The 1991 song Genesis used to attack TV evangelists
Genesis of the early 1970s was a far cry from the power pop group they would transform into by the end of the decade. After forming in 1967, Charterhouse School students Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel and Anthony Philips looked to push boundaries of art, picking up where The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band left off.
The early lineup of Genesis managed to achieve limited attention befitting of such an experimental group. The bow only began to turn with the induction of drummer Phil Collins and guitarist Steve Hackett. With these two additions, Genesis took on the eccentrically accessible form that would conquer the prog-rock scene of the early ’70s.
With Gabriel’s exit in 1974 and Hackett’s following in 1977, Genesis was left increasingly in the arms of Collins, who took lead vocals and steered the group toward a more chart-oriented direction. During Genesis’ prolific spell in the early ’80s, Collins hit full stride in a solo career during hiatuses, releasing his two most popular LPs, 1981’s Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going, a year later.
As Collins’ affinity for soul crept into his solo work, so too did it permeate Genesis’ 1986 record, Invisible Touch, which remains the group’s highest-selling album to date after it was certified multi-platinum with over 1.2 million copies sold in the UK and 6 million sold in the US.
Following the success of Invisible Touch, Genesis went on a four-year hiatus before recording 1991’s We Can’t Dance, their last with Collins at the helm ahead of his long-term departure in 1996.
We Can’t Dance was another major success for the group thanks to its hit single ‘I Can’t Dance’, which was flanked with five other singles for good measure. Among the five was ‘Jesus He Knows Me’, a satirical jab at televangelism, a burgeoning craze of the ’70s and ’80s.
The song was released at a time when several famed TV evangelists, including Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton and Jim Bakker, were finally under investigation for extorting their listeners. In an emetic aftershock of the indulgences issued by Christian leaders in the middle ages, these TV evangelists were found to have promised financial success to their listeners, provided they sent money to them.
The music video for the hit (see below) saw Collins posed as a televangelist living the life of Riley, thanks to donations from his subservient followers. Keyboardist Tony Banks and guitarist Mike Rutherford joined the cast as fellow evangelists as Collins’ deceitful character somehow manages to have his viewers send him $18,000,000 in just one weekend.
Despite the playful groove and glossy production, ‘Jesus He Knows Me’ carried far more bite than many casual listeners initially realised. Collins delivered the lyrics with the same slick confidence as the televangelists the band were parodying, which only made the satire more effective. Underneath the bright hooks and polished pop sheen was a pointed criticism of greed disguised as faith, with Genesis exposing how easily charisma and performance could manipulate vulnerable audiences.
The track also proved that Genesis had not completely abandoned the sharp-edged storytelling that defined their progressive years. The sprawling fantasy epics of the Peter Gabriel era may have been gone, but Banks, Rutherford and Collins still understood how to build a concept around a song.
Rather than dressing their ideas in twenty-minute suites and surreal costumes, they condensed them into tightly structured pop music that could still land a cultural punch. ‘Jesus He Knows Me’ may have sounded radio-friendly on the surface, but its cynicism and social commentary were every bit as cutting as anything from the band’s earlier catalogue.
