Why is Phil treated so badly by people?

[ALEX PLUMB]

Not overally a personal level I may add, but I'm a member on other musical message boards and his name is a swear word if you mention it and he is perceived as the anti-christ of all things to do with pop music..Okay not everything he has done is brilliant name me an artist or band who have? but the insults get personal and there is no need for that and that includes certain critics and journalists..Anyone who says phil is talentless knows nothing about music in General..I know for a fact he is well thought of by the rock "heirachy" like OZZY OSBOURNE etc..

[Kendra]

Because people suck. (Kidding...)

For some baffling reason it is highly unfashionable to like Phil Collins and I'm guessing it's the same "crowd mentality" that leads others to bully other children in school and whatnot...someone (or many people) who are thought of as having 'credibility' start talking smack about someone and others follow suit. That's my guess anyway, I could be completely off base.

[Hot to Foxtrot]

No Kendra, I think that is exactly what it is. It has been unfashionable for a very long time to like Phil. I like being in the unfashionable society. Those people have no clue what they're missing.

[Kendra]

I'd rather be happy than fashionable. I feel lucky to have music by artists such as Phil available for me to listen to, his solo work and Genesis have been an important part of my life for so long that I can't imagine what it would be like without it.

[ChuckSplatt]

You have to remember that Phil was EVERYWHERE in the 80s. I'd imagine much more so in the UK than here. Songs from No Jacket Required will still on the charts when Invisible Touch came out and cranked out its own series of hits. Like a lot of perfectly good songs that are derided today, Phil suffered from overplay and overexposure. When he experienced a brief resurgence with Tarzan, that didn't help much either, because by then he was hawking Disney tunes (also doesn't sit well with the in-crowd).

I would love to show more people the new Genesis DVD when it comes out, because I think we got to see a lot of Phil the singer and Phil the drummer on the recent reunion tour. Even as a singer, songs like In The Cage and Mama show that he's capable of having a certain edge that he doesn't show off with his own songs.

[Kendra]

You're definitely right about that, there are obviously many sides to Phil that the general public are not aware of...I get along the lines of "What do you mean he plays the drums??" all the time.

[Scott Connor]

I chuckle when people bag on Phil Collins and the later-Genesis music. So, let's see: he played their more-complex music brilliantly, was amazing in Brand X, has toured and done studio drum parts for many well-known artists, has sat in the producer's chair... and because he can write a good hook in a song, he's what - a sell-out?

Prog fans hate that later stuff, but were those guys supposed to do shoe-string budget tours to Italy the rest of their careers? In other words, I think they earned a payday if that was a motivation for doing more pop stuff (not saying it was).

I think it's also because Phil is not an 'edgy' 'controversial' public persona. But - every time he tours he sells out HUGE venues. So, I guess it hasn't hurt him too much!

[robles]

What you're always going to get with someone extremely popular is a great deal of backlash from people who don't like that someone's music. Why? Because they're popular and their music gets played all the time and people who don't like it get really really sick of it.

Around the Genesis community Phil is considered to be the one who "ruined" Genesis. I have to dissagree. Peter left of his own accord. Phil stepped up (after a grueling period of unsatifactory auditions). Yes he injected certain pop sensibilities into the group. But remember, he was the last major member of Genesis to put out a solo album. And he certainly didn't put a gun to anybody's head that made him so popular. He simply released his own music. Long after everyone else in the group did.

Am I a fan of his solo stuff? Very little of his solo work appeals to me personally. But I have nothing but respect for the man. Who else in the history of popular music puts out the most popular album of the year and immediately goes back to his old group to record something else?

[SpctrlMornings]

It is sad that Phil and Genesis get such a bad rep these days. I'm sure there are many reasons why this is so, but to me none of that matters.

I will admit that I was disappointed at the amount of publicity Genesis got here in the US during their reunion tour (maybe partially the bands fault and for the sheer dumb luck of The Police touring that same year). But (don't read me wrong) I'm certainly not blaming the guys for that.

When it comes down to it, press, publicity, awards, etc... It's not important (though if it's good it's nice to get certainly lol)
What matters is the music and if people still want to hear it and we all do and alot of us got the chance to last year and it was a thrill to see!

[Kendra]

I saw the Police and Genesis were better. :P

[Rebekah Ziegler]

I heard that the Police were terrible, which is a shame, because I really like them. I'm glad ,and not surprised, that you had a better experience with Genesis.

[Rafael]

Agree.
Long live the drummer who sings.

[Allan]

I agree mostly with what's already been said. It does seem to me that the negativity towards Phil exists mostly in the UK. The US is pretty accepting of him, especially the R&B crowd.
I also think that many Genesis fans are uninformed about Phil's (and Peter's ) role within Genesis. They were always a band. If anything Banks & Rutherford were the primary writers.