Phil Collins is actually underrated

I've never really understood the hate people have for him. I like him.

I love this song.

I like him. I like this song. It's still relevant - and a great song.

I was also surprised that Marilyn Martin didn't have a bigger career.

I don't get the hate for Phil Collins, either. No Jacket Required and But Seriously... are great albums.

He was massive and constantly on the radio throughout the '80s, both solo and in Genesis. Great videos, too.

Is the song in OP's post the Trans Anthem of a hope for the future?

I used to hate the tone of his voice, but it has warmed to me over time. I love his quintessential sappy 80s arrangements and drums.

I love a lot of his songs. Not all of them, but quite a lot.

I know a lot of people hate this and think its sacrilegious... but I think it's a great cover.

One of my favorites.

"Phil Collins is actually underrated" I believe McCartney may feel otherwise.

Also love "Against All Odds", r9.

Technically this is Genesis, but "Follow You, Follow Me"

I heard this on the radio not that long ago after many years and thought to myself: "You know, this is actually a very good song."

I don't know if I'd go so far as to call him underrated--he has a pretty successful career with a ton of Grammys and an Oscar. But yes, he does have some great songs under his belt.

This one is really beautiful. Even with that cheesy 80s synth and drum machine.

I've loved Phil Collins since I was a kid. My dad bought me "No Jacket Required" on cassette back then, which I'd listen to at night before going to sleep.

He also reissued his albums with "updated" covers. Pretty cool idea.

Obligatory

I was going to post the same thing R13.

I've always thought this was such a fantastic, heartbreaking, line:

And I was wondering if I should call you... then I thought... maybe you're not alone.

That's pretty cool, R15. I hadn't seen those before.

What's the story on Collins? He always seemed like a cool, humble, guy.

Was he? Or is there dirt on him?

Supposedly an arrogant prick hated by many of his peers.

So he was the drummer/singer for genesis

R21 he originally started out as the drummer for Genesis. When Gabriel left, he reluctantly took over. People said he made the most sense to take over because he and Gabriel sounded alike. I don't hear it.

I sorta like early 80s Phil Collins/Genesis, but he just got more and more bland as time went on. Like Sting.

Ha, I had never heard about this:

He also speaks truth to power when it comes to stuff he hates. In a new interview with The Sunday Times, the pop superstar ran through a short list of those things: Miami (even though he just bought a 33-million-dollar mansion there), people calling him “Phil,” and Paul McCartney.

For anyone who has sat through an interview with Paul McCartney ever, Collins’ anecdote about the former Beatle should seem both outrageous and 100% believable:

“I met him when I was working at the Buckingham Palace party back in 2002. McCartney came up with [his then-wife] Heather Mills and I had a first edition of The Beatles, by Hunter Davies, and I said, ‘Hey, Paul, do you mind signing this for me?’ And he said, ‘Oh, Heather, our little Phil’s a bit of a Beatles fan.’ And I thought, ‘You fuck, you fuck.’ Never forgot it.”

You are all delusional.

I've never heard about anything he's done that's been considered arrogant or that he's widely hated by his peers.

I've seen a lot of people say he's hated just because he was played so much and people got sick of him.

Collins gets the unfair blame (or credit, depending on your perspective) for Genesis' shift from progressive rock to pop after Peter Gabriel left. But that's all based on the erroneous assumption that because Collins became the lead singer, he steered the band's direction, which wasn't really true. As R22 mentioned, he reluctantly took on that role and Banks and Rutherford were much more prolific songwriters for the band at first. Collins was still lending himself out as a producer and drummer for other artists. He didn't take on a bigger songwriting role until after he had his own solo success.

He isn’t hated just because his music was overplayed.

He is also hated for creating shit music (Sussudio, I Can’t Dance, Illegal Alien, Groovy Kind of Love, etc.)

R26, I'll just be lazy and link to Wikipedia, which sums it up:

According to a 2000 BBC biography of Collins, "critics sneer at him" and "bad publicity also caused problems", which "damaged his public profile".[179] Rock historian Martin C. Strong wrote that Collins "truly polarised opinion from the start, his ubiquitous smugness and increasingly sterile pop making him a favourite target for critics".[180] During his recording career Collins would regularly place telephone calls to music writers to take issue with their written reviews.[181] Over time, he came to be personally disliked;[84] in 2009, journalist Mark Lawson told how Collins's media profile had shifted from "pop's Mr. Nice guy, patron saint of ordinary blokes", to someone accused of "blandness, tax exile and ending a marriage by sending a fax".[182] Collins has rejected accusations of tax avoidance, and, despite confirming that some of the divorce-related correspondence between him and second wife, Jill Tavelman, was by fax (a message from Collins regarding access to their daughter was reproduced for the front cover of The Sun in 1993),[183] he states that he did not terminate the marriage in that fashion.[182] Nevertheless, the British media has often repeated the fax claim.[179][184][185][186] Collins has been the victim of scathing remarks in regard to his alleged right-wing political leanings. Caroline Sullivan, a music critic of The Guardian, referred to his cumulative negative publicity in her 2007 article "I wish I'd never heard of Phil Collins", writing that it was difficult for her to hear his work "without being riven by distaste for the man himself".[184]

