35 All-Time Best Genesis Songs

5. "Throwing It All Away"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yIHmMlUofw With its near Rastafarian rhythm and cheerful guitar riff, this is one of the happiest sounding "I-got-dumped" songs you'll ever hear. For me though, this song will always spark up late '80s nostalgia of sitting on my bed playing Nintendo with this tape in my stereo as I sang along to Phil and the boys: "Now who will light up the darkness, and who will hold your hand?/Who will find you the answers, when you don't understand?" Try to resist it. It's impossible.

4. "No Son Of Mine"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUpBsbJy4Y I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I used to think this song was autobiographical, but it's hard to blame me from the earnestness in Collins' voice as he tells the sad story of a son who runs away from his home and abusive father and then, years later, tries to reconcile with him again, only to have the father angrily shout the title phrase back at him (sort of the antithesis of the famous prodigal son story from The Bible, where the father welcomed his wayward son with open arms). Personally, this song will be most remembered for that elephant-like moan in the beginning.

3. "Jesus He Knows Me"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EprQGmZ3Imw Years before parodying televangelists was clichéd, Genesis sank their satirical teeth into the hypocritical world of TV preachers ("Won't find me practicing what I'm preaching"). Collins admitted that when he first saw a preacher on T.V. pleading for viewers to send him money and "touch the screen" in order to be healed, he naturally assumed it was a comedy routine, but then he realized that the guy was serious because it went on for too long. Inspired, he helped pen this song: "God will take good care of you/Just do as I say, don't do as I do."

2. "I Can't Dance"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8hSzRsSwIU Truth be told, I wasn't a big fan of this song when I first heard it. It's mostly a joke song, and even a few members of the band have basically said as much. Banks must've thought so, with the numerous ridiculous sound effects spewing from his keyboards (some sounding like cutlery hitting a wall), but I couldn't make a list of the most noteworthy€”pun somewhat intended€”songs of Genesis without this track, if nothing else because it introduced the world to the signature, walk-like "dance" of the band, made especially famous on their tours. As you probably know (if you're a fan), the song is a parody of T.V. commercials, specifically ones hawking jeans and the dumb models parading around in them who "can't dance...can't sing." (Sorry Collins detractors, Phil wasn't talking about himself.) Besides the silly music, the lyrics are still humorous two decades later ("I never thought so much could happen just shooting pool").

1. "Hold on My Heart"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL9gl3TWwKE The original title of this ballad was "Holding My Heart," but Collins deemed the song sounded "too medical." Luckily, he changed it, and it became yet another chart topper, one of the last in their long oeuvre. Many people actually confused this with a solo hit by Collins, because he was the one who normally waxed nostalgic about romantic love affairs, but Banks' soothing, overlapping keyboards that have almost become a Genesis trademark give the song away. Over 25 years, Genesis went through many different incarnations and two and a half lead singers (I'm not counting that Scottish guy on Calling All Stations as a full person), but the quality of their quintessential progressive rock has always stayed consistent. Any band that can go from the experimental, 23-minute "Supper's Ready" to the catchy, radio-friendly "Invisible Touch" without losing its integrity is definitely one for the history books.