5 Reasons Phil Collins Should Be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The problem with Phil Collins wasn’t that he’d struggled to maintain a solo career away from his main band. It’s that unlike Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry and Freddie Mercury, the Genesis frontman was maybe too successful away from his main band.

Collins spent an entire month at No. 1 in 1985, scoring four No. 1 singles in a single year. He’d helped Genesis to new heights on either side of this breakout moment. Phil Collins was everywhere.

His first solo Billboard No. 1, a soundtrack song, dated back to April 21, 1984. He and Genesis had just notched their first-ever Top 10 single. Then he won a Grammy. His second No. 1 followed on July 6, 1985. His third topped the charts the same day as his third solo project on March 30, 1985.

Phil Collins Simply Dominated the Charts in the ’80s

Collins was atop the album charts in 1985 for seven non-consecutive weeks. He finished the year with another chart-topping song from a movie. Then he won three more Grammys. It was a lot, but Collins was just getting started.

In 1988, after helping Genesis to their first-ever No. 1 song and their best-selling album, Collins spent another month at the top of the charts with two more solo singles. There was another Grammy. Collins then began his longest Hot 100 reign, spending four weeks at No. 1 beginning in on Dec. 23, 1989. And he won yet another Grammy.

READ MORE: Ranking Every Phil Collins Solo Album

The irony is writ large: Genesis already had their second frontman sitting on a drum stool behind Peter Gabriel, but when Gabriel left after 1975’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, they held auditions for a new singer. It’s been said the band considered hundreds of others before finally turning to Collins.

How Phil Collins Juggled His Solo Career and Genesis

Genesis’ first album with Collins as frontman was also their first Top 40 album ever. He promptly led the band to their first Top 20, first Top 10 and first Top 5 LPs. Also, their first chart-topping song. He scored seven other Top 5 solo singles. But it was all happening, as improbable as this may seem, at the same time. Collins risked burn out, both personally and with the general public.

He left Genesis in the ’90s, and delved deeper into soundtrack work. That earned Collins an Academy Award (after two previous nominations) and a final Grammy, but it also marked a period where he began to slow down. This was well-earned rest. Phil Collins had long since built a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame career. Here are five reasons why:

No. 1. Phil Collins Changed the Concept of Solo Careers Forever

Before Phil Collins, solo careers would follow a band split. Eric Clapton didn’t go back and forth between the Yardbirds and his own records. John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s turn-of-the-’70s solo projects marked the end of the Beatles. Even within Genesis, Peter Gabriel’s first self-titled LP followed his exit. (He never even plays their songs in concert.) Solo careers also didn’t outshine earlier work with a signature band.

Collins changed everything. He moved fluidly between Genesis and his solo projects. (Collins even reworked “Behind the Lines” from Duke for his debut, after Genesis transformed the solo leftover “Misunderstanding” into a No. 14 single.) Ultimately, he found far more commercial success on his own, as Collins sold more than 34 million albums in the U.S. alone. Genesis had one No. 1 single. Collins scored seven.

No. 2. He Was a First-Call Collaborator With Other Hall of Famers

Even while building his own parallel solo career, Collins had begun working with a string of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. He was the principal drummer on former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant’s 1982 solo debut, Pictures at Eleven, then played drums on Plant’s second album Principle of Moments. Both went platinum. Collins produced and played on 1985’s million-selling Behind the Sun with Eric Clapton, before Clapton worked on Collins’ No Jacket Required.

Collins’ tour in support of that diamond-certified 1985 album ended with a pair of cross-Atlantic appearances at Live Aid, with Sting in London and with Clapton and Led Zeppelin in Philadelphia. Collins also worked on Clapton’s 1986 Top 40 album August, before appearing as a special guest on tour in 1989 with the Who. Collins’ song “That’s Just the Way It Is” featured backing vocals from David Crosby. Clapton then returned to play on “I Wish It Would Rain Down,” also from … But Seriously.

No. 3. Phil Collins Wasn’t Afraid to Tackle Serious Social Issues

Collins’ solo songs could be quite personal, but he often considered the big picture, as well. He’d been on a remarkable hot streak, with three of his last four singles topping the charts, when he stepped on stage at Live Aid in July 1985. Collins met the moment with stripped-down take on his anti-violence song “Long Long Way to Go.” Elsewhere on No Jacket Required, “Take Me Home” dealt with the nation’s mental healthcare crisis.

He later turned “Another Day in Paradise,” with its display of deep empathy for the homelessness, into a Grammy-winning chart-topping song. “We Wait and We Wonder” confronted worries over the threat of terrorism. “That’s Just the Way It Is,” also from 1989’s aptly named … But Seriously, decries the violence then gripping North Ireland. His Testify LP included “Don’t Get Me Started,” which took on corrupt politicians.

READ MORE: Top 10 Phil Collins-Era Genesis Songs
 

No. 4. He is the Most Successful Singing Drummer In Rock History

Ringo Starr played drums and sang. So did Micky Dolenz and Levon Helm. But not even Don Henley combined band success with solo success on this level. No Jacket Required arrived just after Collins won a Grammy for “Against All Odds,” his first No. 1 single. He emerged as just the 15th British artist to simultaneously top the U.S. album and singles charts when “One More Night” became his third No. 1, after “Sussudio.” From there, he notched nine Top 5 singles into 1990, four of which topped the charts.

Collins’ follow-up LP, the four-times platinum …But Seriously, soared to No. 1 in both America and the U.K., where it was the best-selling album of 1990. His self-recorded 1993 album Both Sides was considered a “disappointment,” but still went platinum in the U.S. and topped the charts in his native U.K. The follow up, 1996’s Dance into the Light, was certified gold in America. Some 20 years after its release, No Jacket Required was still among the 50 best-selling LPs in U.S. history.

No. 5. Even on His Biggest Songs, Phil Collins Was a Musical Innovator

Collins first experimented with the gated-reverb drum technique on former Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel’s third self-titled solo album in 1980, notably throughout “Intruder.” But that huge rhythm sound became era-defining after Collins used the same approach on the towering conclusion of 1981’s “In the Air Tonight,” a three-times platinum, U.K. chart-topping smash. (Collins liked it so much that he employed similar fills on “Thru These Walls” from 1982’s Hello, I Must Be Going!)

Surprisingly enough, Collins was also a pioneer in the use of the drum machine. The Roland TR-808 had made an early impact on dance, R&B and hip-hop but Collins took it widescreen on 1985’s “One More Night,” which had a two-week run at No. 1 in the U.S. Prior to all of this, Collins helped Brand X fuse jazz with progressive rock on 1976’s Unorthodox Behaviour. He would use every tool in the shed on 1993’s deeply personal Both Sides, which Collins self-produced for the first time while playing every instrument.

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