Just now seeing this, fucking Christ, man.
$300 million split three ways, and a chunk I'm sure going to their manager, Tony Smith (fucking pillock). That blows my mind, that kind of money. Not FAWKIN upset here (sniff).
In all seriousness, good for them. They made it for the long haul and they appear to be done this time. It's not the purely artistic move to make, as I would always prefer to own what I make, but business-wise, I can't fault them. Phil is set and covered no matter how much worse his health gets, and his kids are set too. Tony can make all the classical he wants until he keels. And Mike can keep forcing the Mechanics out there for another encore of Silent Running.
But where I will be critical, is that Steve and Peter don't appear to be getting a cent from this. I will go to my grave stating the peak of Genesis was while Steve Hackett was in the band, and the class he added to every track is immeasurable.
And Peter Gabriel goes without saying - he was the heart of the band up until he left. I can admit he sounded far too controlling during The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - I still remember Tony and Mike telling me about the tension during that time, which to their credit, they took a fair amount of blame for - but he was very central to their songwriting and establishing their identity. I just find the exclusions a bit of a pish look, frankly.
And for the comments about how I'm not mentioned in the article - welcome to the last twenty years of my life. No hate towards Phil, Mike, and especially Tony, but I've accepted being treated like a ghost in their history. It's what it is and I've let a lot of it go, as most of it isn't petty or even involving them. My issues stand with their manager, who was such a cunt that they wouldn't even send me the remastered Calling All Stations on Vinyl as a kind gesture, like anyone in the industry would do for an album they worked on.