If Peter had stayed..............

[Brad]

I was in bed struggling to get to sleep last night when I thought about this. If Peter had stayed with Genesis, do you think that the band would have succeeded?? We all know that Genesis truly reached their successful peak when they were well established as a three piece. Commercial sounding, and whether fans like it or not (no pun intended hehe), they did succeed that way. So, this is an interesting discussion I think. Where would Genesis have gone if Peter had remained with the group???

[Ed Kuszajewski]

They probably would have imploded. Peter had got to a point with on the Lamb he wrote the story and the lyrics so if he would have stayed he may have started to squeeze in on the composition of the music as well until he was writing it all too (Think Roger Waters in Pink Floyd) with the band reduced to being his sidemen and hating him in the process. Fortunately he was able to leave with friendships intact and go on to an exciting and successful solo career and Genesis were able to go on without him and achieve great artistic & commercial success. While I would love to see a five man reunion, the split was necesary. Peter singing Blood on The Rooftops? Tony playing Biko? Phil's talent couldn't have been contained in the confines of the group if Peter would have stayed and he would have probably left by the early 80's. If Peter would have stayed the creative tensions would have torn the whole band apart at best; and at worst they would have become a parody of themselves by the onset of the 80's.

[Leon Alvarado]

I don't know if the split was more of an inevitable thing than a necessary thing. Bands are the result of a collective effort. For a collective effort to be in harmony, some compromising ont the part of the members has to happen. When someone in the collective shows a stronger urge to push their ideas forward, it creates an unbalanced situations. In the case of Genesis it was just a matter of time before Peter (and then Steve), felt too strongly about their own ideas in order to compromise them. Not that I would ever put myself in the same category but in a way, that is the way I operate. Although I enjoy jamming with friends, I do not like to write music with other people. I'm not opposed to the idea but so far I haven't really found somebody who would click with my music style and way of doing things.

[Ed Kuszajewski]

I definately agree with you on songwriting Leon. Its funny because I love to come up with licks and embellishments and other cool parts for songs my friends do but I could never see myself actually co-writing a song at this point in my life, especially lyrics.

[Rych]

I think a couple more albums with him in the vein of SEBTP or Foxtrot would have been cool. I think it would have been more intersting if Hackett had stayed on for the long haul and produced albums like TOTT and WAW instead of the pop direction they eventually went to

[Richey]

The best, and I do mean, the very best outcome would have been to leave, then return in about 1985, after his first 4 solo jobs, and before Genesis got started on Invisible Touch. When I listen to that, and We Can't Dance, then think of So and Us... the mind boggles. It just boggles.