10 minutes on the phone with Steve Hackett from Genesis in 1993

I did my first interview with Steve Hackett in October of 1993, when he called me from upstate New York while touring behind his tenth solo album, Guitar Noir.

I’d always loved his work with Genesis in the seventies, especially on albums like Selling England By the Pound.

Early on in the conversation I asked Steve how he came to work with Brian May from Queen, who played on the track “Cassandra”, which was only included on the import version of Guitar Noir.

Turns out Hackett and May go way back. He recalled to me how, after hearing some early Queen demo tapes, he suggested to the boss at Genesis’s label, Charisma Records, that he sign them up.

But it didn’t happen.

Now that’s what I call a missed opportunity.