1986 Rock Song, Written by an Iconic English Band in a Single Day, Became a No. 1 Hit

"Invisible Touch" was a 1986 Genesis song that quickly rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. While this track was on the charts, four of the band's current and former members were also on the list for their solo projects. The most notable was "Take Me Home" by Phil Collins, their drummer and lead vocalist. There were also songs made by Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, and Steve Hackett on the list.

When speaking about the origin of "Invisible Touch," Collins told The Guardian, "'Invisible Touch' is my favorite Genesis song, and it came more or less out of nowhere. We would arrive in the studio every day and just start playing. One day, Mike Rutherford played a riff on the guitar, with an echo, and I suddenly sang: ‘She seems to have an invisible touch – yeah!' It came into my head fully formed. I'm sure people have all kinds of ideas about how we wrote these songs they love or loathe, but really, our writing process was close to jazz. We improvised."

Rutherford, the guitarist for the band, agreed. "The best songs tend to get written quickly," he said. "That's how it was with 'Invisible Touch.' We'd rock up, have a cup of tea, see what happened. On day one, we had no songs, no ideas, and a blank bit of paper. Phil was always keen to fill that bit of paper – he was very organized – and we let him. It's a wonderful song: upbeat, fun to play, always a strong moment in any gig."

He also spoke about the music video that accompanied the song, saying, "We never took our music videos too seriously. I think the public saw us as a bit serious, so we liked to surprise them. Phil would come up with some kind of comic character. The shoot for 'Invisible Touch' was in a huge old grain store by the Thames. In one frame, you can see us rolling around in what looks like a big silver cotton reel."

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Genesis had 22 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 over the years, including "In Too Deep" and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight." The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 6:11 AM.