2025 Rock & Roll HOF screechfest

[PCLoadLetter]

All of this Phil Collins solo talk got me thinking about 80s Genesis. Be curious what the board take on that era of Genesis is? I know Sam Mills is a big fan.

I will stan all day for "Duke". Great album and the time when their prog-pop sensibilities really formed a great whole. (Now I really do sound like Patrick Bateman.) Playing on it is fantastic, but it's accessible. Also needs to be listened to on vinyl to get the full effect. Much better to listen to the suite on Side A without interruption than on CD. I don't revisit all of 80s Genesis, but when I started buying albums on vinyl I owned on CD, that was a must purchase.

Always been fond of this album cut. When Tony Banks locked into a synth hook, it was special. Collins' drumming is ace per usual. Love the sweep and majesty of this. Should be better known than it is. They sorta, kinda re-made it (or borrowed from it) in the far more inferior "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight".



After that? They gradually declined. "Abacab" hits some heights, the title track is cool, but mines lower lows than "Duke" does. The non-live side of "Three Sides Live" has its charms, especially "Paperlate". Same for their self-titled album.

"Invisible Touch" is a total departure. Popular, yes, but nowhere near as fulfilling. The only track that still, er, tracks for me is "Throwing It All Away". Banks found another good synth hook and it's a good pop song. Has some Genesis DNA, but by then, they had largely departed any sense of prog. A shame because that pop-prog mix they had on "Duke" is so choice.

The Duke/Abacab era is the only period of Genesis I really like. I get the appeal of their earlier work but I'm just not a prog guy, and I find the post-Abacab stuff to be pretty awful.

 

[swingline]

The drum fill for "In The Air Tonight" could almost be on the ballot alone. Not kidding.

Mike Tyson approves.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Great response, @Sam Mills 51 … although I would sub Foxtrot for A Trick of the Tail.

As for "Invisible Touch," I think the insane success of Phil's solo career had to carry over and influence the sound and style of that Genesis album. Trying to remember if Mike + The Mechanics came out before or after that. Either way, all three Genesis members had become stars by 1986, the rock music world had changed a ton since the early 1980s (and certainly since the Genesis heyday in the 1970s), so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Invisible Touch was different.

Phil's "No Jacket Required" was before "Invisible Touch," as was Mike + The Mechanics' debut album. Mike had put out a couple of solo albums prior to the Mechanics - an excellent effort titled "Smallcreeps Day," then one titled "Acting Very Strange" that Mike not only disliked, but after that vowed not to solo again. Hence, the Mechanics thereafter.

Another reason those albums after "Duke" were different – and, in hindsight, I could be accused of burying the lead. The band went from bringing in material into the studio to just coming into the studio as blank slates and literally piecing together riffs and ideas – putting it all together on the fly. How much of that was their natural evolution, or because anything they had already put together themselves went into their personal projects. I think all of them have acknowledged that the biggest reason to continue gathering was to do things together that they couldn't do by themselves.

While I'm certain their critics and others will claim that they sold out, I honestly don't buy it. Were the post-Duke albums as progressive as "Duke" and prior albums? On the whole, no, but they didn't just put out pop ("Dodo/Lurker" on "Abacab," "Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea" on "Genesis," "Domino" and "The Brazilian" on "Invisible Touch," and "Driving The Last Spike" and "Fading Lights" on "We Can't Dance). They had enough on their plates without Genesis - Phil did without question. But what the three of them could still do in a studio ended up being well worth it. There were few percussionists better than Phil, who could also arrange and had an ear from what he believed sounded good ... and those pesky vocals for anything not completely instrumental. Tony's understanding of chord structure gave the band a sound that Phil and Mike couldn't realistically replicate without him. And Mike is a good bashist underrated musician and could work the guitar parts.

Then, not too long after "Invisible Touch" and that serious tour, Rutherford came out with Mike + The Mechanics' "Living Years," with their unmistakable hit "The Living Years."

Or maybe all of you believe this is some revisionist history. That's up to you. Sorry to go down the rabbit hole.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Does this mean instead of air-drumming the fill, we now have to find someone to knock out?

(And, in that case, wouldn't LL Cool J better fit the bill?)

 

[YMCA B-Baller]

Lord do I hate "The Living Years" - and this comes from someone who lost a parent when I was a kid, a relatively recent event for me at the time of that song's release. Nothing worse, to me, than commercially driven maudlin. The choir behind it just makes it that much worse.

On the other hand, I dig "All I Need Is A Miracle". I don't mind commercially-driven happiness and I like the video.

