Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight (Official Music Video)

UCRs top 100 classic rock songs list brings us to #66: Phil Collins "IN THE AIR TONIGHT" Official Music Video

When you think of Phil Collins, the climactic, dam-bursting drum beat of his 1981 hit "In the Air Tonight" is very likely one of the first things that comes to mind. As famous and familiar as this Top 100 Classic Rock Song is today, it came out of one of the darkest periods of Collins’ life.

A divorce from his first wife Andrea provided the framework for his solo debut Face Value, a dark portrait of the emotional despair and anger that the Genesis frontman was feeling over the loss. "In the Air Tonight" brings Collins’ anger fully to the surface, in a menacing tone delivered over the backing of a simplistically programmed drum machine.

His vocal seethes with a new-found confidence, knowing that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel. The feeling which Collins sings is “coming in the air tonight,” is one of redemption, having gained a greater understanding and clarity. Later, he calls out the elephant in the room directly, saying: “So you can wipe off that grin / I know where you’ve been / it’s all been a pack of lies."

Still, the centerpiece of the song, without a doubt, is the unforgettable mid-song drum breakdown from Collins which brings the energy levels of "Air" to full throttle. The sight of Collins thrashing around his drum kit is a now-famous visual which was later replicated in one of the "Grand Theft Auto" games where the bad guys were out to kill Collins while he's on stage performing "In the Air Tonight." Collins, an avid gamer in the ‘80s and ‘90s, was happy to participate in the GTA series, working with the video game makers directly on the "Kill Phil" portions of the game, playing himself.

A much less dramatic version with no bad guys can be found on the Live at Montreux DVD, recorded in 2004. He was later forced to temporarily retire from drumming due to back problems that made it too painful for him to play the drums.

In 2015, Collins returned to recording and touring. If he needed an extra hand on stage, Mike Tyson seems prepared to take over. Either way, "In the Air Tonight" will survive in recorded form as one of his greatest accomplishments.