Hip-hop never got the memo about Collins being uncool. That today he is lauded by Lorde, the influential New Zealand singer-songwriter, covered by Kanye West and remotely fist-bumped by Brooklyn hipsters such as Yeasayer is largely down to gangsta rap, a Cadbury’s chocolate-promoting gorilla and the “gated reverb” drum sound of “In the Air Tonight”. By the mid-1990s, though, his name was mud with critics, and as popular tastes changed, his earnest balladry came to be seen as corny as one of his flat caps. The former Genesis drummer and frontman scored seven US No 1 singles, and more than 100m album sales worldwide, after launching his career as a solo singer in 1981 with “In the Air Tonight”.
The coolification of Phil Collins is among pop’s most curious turnrounds.
