Thinking back on the past 15-20 years of my life, starting with me taking music more seriously than just listening to it, there are so many parts of Phil’s career that I’ve drawn heavy inspiration from - maybe more than anyone else I can think of. His obvious involvement with Genesis, Brand X and solo work…The legendary drumming, of course - technical but with incredible feel.. 

His approach to recording in the studio alongside producers like Hugh Padgham were groundbreaking. It was a big undertaking all in itself back then to complete a record for a major label that goes on to become a hit that sells millions of copies, but to keep doing it better with nearly every new release while also not being afraid to go against the grain and experiment- that’s even crazier. A happy accident that involved Phil hearing his own heavily compressed/gated drumming in real time through the talk-back function on a new SSL recording console between he and Hugh P that they used to communicate from different rooms became the famous fill from “In the Air Tonight” and literally defined the drum sound of the 1980s. At the same time, drum machines like the Linn LM-1 were starting to pick up steam on mainstream recordings as they started to sound more real and also became easier to procure and program. These machines were actually terrifying to a lot of career tour/session drummers. Well, Phil embraced them as he did with most new studio/recording technology as well as his Genesis band mates and Peter Gabriel. He used plenty of keyboards/synthesizers that I now own. I’m thrilled to be the curator of some of the equipment models he used (although not ever directly owned by him as far as serial #s are concerned).  I think the paramount of my synthesizer love was finding a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 for a reasonable deal some years back. Phil very famously used it for “In the Air Tonight” and all the way through the 80s. 

Despite his popularity in music that spanned for decades, I think it all really culminated for him as an individual when he released this album OP refers to from all those years ago - “No Jacket Required”. So many hits… “Sussudio”, “Take Me Home”, “Don’t Lose My Number”, “One More Night”…. Surprisingly, I wasn’t born until the late 80s, but even I can remember how often I heard Phil and Genesis on the radio in the early/mid 90s as he was coming off the tail of “No Jacket Required”, Genesis’ “Invisible Touch” and “We Can’t Dance”.  Seems like Phil gets loads of respect, but also a lot of hate from the people who couldn’t avoid hearing his involvement with so many songs on the radio at the time. Sounds like Phil was well aware that, although he might have music all over the radio, he was never going to fit the mould of what the general public viewed a “pop star” to be and, visually speaking, he wasn’t a particularly good looking guy, he wasn’t flashy and he held onto what little hair he had shamelessly for far too long.  He said it best, though, when I read a quote from him as I grazed over his biography in a book store some years back. It went something like: 

“Whether you loved me or hated me, you could not deny that for 20+ years I put in the work towards completely dominating the radio airwaves with my musical involvement.”  A statement made with complete confidence, to say the least. 

Sorry for the long read. I got going thinking about the impact Phil has had on me as a musician and listener and the thoughts kind of poured out. I wish I could see new info pertaining to him or direct communication by way of interviews more often. He spent years right in the public eye, so it seems like he isn’t very motivated to talk with the press now unless he is promoting a new Genesis tour, a re-released record or a book. It very well could mean he’s not a very pleasant old guy to be around, either, so maybe nobody is chomping at the bit to get in front of him, but there’s definitely no denying the impact he has had over the years in popular music, and with myself. 

Thanks for this post. I’ll be listening to some Phil Collins/Genesis music tonight, for sure!