Should Phil Collins be blamed for Led Zeppelin’s biggest career mistake?
No rock and roll reunion hasn’t had its fair share of hangups over the years. Say what you want about the greatest resurrections in rock history, but there were more than a few times when rock gods that once roamed the earth looked like a husk of themselves when they actually managed to stumble back onstage after years away from the limelight. But when Led Zeppelin reunited for the first time at Live Aid, was it really fair to put their subpar performance on the head of Phil Collins?
When you think about it, no one could have possibly replaced John Bonham if they had tried. While Bonzo’s son Jason may have done a fine job subbing in during their reunion in 2007, chronicled in Celebration Day, it was still a far cry from the absolute maniac playing across their classic records.
And it’s not like Collins didn’t have the chops to pull off a decent performance, either. Genesis may have taken a few turns during those years apart, but Collins becoming the singer wasn’t the reason why they suddenly stopped being prog legends. He could still weave together the most intricate drum performance possible, but that was slowly taking a back seat to what the people wanted to hear on tracks like ‘Invisible Touch’.
Since Collins’ star was already rising, having him as the man behind the kit for songs like ‘Rock and Roll’ felt like the next logical progression. Once the group did leave a lot to be desired after the massive function, though, Jimmy Page was quick to place the blame on Collins exclusively, thinking that he was the one who sabotaged everything.
But let’s peel things back here. On the other side of that argument, Collins remembered being treated like dirt by the Led Zeppelin guitarist, who treated him like a second-rate musician every time he played and nearly caused him to walk out. If none of the band members are getting along with each other, you can only imagine what the camaraderie is like when they have to play music.
Although there are occasional lifts in the track that Collins just couldn’t manage to pull off, that doesn’t mean that every piece is without merit. Some tunes are just meant to have one drummer, but by making parts his own, Collins was already running the risk of doing a massive injustice to every rock fan who has ever banged their head to ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
Collins even accepts the fact that he’s the one who’s normally blamed for everything, telling Louder, “I find that I am usually the one blamed for it. It couldn’t possibly be the holy Led Zep who were at fault. It was that geezer who came over on Concorde who wasn’t rehearsed. He was the culprit. That show-off.”
Still, maybe they just needed a target to pin everything on. After all, Collins had become so omnipresent on the charts in the years since, so now that one of the greatest rock legends had delivered a performance well below their level, why not just point to the doofus who sang ‘Sussudio’ as the reason why it all went to hell?
So, is Phil Collins the main reason why Led Zeppelin’s Live Aid reunion failed? Probably not, but it’s a lot more down the middle than people think. As much as Collins got criticised for being more than a little bit corny, the rest of Zeppelin probably had to take a cold, hard look in the mirror if they were going to start pointing fingers.
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