Abacab - 2007 Remaster

The title refers to the song structure as it was originally written: "A", "B", and "C" refer to different sections of the song: A = Verse B = Chorus C = Bridge So the song went verse, chorus, verse, bridge, verse, chorus, but it ended up having a different structure - "ABACAB" was just a way for them to remember how it was formed when they started working on it. When it came time to title the song and the album, they wanted something a bit abstract, and "Abacab" worked because it had no meaning. The album art was created to look like an abstract painting to go with this theme, indicating it would not be typical of Genesis' previous work. "It wasn't going to be goblins and fairies," Mike Rutherford said.

Genesis frontman Phil Collins said that Abacab was the first album where the three members of the band really talked to each other and worked as a team. The band bought a place in Surrey, England that they turned into a recording studio, which they called The Farm. This song was written in the living room of the house. On this song and the others on the album, the drums were a lot more pronounced than on previous Genesis recordings, and the keyboards far less prominent.

This was the second US single from the album, following "No Reply At All." Like many British bands, they had been making music videos for some of their songs, and "Abacab" got one as well. It was just a basic clip of the band performing on an empty stage, but MTV didn't have much to choose from and welcomed any new material they could find from established rock acts like Genesis. Genesis was especially ill-suited for this kind of video because their lead singer was trapped behind a drum kit and their look was pretty generic (rugby shirts!), but it got the job done, helping the song reach #26 in the US in February 1982 and introducing them to a younger audience. They quickly adapted to MTV, delivering well-produced concept videos for many of their next singles.