It’s kind of odd for me to post such a trivial rant, especially given my circumstances. But I thought I’d take a break from worrying to get my thoughts out.

I was reading some reviews for Genesis albums, and Phil Collins’ albums… just dabbling around a few websites here and there. And many thoughts conjured up as I read them.

You may be familiar with Collins’ 1989/1990 #1 hit “Another Day In Paradise.” It’s a song that expresses the plight of homelessness in America (It’s kind of funny that in the late 80s and early 90s, Genesis and Phil, being of British origin, seemed to target some of their songs towards American politics). Well, anyway, one thing I kept reading was that Collins is/was/is/was/whatever a Tory (which I assume is the equivalent to our Republican party here in the United States). And I kept reading that he had kicked homeless people off his property, or that he would leave England if the Tories lost the election. Now, it’s not the fact that whether these are true or not (which I myself, am believing they are false), but alot of what I was reading was basically saying that he shouldn’t make music that is particularly liberal in its agenda (and believe me, Genesis is quite a left-wing band). Well, what difference does it make? I don’t really care what he believes in, as long as the music I’m spending my money on doesn’t suck monkey balls. And while I’m not a huge fan of Collins (No Talent Required… I mean No Jacket Required, and the fact that he turned Genesis to pop turns him off from me to a certain degree) much of his music is enjoyable to listen to occasionally.

Let me go off into a tangent about Genesis for a bit. Alot of people say that Genesis “jumped the shark” to pop after Peter Gabriel left. This is mildly true, however the shark jumping really seemed to occur when guitarist Steve Hackett left. (A part of me thinks that Genesis may have turned pop even if Gabriel had stayed in, I mean look at So)This is how I see it: After Collins and Hackett left, there were just the thrio (Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks). It seemed like Hackett was the last bit of glue holding the progressiveness of Genesis together. With it gone, the pop devil that is Phil Collins (seriously, like on the cover of “No Jacket Required”) could influence the simple-minded (I assume) Rutherford and Banks into cashing in with Genesis. With Gabriel and Hackett gone, who could stop them from producing drivel like “Hold On My Heart” (DIE!)? Not the public, since they continually bought their records.

“Invisible Touch” was the album where you’d listen to it (especially after listening to something like “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”) and think, “What the hell happened?” You’ve got “Invisible Touch”, which was their uber #1 hit, and obviously pop and stupid as hell… although I admit to liking its sound. “Tonight Tonight Tonight” is okay, and TRIES to be progressive, but it’s not… it’s one of those attempts at meshing pop with prog rock together that NEVER seems to work. And then you have “Land of Confusion”, one of the songs from the “Invisible Touch” era I actually liked was “Land of Confusion”, especially the amusing (and overplayed) music video.

Let me construct a bit of a Genesis road map here:

1969-1970 We need a good drummer and guitarist! (Oh, and “The Knife” kicks ass!)
1971-1975 Phil Collins and Steve Hackett? Time to rock!
1976-1977 Hey, we can do ok without Gabriel, guys!
1977-1983 Hey guys! Steve’s gone, let’s make some dough!
1986 You’re right, Phil! We can make WAY more money your way!
1991 We’re back, and we’re… still the same…
1997 Why are we still trying?

Speaking of progressive, this ends part 1 of my rant. I will conclude it in about a week or so, where the subject will be about film actors, and their political views on and off-screen.