My Phil Collins story begins in 1981
November 5, 2016 4:29 AM   Subscribe

"In the Air Again," in which the author describes the redemption arc of her lifelong love/hate/love relationship with the man and his music.

Phil wasn’t like the other members of Genesis. He didn’t go to Charterhouse, the posh boarding school where Gabriel, Rutherford, Banks and another friend, guitarist Anthony Phillips, all met and formed the band in the 1960s. He grew up middle-class in west London, went to theatre school as a teen, and had already been working as a professional musician for a few years by the time he joined Genesis in 1970. He was extremely ambitious but he was also very much the light touch in an intense, power-struggling and rather privileged group of young men.... Phil Collins, once a lifeline to adulthood, has become, for me, a lifeline to childhood. Whereas I once rued the fact that everyone knew who he was, today am I grateful, because it means I can talk about him with anyone. When I was a kid, loving Phil was a secret; today, I want everyone to know, to shout it from the rooftops. This is what Phil would do—what he did do. Su-su-su-dio! Do you know what? I’ve even learned to love that song.
posted by I_Love_Bananas (88 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
It is very possible I wrote this in my sleep because this is exactly me.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM on November 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


I've been reading Collins' memoir and it's very good and he's made some fine music over the years. But I still hate Sussudio. Synth pop, a pox upon the world it was.
posted by jonmc at 4:43 AM on November 5, 2016


Whatever else you may think of the man's music, he did create the singular moment in music that (admit it) we all come together and share when alone in our cars...that drum drop in "In the Air Tonight." C'mon...you've done it...you know you have.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:49 AM on November 5, 2016 [28 favorites]


...that drum drop in "In the Air Tonight." C'mon...

I...uh...have no idea what you are talking about. Also, I have always heard the Phil Collins/Peter Gabriel discussion but I don't think I have ever heard anyone identify as an actual Phil Collins fan before. I thought it was kind of a joke. Huh.

(Not being critical, it is a reminder that the world is a diverse place and I only am aware of a small, small part of it)
posted by Literaryhero at 4:56 AM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


I always think of him as a rather forlorn figure. I saw him perform live with Genesis in Glasgow on the 'Selling England By the Pound' Tour, and at one point he was cajoled out of his drum kit to sing solo, which seemed at the time a form of gentle bullying by his posh-boy band members... Poor old Phil - the Eighties epitome of uncool...
posted by aeshnid at 5:27 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


...that drum drop in "In the Air Tonight." C'mon...

The Gorilla one.
posted by Coda Tronca at 5:33 AM on November 5, 2016 [14 favorites]


Related: An episode of This American Life where Starlee Kine channels her ex-boyfriend's love of Phil Collins into writing a post-breakup song, with the help of Phil himself. (transcript can be found from a link on that page)
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:38 AM on November 5, 2016 [10 favorites]


...that drum drop in "In the Air Tonight." C'mon...

Puppy Drummer Vine
posted by Lanark at 5:52 AM on November 5, 2016 [8 favorites]


I love this story my wife tells of the time she was getting some work done on a tattoo and a millennial age customer was getting a Phil Collins tattoo. It was Mount Rushmore with all the heads being Phil's. The other customer was sobbing and had to be supported by her three friends. Was she scared? In pain? No. "I just really love Phil!" she sobbed.
posted by keep_evolving at 6:27 AM on November 5, 2016 [44 favorites]


I was in junior high in Phil Collins' heyday. And he was never cool, exactly, but he was definitely cooler than a lot of other '80s lite rock slurry. He seemed to become both bitterly self-aware and super corny in the '90s, though. Anyone who's a fan of '90s Genesis is a Patrick Bateman.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:48 AM on November 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


I loved the time he said that if Labour won the 1997 General Election he would move to a tax haven.
Mainly I was just happy that he fucked off.

Phil Collins is the banality of evil made flesh.
posted by fullerine at 6:58 AM on November 5, 2016 [8 favorites]


A while back, Merlin Mann isolated the most important part of "In The Air Tonight" for your downloading pleasure.

