(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Wed 14 January 2026 20:10, UK
There’s no chance that anyone could have found a way to come out spotless having the career Phil Collins did.
He might have been one of the greatest singers that pop music had ever had, but when looking at the prog beginnings that he had come from with Genesis, seeing him become the darling of MTV wasn’t exactly going to endear him to the same audience that played the life out of Selling England by the Pound. Collins was clearly a much different artist, but he did have the wherewithal to realise when he was outmatched by a few of his contemporaries.
Which probably comes as a surprise, given the amount of great musicians that he has taken the place of over the years. It takes a lot of confidence as a singer to think that you can take on anything by The Beatles or go out onstage with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin in place of John Bonham, but Collins always found a way to position himself alongside his favourite icons. It’s not exactly what everyone expected, but Collins was prepared to live up to those daunting titles, too.
Zeppelin’s performance at Live Aid was incredibly underwhelming most of the time, but it’s hard to think of anyone else taking Bonzo’s position at the time other than Collins. He was an absolute monster behind the kit, and since Jason Bonham wasn’t yet old enough to step into his old man’s shoes, why not get the same guy who had the massive sound of ‘In the Air Tonight’ on his side?
But Collins was more than a simple singing drummer. He may have received the brunt of the blame for ruining Genesis, but the truth is that the band had been moving in that direction for a while. They had catchy songs long before Collins got behind the microphone on tunes like ‘Counting Out Time’, and even when Collins first made his vocal debut, A Trick of the Tail is far from a pop juggernaut by any stretch.
In fact, Collins’s trip as a pop star almost happened by accident. His solo career started because of an album of songs that the world wasn’t supposed to hear, but when things started to pick up steam, it wasn’t that hard for him to think that a song like ‘That’s All’ or ‘Invisible Touch’ would work for his old mates. But right when they were reaching their commercial peak, Peter Gabriel was already getting his second wind as well.
Gabriel never wanted to have any issues with his old bandmates, but when looking at the summer of 1986, both he and his old band were going head-to-head in the charts. And while Collins could do alright behind the microphone with and without his band, the kind of charisma that Gabriel had whenever he performed was never really going to be his wheelhouse whenever he performed.
He could hold his own whenever he sang, but Collins felt that there was no sense of competition when he would get shown the door by his former lead singer, saying, “We were never rivals. I could never be the person he was when I started singing with Genesis. It was hard enough being the person I was.” And when looking at them side by side, you can really see why Collins backed out.
Neither of them were particularly great at stage banter or anything, but since Gabriel had years of working in lavish costumes, seeing him working with world musicians and fitting in was a lot different from what Collins could do. Both are great in their own right, but it’s easy to see some of Collins’s dance moves and see an above-average dad trying his best to look cool next to the real professionals. He was an animal behind the kit and could write beautiful tunes, but his skills as a frontman weren’t necessarily the best.
And given how Collins helped discover the drum sound that would define the 1980s with Gabriel, it’s safe to say that it was all very friendly. Collins was the working man’s pop singer in many senses of the word, but Gabriel was willing to take everything he learned in Genesis and take it that one step further.
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