10 Rockers That Went Pop (And Nailed It)

There have been prog rock fans who have been asking for Phil Collins' head on a stake for years now. Regardless of his amazing drum performances and the almighty crash of In the Air Tonight, he will forever be remembered as the man who killed the 'real' version of Genesis, taking the role of Peter Gabriel and turning this amazing prog band into pop stars. Just because you happen to get a bigger audience though doesn't mean that you forget how to write songs either.

Invisible Touch might be the most streamlined Genesis record ever made, but a lot of what you're hearing on here is the next logical step in what the band's evolution was, going from the marathon songs that ran for 20 minutes to adding textures to their pop friendly material. Coming out of the era when keyboards were everywhere, this is actually a finely aged product of its time, from the amazing hooks behind a song like Throwing It All Away to Tony Banks teaching a keyboard clinic on the song Domino. Even if these are pop songs in the technical sense, they're actually a lot more complex than you might think, like the tone bending middle section of the title track or the dirge like atmosphere on Tonight Tonight Tonight.

There might be a few ballads in the mix that aren't for everyone, but this wasn't supposed to be the sequel to the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or anything. This was Genesis growing just like any prog band should, and Patrick Bateman may have had a point about how much these songs hold up.