There's no excuse for some taste. None whatsoever.
Smashing Pumpkins, Starsailor, Cosmic Rough Riders, Animal Collective's last three albums, Coldplay, anything Oasis have recorded post-millennium, Tori Amos... but Phil Collins puts them all in the shade. First, there's the way he looks. Once you're over that (and jeez, that really ain't his fault) there's the following...
1) He made Diana Ross And The Supremes unlistenable for a generation
2) Buster
3) His songs made the sleek video game lines of Disney's Tarzan cartoon unwatchable
4) The way that his (70s) generation created a music (prog rock) so fearsomely lacking in soul, humour and... well, tunes, popular music still hasn't recovered (c.f. Radiohead, etc)
5) Genesis
And so on...
So imagine my horror when I chanced across this blog a few months back, defending Phil Collins. (It was actually this - even more than The Guardian's craven cancelling of my weekly blog a few weeks after I'd dared to criticise their critics' end of year poll - that convinced me I was writing for entirely the wrong platform. Everyone needs standards, even folk who aspire to write for The Guardian.) McGee's argument that because certain hip hop artists sample Collins' drumming means that he's an artist of any note is specious, of course. You might as well argue that because Nicky Wire fancied Traci Lords, that makes her a world-class singer. As is his listing of Collins-produced solo projects involving members of ABBA and The Zombies... oh yeah, they were totally memorable, weren't they?
Still. This is coming from a man about whom I once wrote the bitter couplet "I don't see my money belt showing/Growing rich and idle on a diet of Genesis" (from 'Some Of Us Still Burn', 1985)... never thought it would come true, though.
Hi Jerry,
ReplyDeleteI'd say one non-specious and non-ironic savingargument in favour of Phil Collins is his presence on some of Brian Eno's best solo albums of the 70's...
Hi JC,
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you. So what you're telling me is that, when Collins is kept in check by other musicians, he's basically a pretty good session musician. Well, that's nice - but not exactly a balance to the sheer volume of shit he's been responsible for over the years.
this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1kDmnHyOBg
ReplyDeleteis a 4 minute example of how MTV killed music in the 80s
I kinda dug that Traci Lords '1000 Fires' album... but maybe that was just because i fancied her too. She wore nice sunglasses on the sleeve as i recall. And the title was made to look like flames. Classy.
ReplyDeleteI used to despair at my best friend in the '80s over his inexplicable love for Phil Collins. But then he was a musician, and I've always thought that musicians don't really understand music in the same way most people understand it. I mean, some of my best friends are musicians, but, you know... :)
God. Radiohead just keep getting flogged don't they. Just lay off them, can't you see they're in a bad mood.
ReplyDeleteAND my favourites, Smashing Pumpkins!!
As for Phil Collins, he seems nice, and I'd have him round for tea. And I love that song "Billy Don't You Lose That Number" or whatever it's called, I have often wondered what the hell it was about but never really bothered listening hard enough to find out. Perhaps I will now. Back soon.
Nope, still no idea. Billy is obviously in some sort of trouble with the police. That's about as much as I can glean.
ReplyDeleteThey came at night leaving fear behind
ReplyDeleteShadows were on the ground
Nobody knew where to find him
No evidence was found
Im never coming back
They heard him cry
And I believe him
Well he never meant to do anything wrong
Its gonna get worse if he waits too long
Billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere
That I can find you
Oh now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere that I can find you, oh no
Searching through the day and into the night
They wouldnt stop till they found him
They didnt know him and they didnt understand
They never asked him why
Get out of my way
They heard him shout
Then a blinding light
Ooh all I could see was him running down the street
Out of the shadows and into the night
Now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere
That I can find you, oh
Now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere that I can find you, oh
Dont give up
Keep running, keep hiding
Dont give up
Billy, if you know youre right
Dont give up
You know that I am on your side
Dont give up
Oh billy, you better, you better, you better run for your life
Now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere
That I can find you, oh
Now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere that I can find you, oh
They came at night leaving fear behind
Shadows were on the ground
Nobody knew where to find him
No evidence was found
Im never coming back
They heard him cry
And I believe him
He never meant to do anything wrong
Its gonna get worse if he waits too long
Now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere
That I can find you, oh
Now billy, billy dont you lose my number
Cos youre not anywhere that I can find you, oh
[...] on Florence And The Machine vs Ev…Paul Platypus on Isaac, age 4Ben on Defending the indefensible …Ben on Defending the indefensible [...]
ReplyDelete[...] the greatest self-publicist this side of Geri Halliwell boasts that he’s the man who started Genesis, 10CC and the Bay City Rollers on the road to success, three valid reasons for compulsory [...]
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ReplyDeleteJason Copp at 2:53pm June 20
I would punch him rather than look at him. As for his politics and promise to move abroad, I think breaking just one of his legs not two...
Steve Thornton at 2:58pm June 20
I have a sad sick love for "Sussudio" for which I should be flogged and electrocuted.
Jason Copp at 4:51pm June 20
breaking two legs would probably entitle him to a wheelchair. One is inconvenient.
John Doran at 6:04pm June 20
I once drove an ex-WIRE writer and serious blogger to the point of apoplexy by pretending to thing that Derek Bailey was the guy that recorded Easy Lover with Phil Collins.
And anyone who wrote ACAB and Mamma can't be all bad - musically.
Rich Jensen at 6:14pm June 20
Phil Collins is an argument for ending the practice of music altogether. Unfortunately, if music is allowed to exist, a Phil Collins will eventually emerge from the primordial ooze.
Andrew Davenhall at 7:09pm June 20
Phil Collins is no Peter Gabriel and will never come close. That was the end of Genesis. I can barely get through Abacab and the rest is pure elevator shite.
Chris Roberts at 8:06pm June 20
His playing on John Martyn's matchless "Grace And Danger" album is sublime. I'll get my coat.
Everett True at 8:08pm June 20
it's all right. i have it right here...
[...] on Kate now we realise she was an unrequited hippie – worse, one that hung around with members of Genesis – but she had such an alluring strangeness, not fake, it didn’t matter. We still don’t [...]
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