*ba-bump-ba-bump-bump-BUMP*
posted by SansPoint at 7:06 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


No, this Cadbury's advert is the best In The Air Tonight guitar fill of all time.
posted by ambrosen at 7:13 AM on November 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


Previously.
posted by stevil at 7:16 AM on November 5, 2016


I saw them live in the late 70s, post-Gabriel. Phil was certainly athletic, running all around the stage because Chester Thompson was behind the drum kit. I was disappointed.
posted by tommasz at 7:35 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


I can never forgive him for turning "Groovy Kind of Love" -- one of the most charming songs of the sixties -- into a dark, slow slog.
posted by Modest House at 7:40 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


He also ruined 'You can't hurry love'.

His intense brassy voice, all apparently projected from the throat and back of the neck, is effective but lacks emotional intelligence and self awareness. It fits the personality people assume him to have, and they don't like him.
posted by Coda Tronca at 7:58 AM on November 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


I became a Genesis fan in the 80s, and it was massive to then discover the 70s albums. (This was post-Gabriel, but I then sought out all the Peter Gabriel solo stuff, which is of course fantastic). Lately I've been relistening to those Genesis albums on Youtube, cos I'm too lazy to unpack the vinyl.

I was not a big fan of Genesis' turn to pop, or Phil's solo albums and pop remakes. I think my dislike (and other people's hate) there comes from overexposure. It's a bit like the hate for Paul McCartney for some of the schlock like "Silly Love Songs" - it seems that Phil, like Paul, got a hearing for the over-produced schlocky stuff just because of who they are. And in Phil's case, the 90's needed mainstream content badly. (see also Sting)

Anyway, I'm not ashamed to like Phil Collins, while still not enjoying the overexposed later solo work, because there's still alot to like. Strong singer. Massive drummer (and sad that he was forced to give that up). Great work with Genesis. Check out his work with a band called "Brand X" .
posted by Artful Codger at 8:20 AM on November 5, 2016 [5 favorites]


Y'all know the story of "In the Air Tonight," right?

Phil Collins watched a close friend drown from a nearby cliff, too far away to help, while a man standing nearer to the drowning man stood idly by. Collins then wrote the song, gave that man a front row ticket to the show where the song was premiered, then sang the song as the spotlight illuminated the man.

And you know who that young man was? Bono.
posted by NoMich at 8:32 AM on November 5, 2016 [29 favorites]


I love when people confess to liking uncool music.
posted by pracowity at 8:34 AM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Y'all know the story of "In the Air Tonight," right?

The version I've heard is that it's about his bitterness and frustration over the end of his marriage to Bono.
posted by effbot at 8:41 AM on November 5, 2016 [18 favorites]


Against All Odds is a legit great song, y'all.
posted by maxsparber at 8:41 AM on November 5, 2016 [19 favorites]


Is Dafna Izenberg a Canadian Psycho?
posted by chavenet at 8:49 AM on November 5, 2016


You mean it's OK to admit that Phil Collins is all over my playlist? I feel that playlists are like bookshelves: an intensely personal view of one's heart and soul. As such, I rarely discuss my playlists, being rather introverted. Had I thought to discuss them, though, having heard the scorn heaped on Mr. Collins, I probably wouldn't have disclosed just how much of his music is on them. How totally refreshing. Thank you, I_Love_Bananas!
posted by Silverstone at 8:59 AM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Oh man, I've been a Genesis fan since the 70s. And a Phil Collins fan, although I admit I never bought any of his solo albums after Both Sides. I agree with the author of the FPP article and apparently with Tony Banks that Duke is the best Genesis album. I mean, I love ALL the Genesis albums but that one hits the total sweet spot at the overlap of a Venn diagram of prog and pop music.

I've never understood the Collins hate. And I've felt bad that in this age of social media Collins brushed up against enough of it for it to kill his spirit for quite a few years. At this point Phil is old and half-deaf and has had vocal cord surgery and can't play the drums anymore, but I hope none of those thing keep him from creating and releasing one more album that makes all the haters just shut the fuck up. He's a great songwriter with a gift for melody and lyric.

Also, mentioned in TFA: Supper's Ready, from 1972's Foxtrot.
posted by hippybear at 9:08 AM on November 5, 2016 [8 favorites]


The thing about Phil is that he has made it easy for people who criticize him to find material, whether through choices or circumstance or both.

Hate the worst of 1980s pop? Well, he's not blameless in that category.

Loved Peter Gabriel at the front of Genesis and hated to see him go? Well, look at who replaced him.

Care to take issue with his personal life? You won't run out of fodder.

Unfortunately a lot of his bad points and bad times have been when he's received the most attention.

