"Taking It All Too Hard" by Genesis

Song#:  1945
Date:  06/16/1984
Debut:  82
Peak:  50
Weeks:  12
Genre:  Pop, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  With their self-titled twelfth studio album, Genesis broke through to the Top 10 on the Pop chart with the single "That's All" (#6). It also became their first AC Top 10 getting to #7. The follow-up single, "Illegal Alien," sputtered out at #44, but their record company decided to see if they could eke out one more hit from the LP. This fourth single had mixed results. It was greeted well by AC got to #11 on that chart, yet despite some good airplay, the song could only manage to get halfway up the Pop chart. The single was only issued for the US market and was the last released from the album.

ReduxReview:  If "That's All" didn't confirm that Genesis was bucking for pop commercial success, this single certainly should have. It nearly harks back to yacht rock days. That's not necessarily bad, but I'm sure it disappointed a lot of their prog rock fans to have this ballad all over the radio. Unfortunately, for those fans, it was only gonna get worse from here. Yet while those fans were abandoning the band, a plethora of others were coming on board. This song is a nice ballad with a memorable chorus. The verse lacks a bit of the commercial zing of their future hits (or really, Phil Collins' upcoming hits), but I'm kinda surprised it petered out early at Pop. It probably should have gotten into the Top 40.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  In addition to all four singles from the album getting on the Rock chart, three more tracks received enough airplay to gain entry. "Home By the Sea" got to #24 while "It's Gonna Get Better" reached #16. The best performing of the bunch was "Just a Job to Do," which cracked the Rock Top 10, but just barely - it peaked at #10.

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