Sussudio: would've it been accepted if anyone but Phil Collins had sung it?

They really were not

 

I cannot agree. I don't think that the number of 1970s Genesis fans is very large compared to the number of people who were exposed to Phil Collins solo hits in the 1980s and who now don't look upon that stuff very fondly.

 

Yeah I can't share that opinion either. They were barely tolerable. Sure they had some jams during the Peter years but with Phil, they finally found their sound. Tony and Mike, IMHO, guided Genesis away from the prog/camp rock of their early years with Peter...

 

If Macca had written and sung it there might be a 15000 post thread here on how brilliant it is.

 

There's probably a whole lot of songs that were only really successful because the right artist recorded them at the right time. It's not just the song or the artist that makes it, but the synchronicity of the artist, the song, and the time in which the two come together.

 

It's really just two totally different things, Genesis versus his solo stuff. I liked "Sussudio" and his cover of "You Can't Hurry Love" and I think all those fans could give a rat's patoot that it wasn't like Genesis. And personally, a couple of songs on Tarzan are some of my favorites out of ALL his stuff (though "Behind The Lines" is probably #1)

 

We see what you did there...

 

I recall that Phil's inspiration for these kind of tunes was early Beatles. So before you call it dumb...

 

Totally agree

 

I imagine Michael Jackson could've done 'Sussudio' great as well.

 

Excellent guys!

 

At the time in 1985 everything Phil touched well at least wrote and sang turned to gold. Sussudio was no different. Talent and popularity helped launch this track to # 1 along with its vehicle No Jacket Required.

Another popular artist of the time could of sung Sussudio but I don't believe it would have been a popular # 1 hit material. Just my two cents.

 

No, it is an absolutely terrible song. This hurt Collins' reputation, Collins did not hurt it.

 

I think sususudio made it because it was phil, kind of a minor tune but his popularity pushed it to the top....the backlash is probably cause he was literally everywhere, genesis/solo songs/soundtrack (against all odds) couldn't escape him....kind of like lionel Ritchie where everyone burnt out on him

 

Agree with the basic premise. When stars become megastars, there is *always* burnout/backlash, because the level of fan that is getting reached is getting more and more casual and, as a mega-star, you also touch the lives of people who don't even like you, because you're everywhere. The trade-off is that you get to have boatloads of money. Holding a grudge and whining about it is unbecoming.

 

We keep coming back to this issue (not the "Phil vs. Peter", but the "overplayed hits" resentment). Sometimes I just think people get annoyed with music that makes their girlfriends dance, when they wanna rock out instead. Not much deeper than that.
A person who is successful at doing something you don't want to see done, will always be resented (that it's he who makes your girlfriend dance ).

You can't blame a guy who shows some success for, well, succeeding at it. And if he produces something people want to hear over the radio over and over, then turn their radios off just as the next guy turns on his radio, and he wants to hear it now...that's not the artists' fault. He doesn't owe anybody an apology for anything.

Now, if you can't hear your Beatles song because your radio station keeps playing The Silkie, Billy J. Kramer and Peter & Gordon; or, you're not getting enough Bee Gees because "Islands In The Stream" or "Emotion" is getting rammed down your throat; or Frida, Eric Clapton or that Howard Jones "metronome-y" song is keeping Phil Collins from taking over the whole playlist...it's probably just radio's way of giving you what you like, without realizing you're actually fatigued by it.

- which actually goes back to the OP's original hypothetical, from another angle.

 

I just don't think Peter Gabriel would have never done that song.

 

If there were any credibility in that sentiment though, we sure didn't see any Genesis fans rushing out to get some Brand X albums so they could get to hear Phil play up to his more cerebral, non-pop abilities, did we...?

 

I don't believe the people, like myself, who didn't like Phils pop songs lost any respect for him as a musician and drummer. I just didn't like the pop stuff, and thought it was pretty much beneath him. And yes I did buy up every Brand X album that I could find, and more with Phil's contributions. Just not the pop. Don't think I was alone.

 

And how "we didn't get it".

I betcha there's a 100 page thread on how underrated Ebony and Ivory was.

 

Makes you wonder, don't it?

 

He seems like a great guy to have lunch or a couple beers with

OT: I've never thought of the possibility of Sussudio done by anyone but Phil Collins. It's a fun ditty (which never got huge here in austria, so I first heard it in 'that movie you better not quote in a Genesis-related thread for the umptenth time' ). His first three solo albums are very strong, with Hello and Jacket being my favorites. Also, I don't get all the bashing, either. Yes, he was very mainstream in the 80s, but who would turn down the opportunity to make some serious money? Plus, even at his sappiest, Phil Collins always keeps things more entertaining than most who tried to take his airplay throne since then (lookin' at you, Ed Sheeran...).

 

I like Collins. Own every Genesis record and four of his solo. And I think Sussudio sussucks. The fact it was Collins who wrote and performed it had no bearing on my opinion.

 

See, this is the part I really have a problem with; I don't concur with that judgement. More likely to me, the listener who has an affinity for Genesis' material, simply can't relate to that sort of songwriting...and so they lash out at it for its' detraction from the previous grooves.

"In The Air Tonight" was I believe the closest a Phil song came to a Peter Gabriel song at its' time. So, although the song (and the album) comes from a much more universally-accessible subject, there was this recognizable spiritual link to whom a Genesis fan thought Phil should be like. But, a savvy music fan with thousands of hours of radio listening under his belt, could hardly miss the catchiness of the groove, and the power of that horn chart, and the sizzle that holds the whole "Sussudio" thing together - just four years of superstardom later. Surely, the person who has lived with pop music all his life, could recognize, a little monosyllabic hookmaking, has always been a part of teen music - since way before "Mairsy Doats". If you can't forgive a lyrical hook that wasn't really the reason you were singing along to it at the stoplight in the first place...surely you have to be tone deaf. You're just making an excuse to hate a song that is so likeable...it makes your girlfriend dance, better'n you do!

Haven't seen such misplaced resentment since watching the Sullivan show any night The Beatles were on, and watching the eye-rolling boyfriends sitting next to every apoplectic girl in the audience (what are you missing, dude - she is never. gonna. be. more. excited. coming. home. from. a. date. with. you. again...DO. THE. MATH...!).

And when your girlfriend leads you to the dance floor 20 years later in 1985...watch what that beat does to her walk...and remember, she's not doing it for Phil. Carpe diem, idjit.

Or, maybe there's a nice Uriah Heep album at home waiting for you, once she ditches you for the guy from Sociology class who was more than happy to dance with her...

 

No, I don't think anyone but Phil Collins could've gotten away with it.

Some people, especially these so-called rock critics, like to bash Phil Collins for the song, saying how insipid it is, or whatever, but they don't get it. It's not about the lyrics, it's about the groove. You know, dancing, gettin' down, and all that other stuff they don't do.