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DARK SECRETS: Mike rutherford | Rare Historical Photos

“They say it all went wrong when I started singing. But really, we all changed. It was a metamorphosis. I think we got better”: Genesis’ evolutionary A Trick Of The Tail, track by track

50 years ago, as Phil Collins took over from Peter Gabriel, the always-divisive band had fans to appease and debts to pay. This is how they did it

Louder

"We kept writing songs, trying to ignore the fact they'd be a bit boring without a singer." From trauma to triumph: The story of Genesis's A Trick Of The Tale

After Peter Gabriel left Genesis, many thought it signalled the end of the band. But Phil Collins stepped up to the mic, and the triumphant result was one of their greatest albums

Louder

“If I’d been sacked, or left over musical differences, I’d have felt a right flunker”: Genesis ex Anthony Phillips on why he really quit – and why he’s not their version of The Beatles’ Pete Best

Amiable co-founder of the prog giants reflects on leaving before the band became huge, and explains why he wishes he’d met his replacement Steve Hackett sooner

Louder

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“Some of the public found Genesis with Peter Gabriel a bit too strange. But there was a lot of fear about whether we could carry on without him”: How Phil Collins became the singing drummer and led Genesis from despair to superstardom

“In the end, my wife said, ‘Why don’t you do it, Phil?’”

MusicRadar

“We bounced around the idea of having everyone from Joe Cocker to Phil Collins to Mike Rutherford sing”: Out went David Lee Roth and Frankenstein, in came Sammy Hagar and Kramer –the story of Van Halen’s rebirth

It was the end of an era. Roth’s exit, Frankenstein's last hurrah. But it was the start of a new one as Eddie Van Halen got experimental on 1986's blockbuster, 5150

Guitar World

“Some fans preferred it to Genesis… I had record labels asking for my next album, and half a band forbidding me from doing it”: The unexpected consequences of Steve Hackett’s Voyage Of The Acolyte

Guitarist believes his solo debut proved Genesis had a future after Peter Gabriel’s departure – but it also led to two years of soul-searching

Louder

“I thought it would be fun. That was a big mistake. I underestimated just how difficult it would be”: When Phil Collins made a guest appearance playing drums with a Genesis tribute act – and ended up admitting, “It was horrible!”

Plus: the Collins solo record that Charlie Watts bought

MusicRadar

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“We have an identity crisis. People say, ‘I knew every one of those songs, but I had no idea they were yours’”: Mike + The Mechanics’ history is a bit more rock’n’roll than Genesis’

Spurred on by surprise early success, Mike Rutherford’s band endured a tough time with a demon-haunted singer, then a replacement who expected rehearsals to be all thought and no action

Louder

“I cheat, really. I’m not a great technical player at all. Because I was always writing for myself, I could avoid the things I couldn’t play”: Tony Banks says that virtuoso technique was never his priority, but avoiding "lazy" chord progressions was

As for the chances of a Genesis reunion: "don't hold your breath"

MusicRadar

“I was living on my own. Things had gone off the rails a bit, drinking too much”: It was in a weird time signature and their old singer struggled to play it, but this huge hit helped turn a 70s prog band into 80s pop stars

Turn It On Again would be a huge turning point for Genesis

Louder

Genesis made long, complex, instrumentally elaborate rock for hirsute proggers: Then they wrote the song that brought women to their shows

Genesis's first single since becoming a three-piece was a savvy change of tack

Louder

“I had a big lump in my throat when we did the last gigs. A big chapter in my life was coming to an end – and I couldn’t tell anyone”: The curious tale of Genesis and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour

The final road trip with Peter Gabriel featured an over-ambitious stage set, performing a double-album no one had yet heard, and dealing with dangerous and deadly mishaps – all while suspecting their singer was going to quit and the band might end

Louder

"You can't dance or clap along to it. When we play it live, you can always see the audience getting caught out": How Genesis wrote the career-changing song that confused their fans - and Peter Gabriel

Deceptively straightforward but with a rhythmic banana skin, Genesis's transformation from major cult band to stadium-filling hit-makers started here

Louder

“They’re portrayed as unhip, exploitative capitalist men of the rock world. But it’s entirely down to them that the movement can move. And they didn’t get anything out of it”: When Peter Gabriel received death threats, Genesis reunited to help him

Their former leader found himself in serious trouble after his WOMAD festival lost money. So the classic line-up returned to stage their Six Of The Best show in 1982, leaving an indelible mark on prog history

Louder

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Louder

“Marvel again at the ridiculous ambition of the young musicians who came up with this. It gave Peter Gabriel little option but to leave the band”: Genesis’ 50th anniversary edition of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is even better than the Rael thing

With its many component parts and forward-thinking modernism, their most celebrated yet debated album finally receives the release it deserves

MusicRadar

“It was the rats you could hear running up and down the air ducts. Either that or it was haunted. Jimmy Page says it was haunted”: Peter Gabriel and Genesis dissect their bonkers but brilliant prog swan song

Album was “a journey into the soul” says singer

Louder

Four-fifths of the Genesis Lamb line-up reunite at Atmos playback in London

Check out our exclusive photos as Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford attend a Doly Atmos playback of the new reissue of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

Louder

"A five-piece Genesis was never going to last, there were too many writing ideas": When Genesis reunited to make a film, it was the same old story

Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford look back on the controversial Genesis documentary Sum Of The Parts

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Louder

“My hand ran off the keyboard… I ground to a halt, threw my hands in the hair, and everyone looked at me. My father thought I was taking a bow and was very proud!” Genesis’ best and worst moments on stage

Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford on the band’s messy first show, hitting the road without Peter Gabriel, and what makes touring fun

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘Are we sure we can write a song about death?’”: The story of Mike + The Mechanics' classic No.1 The Living Years

"If we’d got it wrong, it would’ve been very schmaltzy"

MusicRadar

"The demo had my singing on it. When I played it to the band, the look on their faces said, 'We’re in trouble, boys'": Mike Rutherford and producer Chris Neil remember the making of Mike & The Mechanics' All I Need Is A Miracle

There was a weird moment when, in the US Top 20, there was a Gabriel song, a Collins song, a Genesis song and a Mechanics song

The Guardian - UK

‘I wrote it while bored on a health farm’: how Mike and the Mechanics made All I Need Is a Miracle

‘The demo had my singing on it. When I played it to the band, the look on their faces said, “We’re in trouble, boys”’

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘Are we sure we can write a song about death?’”: The story of Mike + The Mechanics' classic No.1 The Living Years

"If we’d got it wrong, it would’ve been very schmaltzy"

Louder

“On a frenetic album about consumerism and masturbation, you need your moments of contrast to count": The 10 best Genesis songs, as chosen by Prog readers

Over 28 years the genre giants released 15 albums, achieving over 100 million sales. It’s unfair to boil their work down to just a handful of key songs – but you did it anyway

Louder

“Peter Gabriel started singing over my solos. I was pissed off – ‘You’re singing on my bit!’ But that half-minute is probably our peak”: How Genesis made Supper’s Ready, arguably their greatest song

The band believe it’s the moment they began to become significant – and the construction of the 23-minute anthem for 1972’s Foxtrot was itself an epic experience

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