Why so much Genesis love?

micky wrote: easy listening prog..  non-offensive.. ie... not challenging.  Easy to build up a large fanbase.. oh wait.. they didn't do until they discovered their true talents as pop masters supreme. It wasn't that far a turn for them anyway.

 

Why are you describing Yes? 

The real classic Genesis line-up, which doesn't include the two noticeably weaker albums after Gabriel's departure, did a lot of really weird out-there material more in line with some cross of Arthur Brown and music hall than with any of their contemporaries, as well as a lot of extraordinary little pieces that don't sound 'prog' (Harlequin stands out).

I don't care really all I know is that they created something unique and powerful back in the 70s, and I love spinning it from time to time.
I also think PA has this thing about bashing prog acts who get 'too big for their own good'. We like our bands to be big and widely known......but not too much because what about The Clouds and Cressida and satan with his icecubemix. DT, SWilson, Meal Norse and so forth have all been through the ring and have taken their punches, some more than others.

I get it though. It's irritating to see people continuing to talk about the same stuff over and over and over again. 'How about that Musical Box eh?' -especially when there is sooooooo much more thrilling and infinitely beautiful music out there.

Guldbamsen wrote: I don't care really all I know is that they created something unique and powerful back in the 70s, and I love spinning it from time to time. I also think PA has this thing about bashing prog acts who get 'too big for their own good'. We like our bands to be big and widely known......but not too much because what about The Clouds and Cressida and satan with his icecubemix. DT, SWilson, Meal Norse and so forth have all been through the ring and have taken their punches, some more than others.

You lost me on this one David. As far as I'm concerned, all prog acts are cult acts regardless if they're newbies or almost forgotten dinosaurs.

SteveG wrote: HackettFan wrote: SteveG wrote: ^Don't forget that a lot of this love for Genesis was well after the fact. The most successful 'retro loved' prog band, IMHO. For sure. That was exactly my point about them representing a lost age. After the fact certainly isn't unreal. Abraham Lincoln wasn't nearly so widely adored until he was assassinated. It's not uncommon for artists (painters, writers) to be more appreciated after they've passed away. Genesis is lucky to see some of their appreciation and legacy while they're still alive. But I think that the departure of PG and HF were seen as a sort of passing. I'm not down playing Genesis because of their retroactive adoration, but I would like to point out the fact that band never had a world conquering album on the scale of CTTE, TAAB, or ELP's debut, and were not even as popular worldwide as KC when they released ITCotCK. They did have a good early following in the UK, but so did Monty Python's Flying Circus. They never had the killer album  that the other super prog groups had, with the Lamb coming closest in critical terms but not really succeeding in worldwide sales.   The better question would be "Why so much love for Genesis years after the fact?"

The Gabriel albums were, like VDGG's stuff, really successful in Italy. Selling England By The Pound was very popular in the UK (charted higher than ITCotCK, for instance), and everyone in my parents' generation can sing a bit of 'I Know What I Like' to this day.

SteveG wrote: ^Isn't that what I said? Barring Italy of course. But still not a worldwide smash phenomenon.

True to an extent, though they were certainly a reasonably successful act in their time. The reputation has kind of gone the other way to, say, ELP, which were colossally supergiant at the time and have kind of suffered retrospectively.

I suspect there's no one single factor that's made Genesis popular on this site so much as a combination of factors which come together. For instance, off the top of my head:

TGM: Orb wrote: True to an extent, though they were certainly a reasonably successful act in their time. The reputation has kind of gone the other way to, say, ELP, which were colossally supergiant at the time and have kind of suffered retrospectively.

Warthur wrote: - It's also worth noting that Genesis aren't immune from criticism on here either - their pop albums are slammed just as hard as, say, some of Yes's missteps, or ELP's more egregious crimes against good taste. So, again, there's a certain extent to which it's just not true that Genesis are uniquely popular on here, though it'd be just as untrue to say that they're unpopular.

lazland wrote: ^ Actually, Ivan, there are some of us who listen to them from Trespass to CAS, and find something to enjoy in all of them

Thanks to everybody for their take on reasons for admiring Genesis...one that stands out to me, now that someone mentioned it, but that I didn't when I thought about the band is:  their great, self-contained stories in their lyrics (Hogweed, Cinema Show, Entangled, Ripples, Squonk, One for the Vine, Blood on the Rooftops).