The album that made Peter Gabriel leave Genesis: “There was no question of priorities”
After the controversial success of 1973’s The Exorcist, a twisted tale of possession that changed the course of the horror genre forever, director William Friedkin began to conceptualise how he could disrupt the film industry even further. In his efforts, he contacted Peter Gabriel, wanting the musician to join him in brainstorming ideas for storylines and visuals.
At the time, Gabriel was still in his tenure with Genesis, though their first iteration was fraught with an unavoidable tension. Their previous album, 1973’s Selling England by the Pound, had brought them success, with its familiar English themes and references contrasted by Gabriel’s soon-to-be signature theatricality, often appearing on-stage in elaborate costumes that featured capes, bat wings, helmets, vibrant make-up and more, but Gabriel’s dominance on-stage did not match the dynamic between him and his bandmates behind the curtain, with Gabriel consistently fighting for his input with the band’s instrumentation and persisted through their divisions.
In late spring of 1974, Genesis relocated to Headley Grange in Hampshire to write and rehearse their next album. The infamous occultist Aleister Crowley had been the battered home’s previous owner, which prompted a fanatical Jimmy Page to also record in the strange, haunted space. Genesis, in its fractured state, resumed an unorthodox way of writing: the band would deliver instrumentals to Gabriel, who would continue to write lyrics in a separate room.
While distanced, the band remained prolific and decided to release a double album, its theme conjured by Gabriel’s influences from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1970 film, El Topo. Gabriel’s protagonist, Rael, a Puerto Rican youth in New York City, embarks on a spiritual journey, resulting in the story of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which would be Gabriel’s final album with Genesis.
Simultaneously, Gabriel was entertaining Friedkin’s call, joining the director in piecing together a sci-fi film. “He had great ideas for revolutionising Hollywood and bringing in whole new teams of people who’d never worked in film before, and he wanted me in to work on ideas,” Gabriel recalls, in The Genesis Archive Documentary. “For me, that was quite exciting… Still to this day, something that I enjoy doing.”
Somewhat caught between two projects, Gabriel was consumed, more than anything, by the forthcoming birth of his first child. His wife, Jill, was enduring complications with her pregnancy, and Gabriel spent time travelling between Hampshire and London to be with his family. “There was a really rough birth, and the hospital didn’t think she was going to make it, and she spent the first month in an incubator,” Gabriel recalls.
Adding, “Now, to me, there was no question of priorities [between] a living being and a record… Phil [Collins] had a kid, but the others really weren’t appreciative of all that family side of things, which they now are. The lack of openness and understanding of that situation, for me, was a deciding factor, as well.”
Despite his request to take a break from recording, Gabriel’s bandmates refused and persuaded him to stay, finishing The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway for release in 1974 and embarking on a tour. This forced Gabriel to remove his involvement from Friedkin’s project, which would become his 1977 action-thriller Sorcerer. The tour concluded in mid-1975, but a year prior, Gabriel had already made his decision to quit Genesis, informing the band during a tour stop in Cleveland, Ohio.
“That was very hard,” he reflected. “It was definitely the right thing for me to have done, and clearly, it was good for them because it sort of brought Phil out front and gave everyone a bit more space, I think. I always look upon that time as a healthy part of growing up.”