I mean, don't get me wrong. You can obviously still choose not to like his music, even what defenders would call his stuff. Maybe it's not your thing. That's all personal opinion and totally cool. But some of it goes back to that notion of whether you'd like to be judged by your worst trait/song/moment/whatever. Probably not. But the circumstances and timing and maybe nature of Phil's celebrity have made him an attractive and convenient target for some.
posted by veggieboy at 9:23 AM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Can somebody more intelligent than me unpack the scene in American Psycho where Patrick Bateman talks about Phil Collins? Is there an actual analysis out there about that topic, or was that simply just writing for the sake of his character?
posted by gucci mane at 9:31 AM on November 5, 2016


This is a very good explication of the cycle of loving a particular artist, then either falling out of love with them or learning from your peers that you shouldn't and making a point of rejecting them, then one day it being OK to unironically love them again. (The Carpenters and ABBA, both of which the author was a fan of before Genesis, have spent their time on that particular rota.) The signifier of Collins as avatar-of-everything-that-was-uncool-about-the-eighties was even evoked by Bowie, who described the Let's Dance era as his "Phil Collins period." (Not that it's not accurate, as that record and the height of Collins' popularity remind me of large dogs who have grown into their adult bodies but not completely out of puppyhood mentally, wildly energetic and not 100% housebroken.)

I went to see them at about that time, after they'd put out the self-titled album; it was a good concert, with a big custom lighting rig that I understand was computer-controlled and could do some fancy tricks. The single from the album that was getting the most attention at the time was "Mama", which I've always liked, although I would later refer to it as Collins' attempt to write a Peter Gabriel song. Whether that's true or not, Collins fully commits to it, building up the intensity until he's practically screaming at the top of his lungs by the end. He also does the same in "Against All Odds", another song of his that I still like.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:32 AM on November 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


If Phil Collins were tall and dark and handsome very few would possess sufficient backbone to snark at him. Sussudio is no worse a song than Yellow Submarine. Everybody does a clunker or two that get too much radio time.
posted by bukvich at 9:34 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


veggieboy, I think the word you're reaching for is "iconic". For better or worse, Collins is iconic for overexposed 90s pop and overblown remakes. And more people are aware of his mainstream pop career than are knowledgeable fans of his prog-rock and fusion work, so if you disliked 90s pop, you're pretty much disliking him, if that's all you're familiar with.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:35 AM on November 5, 2016


Was there a more prolific musician in the 80s? Between his solo albums (four of them), his contributions to Genesis, plus his various sound track appearances and duets, he was pretty much everywhere that decade, not to mention his incredible performance at Live Aid which brought cheers loud enough to probably hear on the moon.
posted by Beholder at 9:35 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


in which the author describes the redemption arc of her lifelong love/hate/love relationship with the man and his music.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:42 AM on November 5, 2016


I saw him in concert back in the 80s and damn, that was a great concert. Apropos of nothing but nostalgia, 80s ZZ Top and Chaka Khan were also awesome in concert. /old
posted by skye.dancer at 9:48 AM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


But dressing up a matter of personal taste in this kind of claptrap is just sublime. I hope this wasn't meant ironically because it's just so perfect. Thank you.

Certainly not ironic - you're welcome! The timbre of his voice is fair game for discussion IMO. Certainly an analysis of his chest/throat/head register need not be claptrap.

'Emotional intelligence' I grant you is a bit of a stretch, perhaps I got carried away with the author's 'redemption arc', but successful singers have to project their personalities into a song and it doesn't happen by alchemy. I do happen to think there is a clipped, harsh kind of feel in some of his big hits like 'Invisible Touch' that links into the perception people have of him as the kind of guy who'd divorce his wife by fax. 'Brassiness' is much desired in rock voices (e.g. John Lennon, Mick Jagger) but Collins doesn't seem to have as much nuance to his, and he sings his divorce songs like 'Against all odds' in a way that suggests more petulance and bitterness than 'my life is an uncontrollable mess'.
posted by Coda Tronca at 9:50 AM on November 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


not to mention his incredible performance at Live Aid

Clank.

But, yeah. He used to be very good at what he did. Now he is old and achy, but he has forgotten the Alamo and gone on a modest tour, and he even plans to record an album. I hope it's not another "[Famous Old Pop Star] Sings the Great American Songbook" albums. He is not Sinatra. He should go and work with someone, put a band together where he isn't always in front, and enjoy himself. Or just buy a pub and play there every night for tips.
posted by pracowity at 10:30 AM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I too had my musical coming-of-age when I was twelve, listening to Abacab with a closeness that I now couldn't bring to bear to listen to my own last words.

