If you’re a fan of 70s prog rock, you know that the phrase "and then there were five" isn’t just a countdown. It’s a moment in time. It marks the specific era when Genesis—one of the most influential bands in history—hit their stride with a lineup that felt, for a fleeting moment, like it could last forever. Most people think of Genesis as the Phil Collins-led pop powerhouse of the 80s, or maybe the weird, mask-wearing Peter Gabriel theater project of the early 70s. But there is a very specific window, roughly between 1970 and 1975, where the chemistry was just different.
The numbers changed fast. They started as a group of schoolboys at Charterhouse. They lost guitarists like Anthony Phillips. Then, they found Steve Hackett and Phil Collins. And suddenly, and then there were five.
This wasn't just a headcount. It was a shift in the sonic architecture of rock music. You had Peter Gabriel’s theatricality, Tony Banks’ sprawling keyboard textures, Mike Rutherford’s steady bass and twelve-string layers, Steve Hackett’s pioneering tapping techniques, and Phil Collins—who was, let’s be honest, probably the best drummer in the world at that point.
Why the Five-Man Era Defined Progressive Rock
When people talk about "classic" Genesis, they are almost always referring to this specific quintet. It’s the lineup that produced Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, and the sprawling double-album epic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
Why does this matter now? Because music today is often so compressed and quantized. Back then, these five guys were fighting for space in a way that actually worked. Honestly, it’s a miracle it didn't sound like a mess. You’ve got Banks trying to play lead lines on a Mellotron while Hackett is trying to reinvent how a guitar sounds, and Collins is playing 7/8 time signatures underneath it all. It was chaotic. It was beautiful.
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It's easy to forget how young they were. They were basically kids trying to out-compose each other. That tension is what made the music great. When Gabriel left in 1975, the "five" became four, and then eventually three. But that peak—that five-person era—is where the DNA of modern progressive music was written.
The Myth of the "Leader"
A lot of casual listeners assume Peter Gabriel was the boss. He was the one in the flower mask, after all. He was the one bleeding on stage or jumping into the crowd. But if you talk to any die-hard fan or read interviews with the band members themselves, you realize it was a brutal democracy.
Tony Banks once famously noted that the band was essentially a "songwriters' collective." There was no one person calling the shots. That’s why the songs were so long. Nobody wanted to cut their part. If Steve had a haunting guitar melody and Tony had a fifteen-minute keyboard solo, they just kept both. This is why a track like "Supper's Ready" exists. It’s twenty-three minutes of five people refusing to back down.
The Dynamics of the Room
- Peter Gabriel: The visual soul. He provided the weirdness that got them noticed.
- Phil Collins: The engine. Before he was a ballad king, he was a jazz-fusion obsessed drummer who kept the complex arrangements from falling apart.
- Steve Hackett: The texture. He brought a classical sensibility and invented techniques like "tapping" long before Eddie Van Halen made it a household term.
- Tony Banks: The architect. His keyboards were the foundation of every single track.
- Mike Rutherford: The glue. He bridged the gap between the rhythm and the melody, often playing double-neck guitars to handle both roles.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Split
The narrative is usually: Peter Gabriel got too big for his boots, left, and the band became a pop group. That’s a massive oversimplification. Honestly, the "and then there were five" era ended because the creative pressure cooker simply ran out of steam.
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The recording of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was notoriously difficult. Gabriel was dealing with personal issues—his daughter’s birth had complications—and the rest of the band was frustrated that he was spending so much time away from the music to work on the concept and lyrics. The "five" didn't break up because they hated each other. They broke up because they had reached the end of what that specific configuration could do.
It’s worth noting that Steve Hackett stayed for two more albums after Gabriel left. So for a while, "and then there were four" was the reality. But the soul of the band shifted the moment that five-man balance was tipped.
The Technical Brilliance Nobody Talks About
If you listen to Selling England by the Pound, specifically the track "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight," you hear something that shouldn't work. It starts as a folk song and ends as a proto-metal fusion jam.
This is where the "five" excelled. They weren't just playing instruments; they were building worlds. Mike and Tony would sit with two twelve-string guitars, creating this shimmering, orchestral wall of sound. Then Phil and Steve would drop in with these sharp, jagged interruptions. It was "math rock" before that was a term.
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We often talk about "vibe" in music today. These guys didn't care about vibe. They cared about precision. They were obsessed with it. Every note was debated. Every transition was rehearsed until it was seamless. That’s the legacy of the five.
How to Listen to the "Five" Era Today
If you’re new to this, don't start with the radio hits. Don't start with "I Can't Dance." You need to go back to 1972.
- Start with "Foxtrot": Specifically the opening track "Watcher of the Skies." That Mellotron intro is the sound of the 70s arriving.
- Move to "Selling England by the Pound": This is arguably their masterpiece. It’s quintessentially British, slightly eccentric, and musically perfect.
- The Live Experience: Seek out recordings of the Rainbow 1973 show. You can see how these five individuals functioned as a single organism.
The shift from five to three wasn't a decline—it was an evolution. But for many, the "five" represents the gold standard of what happens when five distinct, brilliant, and stubborn musical minds are forced to work together in a small room.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Listener
To truly appreciate the "and then there were five" period of musical history, you have to change how you consume the media. This isn't background music for a commute.
- Listen on Analog or Lossless: This era of Genesis used incredible dynamic range. MP3s kill the subtle twelve-string guitar interplay. Use high-quality headphones or a solid vinyl setup to hear the separation between the five members.
- Read the Lyrics: Peter Gabriel’s lyrics during this time were dense with Greek mythology, British social commentary, and Jungian psychology. Understanding the "story" makes the musical shifts make more sense.
- Watch the Documentary Material: Look for Genesis: Together and Apart. It gives a raw look at how the power dynamics between these five men eventually led to the various departures.
- Trace the Influence: Listen to modern bands like Big Big Train, Steven Wilson, or even Tool. You will hear the echoes of the Genesis five-man lineup in the way these bands structure their epics.
The story of "and then there were five" is ultimately a story about the cost of genius. It’s about how hard it is to keep five visionary people pointing in the same direction. When it worked, it was arguably the greatest run in the history of the genre. When it stopped working, it gave us three or four different solo careers that changed the face of music forever. Either way, that short window of time remains the benchmark for progressive artistry.