The Real Reason Steve Hackett Quit Genesis

April 2024 ยท 2 minute read

As cited by Louder, Steve Hackett told "Genesis 1975-2021" author Mario Giammetti that toward the end of his tenure with the band, he was writing more and more songs that he believed weren't suited for a traditional band setup. As such, he was considering gambling on himself as a solo act going forward. However, there was apparently more to it than that, as he also claimed that he was issued an ultimatum by keyboardist Tony Banks to stop recording solo albums on the side if he wanted to remain in Genesis.

"Tony said I couldn't do more solo albums and be a member of Genesis," Hackett alleged. "Tony was assuming leadership at that point and Mike [Rutherford] was backing him up, so there was no guarantee of a proportion of the songwriting being divided up equally. Tony said: 'If you don't like it, you know what you can do.'"

Due to the success of his 1975 release "Voyage of the Acolyte," Hackett felt that he had come of age as a songwriter and was ready to play a bigger role within Genesis. As it seems, his bandmates weren't comfortable with him being more than just a glorified sideman with limited creative input. So with that ultimatum in place, the best thing for Hackett to do was to quit.

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