Mike Rutherford - Enigmatic Pop Bass

Mike Rutherford has possibly got to be one of the most under rated bassplayers ever. It’s unbelievable. People you know think of Genesis as a pop band or as a band that spawned successful musicians. Really successful. Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel are virtually household names and though both are mostly recognized at the level of record sales and continuing stardom (it may be in question but it’s only a matter of time), their artistry is still vague for most people. What about Mike?

The British Mike’s real name is Michael John Cleote Crawford and he was born October 2, 1950. He was one of the founding members of Genesis, the seminal progressive and art rock band that were equally enigmatic with studio and live efforts. A lot of docmented material exists about the band so I won’t delve into it.

Genesis have successfully been expanding their base since their initial attempts and have managed to incorporate almost ever sub genre under Rock, R&B, and Pop into their diverse album span; each member of the band managed to make a ton of albums; you won’t believe it; the links at the bottom of the page will help you refer to what I mean. In the midst of all this hectic activity that Mike is known to be patient for, he has managed to tuck away an incredible library of basslines; suffice to say, he wasn’t given any sheets and he wasn’t ‘told’ what to do.

Genesis’ massive recording output as a band, and with each of their individual forays into mostly abstractions of rock and R&B and sometimes digressions, it’s no wonder that Mike was largely forgotten as a bassplayer. There are too many albums you would need to dig into understand the breadth and expanse of Mike’s bass sounds which over the years have been analyzed to death as being of a guitarist approach and touch. I have also seen this go to the next level when comparisons are made between Mike Rutherford and Chris Squire of Yes; the most important difference I see is that Chris is an intent stylist with the bass while Mike is more of a bassplayer often effectively serving the songs with pop sensibilities or choosing to make stylistic statements along the lines of melodic improvisation. Listening to Chris, you get the impression that he is leading the band. Mike always sits in the background but remove his line and all you get is a pastiche of intended sounds with no funky meaning in them. Mike delivers soul with his bass playing.

But then again, I can totally look at it another way. Mike is surely in his basssic element on both Abacab for instance and Selling England by the Pound. In the former, you can hear an 80’s hip trip with retro sounds and unbelievably hooky bass lines on the title track. The awesome rollicking bassline with complete solo like lines and dripping harmonies on No Reply At All totally floors you with Motown history and soul. Abacab is truly a pop bass masterpiece. There are some basslines in there that could teach you the beauty of pop bass. Even if Mike didn’t spend all his time on deconstructing Motown tunes, his time well spent on stringed instruments, especially 12 string guitar on which he’s very proficient ultimately made him a melodic bassplayer with a deep understanding of ambience and lyric supported bass parts. The only other bassists who’ve exhibited this to basstastic delight are definitely James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt and, of course the masterful Paul McCartney. There were many others too like Duck Dunn, David Hood, and George Porter but they chose to work mostly as sidemen, while James Jamerson could have very well gone on to make many solo albums had it not been for his addiction and habit.

On the latter, Selling England by The Pound, I find Mike Rutherford’s work as the best examples of ambience, busy upper register lines, and deft basslines on a progressive rock album. If you dial in closely to Peter Gabriel’s trip, he’s trying to communicate concepts at a very visceral level. The whole band is able to work up a huge sound on the tracks The Cinema Show, and the exotic Firth of Fifth has some great bass and piano work very well set in with the lyrics and perfectly in tune with the fantasy like expanse in Steve Hackett’s phenomenal, moody, and very textural guitar solo. I’m sure at the peak of their Gabriel associated output, Genesis would have been the band to watch live.

Mike Rutherford was busy all through the 70’s with Genesis on seminal albums including Foxtrot, A Trick Of The Tail (which has some brilliant evocative songwriting including one of Phil Collins’ best vocal efforts), the more conservative And Then There Were Three (where Mike decided to play in favor of the songs), and the wildly funky and political Duke. Later, Mike also played some historic groovy lines on the self titled Genesis album; some tracks where Mike’s making the bass statement are on Home By The Sea, Mama, and the eccentric Illegal Alien which is chock full of basslines that have to be heard to be believed.

It is possible that within the span of the 70’s Genesis albums, Mike had already developed into an accomplished creative bassplayer and was thus able to experiment with his first solo album titled Small Creep's Day, a concept album based on the Peter C. Brown novel in 1980. After this, he interspersed a tremendous output of guitar and bass parts with his band Mike and the Mechanics as well as working non stop with the virtually inexhaustible Phil Collins and core founding Genesis member, Tony Banks on more pop explorations with Genesis. I have purposely not dug deeper into Mike and the Mechanics which is a band that did all things pop, and also Mike’s association with guitarist/bassplayer Daryl Streumer who worked together in Genesis.

When I heard Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, I became a convert, and I have never since then been able to forget the impact that Mike has had on me; or for many bassists especially in the 80’s and 90’s; even with the constant irritating prospect of playing with synthesizer intensive bands. Mike’s style was refreshing and very progressive because of his competence at songwriting, guitar (specially 12 string) and electric bass. The photo you see has Mike with his Shergold double neck which allowed him to play bass in most sections as well as shift to 12 string melodies and harmonies in the serious, quieter, more introverted sections of Genesis’ music. Mike also used Rickenbacker basses for a long time and can be pictured with a few in Genesis concerts. In the old days, he used a pair of Mr. Bassman pedals that provided a bass pulse as he would play guitar with Steve Hackett and often, even Tony Banks. Mike also used classic 70’s Shergold Guitars. In his guitar toting phase, Mike can be seen in the second photograph with a beautiful Fender guitar.

In the last year or so, I have slowly been weaning off of progressive rock but Genesis always blow me away with their thematic and conceptual approach far beyond so many bands that were doing something similar but with half the heart. If you’re really clued in, check out his basslines; you’ll find little fragmented melodies in the guise of ‘bass parts’; and really, Mike plays both guitar and bass equally well. I can't but appreciate his involvement and contributions to the art of contemporary electric bass. He just hasn't been credited enough with the very development of progressive rock and specifically, the role of the bass. I've admired him for years now and I will continue to.

To view reasonably extensive information about Mike, look here: http://www.genesis-music.com/newsrutherford.htm

Mike was Shergold Guitars’ biggest patron: http://www.shergold.co.uk/mikes.html

Mike also reviewed a Shergold Six String bass and you can read it here:http://www.shergold.co.uk/simike79.html

Complete Genesis Discography: http://www.genesisdiscography.com/

Short clip of Mike with Tony and Phil performing Follow you Follow Me from the album And Then There Were Three…: http://www.youtube.com/watch?search=genesis+band&v=F64gySvk_aw