Invisible Touch

Invisible Touch is the thirteenth studio album by Genesis, released in 1986. As their most commercially successful pop album, it got generally favourable reviews from critics and produced five US Top 5 singles, including the title track which reached the pole position.

The album was structured to appeal to both newer and older Genesis fans, with radio-friendly singles like “Land of Confusion” and the title track for pop fans, and longer tracks like “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” and “Domino” aimed more towards fans of the band’s progressive rock style of the 1970s. The idiosyncratic instrumental “The Brazilian” showed the band had not lost its willingness to experiment.

Some of the lyrics on this album are among Genesis’ rare attempts at social and political commentary, with “Domino” evoking a nightmarish nuclear war scenario and “Land of Confusion” commenting satirically on the political turmoil of the Reagan/Thatcher/Gorbachev era. A widely acclaimed video for “Land of Confusion”, featuring the Spitting Image puppets, was nominated for MTV’s Video of the Year Award, but ironically, lost to former lead singer Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight”, another hit song from the album, dealt with drug addiction, while “Anything She Does” took a humorous yet subtle look at pornography.

Catching Genesis at their commercial peak, Invisible Touch was an instant UK #1, while it reached #3 in the US and went six times platinum there. The album was supported by the 1986-87 Invisible Touch Tour, a concert video of which was released in 1988.