TMS Retro: In Defense of Phil Collins

(Ross Marino)

Pop music gets accused more than any other music genre of being corny, lame or an easy way to sell out. As someone who unironically loves the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, ‘N Sync and plenty of other bubblegum, teen pop from my generation, I simply can not agree with this. On top of that, the biggest, most influential band in music history—the Beatles—are just as much pop as they are rock. I don’t think anyone would argue Paul McCartney is more rock than pop. One of the famous pop artists regularly singled out as alleged cheesy ‘corporate pop’ is Phil Collins. A lot of the pooh-poohing Phil’s consistently received stems from the polarizing change in the band Genesis’ sound when he took over as frontman after original singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel abandoned ship in 1975. Though both Phil and Peter went full pop in the 1980s, 1970s era Genesis with Peter leading the way was primarily prog-rock. Rock elitism aside, I personally enjoy Phil’s ‘80s outputs with both Genesis and his solo work as much as Peter’s solo work [I’m in the minority who just don’t care that much for early Genesis]. Come at me, but I listen to ‘Duke’ (1980) and ‘Abacab’ (1981) more than ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ (1974). I mean, if Peter is the man who gave us ‘Games Without Frontiers,’ ‘Sledgehammer’ and ‘Solsbury Hill;’ then Phil is the guy who gave us ‘In the Air Tonight,’ ‘Against All Odds’ and ‘I Don’t Care Anymore.’

Before this article sounds too much like a parody of American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman, I will say, there are still some songs by Phil—such as ‘Sussudio’—that are kind of hokey and a bit on the nose. But no artist’s portfolio is perfect. I’ve never minded ‘You’ll be in My Heart’ beat ‘Blame Canada’ for Best Original Song at the Oscars in 2000, since I liked Disney’s Tarzan (1999) as much as Matt Stone & Trey Parker’s South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999). But ‘That’s All,’ ‘Misunderstanding,’ ‘In Too Deep,’ and yes, even ‘Invisible Touch’ with its proto ringtone sounding beat, are up there with the pop-rock likes of Fleetwood Mac and Abba. Who else would think to cover the Supremes’ ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ in 1982? Someone supposedly too commercial is surely self-aware enough to sign up to compose the soundtrack of a Disney movie. Despite being one of the most famous drummers in popular music, Phil actually tried to make it as a child star originally. But he couldn’t land enough gigs beyond a deleted scene in Ken Hughes’ Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang (1968); and a practically transparent, blink-and-you’ll-definitely-miss-him appearance in Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night (1964). This does explain why his on screen delivery feels natural during his 1985 episode, ‘Phil the Shill,’ of NBC’s “Miami Vice” and as a minor role in Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991) though.

In recent years, Phil’s unfortunately struggled both with his health and an unnecessarily messy divorce. But his love for music and his family seems to still shine through, as seen with more recent reunions with Genesis. And I’m sure he’s prouder than anyone else of daughter Lily making it as an actress. Phil Collins, love him or leave him; you can’t deny the catchiness.