Genesis in hogweed prediction. - Daily Express

[Michael_2]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/...e-44-years-ago


Always nice to see our guys in the press.... It'll be interesting to see how many people go 'Peter Gabriel was in Genesis?'!

[bob_32_116]

It's a nice piece of publicity for Genesis - but I think the fact is that giant hogweed has been recognised as a menace for many years, both in Britain and in North America.
A lot of people probably thought it was a product of Gabriel's fevered imagination - I thought so myself at one time - but most of his fantastic lyrics turn out to have either been based on fact, as in the case of the hogweed, or on pre-existing mythology (eg, the fountain of Salmacis, The Lamia).

It would be great though if they used the song as part of a public awareness campaign.

Gabriel looks positively androgynous in that live clip.

[Progatron]

We've had giant hogweed around here for many years. There are occasional flareups and public warnings to not touch the stuff, and to call the city to come and remove it.

[JJ88]

It's funny, I saw this story on the news over here and of course this song was the first thing I thought of!

[Digital_Man]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/...e-44-years-ago


Always nice to see our guys in the press.... It'll be interesting to see how many people go 'Peter Gabriel was in Genesis?'!

Well, of course nobody will say that on this site.

Actually I think most people who know who PG is know he was in Genesis and not just prog fans. Whether they know the music he did back then is an entirely different issue.

It's funny, I never thought this was a real thing until I saw a similar thread on here a few years ago.

[GuitarGeek]

A lot of people probably thought it was a product of Gabriel's fevered imagination -

Not so much a "fevered imagination", but rather a screening of Day Of The Triffids (classic British sci-fi flick of the early 60's, adapted in the early 80's into a BBC TV mini-series). At least that's what I thought until I read about 18 years ago, on whichever Genesis website it was that had a clipping of the newspaper article that reputedly inspired the song. Literally, everything in the song is based on something from this article, right down to the bit about the Hogweed being native to Russia, and it was a British botanist who brought one back to the UK in the late 19th century (or whenver it was supposed to have happened), thus touching off the Hogweed's invasive attack on UK horticulture.

Oh, and I think at this point, anyone who knows or cares who Peter Gabriel is, knows he was in Genesis. There might have been people back in the 80's (particularly Stateside) who didn't know he had been in Genesis, but not today. The only people who don't know he was in Genesis are kids who don't even give a damn who Peter Gabriel is.

[Paulrus]

That's hilarious. Not long ago it would have been unthinkable to link 44-year old Genesis music to a modern story about weed abatement.

And I love this from the comments:

The song was written in the light of quite prominent news items at the time about the Giant Hogweed, including On TV news programs at the time, where it was not hard to predict that unless eradicated it woukd continue to reappear. Get out the weedkiller.

Genesis should re-release it in a remixed version - "Return of Return of the Giant Hogweed"

[2steves]

I thought the song was a metaphor for immigration lol

[bob_32_116]

It's been suggested that the song was inspired by "The Day of the Triffids", a story written by John Wyndham and made into a movie. However I think it's more the other way around.

I read the book quite some time ago, so i don't recall all the details, but one of the nastier things about the triffids was that they first dispersed all these seeds that sent everyone - or nearly everyone - blind. It happens that eye damage - even blindness - one of the more severe symptoms from the hogweed sap, if you are unlucky enough to get it in your eyes. This probably would have been known at the time Wyndham was writing.

[No Pride]

Oh, and I think at this point, anyone who knows or cares who Peter Gabriel is, knows he was in Genesis. There might have been people back in the 80's (particularly Stateside) who didn't know he had been in Genesis, but not today. The only people who don't know he was in Genesis are kids who don't even give a damn who Peter Gabriel is.

One of the chick singers in the band I tour with thought Peter Gabriel was formerly a member of Yes. Oh well, at least she knew it was some prog band. She's 40 years old btw.

I remember when "Day of the Triffids" came out; I was a little kid who loved monster movies and I wanted to see it. Still haven't; gotta rectify that!

FWIW, "Hogweed" is my favorite track on Nursery Crime.

[Moribund]

Where is the public outcry? This is a major disaster that is coming all of our ways.

[mogrooves]

I, for one, welcome our Hogweed overlords!