The Genesis song Tony Banks thought was way too simple: “Almost too banal”
By the late 1970s, even the most daring progressive rock bands weren’t doing the kind of things that Genesis could.
Even after losing Peter Gabriel from their ranks, bringing Phil Collins behind the microphone gave the band a second wind, never losing their touch and writing even more complex material on albums like A Trick of the Tail. While the band would eventually move into more commercial territory, Tony Banks initially had second thoughts when they worked on their first mainstream smash, ‘Follow You Follow Me’.
It’s not like Genesis was hurting as a band before their big hit. Born in the midst of the progressive rock movement, Genesis made their living the way many prog bands did at the time: through their album sales and touring. Even if they didn’t have the kind of massive sing-alongs that most were used to, they made up for it by making long 20-minute songs that gave you the impression that you were listening to some grand fantasy tale.
By the time that Gabriel left the fold, they had lost a crucial part of their identity. Sure, they could still play like no one else, but Gabriel’s knack for lyrics was half of their appeal, along with the outrageous outfits that he would wear onstage. For the first time, the band had to go onstage as just a bunch of musicians…and the audience loved every minute of it.
Since the band never hired another person to be the singer, Collins was initially welcomed into the fold with open arms, still finding time to do exercises that would leave most drummers cramping, like ‘Dance on a Volcano’ while still singing. By the time that guitar wizard Steve Hackett, the album And Then There Were Three left the rest of the band to spread out a bit more.
When demoing pieces of the material, Mike Rutherford initially stumbled upon the riff for ‘Follow You Follow Me’, which led to everyone else building the rest of the track around his signature picking part. Despite the major alarm bells of ‘HIT SINGLE’ being pre-stamped on it, Banks thought that it was a little bit too straightforward to fit with their other material.
For a band that had built its reputation on intricate arrangements and sprawling compositions, the shift towards simplicity felt almost counterintuitive. Genesis had spent years crafting music that rewarded patience and deep listening, so reducing everything down to a concise, accessible format risked losing what made them unique in the first place.
At the same time, though, that simplicity revealed a different kind of strength. Stripping back the layers allowed the band’s melodic instincts to take centre stage, proving they didn’t need complex time signatures or elaborate concepts to make something resonate. It was a subtle turning point that hinted at the direction they would soon embrace more fully.
While Banks would come around on the song later, he often thought that the song was simple, almost to a fault, telling Trouser Press, “It worked so well as a very simple thing; it was enough as it stood. I’d just written a simple love lyric for ‘Many Too Many’, and I think Mike was keen to try the same thing. Maybe ‘Follow You Follow Me’ was almost too banal, but I got used to it. I think we find it much easier to write long stories than simple love songs”.
Once the band started to see the massive success of the song both on the charts and in the concert venues, they started to see the potential in leaning towards pop. Changing right as the age of MTV began, the band quickly became known as true prog-rock pop stars, eventually notching up massive hits off albums like Invisible Touch.
If Banks was sick of the simple nature of the song, he would make up for it with the rest of the band’s output, taking his keyboard parts in different directions and finding time to make orchestral pieces in his solo career. ‘Follow You Follow Me’ did teach him a lesson, though: as much as people like to talk trash, making a song that relies on being so simple is one of the hardest arts to master.
