I see that Phil Collins is in a deep funk:
The drummer-singer for the band Genesis who became a chart-topping solo artist, says he has no drive to make new music because of severe health issues.
“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens,” Collins tells MOJO’s Mark Blake. “But I’m not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I’ve been sick, I mean very sick…”
Collins suffered severe nerve damage following a spinal injury in 2007 and has had deteriorating mobility in recent years, meaning that for Genesis’s farewell shows in 2022 he had to sing sitting down while his son Nic played drums.
I know, I know: everyone gets old, everyone loses the will to do things, all that. I just can’t face it happening to Phil Collins.
I also know that a lot of people got very sick of Phil Collins during the late 1980s and early -90s, because it seemed like you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing his voice.
But let’s get real about this. Quite apart from his singing, Phil was an absolute monster behind a drum kit, an integral part of Genesis’s music behind the mixing desk, and then there’s the fact that it was his voice that powered Genesis into the stratosphere when nobody thought they would survive the fallout of Peter Gabriel leaving the band.
His contribution to rock music has been incalculable, and to see him leaving the music scene makes my heart break.
Hang in there, Phil: life can be a cast-iron bitch sometimes, but just remember that yours has made a whole lot of other lives better — hell, never mind “better”; wonderful would be no exaggeration, if my own experience is anything to go by. Take at least a little comfort from that, buddy.
I think I’ll go and listen to a couple of Genesis albums now.
I was just listening to Mike and the Mechanics (Mike Rutherford from Genesis) in my car on the old fashioned CD player the other day, and I was streaming some Peter Gabriel on my Mac desktop the other day as well. Phil Collins is an AWESOME artist. All of the members of Genesis are.
Genesis was a GREAT band. There will never be any sounds like the 80’s ever again. I like 90’s and 2000’s rock music as well, but the 80’s by far is my favorite music. The sound of the 80’s is unmistakable. Phil Collins was a huge part of that sound.
Side note, how come cock suckers like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton are not having these kind of health issues? It is always the good people that hit the snags in life.
Another great 80’s band is Huey Lewis and the News.
What an AMAZING sound the 80’s had.
Don Henley was amazing too (just not his political views) only his music. He is a drummer too.
I’ve heard of Collins’ deteriorating health and that’s a shame. I’m glad we got to listen to and enjoy his talents for years. I picked up a couple of his albums at the second hand music store. I think we listened to the No Jacket Required album twice on the way home. I’ll have to pick up some Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics and such.
SOmetimes I’ll pose this question to the missus on our road trips:
Which musicians or groups would you go see if you had the chance either now or at their peak?
“Can you tell me where my country lies?”
Said the uni faun to his true love’s eyes
“It lies with me!” cried the Queen of Maybe
For her merchandise, he traded in his prize
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPA8JUttCw
The YouTube channel Drumeo did a wonderful interview with Phil Collins and posted it about two months ago. Two hours long, very recommended. Very sad to see the condition he is in now.
https://youtu.be/WdGmydR715Q?si=tw_9-UmeNa1E7m0j
Drumeo is a really great channel, recommended. I personally love the challenges where they invite in a drummer to sit, listen to a song/track they’ve never heard before – without the drum tracks – and to make up their own beats to what they think the song needs. Some of them are really great. It’s also fascinating to watch drummers figure out a sound and process what they are going to do.
Example: https://youtu.be/06xafivFSe4?si=uVuaooWjqHQRK0m_
Well, damn. I’ve been listening to a lot of his songs on repeat to get in the right groove to write a story for a Miami Vice-inspired anthology. His music MADE that show. That iconic scene in the pilot episode of Crockett and Tubbs roaring through the neon-lit streets in the Daytona to go shoot it out with Calderone and his crew? Wouldn’t have made nearly the same impact if any song other than “In the Air Tonight” had been the soundtrack.
Gonna have to at some more songs to the playlist.
“But I know the reasons why you keep your silence up.”
“No, you don’t fool me.”
“‘Cause the hurt doesn’t show, but the pain still grows”
“It’s no stranger to you and me”
[epic drum solo]
I’ll give the guy my respect for knowing when its time to step back rather than force out an inferior product and tarnish the greatness he has produced in his time.
A lot of artists should or should’ve done the same.
There was a joke back in the 80’s:
“What band is Phil Collins in?”
“He’s in EVERY band!”
For an example of how wide his influence was back then, check out this popular track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p98PjtSfNWo
Sung by Annifrid “Frida” Lyngstad, formerly of ABBA, the track was produced by Collins, and he also contributed the drums, complete with his and Hugh Padgham’s trademark gated-snare sound.
Ooooh I love Frida, and the song is actually rather nice albeit a little too repetitive (like so many songs of the era, being club songs).
Phil also made the mistake of falling in love with an incredibly cray-cray woman, and then took her back into his life for her to do it again. While I was in Glasgow watching him phone it in with Genesis and Nik (his son), she was moving her next lover into Phil’s house in the Caribbean.
I have also heard he has liver trouble from mixing his pain meds with alcohol, but I may be mixing Phil with someone else.