In a recent interview with the Now Spinning Magazine Podcast, Steve Hackett discussed Genesis’ early career and noted that most fans were unaware of their appearances at the time because there weren’t any music videos available. He outlined this by using Pink Floyd’s early career as an example: “I can still clearly recall reading about Pink Floyd very early on. Each of them will be able to board a bus and not be recognized by anyone in Oxford Street despite having tremendous hit records. that kind of emotion. I suppose we experienced the same thing. We had no faces. The music was the sole source of the identity. You might have appeared as anyone, and we frequently did.
The guitarist also said that Genesis was a “albums-oriented band” at a time when there was a developing “interest of singles-oriented bands” with MTV’s influence in the 1970s and 1980s in another interview with Eric Montfort in 2022. He said the following about the band’s audience at that time: There were two opposing factions within Genesis, such as those who adored “Supper’s Ready” in the same way that they adored Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” where they could fully immerse themselves. However, there was also this new direction, which brought Genesis new fans while also confusing longtime supporters.
He continued, mentioning how such years had an impact on his music: The pan-genre strategy, which appealed to listeners aged eight to eighty, however, was what truly piqued my interest in connecting with my audiences who enjoy classical, jazz, world, and soundtrack music—even though I may have only managed to sell half as much as Genesis did. When Steve Hackett’s most recent album, “Surrender Of Silence,” was recorded and released in 2021, it turned out to be a rock album with influences from world music.
