One might think that, by superfan standards, Adam Gottlob was bitten by the Genesis bug relatively late in the band’s career, around 1981. Peter Gabriel had left the group in 1975, following the tour in support of their magnum opus, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Guitarist Steve Hackett had also departed prior to 1978’s …And Then There Were Three…, leaving drummer and vocalist Phil Collins, keyboard player Tony Banks, and guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford to soldier on and find great commercial success.
Once Adam discovered Genesis, he more than made up for lost time. As a very young man, he first heard the 1981 album Abacab at a friend’s birthday party and was taken with it. He found other devotees of the band and started contacting fan clubs, acquiring magazines, singles, and other paraphernalia. Adam was also exploring Pink Floyd, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix, Rush, and Led Zeppelin, but Genesis was the one. His first concert of theirs was in 1986 for the Invisible Touch tour (he had previously been to a Phil Collins solo show in 1985).
With an admitted addictive personality, Adam has amassed a staggering array of Genesis memorabilia, including everything from instruments used by the band to posters, live recordings, articles, promotional material, gold records, hand-written set lists, contracts, and much more, all of which he used in creating the Genesis Museum (website www.genesis museum.com). His magazine collection alone numbers in the thousands of pieces, and he knows another collector with about 2,500 posters! He has become quite adept at film editing and restoration as well. A large number of items in the collection are scans of things that he does not physically own, but make up part of his “digital collection.”
Adam Gottlob, creator and curator, holding copies of his book in front of a very small portion of the Genesis Museum collection.
As luck would have it, his job as an electrical engineer working for an aircraft test equipment manufacturer involved a lot of international travel. This made it possible for him to meet many of the overseas Genesis fans with whom he had corresponded. Adam figures he’s met fans in more than 30 countries. Seeing the diverse collections and interests of the fans got him thinking about the psychology of collectors. That, and a desire to share more of the things related to the band, led to his new book, which is now in its second edition.
The Genesis Museum Collectors Exhibit, book cover.
The Genesis Museum Collectors Exhibit is much more than just a catalog of memorabilia. It explores the compulsion to acquire items related to a specific interest. Adam conducted Zoom interviews with about 60 collectors in various countries. Aside from photos and quotes from those collectors, there is a healthy bit of analysis regarding why we collect, how we store things, and what will happen to our collections when we pass. One entire section is devoted to the addictive nature of collecting. This gives the book a much broader appeal – it’s not just about Genesis. Of course, the target audience is Genesis fans, and those fans will find a cornucopia of band-related items they probably never knew existed.
Among the collectors featured in the book, there are some people who have a very narrow or niche focus regarding what they collect. One fan collects press kits put out by the band (or record label), featuring photos and background information. Another specializes in tour jackets and shirts, and yet another focuses on radio shows and interviews.
Here’s an example of one collector’s profile in the book:
Canadian Serge Morissette is the creative director for the Genesis tribute band The Musical Box. The band is fully authorized by members of Genesis and utilize some of the same visuals that the group had used in the 1970s.
I asked Adam about whether there was a particular item in the museum that he considered the rarest. He had recently visited with John Burns (producer/engineer on Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) and came away with a treasure trove of memorabilia, the most prized of which was a lyric sheet used for the recording sessions of the latter album. He also came home with an African talking drum that Peter Gabriel had used on the song “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe).” Adam’s own favorite category of collectibles is Miscellaneous Items, some of which involve unofficial items made by fans or other tribute bands.
One of the many things I learned from the book is that Phil Collins himself was a major collector of Alamo ephemera (yes, the Texas Alamo!). As a young lad, he was a fan of the Davy Crockett TV show and all things concerning the American West of the 1800s. He has donated a major portion of his collection to the Alamo Museum and continues to find new items.
The Genesis Museum Collectors Exhibit is a gorgeously produced hardbound coffee-table tome, measuring 10 x 10 inches and about one inch thick, containing nearly 300 pages. It is a labor of love, and Adam is selling it at his cost. It can be ordered at https://genesismuseum.com/exhibit.htm It is available in the US for $52 (including shipping) and discounts are available for multiple copies. Books with minor damage or printing issues are available at a 50% discount.
The Genesis Museum also has a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@GenesisMuseum) with a wealth of live material and interviews.
Adam contacted me after I wrote about interviewing Genesis in Copper (Issue 125 and Issue 127). My interview with Phil Collins and Tony Banks from March of 1974 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu-neNcfzs8 and my Peter Gabriel interview (done on the same day) is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1BYskq3VE.
The tapes were transcribed via an app, and Adam did a superb job of producing the video embellishments for what were audio-only cassette recordings.
I thought I was a pretty informed and dedicated Genesis fan, but after reading the book, I realized these folks put my collection to shame.
Images courtesy of Adam Gottlob.
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