Kicking off our latest column: Tales From the History of “Rock & Roll.”
Every legendary song has a story, and every great artist has a journey. This ongoing series takes a closer look at the moments that launched careers, shaped musical history, and left a lasting mark on popular culture. Through little-known facts, memorable milestones, and fascinating behind-the-scenes stories, we celebrate the artists and songs that continue to resonate across generations.
We begin with Phil Collins; one of the 3 artists who have sold over 100 million records worldwide combined throughout their career as a member of a band and a solo artist.
One of Phil’s biggest hits, “In The Air Tonight,” was composed musically, basically consisting of a series of chords played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 over a simple drum machine pattern (the Roland CR-78 Disco-2 pattern, plus some programming); processed electric guitar sounds and vocoded vocals, an effect which is increased on key words to add additional atmosphere.
According to Phil Collins he wrote “In the Air Tonight” as a raw, emotional outlet during the painful aftermath of his divorce from his first wife in 1980.
The lyrics reflect deep feelings of anger, despair, and frustration, and were largely improvised in the studio.
He improvised the lyrics during a songwriting session in the studio: “I was just fooling around. I got these chords that I liked, so I turned the mic on and started singing. The lyrics you hear are what I wrote spontaneously. That frightens me a bit, but I’m quite proud of the fact that I sang 99.9 percent of those lyrics spontaneously.”
The hit song also contains one of the greatest drum intros, solos and drum sounds the music world has ever heard.
