Was Genesis really that influential?

Go Mo 

HackettFan wrote: Queen By-Tor wrote: is a retroactive following any less legitimate as influence or fandom as following the band in their peak? That would be impossible for some of us who weren't born yet. I agree. I was in high school in 1980-84. There was a building on school grounds that had "Genesis Rael" spray painted on it large enough to cover one whole side. I didn't do it. It was another Genesis fan, necessarily a fan of old Genesis. Old Genesis fans were well represented in the 80s in the region I grew up in. True I remember I had to explain the "Rael" reference to a friend of mine who was mainly into Yes, Floyd, Zappa, and Tull. Buffalo NY, being two hours from Toronto, suffered no shortage of Rush fans either.

I'm not sure if I agree HF, that's why I posted the question. Did these retro fans, as I call them, really listen to Genesis or did they listen to peer groups like Judas Priest or Iron Maiden and then claim Genesis influence later on?

Edited by SteveG - June 25 2014 at 16:30

SteveG wrote: The Doctor wrote: Yes.    Not sure what you're getting at Doc, but what I meant was with only 5 neo prog groups in the '80s with 5 members per band , well lets see, that's... 25 Genesis fans!

Tribute bands should be counted too.

Yes.   

The fact that an entire genre centered around the behavioral quirks of that "Genesis sound" (neo prog) says a lot.

[I think Genesis definitely influenced Italian Prog]

I agree but I'm going to be bold and say the opposite is also true. I feel that Italian prog influenced Genesis. I've never heard anyone say this before but it's my speculation and I don't think it's unreasonable considering how much time Genesis spent in Italy in the early seventies. If you listen to the synthesizer on SEBTP and then listen to say PFM and Banco(but especially PFM)you can hear where Genesis may have gotten some of their synth solo ideas from(as far as adding them in a way that PFM was doing and with the mellotron in the background). I remember when I first heard "Per un amico" it hit me that it probably had some influence on SEBTP.

Here's the thing. Genesis' influence in the prog community is sort of an after the fact kind of thing. What I mean by that is even though Genesis were around in the seventies and were pretty big in some countries they weren't as big as the biggest prog bands of the day(at least not in the US). So when we look at their influence it's not fair to look at how popular they were during their prog days just like you wouldn't judge Gentle Giant that way. Their influence came later after musicians and many fans were introduced to them by and large in the eighties. I remember when I saw Genesis in 2007 their audience was very mixed. Yeah there were some people there who probably were into the band in the seventies but there were just as many who were my age and younger and probably many of them aren't even into prog let alone know what it is.

Edited by Prog_Traveller - June 22 2014 at 12:19

They already are.  

Prog_Traveller wrote: Genesis are arguably the most influential prog band. For one thing nearly the entire neo movement was built upon their sound in particular but with a somewhat edgier element to it. Genesis weren't really all that huge as a prog band at least not in the US and at least not compared to some of their contemporaries but their influence has nonetheless been very substantial. They are usually one of the first three or four bands that most newbies discover.

I agree totally that Genesis were an influence on the later neo-prog bands, DT and the like but not to Metallica, Saxon and other thrashers.

Edited by SteveG - June 12 2014 at 15:37

HemispheresOfXanadu wrote: HemispheresOfXanadu wrote: Ask Eddie Van Halen.  Logged out too early last night to explain. Referring to Hackett influencing Eddie to tap.