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Phil Collins calls time on music career


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Phil-Collins-calls-time-on-music-career.html
Telegraph.co.uk:

The 60-year-old star says he feels it is "a good time to stop" making music, adding: "I don't think anyone's going to miss me."
He has hearing problems, a dislocated vertebra and nerve damage in his hands, all brought on by a lifetime spent hunched behind a drum kit.

The songwriter also claims that listeners have grown "sick" of him and that there is no longer a place for him in the current music scene.

"I look at the MTV Music Awards and I think: 'I can't be in the same business as this'," Collins says in an interview with FHM magazine.

"I don't really belong to that world and I don't think anyone's going to miss me. I'm much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely.

"I'll go on a mysterious biking holiday and never return. That would be a great way to end the story, wouldn't it?" Collins, who lives alone in Switzerland after divorcing his third wife in 2007, has enjoyed huge popularity over 40 years as both a drummer and singer with the rock band Genesis and then as one of the biggest-earning solo artists of all time.

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pollyannaish

I hope he lives a long time off the fruits of his labor...enjoying his children and grandchildren. He is such a brilliant talent and I have always adored him. I had no idea that people were sick of him, because I never have been.

 

Some of my favorites:

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z5fAgrMuIo

 

 

Phil let's loose doing what he does best..

 

Thanks for all the good memories Phil. God bless you. I'll sure miss hearing new stuff, but you have a whole lotta living left to do. B)

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I hope he realizes that he has a whole lot of living left to do....because that sounded really suicidal to me.

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pollyannaish

I hope he realizes that he has a whole lot of living left to do....because that sounded really suicidal to me.

 

 

Me too, until I read the rest of the article. After I read the part about building stuff for the kids, etc. etc. I came away feeling like the writer kind of misrepresented that statement.

 

My husband talks like that on occasion, but he's not suicidal. He just fears withering away physically as he gets older. I think that's a big man thing, especially for guys who face chronic debilitating illness. They don't like the loss of control.

 

Stupid writer.

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pollyannaish

Oh thank you. Another instance of me not reading the entire article.

I need a teleprompter computer.

 

I do that ALL the time. I wonder if we could get a deal on the 'prompters. :lol:

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I've always liked Phil Collins, too, but even after reading the entire article I still think he sounded depressed.

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pollyannaish

I've always liked Phil Collins, too, but even after reading the entire article I still think he sounded depressed.

 

Oh, I think he's depressed. Honestly, for good reason. I just don't think he's suicidal.

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WestVirginiaRebel

It's too bad he feels there's no place for him in today's music scene-but given the way it is today, he's probably right.

 

 

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pollyannaish

I knew I liked you people! Yay for Phil fans!

 

Edited to add: Nice version Casino67! Hadn't seen that one before, love it. Thanks for adding the other two, also some of my favorites. WVR. :)

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saveliberty

Oh thank you. Another instance of me not reading the entire article.

I need a teleprompter computer.

 

I do too, Rheo!

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pollyannaish

Thanks Geeeshout and Peppershout, And Valinshout, he's a good actor too. Liked that movie and had forgotten about it! Thanks for posting the clip.

 

One thing this whole story has started me thinking about the state of culture in the Western world today.

 

It seems to me, that among artists in the twentieth century, success has been labelled as completely incompatible with success. When someone becomes super successful like Collins, they label that person a "sellout" and become irrationally critical of the person's work and talent.

 

This happens in movies, art, literature, music, tv, fashion, architecture...almost every creative pursuit. You're only good if you have a small, elite group of followers who "get" you. If you appeal to the masses, you are obviously no good. I see this among my artistic friends. They label anything people like as mundane and and lacking in creativity. It often expands to a critique of others lives as "ordinary" and "boring" and "pedestrian."

 

In other words, success only comes when one "quits" being an artist. It seems to me that this is just a way to excuse one's own lack of success. An artist may not sell a million records, but "that is just because regular people just don't get me. I'm bigger and more important than you because I'm "special."

 

Well, I'd like to say that guys like Collins and Shakespeare and Mozart and Hanks...are all spectacular artists. And their genius lies in their ability to connect with the masses because they understand what is special about being human. They instinctively know what knits us together across cultures and continents. They are bigger than their context. It is the reason why people like Shakespeare endure for hundreds of years after they are gone.

 

I remember reading an article about Barry Manilow years ago. (If there was ever a guy who was mocked for being a hack, he's the guy.) About halfway through his career he sank into a very deep depression because he was ridiculed so often. He realized that no matter how hard he worked, he could not garner the "respect" he wanted from his peers. The only way he eventually found his way out of it was to realize that it wasn't his peers that mattered, but his audience.

 

I hope that Collins, and others like him (the man who produced "Waiting for Superman, etc.) who are eschewed by their peers for "selling out" and not remaining part of the unsuccessful elite understand the gift they have given the world. And God bless these folks for creating for US, instead of the other folks in the industry who despise us anyway.

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