Genesis are apparently just about to reform, only without not just Peter Gabriel, but without Steve Hackett either. In other words, it’s the vacuous 80s incarnation of the band.
Scott sums up my feelings exactly:
Why bother? I don’t ever need to hear Illegal Alien again. The rumors in the past couple years of a full reunion teased me, but this? This just isn’t what I wanted. I’m sure there are hundreds of thousands of people who will love hearing Invisible Suck again, but I’ll stay home, thank you very much. I know why Gabriel passed, but nothing at all from Hackett’s camp which surprises me, as he’s been one of the ones who really wanted to do this.
According to the official Genesis website, there will be a formal announcement tomorrow.
But I’d mentally written off the reunion as a waste of space once I heard Gabriel wasn’t going to be involved. My opinion of post-Hackett Genesis is much the same as that of rabid Fish fans towards Marillion with Steve Hogarth. For me, the 80s music was bland commercial fluff that hasn’t stood the test of time anything like as well as their earlier music. Watered-down pseudo-Motown played by white people has never really appealed to me.
It wouldn’t even surprise me if it’s a flop; the audience for 1980s Genesis weren’t really music fans, it was the three-CDs a year crowd made up of people called Kevin and Sharon; the demographic who’s present day equivalents listen to Coldplay and James Blunt. I wonder how many of them will know or care about any reunion?
Oh, I’m sure this will be all over the media. They’ll play to their adoring crowds of forty-somethings.
I mean, really, don’t you want to dance to Paperlate again?
Man, I’ll take post-Fish Marillion from the .com period, over this. That’s scary.
Roll on the Colplay reunion in 30 years time
“It wouldn’t even surprise me if it’s a flop”
Well, the 1998 tour was….
I heard that Peter G. opted out of a reunion at this stage, rather than declining outright.
But yes; it’s a horrible idea unless it a) involves the 1974 line-up and b) involves new music.
Difficult to imagine what new music from the 1974 lineup would sound like. Gabriel, Hackett and the other three have moved in three completely different directions since the 70s.
It wouldn’t sound anything like they did in 1974, though. Anyone expecting Lamb II would not get what they expected.
One of the best comments I ever read about 80s-era Genesis was a negative review of their eponymous album which concluded: “Well, at least you can’t say they’re stuck in a rut anymore.”
The irony of that statement should be self-evincing.
I’m sure you’ll be eager to know that they’ll be in Manchester (Old Trafford) on 8 July.
This is a show I must not fail to miss.