TotD is now proud to present a new feature we call Phil Collins Awkwardly Drapes His Arm Around The Shoulders Of Someone Taller Than Him During Live Aid.
This is Phil with his then-wife, Jill, at the airport catching Concorde. The supersonic jet did not fly to Philadelphia, so Phil and Jill landed at JFK and took a helicopter the rest of the way. That was the raw power that was 1980’s Phil Collins, Younger Enthusiast. He couldn’t be stopped, and you couldn’t hope to contain him.
And this is him and Sting. This has been Phil Collins Awkwardly Drapes His Arm Around The Shoulders Of Someone Taller Than Him During Live Aid. Thank you for your patronage.
Poor tiny Phil. I like him, dammit. He was too eager to please (unless you were one of his wives), and that was the fatal flaw that undid him. You should read his autobiography. You would have Thoughts. Maybe even Bullet Points.
I keep meaning to grab it. It’s got the official recommendation?
Yeah. It’s a good read. He’s pretty brutally self-reflective at times.
To think I was absolutely obsessed with this man in 1985. You look at these pictures and you don’t know he was one of the top 5 drummers of all time, and his ubiquity in the ‘80s is almost inexplicable. And, of course, by 1985 most people had forgotten he was one of the top 5 drummers of all time. This was the ‘80s in a nutshell.
Yeah, this. Maybe a little before ’85 for me, though . . . the self-titled Genesis album was the one for me where I kinda sorta said “Ummmmmmmmmmmmm . . . . maybe not???”
I can name three true mind-blowing experiences over the lifetime of hearing things on radio and having my head turned inside out . . . and one of the three was the first time I heard “In The Air Tonight” and did not even realize it was Phil was Genesis and Brand X and Eno’s records and so many other things I loved. As with so many other things, that song has been beaten into mildness and cliche through repetition, but holy moly, that was TITANIC when you had no idea what it was and where it was going.
Of all the Genesis albums, I listen to “Abacab” and “Duke” more than any of the others these days. You do you, Phil. Just not too MUCH of you, namsain?
All your content about Live Aid has reminded me that I have been remiss about molesting the Donate button. I’ll get on that, soon.
Take a look at me now
My arm’s in an empty space
And you standing next to me
Is against the odds
And I cannot see your face