![]() ![]() ![]() Genesis missed its chance not picking up Collins' offering for Duke. "I had a lot of time on my hands," Collins told the BBC's Classic Albums episode about writing Face Value, the debut solo record he ended up creating during that hiatus. The band had just broken into the US on the back of the ninth studio album … And Then There Were Three … and hit single Follow You Follow Me, but a gruelling nine-month, 100-plus show tour contributed to Collins' divorce from his first wife Andrea Bertorelli and led to Collins taking time away from Genesis. In 1979, Phil Collins was the drummer and reluctant vocalist for British fusion rock band Genesis, having stepped into the frontman role when Peter Gabriel left the group. The song's legacy is entwined in that epic drum fill, considered to be one of the all time great pieces of pop percussion.īut there's a lot more to Collins' smash hit than drums - there's the air of mystery, a production mistake that shaped the future of music, and an urban legend about a drowning that never happened. Yes, it's been in the air - and on the air - quite a bit over the years…and if you hit “play” at 11:56:40 tonight, then it’ll be in your head all year long.It takes three minutes and forty seconds before the signature moment arrives.Ī powerful cacophony of drums explodes out of the speakers, taking Phil Collins' ominous, seething opus In the Air Tonight to another level that has helped it endure for four decades. We all know that “In the Air Tonight” is iconic now, but just in case you can't recall how it did in the first place, rest assured that it was a hit straight out of the box: it hit #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made it all the way to #2 on the UK Singles chart…and then to #4 in 1988…and then to #14 in 2007. Just to set the record straight, though, there's no truth to the urban legend that the lyrics are about Collins witnessing someone drowning and watching someone who was close enough to save the person do nothing to help. That frightens me a bit, but I'm quite proud of the fact that I sang 99.9 percent of those lyrics spontaneously.”įor as unabashedly pop as some of Collins' later work may have been, the atmosphere on “In the Air Tonight” is almost disconcertingly dark at times, which can be credited to the combined efforts of Collins and Hugh Padgham, who co-produced the track. In Dave Thompson's 2004 book Turn It On Again: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Genesis, Collins is quoted as saying, “The lyrics you hear are what I wrote spontaneously. Released in 1981 as the first single from Collins' debut solo album, FACE VALUE, “In the Air Tonight” was an instance of anger inspiring art, with the song's lyrics having originated as a result of Collins' divorce from his first wife, Andrea, in 1979. Phil Collins do you not love this guy?īut let’s talk about the song in question for a bit. If you play 'In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins on December 31st at 11:56:40 the drum break will play right as the clock strikes midnight. We’re actually six days out from the anniversary of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” which was originally released on January 5, 1981, but we wanted to highlight it a little early – on New Year’s Eve, specifically – because of a little something that happened last year right around this time. ![]()
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