Of all the rock/pop superstars of the 1980s the one who I am most familiar with is Phil  Collins thanks to my father. My dad’s absolute favorite band of all time is Genesis and he loves anything relating to it but his favorite member and solo career of the members is Phil Collins. For as long as I can remember my dad has listened to Genesis and Phil Collins on a weekly basis and he never grows tired of hearing their music over and over again. My mother likes some of his songs and Genesis’s more commercial/pop period from the 80s but they aren’t necessarily her favorite. She often jokes that whenever Phil Collins’s music plays on the radio or in a grocery store when she is out and about without my dad that his music is “haunting” her where ever she goes. I’ve even jokingly claimed that In The Air Tonight was probably the first song I heard as a baby. Growing up as a kid I didn’t care much for Phil Collins or Genesis because I mostly knew them as some 80s band my dad loves, but as I began to listen to music on my own and discovered their progressive rock era, led by Peter Gabriel, at the beginning of high school I began to appreciate them more. Now that I’m older I even appreciate some of his solo albums however I’m still not overall into his love ballad pop songs or more commercial sounding Genesis songs. As an artist though and as a musician I have tons of respect for Phil Collins especially as a drummer. Most people only know him for the songs like I mentioned before but in Genesis’s progressive rock era and his time in jazz fusion band Brand X, Phil showcased how talented he truly is as a drummer and in my opinion is very underrated today. I would defend his drumming abilities as equal to other rock drummers such as John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, etc. As a singer, songwriter, and overall musician he is very talented but again I feel most people can not look past his more embarrassing songs of the 80s and 90s to see how great of an artist he really is. Not everything he did in the 1980s was bad or cheesy either! His minimal rhythmic drumming style that he used on songs like In The Air Tonight , I Don’t Care Anymore, Peter Gabriel’s Intruder, etc. was iconic for pop music drumming and made him one of the most prominent drummers of the decade leading him to play with other rock legends such as Eric Clapton and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. Many of his 80s hits have been sampled by tons of hip-hop and R&B artists and  are continued to be sampled even now. While I’m sure no one is a fan of songs like Sussudio almost everyone likes In The Air Tonight and I think that in itself is reflective of how most people view Phil Collins. Many people can recognize his talent but are more likely to write him off as being awful and cheesy. Personally I recommend his 70s work even though it was his 80s hits that launched him to the pop cultural icon he is today.