The most “straightforward” Genesis song, according to Tony Banks
The progressive rock era of the early 1970s is surely among the strangest musical scenes of the century. Born from the rebellious ethos of ’60s psychedelia, progressive or prog rock favoured long, complex songwriting themes and elaborate concept albums. While prog was pretty divisive as far as the musical mainstream was concerned, the bands that defined the era still command deep respect and adoration in the modern age. Of those bands, there were few as colossal as the Surrey-based outfit Genesis.
After first getting together in 1967, Genesis wasted little time in becoming a pioneering force in the development of progressive rock. Early albums like Trespass or 1973’s Selling England By the Pound helped to introduce the revolutionary sounds of prog to mainstream audiences, earning the group a dedicated following in the process. Of course, the age of prog would not last forever, and Genesis proved themselves as a group able to adapt to the changing landscape of popular music.
So, as the band moved into the late 1970s, suffering various line-up changes and a changing power structure within Genesis, the group began to move away from the world of prog. Admittedly, Genesis were always indebted to their prog roots, but around the time of Duke in 1980, the band started to lean further into the world of out-and-out pop rock. Inevitably, this led to the creation of some of their most commercially successful work, leading band leader Phil Collins to push the group further and further into the pop world.
The most obvious example of this move towards unapologetic pop came with the band’s 1985 album Invisible Touch. This was the project where the sound of Genesis came closest to the solo work of Collins, and it is somewhat divisive among fans as a result. Nevertheless, the record earned Genesis a number one album in the UK, and its titular track ‘Invisible Touch’ saw the progressive rock pioneers top the Billboard Top 100 for the first and only time.
Seemingly, the move towards pop came as no surprise to the band themselves. Talking about the chart-topping title track of the album, Tony Banks once said, “For us, it’s a fairly straightforward rock song,” as opposed to the innovative and complex progressive rock that the group had first sought to perfect. Nevertheless, Banks did not view this change in sound as a particularly bad thing, “ I think it works really well because it’s concise,” he said, “I never think I’m going to like it, but then when I hear it, I like it. Intellectually, I’m not too sure about it, but it works.”
Those intellectual insecurities about their new sound clearly affected band members, as Genesis went on hiatus for several years following the Invisible Touch tour. While the fatigue of touring, recording, and promoting music might have been a main cause for that hiatus, doubts over the band’s departure from prog rock seem to also have been a definite factor.
When the group finally returned with We Can’t Dance in 1991, their pop influence had not entirely dissipated, but there were more obvious influences of prog rock present, too. Fans will continue to debate the band’s best period indefinitely, but the “straightforward” nature of ‘Invisible Touch’ certainly garnered the group their most commercial attention.
