About the Song: Superfans of Genesis say this 23-minute track is their number one masterpiece. A seven-part saga, Supper’s Ready takes you on a Biblical journey of epic proportions. Singer Peter Gabriel starts from a modern-day living room and somehow gets us into a battlefield with warlords and the Pied Piper.
About the Song: Close to the Edge is an 18-minute song based on the Hindu mystic story of Siddhartha. It has a dream-like quality, where the storyteller drifts in and out of worlds. According to songwriter Jon Anderson, the meaning of his words only became apparent after the fact. Stay true to your heart, and your higher power will never let you down.
About the Song: This 20-minute odyssey’s comprised of seven narrative sections. The lyrics tell the story of a musician trying to make the world a better place through music. But unfortunately, the rulers in the year 2112 don’t care. They crush his guitar, sending him to his cave in utter despair. The musician feels death will be his final sweet relief.
About the Song: Eruption, Stone of Years, Iconoclast, Mass, Manticore, Battlefield, and Aquatarkus. These are the seven parts that make up the epic song Tarkus. Fans of Emerson, Lake & Palmer say if the band’s only recording were this, they would still be legends. Tarkus is that good.
About the Song: When British stars Queen approached music executives about this nearly six-minute song, they scoffed and said it would fail. They didn’t want to release it. So the band came up with a plan. Producer Roy T. Baker handed radio DJ Kenney Everett a reel-to-reel copy, “begging” him not to play it on the radio. Everett completely understood their coded band speak and “accidentally” aired it.