One of the most unlikely top 10 hits of the 80s has to be "Silent Running". Nothing about it was particularly commercial. It's of its time, but it's not? No one gets 80s nostalgia and thinks to themselves, "Man, I really need to revisit 'Silent Running'. I can't wait to take a deep dive into Mike & The Mechanics!" I thought "Silent Running" was pretty boring at the time and I have never really moved off of that.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

One of the most unlikely top 10 hits of the 80s has to be "Silent Running". Nothing about it was particularly commercial. It's of its time, but it's not? No one gets 80s nostalgia and thinks to themselves, "Man, I really need to revisit 'Silent Running'. I can't wait to take a deep dive into Mike & The Mechanics!" I thought "Silent Running" was pretty boring at the time and I have never really moved off of that.

Every take of yours is worse than the previous awful take!!! I challenge you to a fight if you have the guts to show up at Penn Station!

I loved "Silent Running." Such a cool, mysterious video with a spooky ending. I'm not a sci-fi guy but this was also the first sci-fi video I can remember seeing (though I guess ZZ Top's "TV Dinners" might qualify). I also had no idea Mike was from Genesis, or that Paul Carrack was a well-known singer, so this seemed like an entirely new band getting dropped right into heavy rotation. I liked it from the start and I still do, no matter what the snob YMCA says!

Also, I think even the snob YMCA would think the back story behind "Silent Running" and its video is actually kinda interesting (I actually went down this rabbit hole last night b/c a good friend of mine is the world's biggest Mike & The Mechanics fan and no it is not actually me),

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running_(On_Dangerous_Ground)

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Every take of yours is worse than the previous awful take!!! I challenge you to a fight if you have the guts to show up at Penn Station!

I loved "Silent Running." Such a cool, mysterious video with a spooky ending. I'm not a sci-fi guy but this was also the first sci-fi video I can remember seeing (though I guess ZZ Top's "TV Dinners" might qualify). I also had no idea Mike was from Genesis, or that Paul Carrack was a well-known singer, so this seemed like an entirely new band getting dropped right into heavy rotation. I liked it from the start and I still do, no matter what the snob YMCA says!

Also, I think even the snob YMCA would think the back story behind "Silent Running" and its video is actually kinda interesting (I actually went down this rabbit hole last night b/c a good friend of mine is the world's biggest Mike & The Mechanics fan and no it is not actually me),

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running_(On_Dangerous_Ground)

I was going to make a joke that being the "world's biggest Mike and the Mechanics fan" meant he owned both records, and then I looked it up... Nine? They have nine albums? And the last one came out six years ago?

Really?

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I was going to make a joke that being the "world's biggest Mike and the Mechanics fan" meant he owned both records, and then I looked it up... Nine? They have nine albums? And the last one came out six years ago?

Really?

Best part? The last couple records, at least, have been w/o Paul Carrack. (The other singer in the band, Paul Young--not that Paul Young--sadly died a while back) How is that even Mike & The Mechanics? And does this mean Paul Carrack can tour as Paul Carrack's Mike & The Mechanics?

PS: My friend actually texted me this week that he thinks "Word Of Mouth," the third Mike & The Mechanics record, is their best record, even though everyone probably remembers "The Living Years" most of all. I'd send my friend here to explain himself but he's a full-blown MAGA so talking largely obscure '80s musical side projects keeps us from arguing everything else.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Best part? The last couple records, at least, have been w/o Paul Carrack. (The other singer in the band, Paul Young--not that Paul Young--sadly died a while back) How is that even Mike & The Mechanics? And does this mean Paul Carrack can tour as Paul Carrack's Mike & The Mechanics?

PS: My friend actually texted me this week that he thinks "Word Of Mouth," the third Mike & The Mechanics record, is their best record, even though everyone probably remembers "The Living Years" most of all. I'd send my friend here to explain himself but he's a full-blown MAGA so talking largely obscure '80s musical side projects keeps us from arguing everything else.

A side note: I've seen Paul Carrack live three times -- as a member of Squeeze, Madness, and Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit.

 

[YMCA B-Baller]

Paul Carrack could host his own music festival that featured nothing but all of his former bands. (I had no idea he appeared on one of Roxy Music's albums for just one example.)

I looked up the movie "Silent Running" was part of. It's called "Choke Canyon" here in the States. Apparently it was called "On Dangerous Ground" over there, hence the suffix on the song title.

Description: "It stars Stephen Collins as a 'cowboy scientist' trying to develop an alternative energy source."

Don't remember it, my quota for Stephen Collins is confined to the first Star Trek movie (V-Ger!) and I have no wish to watch "7th Heaven"/pedophile in some bit of 80s obscurantia. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

A side note: I've seen Paul Carrack live three times -- as a member of Squeeze, Madness, and Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit.

One of my all-time favorite bits of trivia is that Paul's been a singer on top 10 hits for FOUR different acts: Himself in addition to Ace, Squeeze and Mike & The Mechanics.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Don't remember it, my quota for Stephen Collins is confined to the first Star Trek movie (V-Ger!) and I have no wish to watch "7th Heaven"/pedophile in some bit of 80s obscurantia. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Stephen has to be relieved P. Diddy's been exposed as a predatory forko. Makes him the least offensive Always Sunny guest star.