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How 20 minutes work for Phil Collins became a multi-million dollar classic: “Started fooling around”
Phil Collins’ 1981 hit ‘In the Air Tonight’ emerged from an improvised studio session rather than a lengthy, deliberate songwriting process. Collins has said the song began when he started experimenting with a drum machine and keyboard, developing the central atmosphere and lyrics in around 20 minutes; it later became one of his most recognisable and commercially valuable recordings.
The song appeared on Collins’ debut solo album, Face Value, and helped establish him beyond his role as Genesis’s drummer and singer. Its sparse arrangement, brooding vocal and famous drum break made it a lasting cultural fixture, while its worldwide sales, radio exposure and repeated use in film, television and advertising have generated substantial income.
In short
- ‘In the Air Tonight’ began as a brief studio improvisation.
- The 1981 hit launched Phil Collins’ solo career.
- Its distinctive drum break helped make it enduringly lucrative.
Explained simply
Phil Collins was the drummer and later lead singer of Genesis, a British rock band that became internationally successful. In 1981, he released Face Value, his first solo album, as he began building a career outside the group.
“In the Air Tonight” became one of Collins’s best-known songs. Its restrained sound and distinctive drum break helped it endure, and decades of sales, radio play and use in films, television and advertising have made it a valuable recording.
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