Phil Collins once named his favourite Beatles songs
Phil Collins, the legendary Genesis frontman, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the music industry. Ranging from Kanye West to Beyoncé, Collins has inspired multiple generations of young musicians and has left an indelible mark on the landscape of modern music.
Over the years, several times, Collins has been asked about his musical influences. Critics and fans have regularly cited him as one of the greatest progressive rock drummers of all time, and even the late Taylor Hawkins also considered Collins to be a major source of inspiration. As for Collins’ influences, he only admires a handful of drummers.
Among them, he named the Beatles’ Ringo Starr, whom he called “underrated”. Collins explained: “Well, I think he’s vastly underrated, Ringo. The drum fills in ‘A Day In The Life’ were in fact very, very complex things. You could take a great drummer from today and say ‘I Want It like that,’ and they wouldn’t know what to do.”
Although he respected Ringo, Collins did not feel the same way about Paul McCartney. Of McCartney, the drummer said: “He has this thing when he’s talking to you, where he makes you feel [like], ‘I know this must be hard for you because I’m a Beatle. I’m Paul McCartney and it must be very hard for you to actually be holding a conversation with me.'”
Despite his differences with McCartney, Collins was a hardcore Beatles fan. When he was asked to name his eight favourite songs of all time by the BBC during their Desert Island Discs segment, he mentioned artists such as Aretha Franklin, Paul Brady and Tim Hardin. The Beatles were the only band with two separate songs on his list.
“Well, no collection would be complete without one or two Beatles records. I mean, The Beatles were the reason I’m in this business,” Collins declared. He named ‘All My Loving’ and ‘If I Fell’ among his all-time favourites, citing them as his favourite songs by the Beatles. According to him, their music inspired him to focus on his own journey.
While commenting on their impact, Collins added: “Really although I’ve been playing the drums since I was five, it was The Beatles that suddenly gave a purpose and this I think sums up that early-mid 1960’s feeling from me when I was in school, really loving it.”
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