35 All-Time Best Genesis Songs

35. "The Silent Sun"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp4b4tcZ7Rc Singer Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Tony Banks, rhythm guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford, lead guitarist Anthony Phillips, and drummer Chris Stewart met at Charterhouse School in Surrey and sent a nameless demo to "old boy" Jonathan King, who had once attended their school and was in the middle of a triumphant visit after writing and recording the hit single, "Everyone's Gone to the Moon." King thought they showed promise with his guidance, but he wasn't thoroughly impressed after the band sent another round of songs. Realizing they were losing him, Banks and Gabriel decided to write a song that was tailor made to his interests. His favorite band at the time was The Bee Gees, so they wrote "The Silent Sun," a Bee Gees pastiche that King lapped up, even claiming the sound was "before The Bee Gees." (It was definitely before their disco heyday of the late '70s though thankfully, "The Silent Sun" is far from a disco song.) King wanted to name them Gabriel's Angels, but the group, luckily, rejected it. They settled on Genesis, and while they were still in school, they recorded their aforementioned debut album, From Genesis to Revelation, a little-known concept album about the Book of Genesis and the rise of man that was released in 1969. King decided not to have a band name on the cover and ended up immensely regretting this decision, as record shops didn't know what to do with it, so they dumped it into the religious bins. The album went nowhere fast but started the humble beginnings of a band that would eventually sell untold millions around the globe. As for the song itself, it undoubtedly has a lovely melody, but "The Silent Sun" is a trifle. I mostly included it here because it was the band's first single, though it didn't have much impact, as far as radio play and audience appreciation. It did, however, get the attention of King and eventually land them a record deal, so, in that regard, it remains an important part of their history.

34. "The Knife"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBYPPjLJO5U With its pulse-like, stabbing rhythm, courtesy of Banks' organ, "The Knife" was the sound of Genesis finding its way. Dark and aggressive, it was a far cry from the plaintive pop of "The Silent Sun." An attack against war and its enforcers, the song was on the opposite end of the sonic spectrum of their former Bee Gees takeoff. "Some of you are going to die," Gabriel warns in the chorus. Compare that with, "Baby, you feel so close" from "The Silent Sun." "The Knife" became a live favourite, so much so that it served as the closer on the band's first live album, simply and self-explanatorily titled Genesis Live, and you can clearly hear fans in that early '70s audience demanding the song's title just before it's played.

33. "The Musical Box"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_3yOUKSOc From the aptly titled Nursery Cryme (the first Genesis album to feature Phil Collins and guitarist Steve Hackett), this twisted nursery rhyme would make Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett blush. Consider the story: a girl beheads a boy with a croquet mallet and then is sexually assaulted by his aged spirit from a magical music box. Well, the music is certainly catchy! Moving on...

32. "Watcher of the Skies"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57HicYcY4Ow This song introduced Genesis fans to Gabriel's infatuation with sci-fi opuses, and even though it's about aliens coming down to examine the destruction of Earth (not unlike Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" two decades later), it was too original to simply be labeled "space rock." Also a live favourite, it was the first song selected for their aforementioned live album.

31. "Supper's Ready"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szJq1lwnkNw This is not only the band's first epic number, which would become a trademark, it's probably their most famous. At 23 minutes and split into seven parts, it's presented more like an orchestral movement than a rock song, and it's the template for which many other prog-rock bands would imitate. Still, you can't beat the original. My favorite section is probably "Willow Farm," when Peter Gabriel would don a flower man costume and prance across the stage like the host of some children's T.V. show. Gabriel proved that rock doesn't always have to take itself so seriously.