Collins acknowledged his reputation as well: "The persona on stage came out of insecurity ... it seems embarrassing now. I recently started transferring all my VHS tapes onto DVD to create an archive, and everything I was watching, I thought, 'God, I'm annoying.' I appeared to be very cocky, and really I wasn't."[207]

One of his best Genesis songs (written by him, leftover from Face Value):

Thanks, R29. Interesting read.

Yeah, not a fan, he's one of the few that if a song of his is playing, I hit scan

Houston radio adores him

One of my favorite post-Gabriel Genesis songs, written by all 3:

My favorite. "You Know What I Mean."

Phil Collins is cheesy old person elevator music. He makes me want to stab myself in the ear.

Genesis on the other hand was great. And I'm with r34, that song is fantastic. Don't know how much that had to do with PC.

I think a lot of his peers hate him because in the early 80s a lot of the singers of AOR and stadium rock and prog bands tried tried to segue into the adult alternative market. Phil Collins was immediately very successful and got very rich off it, whilst others got swamped by R&B and new wave and metal. I think there is a bit of envy there.

Also people in Britain hated him for marrying a Swiss woman and moving there for the tax breaks, then recording homelessness anthem ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE. It's not like he's Bono, lecturing people, though.

On the other hand he was hugely popular in the hip hop community. Black people like his music unironically. (Kind of a Chris Martin before there was a Chris Martin?) There was an R&B tribute album with Lil Kim, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Kelis.

I actually really really like his 1989-1990 singles of like I Wish It Would Rain Down and Something Happened On The Way To Heaven. The rest of his sinlges are meh.

R36, it's mostly Rutherford's song, but Collins had the genius idea of speeding it up, which led to the alternating time signatures. Which is why the song has the weird but cool effect of sounding like it's being sped up and slowed down during playback.

Things were better under the Hackett (g)

Collins was arguably the best drummer out of England in the 70s. Having said that..

The first Genesis record after Steve Hackett left, "..then there were three" was rather good-but as the band's commercial outlook brightened, their artistic prospects nosedived. JMO, don't care who agrees or not. Same with Gabriel after the third solo record.

I missed the old band so much, never forgave any of them (except for Steve) for their 80s output.

Was never much of a Collins fan, but I have always liked Peter Gabriel very much. That's probably why I like Phil's 'Mama' with Genesis...it could almost pass for Gabriel track. Killer performance and production.

Plus it's weird and creepy and was the highest charting Genesis single in the UK.

Completely underrated... saw Genesis at The Hollywood Bowl ten years ago. Played practically the whole Genesis and Phil Collins catalogue of hits... one after the other and the realization just how prolific he and music have been.

Other great Phil Collins songs that get people hopping at a party: Sussudio and Easy Lover.

Yes, EASY LOVER is the dog's nuts. Great song from the Phils.

Oh God, who could forget the ear-shattering awfulness of Invisible Touch?

For that alone, he should be shunned.

I remember seeing the clip for "Mama" on Friday Night Videos. Creepier than "Thriller."

Music for mums and dads

Consider Phil with a different soundscape. He's a good pop rock singer.

He had hundreds of millions of dollars though was taken to the cleaners by some gold digging wives.

Classic.

[QUOTE]He had hundreds of millions of dollars though was taken to the cleaners by some gold digging wives.

What a chump.

Phil's wife Jill (mother of Lily) was hardly a gold-digger- she came from an extremely wealthy family herself.

Oh, no she DIDN’T!

Uh, yes she did. The Tavelman's. Lily is living in her grandparent's old condo at the Sierra Towers- one of the best buildings in LA.

Phil Collins is the most overrated pop star out there.

I loathe everything he's ever done, which isn't surprising, since it all sounds the same.

All that wailing in his reedy voice -- like stepping on a cat's tail. I have never understood why anyone would want to listen to that shit.

I like "Paperlate" but have no idea what's about. (Ditto Abacab.) Nice vocal from Phil.

Phil is a big guilty pleasure for me. I know he's not considered cool and he has certainly put out a lot of dreck, but I have come to terms with my love of his music. I don't care any more.

Wow! Reading down the page and remembering all those songs.. Like Sussudio, Billy Don't You Lose That Number(?), Invisible Touch, Groovy Kind Of Love, Easy Lover, Another Day In Paradise, Against All Odds etc it really has brought back memories. Specifically, I'm suddenly remembering how much I hate this guy's music. Godawful, boring ,80s yuppie-ness.

[Having said that, I do like the Cadbury ad with the drumming gorilla]