14 August 1981.
Genesis were about to enter a very different era.
Forty-five years ago today, Genesis released “Abacab” as a single in the UK, firing the opening shot for the album of the same name and signalling that Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford weren’t interested in simply repeating what had worked before.
And what a strange, glorious beast it was.
Part progressive rock, part new wave, part synth-driven experimentation and powered by drums big enough to knock the windows out of your nan’s conservatory, “Abacab” sounded like Genesis deliberately pulling their own musical machinery apart and rebuilding it with whatever bits they fancied.
Proper job. 🎹🥁🔥
🎂 45 YEARS OF “ABACAB”
Released on 14 August 1981, “Abacab” arrived as the lead UK single from Genesis’ forthcoming eleventh studio album.
The single was released through Charisma Records, with “Another Record” appearing on the B-side.
The song was written by the band’s now-iconic trio:
Phil Collins — Tony Banks — Mike Rutherford.
It was recorded during the Abacab sessions at The Farm in Surrey, with Genesis working alongside engineer and producer Hugh Padgham.
That partnership would become hugely important.
Because this wasn’t Genesis merely recording another album.
They were changing the bloody furniture. 🛋️💥
🔥 GENESIS WANTED SOMETHING DIFFERENT
By 1981, Genesis already had a remarkable catalogue behind them.
The Peter Gabriel years had produced sprawling progressive-rock adventures, theatrical performances and records packed with ambitious concepts.
After Gabriel’s departure, Collins stepped up as frontman while the band continued evolving.
But by the time Abacab came around, Genesis wanted to shake things up again.
The band deliberately moved away from some of the traditions that had defined their earlier records — reducing the sprawling arrangements and looking for something more immediate, rhythmic and unpredictable.
And you can hear that attitude all over “Abacab.”
There’s still plenty happening musically, but it doesn’t feel like classic ’70s prog.
Instead, there’s space.
There are electronics.
There are massive drums.
There’s Rutherford’s guitar.
There’s Banks throwing synth sounds around like somebody’s given him the keys to a musical spaceship.
And Collins sounds increasingly comfortable as the bloke standing right at the front of it all.
🤔 AND WHAT DOES “ABACAB” EVEN MEAN?
Now here’s where things get brilliantly Genesis.
The title originally came from the structure of an early version of the song.
Different musical sections were labelled A, B and C, and their arrangement produced something resembling ABACAB.
Except, because Genesis continued chopping, changing and rearranging the track, the finished song didn’t actually follow that structure anymore.
So they kept the name anyway.
Which is wonderfully ridiculous.
Imagine naming your song after its arrangement, changing the arrangement completely and then going:
“Ah sod it, Abacab still sounds cool.”
Rock ‘n’ roll, mun. 😂🤘
🥁 THOSE DRUMS!
One of the biggest ingredients in the changing Genesis sound was the production work surrounding Phil Collins’ drums.
Collins and Hugh Padgham had already been involved with the development of that enormous gated-reverb drum sound that became one of the defining production signatures of the 1980s.
Rather than drowning everything in layers of instrumentation, the new Genesis approach gave individual sounds room to absolutely SMACK.
And Collins’ drumming on this era of Genesis?
Monstrous.
You don’t just hear those drums.
You feel the buggers coming through the wall. 🥁💥
📺 GENESIS TAKE “ABACAB” TO TOP OF THE POPS
A couple of weeks after the single’s release, Genesis turned up on one of Britain’s biggest musical institutions:
Top of the Pops.
On 27 August 1981, the band appeared on the BBC programme performing “Abacab”, with Phil Collins front and centre alongside Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford.
The performance was mimed, as was standard practice for many Top of the Pops appearances of the era, but it remains a brilliant little time capsule.
There’s Collins looking increasingly every inch the frontman.
There’s Rutherford.
There’s Banks.
There’s an unmistakably early-’80s television studio.
And there’s “Abacab” blasting into homes across Britain.
No YouTube.
No TikTok.
No Spotify playlists.
If you wanted to see your favourite band on television, Top of the Pops was basically appointment viewing.
Miss it?
Tough luck, butt. 😂📺
📈 “ABACAB” CRACKS THE UK TOP 10
The gamble paid off.
“Abacab” entered the UK singles chart and eventually climbed to Number 9, giving Genesis another Top 10 hit.
It spent eight weeks on the Official UK Singles Chart, beginning its run at Number 27 before climbing through Number 12 and eventually reaching its Number 9 peak.
Not bad for a seven-minute album track chopped down into a wonderfully weird rock single.
And it was only the beginning.
💿 THEN CAME THE ALBUM
The Abacab album followed in September 1981, pushing Genesis further into their new decade.
The record featured:
- Abacab
- No Reply at All
- Me and Sarah Jane
- Keep It Dark
- Dodo/Lurker
- Who Dunnit?
- Man on the Corner
- Like It or Not
- Another Record
The album became another huge success, reaching Number One in the UK and helping establish the version of Genesis that would become absolutely enormous throughout the 1980s.
Songs became tighter.
Production became punchier.
Pop started mixing more openly with progressive rock.
And Genesis somehow managed to become more commercially successful without becoming completely predictable.
🎹 THE BEGINNING OF ’80s GENESIS
That’s what makes “Abacab” such an important track.
You can practically hear the band’s future arriving.
The Genesis that would eventually produce gigantic records such as Genesis and Invisible Touch is beginning to emerge.
But there’s still enough weirdness left over from their progressive roots to stop everything becoming straightforward pop.
“Abacab” sits right in that sweet spot.
Too strange to be ordinary pop.
Too streamlined to be old-school Genesis prog.
And somehow completely unmistakable.
🤘 45 YEARS LATER…
Forty-five years after its release, “Abacab” still sounds wonderfully odd.
The production screams 1981 in the best possible way, but the track’s mixture of huge drums, keyboards, guitar and unconventional structure gives it a character that has survived far beyond the decade that created it.
It also captures a band refusing to stand still.
Genesis could easily have continued making variations of what they’d already done.
Instead, they changed direction.
Again.
And the result helped launch one of the most commercially successful chapters of their career.
So crank it up today.
Preferably loud enough that somebody in the next street starts wondering why Phil Collins has suddenly appeared in their kitchen.
Happy 45th birthday, “Abacab”. 🎂🎹🥁
Still weird.
Still massive.
Still Genesis.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. 🤘🏴🔥
