“I Know What I Like” by Genesis

"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" was the song that first put Genesis on the UK singles chart, a 1974 single on Charisma pulled from their 1973 album Selling England by the Pound. It's a sly character sketch: Jacob, a groundsman with no interest in growing up and doing great things, perfectly content behind his lawn mower. The idea came from Betty Swanwick's painting The Dream, which also became the album cover, and Swanwick painted a mower into it at the band's request.

Musically it's a Beatles-inspired slice of psychedelic rock: hand percussion, a riff Steve Hackett found jamming with Phil Collins, a chorus melody from Tony Banks, and Banks again at either end, holding a low ARP synthesizer note to mimic the mower's drone. It reached 21 in the UK, a modest start, but a start.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.