Popular band ... awful song

First of all, it's not even the worst tune on the album. "The Girl Is Mine" duet with Paul McCartney makes "Say Say Say" seem like "Hey Jude". Secondly, you are aware that Thriller wasn't Michael's last album, right? Just because he doesn't look like that guy any more, he's still responsible for all the dreck he's churned out since the 80s.

 

that's what happens when the soul of the band - gabriel - departs, allowing Phil Collins' massive ego to seduce the others with pop music profits.

I was in torino last feb and went to the opening ceremony. I hadn't seen the pre-ceremony notes so didn't know gabriel was going to perform. even if his voice sounded shit, it was magical

 

Brenda Walsh disagrees.

 

Nice to hear that Phil really screwed up "A Trick of the Tail," "Wind & Wuthering" and "Duke" - all of which were far superior to "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway."

Hey, I like both Pete and Phil and will not choose between them. (I like Ray Wilson and don't feel Tony and Mike gave him enough time to fit into the lead role). But let's not blame PC for everything, eh? He's not infallible, but he's not to shoulder all blame ...

 

well, we'll disagree on the Lamb, because its one of my favourite albums. Its indulgent, sure, but there's some great stuff there, way more imaginative than anything on Wind and Wuthering or Duke, which were the slippery slide into pop stardom. Trick of the Tail passes, but again, Phil's sappy influence was starting to dominate.

I think, when looking at Phil and Pete, is look at their solo catalogue. There's no S-s-s-sudios or Can't hurry Loves in Gabriels.
There's Solsbury Hill, Biko, Here Comes the Flood, Red Rain, Mercy Street, Come Talk to Me, but no S-s-s-sudio.
One went on to make money, the other made music.

 

Nothing wrong with Phil's cover of "You Can't Hurry Love."

And it's not like Peter was just pandering to the masses when he put out "Sledgehammer." It is possible to create good music that is also commercial.

(interesting trivia - when "Sledgehammer" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, it replaced "Invisible Touch." It was the first and only time a group and a former member of that group followed one another into the top spot on the chart.)

 

Rod Stewart--Hot Legs
You're Only Human--Billy Joel: Nice message, awful song
Led Zeppelin--Hot Dog: Who the hell thought it would be a good idea for Zep to try a country song? ???
Styx--Mr. Roboto
As for Starship, even worse than We Built This City was Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

 

well, if you've listened to any Genesis pre-1980, you realize just how unoriginal a cover of You Can't Hurry Love is.
As someone said, how do you go from Supper's Ready to I can't Dance.

 

Yeah, nothing poppy or commercial about "In Your Eyes," "Shock the Monkey," or "Big Time."

I'm not a huge Genesis wonk, and I'm not a hugefan of either Collins or gabriel's solo stuff. It's not bad music. But let's not be fooled by fandom when evaluating whether one guy's stuff was more radio-friendly than another's.

 

Second that. Gabriel post '86 was as much a commercially driven beast as Genesis/Phil Collins were. The only post '86 Gabriel song I enjoyed was Digging In The Dirt, and that's hardly uncommercial.

 

The geography-by-numbers approach sometimes irks me -- he even managed a Boston-KC line in "Tell Me Baby" -- but that's nitpicking. If there were a RHCP song to nominate here, it might be "By The Way," simply because the lyrics were too redundant. Otherwise, I love that song musically.

 

I wouldn't exactly call Gabriel's last album commercial. I have nothing against commercial success. But I'll take Gabriel's integrity - as pretentious as it can be sometimes - over Collins' bubblegum.

To make the comparison, Gabriel is Pictures at an Exhibition.
Collins is Love Beach.