Trespass was not a major success upon release; it failed to chart in the UK and the US and it received some mixed reviews from critics, but it was commercially successful in Belgium.
In August 1969, Genesis decided to be a professional band, bought new equipment including a bass guitar and a Hammond Organ and recorded some songs in Regent Studios as a demo, including "White Mountain" and "Family" (which later became "Dusk"). The line-up during this time was founding members, lead vocalist Peter Gabriel, guitarist Anthony Phillips, bassist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks along with drummer John Silver who then left to study in the US.
In September, Genesis played their first live shows as a professional band, touring the local club and university circuit, along with new drummer John Mayhew. In early 1970, they secured a six-week residency at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in Soho, London, during which they were spotted by Charisma Records producer John Anthony, who persuaded label boss Tony Stratton-Smith to sign them. The group wanted to branch out from their earlier pop-oriented style and write and perform songs that were unlike any other band at the time. Rutherford later said that gigging was "tough, but a good way of getting the music into shape". Two songs that made it to the next album, "Looking for Someone" and "Stagnation" were recorded for a BBC session in February 1970.
After several months of subsequent gigs, Genesis had enough material written and, in June retreated to Trident Studios in London to record a new album. They were joined by producer and recording engineer John Anthony, and all the songs were recorded on 16-track tape. The group had enough material to record two albums, but felt some songs were not strong enough.
During the recording, Phillips became uncomfortable with the musical direction, and was unhappy about the amount of gigs, which took away time to write complex material such as "Stagnation". He also thought there were too many songwriters in the group and it was difficult to get ideas across. Shortly afterwords, matters came to a head and he quit the group. In the liner notes to the Genesis box set Genesis Archive 1967–75, Banks claims "Let Us Now Make Love", one of Phillips's songs, was not recorded for the album because the group thought it had the potential of a single, but following the guitarist's sudden departure following the album's completion, it was never recorded in the studio. A live version was released on the box set, performed in February 1970.
At the same time, the group decided to replace Mayhew with a more suitable drummer. He was older than the rest of the band and felt an outsider, not contributing much to writing and lacked confidence. An urgent replacement was required to fulfil live dates to promote Trespass. Phil Collins replaced Mayhew in August, and the album was released in October. The group could not find a suitable replacement for Phillips, so they resumed gigging as a four-piece.
The album cover was painted by Paul Whitehead, who also did the covers for the band's next two albums. Whitehead had finished the cover and then the band added "The Knife" to the running order. Feeling that the cover no longer fitted the mood of the album, they asked Whitehead to redo it. When Whitehead was reluctant to do so, the band members inspired him to slash the canvas with an actual knife. The whole thing was then photographed, but came out blue when reproduced due to lighting in the room.
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