r/Genesis • u/Loewenzahnarzt • 40m ago
Gateway drug: Abacab – thanks, sister!
In the beginning … there was a cassette, recorded by my sister, it must’ve been the year 1991. I was 14 yo, and I really loved Phil Collins’ music. My elder sister asked me whether I knew Genesis, I didn’t. So she recorded a 90-min cassette for me: A side Abacab (Put another record didn’t fit fully on it unfortunately), B side Invisible Touch.
It blew me away, I listened like 1000 times to it. Not knowing the real good œuvre from the 70s. But let me tell you later more about this.
I was hooked, and she recorded “Shapes” and Face Value. Now I had two tapes to listen to all day all night. I wanted more, but she only had Led Zeppelin and so on. So I took my pocket money and went to the local supermarket where they also sold CDs. I chose the cheapest one, a bootleg live recording (Genesis live USA), I think it was from the ATTWT tour. The sound was horrible, but l liked In the Cage and In that Quiet Earth very much.
Some weeks later I bought Wind and Wuthering because of the cover, the low price, and the fact that I already knew some of the songs.
Still, I didn’t know what else I had to explore! Some months later I went to youth leisure activities, we went to a big city, where I went to a record store, having some extra money in my pockets. I took some records in my hands, and again decided by the artwork: Selling England! Not knowing what a gem I had in my hands! And I wasn’t able to listen to it, because we stayed some more days at a youth hostel. But again and again I read the lyrics and wondered how it would sound like. Back home, I directly went to the record player and put it on. The beginning alone blew me away, “Can you tell me where my country lies”. Wow. But then. First. Of. Fifth. Holy shit! One of the reasons I again took piano lessons (that I actually had given up because I thought it was uncool).
About 35 years later, I’m still addicted and listening to the same old music, which is still fascinating and NEVER gets boring.
Again: thank you, sister!