Before Genesis became the iconic progressive rock band we know today, its roots lay in two school bands at Charterhouse School: Garden Wall and Anon. Among these, Anon brought together the talents of Anthony Phillips, Richard Macphail, Rivers Jobe, Rob Tyrrell, and a young Mike Rutherford. On December 16, 1965, Anon performed their first live gig—the humble beginning of a legendary musical journey.
The Event: On Thursday Next
Anon’s debut performance took place at a school event called On Thursday Next, a variety show featuring music, sketches, and even a short film made by students. Anon had prepared three songs for the evening, all covers from the Rolling Stones’ Out of Our Heads album: Oh Baby (We’ve Got a Good Thing Going), Talkin’ ‘Bout You, and Mercy, Mercy.
The performance was a mix of excitement and improvisation. While the audience was entertained by a political sketch performed in front of the closed curtain, the band hurriedly set up their instruments with the help of classmates Chris Hollebone and Dave Clement. It was during this setup that disaster nearly struck: Mike Rutherford discovered his guitar cable was broken.
“So the curtain is about to go up. And Mike Rutherford has got no lead. We just couldn’t believe it,”1 Phillips later recalled. Luckily, a replacement cable was found just in time, but it was too short. Instead of standing in the spotlight with the rest of the band, Rutherford had to remain at the far side of the stage, barely visible in the shadows.
Anon Takes the Stage
When the sketch ended, the curtain opened, revealing a visibly nervous Anthony Phillips, who had to start their first song with trembling hands. As Anon launched into Oh Baby (We’ve Got a Good Thing Going), the initial jitters soon gave way to confidence. By the time they followed up with Talkin’ ‘Bout You and Mercy, Mercy, the band had won over their audience.
The crowd responded enthusiastically, with one notable exception. Charterhouse’s headmaster, Mr. Van Oss, sat in the front row, unimpressed and determined to show it: he plugged his fingers into his ears during the performance. Despite this rather pointed critique, Anon’s debut was considered a success.
A Promising Start
The performance even garnered the band’s first-ever press coverage in the school newspaper, The Carthusian. Reviews were mixed but encouraging.
Although Anon’s time as a band was short-lived—they disbanded in December 1966—their music and spirit laid the groundwork for Genesis. This first gig in December 1965 was more than a simple school performance. As we look back on this performance nearly six decades later, it’s fascinating to imagine the nerves, excitement, and raw potential that filled the room that night. The journey from a school stage to global fame may have seemed unimaginable then, but it was already underway.
Title photo: Anon (Source: Discogs)
Sources
Banks, Tony; Collins, Phil; Gabriel, Peter; Hackett, Steve; Rutherford, Mike; Dodd, Philip (2007): Genesis. Chapter & verse. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin.
Hewitt, Alan, Opening the Musical Box – A Genesis Chronicle. (Firefly Publishing, 2000).
Thompson, Dave (2005): Turn it on again. Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins & Genesis. San Francisco: Backbeat Books.
Footnotes
- Phillips in Banks et. al (2007: 20). ↩︎
nice to be name checked in this feature.
Thank you Sir, your work is a great source of information and inspiration for any Genesis fan.
Best,
Phil
I was just a baby in December 1965 and thought it was fascinating reading about the beginning of Genesis