The band Phil Collins labelled a parody of Genesis: “I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody”
It might not always be completely apparent to onlookers, but Phil Collins has always had a wicked sense of humour. Now, I’m not saying that the former Genesis drummer and vocalist should have pursued a career in stand-up comedy as an alternative to being in one of the most formidable progressive rock groups of all time, but he has a certain dry wit about him that not all other musicians have been blessed with. As though his musical talents weren’t already enough of a gift, this was another string he could add to his bow.
Having filled the boots of Peter Gabriel as the vocalist in Genesis in 1975 after the release of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway the year before, and having also achieved a significant amount as both a solo artist and member of Brand X, Collins has always been highly regarded as one of the most important and influential forces in prog, pop and jazz. It’s common for drummers to be looked down upon as being lesser musicians who only know how to thrash around on their kits, but Collins is proof of this being a gross mistruth, regularly demonstrating his prowess as more than just the bloke behind the tubs.
That being said, Collins and his various projects haven’t always been able to accrue generously-sized fanbases, and he’s been on the receiving end of some impassioned detractors in the past, particularly for his attempts to incorporate other genres into his repertoire. The 1981 Genesis album Abacab saw the band attempt to reinvent themselves, but while the album itself wasn’t poorly received, Collins knew that the majority of fans weren’t on board with the horn-led soul of ‘No Reply At All’. Much later in his career, Collins released the album Dance Into The Light as a solo album, and this elicited some equally harsh criticism, which he would later admit that “it isn’t really me”.
Despite being the recipient of some heated slander, Collins has always been able to see the funny side and often softens the blow of violent criticism with self-deprecating remarks about his own output. It’s a great strength to be able to shrug off any criticism by turning yourself into the butt of the joke, and any time someone emerged with the intent of being Collins’ worst critique, he’d manage to one-up them and take the roasting on the chin.
In a 1982 interview with Sounds Magazine, Collins joked about both the influence of Genesis and how they’ve managed to lose support from the die-hard sections of the fanbase. “I keep going on about how misunderstood we are,” Collins began to explain. “I mean, there are elements of Genesis that I don’t like, and our hit singles, which, as you say, should have broadened our appeal, merely turned our hard-core fans against us, saying we’d sold out.”
Despite this, the band seemingly managed to inspire other acts that were beginning to emerge at the start of the 1980s, one notable example being fellow prog-rockers Marillion. Collins admitted that he hadn’t listened to their music at this point, but backhandedly wished them all the luck they could possibly get in their pursuit of trying to emulate Genesis, stating, “I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody to try and be successful in this day and age being a parody of a band nobody likes anyway.”
To say that nobody liked Genesis at this time was a huge distortion of the truth, but the way in which Collins was able to laugh about their slight decline in popularity coinciding with other bands attempting to mimic the sound they had helped to popularise was refreshing to see and demonstrates a level of self-awareness that so many stars who reach the same level of fame as Collins fail to ever showcase.