So there I was, swelling with new Teenage Feelings, desperately wishing that I wasn't using a Mickey Mouse record player.
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 10:32 AM on November 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


I saw an interview with Collins on something recently where he said he's got a band together with one of his sons who is a drummer who will be playing behind him on the new album. Or something like that.
posted by hippybear at 10:38 AM on November 5, 2016


I feel like in the last six months, Phil Collins is suddenly everywhere. Like, all the public spaces that I go to with music controlled by twentysomethings (and this is in a semirural place, not a hip city with cutting edge tastes)... all of them have simultaneously discovered a deep love for Phil Collins. I guess it's just a natural extension of what happened with Journey a few (it was only a few! or ten) years ago.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:47 AM on November 5, 2016


all of them have simultaneously discovered a deep love for Phil Collins.

I can't speak to Collins in particular, but the total adoration of 80s pop culture by the kiddos is a bit overwhelming to encounter.
posted by hippybear at 10:51 AM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


A natural yearning for the days when Donald Trump was just a bumbling real estate investor?
posted by pracowity at 10:56 AM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


it was the great Julie Klausner who said that Billy Joel was the Stephen King of pop music. or no, it was that Stephen King is the Billy Joel of popular novelists, that was it. maybe she was quoting somebody else, but I don't think so. and along those lines I would say that Phil Collins is the Billy Joel of pop music. it's true, if you think about it
posted by queenofbithynia at 11:16 AM on November 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


Never really understood the Phil Collins hate. I've always thought "Land Of Confusion" would be an ideal campaign song. Could be that I still associate it with the puppet Reagan blowing up the world, though.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:56 AM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


I always thought he was a likable guy even if he was too pop. He has a sense of humor.
And when I finally got around to checking out early Genesis ( Peter Gabriel era) long after almost all other prog bands, I was shocked at what a great drummer he really was/is.
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:58 AM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Phil's the man. Some of the older Genesis is alright, but Gabriel was kinda of a fairy dressing up all silly and prancing around the stage with bells on his toes.
When Phil stepped up to the front, he was in jeans and a t-shirt and none of the pretentious frontman stage antics. On a side note : Thanks to Phil the members of Genesis can enjoy a nice comfy retirement. Phil brought the big hits.
posted by grobertson at 12:16 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm another who has never understood the Phil Collins hate. While there are certainly a number of songs of his that I dislike, I have an undying love for "In the Air Tonight", "Land of Confusion", "Hold on My Heart", "Do You Remember", and "Against All Odds", as well as a lot of indulgent fondness for "The Roof is Leaking", "Long Long Way to Go", "Separate Lives", "Driving the Last Spike", "No Son of Mine", and even "Easy Lover". Let's remember that Howard Jones's "No One is to Blame" went nowhere until Phil Collins added his drumming to it. And that besides being a great drummer and a good pianist and singer, the man is quite a gifted comic actor. The music videos for his songs are often hilarious.
posted by orange swan at 1:11 PM on November 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


My Phil Collins story begins in 1981

that's when mine pretty much ended. Saw Genesis live on the Abacab tour, couldn't stand his smarmy between songs patter ... or how his white-man-soul stylings had leaked into a sound I had once loved. The banality of evil made flesh indeed. Particularly as maybe a month previous, I had seen the rejuvenated King Crimson on their Discipline tour. Now that was a future I could get behind.
posted by philip-random at 1:32 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I always loved "Man on the Corner." It's probably his best vocal performance, IMHO.
posted by jonmc at 1:54 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Mike Rutherford's solo work was an utter bore, however, even with the usually capable Paul Carrack on vocals.
posted by jonmc at 1:56 PM on November 5, 2016


His drumming on the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is amazing.
posted by parki at 2:00 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


I suppose the hate comes from the transition of Genesis from artsy-cool indie band you were proud that nobody in America knew about to mega-pop-bubblegum international success. If you were a cool kid in the Gabriel era, you may see the Collins era as a sellout, I suppose. They're just different bands to me, though. I like both Genesises for different reasons, and Collins's bitter, dark, Face Value basement album is almost up there with Springsteen's bitter, dark, Nebraska for me. They're similar.

