Trespass
- "White Mountain" is about a wolf named Fang who seeks to take control of his pack by killing its leader. After stealing the packs crown and sceptre, the pack realises what he's up to and go to kill him. The pack leader's declaration that Fang must die is accompanied by very loud bass kicks from the drums, adding a very dark tone to what had mostly been a by the books prog rock song with its acoustic guitar and keyboards.Fang, son of Great Fang
The traitor we seek
The Laws of the Brethren say this:
That only the King sees the crown of the gods
And he, the usurper,
Must DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! - "The Knife", about a soon-to-be dictator rallying his followers.I'll give you the names of those you must kill
All must die with their children
Carry their heads to the palace of old
Hang them high, let the blood flow
Now, in this ugly world
Break all the chains around us
Now, the crusade has begun
Give us a land fit for heroes, NOW!- The remastered edition for the 2007 Tour Edition of Turn It On Again: The Hits manages to be even worse, with Gabriel's voice now distorted in a way that sounds as though he's talking through a megaphone as he says the following:
Some of you are going to die... martyrs, of course, to the freedom that I shall proviiiiiiide!- The ending: "We have woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnn!!!"
- There's a part where Peter Gabriel begins chanting "We are only wanting freedom" which begins progressively creepier as more voices join in, giving a Voice of the Legion effect to it. Towards the end of this, we hear an officer giving a command to his men:
"Okay, men, fire over their heads!"
[A child is heard screaming]
- The backstory of "The Musical Box" has a boy beheaded by a girl's croquet mallet, with his soul being trapped in the titular box. As soon as he was freed from it, he was lusting for the girl as the Rapid Aging gave him sudden urges."Why don't you touch me, touch me?
Why don't you touch me, touch me?
Touch me NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW!" - "Return of the Giant Hogweed" should be Narm or Nightmare Retardant due to being based on the invasion of a plant species. However, when you actually listen to it, it doesn't come out that way, due to the sheer darkness of the ending, what with its dissonance and proto-NWOBHM galloping rhythms.
- Peter Gabriel's the Watcher Of The Skies
◊ outfit has an overlord-esque appearance fitting of an alien observing a long-abandoned Earth. - "Apocalypse in 9/8" from "Supper's Ready", especially after the whimsically surreal "Willow Farm", is rather intense with lyrics regarding an apocalypse. Peter Gabriel even had a Guard of Magog◊ outfit for that part. If that wasn't creepy enough, listen to the version on Seconds Out. It removes the rhythm guitar and replaces it with Mike playing bass pedals, making it sound even eerier. The version from the 1986 "In The Cage" medley has Phil yelling "666 is no longer alone" atop an imposing platform in a manner that is straight up blood-curdling.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
- "And I'm hovering like a fly, waiting for the windshield on the freeway..."
- Don't forget the epic dissonance of "The Waiting Room"!
- The Lamia, who lustfully drew Rael into a rosewater pond and started to feed on his blood before dying, turning the surrounding environment sour.
- "The Colony of Slippermen" has the aforementioned Slippermen, which Peter Gabriel had a grotesque costume for◊. The plot also progresses with Rael being castrated by Doktor Dyper to avoid being turned into one of the Slippermen.
- The twisting, loud, deathly melodies at the end of Entangled, played on mellotron and a warbly synthesizer, particularly as the song's lyrics concern a patient's discussions of mental illness with a psychiatrist, definitely count on their own.
...And Then There Were Three...
- "Snowbound", a song about hiding a dead body in a snowman, certainly qualifies for this trope. A method of "waste management" that would have done Tony Soprano proud.
- "Mama". Mechanical drum machine? Check. Ominous music? Check. Big drumming finale, like in "In The Air Tonight"? Check. Phil almost doing a Metal Scream? Check. Phil's Evil Laugh? Check. Stalker with a Crush Clingy Jealous Guy lyrics that would make Sting proud? Check.
- The Thief in "Home by the Sea" breaks into a house, only to be accosted by the ghosts there and made to remain forever with them.
- The "Land of Confusion" music video, which provides the page image, is pretty creepy, with its puppet versions of celebrities (made by the folks behind Spitting Image) and Genesis themselves (ESPECIALLY the Phil Collins puppet, who looks like a squashed tomato). The video is "highlighted" by a mouth in Madonna's belly singing.
- "Domino" is a pretty bleak song about global disasters, especially with the middle of the track."Blood on the windows
Millions of ordinary people are there
They gaze at the scenery
They act as if it is perfectly clear
Take a look at the mountains
Take a look at the beautiful river of blood
The liquid surrounds me
I fight to rise from this river of hell
I stare 'round the balcony
Children are swimming and playing with boats
Their features are changing
Their bodies dissolve, and I am alone"
- "Driving the Last Spike", not least because everything the song describes actually happened to numerous railroad labourers. It'll be particularly frightening for individuals with claustrophobia.
Others
- "The Day the Light Went Out", the B-Side to "Many, Too Many", also available in Genesis: 1976-1982. See also: The End of the World as We Know It.When they went to bed that night no one would have believed
That in the morning, light would not be there
The dark hung heavy on the air like the grip of a jealous man
No place was there known to have been spared
Then panic took control of minds and fear hit everyone
The day the light went out of the daytime sky. - The subject of wrongful imprisonment in "Inside and Out". It is strongly implied that the man's actions were consensual, but that the parents of the girl he made out with have it in for him. The song states that the event took place in August '53, and that he has been out (as of 1977) for 20 years, meaning that he spent four years in prison and then was let out, likely due to insufficient evidence. Several summers pass where he tries to explain his story differently (most likely modifying his story to get a lesser sentence) and he eventually gets out, but the judge tells him that he's 'paid for his lies'. Then, 'with that behind you, you can't plan ahead' - he's been found (technically) innocent, but nobody will hire him. It's still however implied that they can imprison him again, regardless of his claims of innocence, if more 'evidence' turns up, and this time they definitely won't let him go. The effect symbolises the way the man is still paying for the crime he did not commit. It also highlights how sadistic some authority figures can be.
- Steve Hackett has an instrumental track on his debut solo album, Voyage Of The Acolyte, sandwiched in between two gentle pieces, called "A Tower Struck Down". It is an aggressive, increasingly chaotic and dissonant piece with persistant, distorted electric guitars and analog synths, a sound effects Jump Scare in the middle, and the sound of a Hitler rally of "Sieg Heil"s at the end. Sweet dreams, kiddies.
