Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Genesis. The representation of poverty and the troubles in Africa in their music (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,3, University of Bonn (Institut für Anglistik, Amerikanistik und Keltologie), course: Poverty, language: English, abstract: This analysis looks at how Genesis and their singers portray poverty and Africa in their songs. Is the portrayal appropriate or is it full of clichés and prejudices? And did these songs do anything to help the poor or were they merely there for commercial success and artistic pleasure? For that, I will give a short biography of the band, and then I will select some songs and see how the band Genesis has dealt with the topic of poverty in their music.

The representation of poverty or of poverty in Africa has always been a big topic in popular music, especially combined with the idea of fighting poverty or helping the poor people in Africa. One of the most famous examples is probably the Live Aid concert in 1985. It was the continuation of the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" from 1984, in which musician Bob Geldof had gathered many famous pop stars to raise money for the poor starving population in Ethiopia. The concept worked and half a year later, the Live Aid performances were celebrated with the same intention. There were two parallel concerts, one in London, one in Philadelphia, and the whole 80s pop world seemed to participate in the event. One man stuck out: Genesis lead vocalist Phil Collins, who was at that time becoming increasingly famous with his solo career, was the only one who played on both concerts. This was made possible when he crossed the Atlantic with a Concorde. He made it into the Guinness Book, and helped Live Aid to become an even more memorable event.

Collins has done charity work throughout his whole career, and he wrote some outstanding songs that deal with the critical topic of homelessness or the apartheid. These include songs from his solo career as well as from his time with rock band Genesis. Genesis was founded in 1967 and included Peter Gabriel on vocals, Tony Banks on keyboards and Mike Rutherford on guitars. Later, Phil Collins joined them as a drummer, and when Gabriel left in 1975, he became the new lead singer. Genesis launched a successful career full of hits and chart-topping albums, and all its members had more or less successful solo careers. Especially Collins rose to stardom, but also former singer Peter Gabriel became a certified superstar. He too, like Collins, has done a lot of charity work and wrote a couple of songs that deal with the crises and catastrophes in the world.