John Mayhew

Pollyanna

Platinum Member
John Mayhew passed away about a year ago. There's nothing on the forum about him so I thought I'd plug the gap.

John M played on Genesis's landmark album Trespass before being "invited to leave" afterwards. Later he moved to Australia and worked as a carpenter. We often adulate the big winners but I think it's nice to remember someone with a lesser profile who, as he put it, had his "fifteen minutes".

One of the Genesis band members later talked down his playing in an interview and, while some reviewers on a prog forum enjoyed his drumming, others criticised his efforts as "tentative", "irrelevant", "generic" and "as much co-ordination behind the drum kit as a learner driver". Non-drummers - phoohey! I've never seen a drummer put down like that (other than Meg and Ringo, and that's just jealousy). Not easy to be compared with Phil Collins.

I don't think the criticisms are valid anyway. At times he overplays a touch and seems a little ponderous at times, but I had that album when I was young and got off on his big tom sound that added to the symphonic mood of the album and that non-slick feel he had. At times he reminds me of Queen's Roger Taylor on their early albums.

Looking for Someone and Stagnation on that album are still considered by some to be amongst Genesis's best tracks so he must have been doing some things very right.

RIP
 
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