Many of you know Genesis as the Phil Collins-fronted chart-topping pop-rock band of the Eighties. But some of you who were Peter Gabriel fans during that time may know that he was the previous front man of Genesis in the '70s -- a time when Genesis was one of the leading (though only moderately commercially successful) prog bands of the era.
At the very beginning, however, Genesis was primarily an English electric folk band with artsy leanings.
But their second album, the fairly obscure "Trespass" (1970), saw Genesis in transition, creating a new genre that merged their folkish tendencies with a much harder rock sound that would ultimately be described as "prog" by the time of their third album.
But the transitional "Trespass" was important because in addition to its growing musical complexity, it saw Genesis engaging in social critique, the most powerful being the Peter Gabriel-penned lyrics to a piece called "The Knife," a composition that offered the scary and brutal point-of-view of a powerful dictator demanding the lives of young men in meaningless conflicts. A the time, it could've been construed as an anti-Vietnam protest, but it's still relevant in a time of an authoritarian Trump, whom you can imagine saying to his followers that you'll be "Martyrs of course to the freedom that (only) I shall provide".
Interestingly, "The Knife" was one of the few pieces that Genesis played in concert for the entirety of their career. Obviously, they continued to think the piece was relevant.
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