Also, I can't read any of this thread, including my own paragraph above, without also hearing Patrick Bateman cackling in the back of my brain.
posted by rokusan at 2:21 PM on November 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


Interesting that she sort of skips over Anthony Phillips. My discovery of Collins' part in The Geese and The Ghost was what eventually led to me liking him again.
posted by christopherious at 2:30 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Afterglow
posted by vers at 2:30 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Phil Collins is the banality of evil made flesh.

He played drums on John Cale's "Helen of Troy", and pretty much every early Brian Eno solo LP of consequence (including "Here Come the Warm Jets" and "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy"). Also Thin Lizzy's "Johnny the Fox".

In short, Phil Collins is a man of contrasts.
posted by ryanshepard at 2:40 PM on November 5, 2016 [12 favorites]


Hating a recording artist seems so anachronistic to me. In 2016, who the heck ever has to listen to a song they don't want to listen to? How do you get subjected to anyone long enough to form a stronger negative feeling than--"pass"--?
posted by straight at 2:57 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


If you were a cool kid in the Gabriel era, you may see the Collins era as a sellout, I suppose.

Yeah, he gets a bit of the Yoko treatment from early Genesis fans who think he wrecked the band. But Genesis was always a bit of a wreck. I'd rather hear solo Gabriel or solo Collins than any version of Genesis.
posted by pracowity at 2:58 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


In 2016, who the heck ever has to listen to a song they don't want to listen to?

Anyone who goes shopping in a mall or a grocery store? Anyone who goes to a restaurant? Anyone who lives near people who like to play their stereos turned up to 11?
posted by Daily Alice at 2:59 PM on November 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


A lot of blue collar jobs have a radio on at the worksite or in the warehouse and earbuds are banned.
posted by hippybear at 3:05 PM on November 5, 2016 [5 favorites]


Phil Collins is a great drummer. It's why PG had him drum on PG3.

Both Genesis and PG got better after the split.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:05 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


We used to have the first three of Phil's solo albums. They're gone. Very little 80s pop survived our purging of the vinyl collection. The gated drums, the cheesy synths...it just didn't age well for me.

But Phil's 70s work, oh damn, that's golden. If he was known just for the drumming in prog Genesis that would be enough to secure his rep, especially when the music was trickier than hell. And as someone noted above, his work with Eno was superb as well. For me, Genesis died not when Gabriel left but when Hackett exited. Sure they sold a shit-load of albums after that and good for them, but it wasn't interesting to an old progger like me.
posted by Ber at 3:26 PM on November 5, 2016


In 2016, who the heck ever has to listen to a song they don't want to listen to?

There's still a fair number of places where your phones and your internet just isnt as good as it used to be back at school (where your "friends" are all stuck on bourbon and Floyd) and your CDs / brother's tapes / parent's 8-tracks are in some other beater car, and you just cant pick up west virginia public radio, and your choices out in the holler is listening to Rush or listening to Rush Limbaugh, and you take the gamble of having to hear that damned song one more time, knowing that when that drumbeat hits, you're going to have to sit through about five minutes of hate and old-person scam commercials (or turn the radio off like a sensible person, but here you are and thats evidence you aren't sensible)

I can understand hate of any music, when you haven't actually heard that much of it, or you've heard the same song so often you can't actually tell if it earwormed you. I just can't understand anyone liking In The Air Tonight . Is it a mass delusion that everyone experiences what the song screams at me to experience, but fails to deliver on?
posted by Cat_Examiner at 4:28 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


If you're Phil Collins and your memoir isn't called "No Casket Required," you are not trying hard enough.
posted by emelenjr at 5:15 PM on November 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


Ch.1: "Easy Cadaver"
posted by sockpup at 5:21 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


I've always sort of liked this 1988 extended remix by Ben Liebrand, which seems to foreshadow a lot of trends in EDM that would come to fruition sooner or later. There's also this "'88 Remix" by Collins and Hugh Padgham.

Just, you know... for comparison/contrast.
posted by hippybear at 5:45 PM on November 5, 2016


He is indeed the least insufferable member of Genesis, but that's not a particularly high bar.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:17 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Now he is old and achy, but he has forgotten the Alamo

He most certainly has not.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:06 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I lump Phil Collins's solo work with Kanye West, Die Antwoord, Ween, They Might Be Giants and Merzbow's.

