Steve Hackett says he wouldn’t have taken Genesis in a “pop direction” had he stayed

[Mr. Holland]

https://guitar.com/news/music-news/steve-hackett-leaving-genesis-musical-direction/

[soundchaser09]

thats not a surprise, though even Steve himself tried the pop route in 1982 with Cured and a few other projects following. I have always loved his solo work, though i've never felt the need to get too many of his records. Voyage of the Acolytre, Please Don't Touch and Spectral Mornings of course remain favourites, as well as Out of the Tunnels Mouth.

[madbear]

No-one in their right mind would have taken Genesis in a pop direction after the jazz rock splendour of Trick of the Tail, the progrock epic Lamb Lies Down, and the utterly fantastic Selling England By The Pound. But they did, so I stopped listening....

[alex peters]

Let's not forget Wind and Wuthering. A great album IMO. The last with S.H.

With the exception of a few songs here and there I was not taken with the Pop Genesis also but you cannot argue with success

They saw progressive music was in decline and moved in another direction not unlike Gabriel

[pianozach]

Mr. Hackett has retroactive 20/20 vision.

In other words, he says that NOW, but if he'd stayed, he'd have likely been a willing participant of Genesis' transition to Pop.

Success tends to influence one's views towards how it was accomplished; and no one can deny that Genesis was very successful.

[bondegezou]

https://guitar.com/news/music-news/s...cal-direction/

That article is just lifting content from this interview: https://www.guitarworld.com/features...s-out-and-more Go read the Guitar World piece, don't bother with the Guitar.com piece.

[luna65]

Like it would have been up to him?! 🤣

[michelforest]

https://guitar.com/news/music-news/s...cal-direction/

Which is why he was right to leave. I think his departure was for the good of both parties.

[michelforest]

Mr. Hackett has retroactive 20/20 vision.

In other words, he says that NOW, but if he'd stayed, he'd have likely been a willing participant of Genesis' transition to Pop.

Success tends to influence one's views towards how it was accomplished; and no one can deny that Genesis was very successful.

Indeed.

And let's not forget that Genesis was always the most "pop" of the prog bands. It was a natural evolution of their sound. Some may not like it, that's fine. But I've always found something of interest in their later records, even if I prefer their seventies output. Tracks like "Mama", "Dodo", "Home by the sea" or "Fading Lights" have aged very well and they compensate for the more lightweight stuff.

[Mr. Holland]

Indeed.

And let's not forget that Genesis was always the most "pop" of the prog bands. It was a natural evolution of their sound. Some may not like it, that's fine. But I've always found something of interest in their later records, even if I prefer their seventies output. Tracks like "Mama", "Dodo", "Home by the sea" or "Fading Lights" have aged very well and they compensate for the more lightweight stuff.

Completely agree. And I think there's also some good stuff within their more lightweight stuff. Nothing wrong at all with a good pop song. And I've never understood why a band has to be one thing and one thing only. Why wouldn't a band be allowed to cover a wider range of genres and music? Somehow I count myself lucky that I got to know bands like Yes and Genesis in the 80s, so that it was natural for me that their material was so diverse.

[Soundwaveseeker]

Genesis always considered themselves a 'pop' band and always had shorter tunes. I've even seen interviews where they said they always wrote pop songs/singles but just got better at it (writing hit singles).

They also always had longer/'prog' songs on even the poppiest of their later albums. Fading Lights recalls Cinema Show, and the instrumental B-side Do The Neurotic should have been on the Invisible Touch album. It's literally the Los Endos of the 80's - all kind of twists and turns and sections and bits.

But I always wondered what Hackett would have brought to the later Genesis. It's inconceivable that he could fit anywhere on those albums, but I can almost hear a Hackett guitar solo for the end of Tonight Tonight Tonight. And maybe....just maybe harmonica on I Can't Dance. That may have made that overplayed doodle of a song three quarters of a percent better.

[downbyariver]

If what he says is the case, then I am glad that he left Genesis. From ...And Then There Were Three to Calling All Stations is some of my very favorite music of all-time. I often think that Hackett could have made it even better, but if he really wasn't going to move in the direction that the band was going, then he would have erased it rather than added to it, and don't let the door hit you on the way out from my perspective, basically.

Don't get me wrong, Hackett is one heck of a guitarist. He and I just have some differing ideas of what's good- particularly as it regards what turned out to be post-Hackett Genesis.

I also tend to think that, you know, among a certain generation of fans and musicians, it's popular to bash 80s music in hindsight. Hackett wasn't involved in 80s Genesis (Nor the albums that immediately proceeded and followed it that were in the same vein), so he has no reason to defend the music and every reason to join in the bashfest. I suspect that if he had continued with Genesis, he would have helped them make their awesome 80s music. I mean, he did GTR, which wasn't anywhere near as good, but did involve following some 80s trends.

Personally, I think a lot of 80s music was very good. I mean, I don't like everything in that era, or any other era, but some of my favorite bands' best output came in and around that decade- oftentimes 70s bands adapting to the 80s like Yes, Genesis, and Chicago, but also select "native" 80s bands like Asia and Toto.

[michelforest]

Genesis always considered themselves a 'pop' band and always had shorter tunes. I've even seen interviews where they said they always wrote pop songs/singles but just got better at it (writing hit singles).

According to Banks and Gabriel, when they started out, they didn't even want to be a band. They wanted to write songs for others, but "no one wanted to sing them so we had to do it ourselves." (That was at the very start, when they were still at Charterhouse.)

[michelforest]

Completely agree. And I think there's also some good stuff within their more lightweight stuff. Nothing wrong at all with a good pop song. And I've never understood why a band has to be one thing and one thing only. Why wouldn't a band be allowed to cover a wider range of genres and music? Somehow I count myself lucky that I got to know bands like Yes and Genesis in the 80s, so that it was natural for me that their material was so diverse.

Some of the "lightweight" stuff was indeed pretty good. A personal favorite of mine is "It's Gonna Get Better", a really nice song. Live, it "Got Better" indeed, they streched it out over 7 minutes, with a nice Darryl solo at the end. (The Mama tour was the best of their "pop" period. Forty years later, I still remember it as the most visually stunning show I've ever seen. Today, it would not be as spectacular, but back then, it took the audience's breath away.)

[Soundwaveseeker]

I always had a soft spot for 'Hold On My Heart'. Dreamy pads and chords. Decent romanto song. Indeed, It's Gonna Get Better is nice live, Daryl shines. And I like how it segues from Keep It Dark like a medley.

Interesting to note is that of the 80's songs that remained in the setlist throughout the remainder of their touring days, some of the more proggier ones like Home By The Sea and Domino stayed in the setlist while chart 'hits' like No Reply At All, In Too Deep, Misunderstanding and That's All eventually got dropped.