembled the tracks as a concept album, which he produced. Greenslade added further orchestral arrangements to the songs, but the band were not informed of this fact until the album was released. Phillips was upset about Greenslade's additions. When Decca found an American band already named Genesis, King refused to change his group's name. He reached a compromise by removing their name from the album cover, resulting in a minimalist design with the album title printed on a plain black background. When the album was released in March 1969, it became a commercial failure because many record shops filed it in the religious music section upon seeing the title. Banks recalled that "after a year or so", the album had "sold 649 copies". A third single, "Where the Sour Turns to Sweet" / "In Hiding", was released in June 1969. None of the releases was commercially successful. The lack of commercial success led to the band's split with King and Decca. King continued to hold the rights to the album, which has seen numerous reissues. In 1974, it peaked on the US chart at No. 170.

After the album was recorded, the band went their separate ways for a year; Gabriel and Phillips stayed at Charterhouse to finish exams, Banks enrolled at Sussex University and Rutherford studied at Farnborough College of Technology. They regrouped in mid-1969 to discuss their future, for their offers in further education might result in the group splitting up. Phillips and Rutherford decided to make music their full-time career, for they were starting to write more complex music than their earlier songs with King. After Banks and Gabriel decided to follow suit, the four returned to Regent Sound in August 1969 and recorded four more demos with Silver: "Family" (later known as "Dusk"), "White Mountain", "Going Out to Get You" and "Pacidy". The tape was rejected by each record label that heard it. Silver then left the group to study leisure management in the United States. His replacement, drummer and carpenter John Mayhew, was found when Mayhew looked for work and left his phone number "with people all over London".

In late 1969, Genesis retreated to a cottage owned by Macphail's parents, in Wotton, Surrey, to write, rehearse and develop their stage performance. They took their work seriously, playing together for as much as eleven hours a day. Their first live gig as Genesis followed in September 1969 at a teenager's birthday. It was the start of a series of live shows in small venues across the UK, which included a radio performance broadcast on the BBC's Night Ride show, on 22 February 1970, and a spot at the Atomic Sunrise Festival held at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm a month later. During this time the band met with various record labels regarding contract offers. Initial discussions with Chris Blackwell of Island and Chris Wright of Chrysalis were unsuccessful. In March 1970, during the band's six-week Tuesday night residency at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, members of Rare Bird, whom Genesis had previously supported live, recommended the band to producer and A&R man John Anthony of Charisma Records. Anthony attended one of their shows and enjoyed them enough to convince his boss, label owner Tony Stratton Smith, to watch their next appearance. Smith recalled, "Their potential was immediately apparent ... the material was good and their performance was good ... It was a long shot, because they needed time to find their strength ... but I was prepared to make that commitment". He agreed to a record and management deal within two weeks, paying Genesis an initial sum of £10 a week (equivalent to £200 in 2025).

Genesis stayed at Wotton until April 1970, by which time they had enough new material for a second album. Recording for Trespass began in June at Trident Studios in London, with Anthony as producer and David Hentschel hired as assistant engineer. The album included longer and more complex songs than their first, blending folk and progressive rock elements with various time signature changes, as in the nine-minute song "The Knife". Trespass is the first in a series of three Genesis album cover designs by Paul Whitehead. He had completed the design before the band decided to include "The Knife" on the album. Feeling the cover no longer reflected the album's overall mood, the band persuaded Whitehead to slash a knife across the canvas and have the result photographed. Released in October 1970, Trespass reached No. 1 in Belgium in 1971 and No. 98 in the UK in 1984. "The Knife" was released as a single in May 1971. Rolling Stone briefly mentioned the album unfavourably following its 1974 reissue: "It's spotty, poorly defined, at times innately boring". "Genesis seemed to be dying a death around our second album", Gabriel told Mark Blake. "We couldn't get arrested. So I got a place at the London School of Film Technique."