All of which fall into my category of I Recognize That There Are Reasons Why They Do What They Do And How They Do It, And That There Is Some Kind Of Talent Involved, But I Would Be Quite Pleased If They Would Do All Of It Someplace That I Can Never Find Or Hear.
posted by delfin at 8:10 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Here's my '80s Phil Collins story: Even though my preacher dad banned rock music from our house and made my brothers and I break our records, he heard "One More Night" at the gym and became obsessed with it. He bought the 45 and used our stereo to play it on repeat, to record & fill a 90-minute tape. He had a sermon to finish that afternoon, so he locked himself in his study and played that one song over and over and over. I still can't listen to it. Creeps me out!
posted by jhope71 at 8:16 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Clank.

Let people watch the entire video, not just your highlight, and they wont even remember the missed key at the end of his performance, but any discussion of Phil Collins always attracts at least one cynic, so congratulations, I guess.
posted by Beholder at 8:21 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


We Can't Dance was one of the first albums my parents bought on CD, so it's pure childhood nostalgia for me. I wish there were video somewhere of my brother and I with this album playing at ages 8 and 4. We always did a very enthusiastic rendition of Jesus He Knows Me, well before we'd ever encountered the word televangelist and at least a decade before either of us would identify as atheists ourselves.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:36 PM on November 5, 2016


Whatever haters, Home By The Sea and Home By The Sea 2 are damn good songs. I love Phil, and I don't care who knows it.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:59 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


He performed at the US Open this year, leading to ESPN using "Take Me Home" as bumper music for going into commercial breaks over the two weeks. I'd forgotten how much I love that song. He's been popping up in my Spotify playlists since.
posted by imabanana at 10:30 PM on November 5, 2016


METAFILTER: Kanye West, Die Antwoord, Ween, They Might Be Giants and Merzbow
posted by philip-random at 12:58 AM on November 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Genesis Duke-right before I.T. -- all amazing albums.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:39 AM on November 6, 2016


Being a contemporary of the author of this piece, 1980s Collins takes me right back to being a teenager, not unwelcome with the accompanying rose-colored glasses needed to see much from back then.

Hearing any 80's Collins now brings a jumble of images which inevitably ends with a Nagel print on a teal-colored wall.
posted by maxwelton at 3:13 AM on November 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


But dressing up a matter of personal taste in this kind of claptrap is just sublime. I hope this wasn't meant ironically because it's just so perfect

I find this response odd. I mean, of course it's personal taste (I'm going to suggest that unless someone explicitly says "This is an objective fact" the only good faith response is to assume they are aware they're talking about their own taste), but if we're going to talk about preferences at all we do need to be able to say more than "I like this" and "I don't like this". That being the case, it doesn't seem particularly constructive to respond to someone expressing their taste with this ironic appreciation ridicule.
posted by howfar at 3:45 AM on November 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


Okay, wow. And I Haven't read the other comments yet (but I will) (and then maybe I'll comment again). But this is the comment I was already composing in my head while I was reading the FA:

Oh man, I loved Abacab and then played 3 Sides Live so often I it still sends me back to a specific place and time every time I hear it - so glad to see this posted here.

... And then I got to the mention of “Don’t Let Him Steal Your Heart Away”. And I thought, hmm, that title sounds familiar but it's not ringing any bells... and they have the lyrics there, and the lyrics also are pinging for me as something I know, but all the snippets of songs I'm putting to them don't feel right, so maybe I don't know that song after all? ...So I pull it up on YouTube - and I am at the gate at the airport so I have it on way low because I didn't want to drag my headphones out for just a few seconds of music just to see if I recognize it or not, and it's almost too low to hear. And then I hear him singing it and within maybe 3 seconds I am 14 again - it was one of them and it was such a visceral reaction I hit the back button and had to steady myself a bit. And I don't remember if I'm keening over Erik or Corey or Gene but whichever one of them it was, hoo boy did that song matter at that time and I am in this memory hole now that I don't know what to do with, so wow.

So yeah, Phil Collins.
posted by Mchelly at 4:33 AM on November 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Right, have a couple True Teenage Confessions:

* My friends and I collectively wrote a couple books when we were in freshman and sophomore years of high school; we took turns writing chapters about three characters that just so coincidentally happened to resemble us. My sophomore year I was in a challenging chemistry class, and channelled that into a chapter about my character just sort of flipping her shit in the middle of the lunch room and jumping on the lunch table and singing a rewritten version of Sussusdio so it was about chemistry. This struck my friends wildly funny, and so for about three solid months, whenever we heard the song we would all burst out singing:

"There's an element that's on my miiiiiiind, all the tiiiime - so-so-sodium!"

