The Electric Prunes, "Mass in F Minor"

Kyrie Eleison
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei

Your Supper's Waiting for You

Genesis' American manager during the end of the Gabriel era recently remarked to me that "Supper's Ready" was really a religious ceremony, akin to a Mass, and that it was no coincidence that Genesis broke in cities with large Catholic populations. He was quick to recognize the pointlessness of his theory, but it's worth repeating his other, more wanton, theory about their American success which is printed in the liner notes to the Archive '67-'75 box set:

"At the end of their first American tour, I booked them at a one-day festival at the Chicago Amphitheatre. The concert that was to start at noon and end at midnight - ten local acts and with Richie Havens and Genesis headlining. That's right, you read correctly. It was a strange bill to say the least. At ten o'clock, the band was introduced and the audience, which had greeted them with mild applause, started to walk out of the arena. More than two-thirds of the audience walked out. They sauntered over to the refreshments stands and congregated in the hallways that circled the arena. They ate, they smoked, they chatted. They did everything except pay attention to Genesis. They didn't pine for a spiritually uplifting experience. They were happy eating hot dogs and smoking pot. I watched the set, slumped over in a hernia of depression for booking this meaningless, stupid gig that would do absolutely nothing to build their careers.

Now at that time Genesis used a magnesium flashpot explosion to dramatize the ending of 'Supper's Ready'. They were the first group I had ever seen use this device and were clearly pioneers in this form of pyrotechnics.

At the climactic moment, KABOOM! A tremendous flash of light, like ten thousand flashbulbs going off simultaneously, blinded the audience.

That night, the crew poured an extra measure of magnesium into the flashpot. The resulting explosion was so strong that it blinded the peripatetic audience wherever they were, at the concession stands and in the hallways. Later, I heard that the blinding flash seeped under the doors of the lavatories in the building.

People suddenly started pouring back into their seats for the last chords of 'Supper's Ready', cheering and applauding wildly. They kept this up for twelve minutes. They gave Genesis a standing ovation, saluting the band for blinding them with a magnesium flashpot explosion." -- Ed Goodgold