Abacab

The late 70s, early 80s were seminal times musically for the artist eventually to be known as Rob.

It was around this time that I was listening to a lot of Imus, learning really how to time a radio program, and figuring out what my own musical tastes were, as opposed to what was influenced.

Disco? Sure, I dabbled. It was unavoidable.

Our car radio was an AM. It would be a short time before I'd grab my first stereo system (turntable, 8-track...and AM/FM tuner).

None of this is relevant, except that unless I was in my sisters car (probably the yellow Camaro, although the red Camaro was sweet), I wasn't getting that sonic boost of FM with the cassette player!

All of this made me think of "Abacab," the whoosh of electronic with a pop heart from Genesis. While they still had a few years left in their evolution from prog rock masters to full pop artists (oy, Phil Collins, what happened?), their more deep pastures had been left behind for what would eventually be "Invisible Touch" and "I Can't Dance."

The lyrics were catchy and energetic to a kid in 1981...

Look up on the wall
There on the floor
Under the pillow
Behind the door

Not exactly "The screen door slams. Mary's dress waves" of Springsteen, but it worked.

Still does. Great song. Great album.