It was 1986 when, walking along Schlachthausgasse in Vienna, my best friend and I talked about the things we had been given for Christmas. I told him that one of my presents had been a tape of Invisible Touch by Genesis, and he replied that he, too, had just discovered Genesis. We were twelve years and when a whole new world of music opened up before us. The Genesis discography was not something we found at a mouseclick but by browsing in record stores; information spread by word of mouth or through youth magazines that had reports about the “hitpopband” Genesis.
Undoubtedly it was most interesting for us to discover the albums, particularly the early ones up to 1977, without having any prior information, to realise things on our own and to sit down and talk about it with friends. The way one discovered music at that time was very different from today’s.
My first major source of much-desired and reliable information about the early Genesis was a book called Genesis – I Know What I Like by one Armando Gallo. A friend lent me the money for it because I had run out of cash. It was the last day of our language course holidays in Torquay, England, and I would have been devastating for me not to have that book. And so I suddenly had many ‘official’ images to go with the music. I must have been 14 years old at the time.
Fastforward to the year 2000, and I am connected to the internet. I think I hardly need to mention that my life has changed a lot in many ways. Once again a new world of music opened up for me. Suddenly I had easy access what then was a lot of information about Genesis, I could look at old tour posters and ticket stubs on several fan pages or read up on background information and interpretations of the songs I loved so much. I discovered the IT forum roundabout 2003. I worked at a call centre then, so I had lots of time, particularly during the night shift, to get very involved with the forum. So much information, so many friendly and musically literate people, so many ideas for music to discover ... another new world of music opened up for me. It goes without saying that I used to check several times during the day whether there was anything new in the forum. In fact I used to always have the page open in the background – I could have missed something.
I have learned many valuable things through the website and the forum throughout the years. It was there that I first heard of things called ‘torrents’, which caused my Genesis bootleg collection to grow quite a lot. I remember how special it was for me to listen to old Genesis concerts without have to spent heaps of money on bootleg fairs – another new world.
Another thing I will never forget are my two trips to Stuttgart in 2007 and 2008 to see The Musical Box. Without IT I would probably never have heard about the existence of such a band and much less gotten the great seats I had. I would always meet very friendly people from the forum in the flesh in Stuttgart, and that was a fine experience.
The whoopee about the “selection of shows” in 2007 is another memory of mine. It was terribly exciting to check the website and the forum every day to see whether anything new had transpired from the tour rehearsals, to compile a dream setlist, discuss the press conference and generally share hopes and anxieties about the tour with other forum users. I was also deeply impressed that our ‘forum boss’ Christian was allowed to see the dress rehearsals and could provide a first-hand report on what was in store for us... I envied him a bit. Two Fanclub T-shirts in red and blue remind me of this exciting period.
I also think about all those funny, interesting, informative, helpful and occasionally irritating conversations in the forum that gave me lots of entertainment and many pleasant hours.
I have sort of withdrawn from the forum as an active user over the years, not because I would not enjoy it anymore, but other things tape up an increasing amount of my time. Still I check the forum several times a day (after all, it is one of the start pages in the browser) and though I do not write in the forum I still feel a special bond with the Fanclub.
Thank you for many wonderful years!
Yours, FIM
New biography written by Mike himself about his career and his relation to his father.
Second Mechanics-Album from 1988, contains the US-Nr. 1-Hit The Living Years.
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