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I went to see Phil Collins in concert last night. I had never seen him live, even when he was with Genesis, though I had all the Genesis albums and several Phil Collins albums. I just loved the music he wrote with Genesis and as a solo artist. Yeah, yeah, I know he’s not a guitarist, and this is a guitar blog, but hey! It’s my blog, so there! Seriously though, there is a point to this.

Like many, I’ve gone to many concerts, and after the concert, both my wife and I agreed that we’re probably caught up with respect to seeing the artists of our youth. But unlike the other concerts I’ve attended recently, where I’ve left the venue jacked up and stoked, with this one, I was speechless, pensive and introspective. I found reaction a little disconcerting, and to be honest, more than a little disturbing.

This feeling really got me thinking about it on the way home. And in discussing it on the ride home with my wife and friends, whom we rode with to the concert, I realized that Genesis and specifically, Phil Collins’ music has been a part of my life since the 1970’s. And without truly realizing it, a lot of who I am as a songwriter and a musician has been heavily influenced by the music Phil Collins has written.

I think the earmark of Phil Collins’ music is how he weaves melodies within the fabric of a song whose chord progressions are completely unpredictable and unexpected. For instance, take the song “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now).” The first stanza of the lyrics is:

How can I just let you walk away
And let you leave without a trace?
When I stand here taking every breath you
You’re the only one who really knew me at all

The chord progression for each line is:

Bbm7  Cm7 
Db  Ebm7(add)4
Gb(add2)  Ab/Gb  Fm7  Bbm
Ebm  Absus4  Ab

If you don’t know the song, do a search.

A lot of his music has these suspended fourths and seconds that I have always found incredibly beautiful. And I realized in discussing his music last night that in my own playing, I add similar elements to my phrasing and chords. Influenced by Phil Collins? Maybe. But I think we can all agree that as musicians, a lot of our musical sense comes from the music to which we listen. So for me, it’s probably a safe bet to say that at least a bit of who I am as a musician has been influenced by Phil Collins’ music. And that realization hit me like a ton of bricks and probably explains my pensiveness after the show.

This morning, while I was still reeling from the realization of how much Phil Collins has influenced me as a musician, I had a chuckle because it brought back to mind an interview I read a long time ago where the artist said that “Musicians are the biggest rip-off artists. We all play each other’s shit, even if we express it in different ways.” The context of that interview (sorry, I don’t recall the specific artist) was the interviewer asked about the artist’s musical influences.

I laughed at the memory because I’m unabashed about being influenced by a bunch of different artists from Duke Ellington to Ella Fitzgerald to Frank Sinatra to Bob Marley to James Taylor to Peter Frampton to Steve Winwood to Peter Gabriel and yes, to Phil Collins. And the list goes on and on and on. I’m not alone in this. As musicians, who we are is an amalgam of our experiences in life and indeed, what we hear.