* I dealt with my teenage sulks by putting "I Don't Care Anymore" on (with headphones), putting a pillow on my lap and drumming along over and over. I had no idea how into it I was getting until one time I played drums on my thighs instead of the pillow - and then several hours later, when I was getting undressed for bed, I saw the enormous bruises all over my legs.

* I got hit by No Jacket Required and Genesis (the album with "Mama" on it) first, and went on a back-catalog dive for both, and it turned out that what I loved most was the late-70s-to-early-80's Genesis better. The stuff with Peter Gabriel was too weird for me, Invisible Touch got too pop. "One More Night" and "Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away" were pretty, but I didn't have any boyfriends as a girl and I had no lost love to pine for.

But, man...."The Roof is Leaking" and "Ripples" and "Blood on the Rooftops". My quote for my high school yearbook was taken from "You Might Recall" and I still think the live version of "Turn It On Again" kicks ass.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:00 AM on November 6, 2016 [5 favorites]




Phil Collins made an excellent contribution to the game of "Add one letter out of a song title."
posted by Wolfdog at 10:22 AM on November 6, 2016


Empress C: The stuff with Peter Gabriel was too weird for me, Invisible Touch got too pop. ... But, man...."The Roof is Leaking" and "Ripples" and "Blood on the Rooftops".

That's the prime "Genesis" period for me too... it's just when i got into it. I don't dislike Genesis stuff when Peter Gabriel was there, but I much prefer Gabriel's post-Genesis work.
posted by Artful Codger at 12:14 PM on November 6, 2016


I didn't know anyone hated Phil Collins, or loved him. I did get really tired of hearing him in the 80's, but that went away. The renewed interest is odd, but I guess that happens. The reassessment of Howard Jones can't be far off.

I never knew he was supposed to be an asshole, was that more of a story in the UK?

I can't speak to Collins in particular, but the total adoration of 80s pop culture by the kiddos is a bit overwhelming to encounter.

But only the surface, the movie version of the 80's. It's weird for me because I feel like I didn't live in that 80's. I guess that's the way it always is.
posted by bongo_x at 12:30 PM on November 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Also, mentioned in TFA: Supper's Ready yt , from 1972's Foxtrot.

Genesis Live 1973 Concert Footage, featuring young and adorable prog-rockers.

Like many people, I have mixed feelings about 80's-era Phil; he did some fluffy pop stuff that I hated, but also some dark ballads that I liked. He was always very talented as musician.
posted by ovvl at 3:11 PM on November 6, 2016


It was only a couple of weeks ago that I realised that if I think I'd listen to some Genesis, it's Trick of the Tail I always go to - a really remarkable album. That's my idea of peak Genesis.
posted by Grangousier at 3:54 PM on November 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Phil Collins is one of those people I sort of wish wasn't as successful so he would've had more people filtering his work. Like Stephen King, maybe. I can't find it in me to hate that kind of effect though.
posted by solarion at 5:48 PM on November 6, 2016


Collins doesn't seem to have as much nuance to his, and he sings his divorce songs like 'Against all odds' in a way that suggests more petulance and bitterness than 'my life is an uncontrollable mess'.


Huh, interesting. It's like you and I have heard completely different recordings of that song. 'Petulance'? I just hear pure heartbreak. (Am not a Phil fan, but this one is songwriting perfection).
posted by Salamander at 5:57 PM on November 6, 2016


I just realized what this thread was missing:

Phil Collins and Chester Thompson, double drum duet. Six minutes of drums and nothing but.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:19 PM on November 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


It's like you and I have heard completely different recordings of that song. 'Petulance'?

To be clear, seeing as I got accused earlier of committing 'Your favourite band sucks-ism', I also really like the song and also 'Invisible Touch'. They're amazing pieces of songwriting and if you wanted to go down the music theory route, are packed with musical ideas, tension and incident. I don't, however, think Phil has an appealing or complex voice, that's all.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:45 PM on November 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Btw, I always enjoy your contributions to these music threads, Empress. Musically we had very similar backgrounds.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:28 AM on November 7, 2016


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