There is a lot to be said for the durability of Phil Collins. Perhaps one of the most maligned musical artists in existence, the former Genesis man suffered greatly for his perceived lack of cutting edge.
In truth, looking back through the decades, it is tough to find a drummer as uniquely musical as he is. Collins’ ability to move percussion to the forefront of the music Genesis made after lead singer Peter Gabriel had left the group was one thing, but then moving himself from behind the kit into the solo singer spotlight was quite another.
Feeling closer to a member of the band club than a high school stud, Collins never truly reached the pop star heights his technical ability suggested he might. Across the years, Collins has been routinely belittled for his lack of credibility, but if you are able to grant him one thing, then appreciation for his craft should surely be it.
He and Genesis delivered a whole ream of classic tracks, as he managed to guide the group out of the mire left behind when Gabriel sought his own new pastures. Collins would be the band’s primary drummer, though still, percussion has always been the focal point of his works. When asked in a 1987 edition of Guitar World about which Genesis song he felt had his greatest drumming on, the answer was simple: ‘Apocalypse In 9/8,’ part F of the 23-minute track ‘Supper’s Ready’ from the 1972 album Foxtrot.
‘Supper’s Ready’ remains Genesis’ longest recorded song and is a testament to both the band’s prog rock credentials and Collins’ own as one of the most underappreciated drummers ever.
“This is one of my all-time favourite Genesis pieces,” Collins said. “I used to love playing this one on the road because I could go way out with it. I have some tapes of us performing it in concert from around this time that make this version sound simplistic. A great piece of music and great fun to play.”
“When I would play something like this piece, I would be singing the riff in my head while I was playing it,” he continued. “That allowed me to stretch out over the top of the meter. To get more of a rotating, circular motion going within the pattern. That’s probably why it felt good.”
What’s more, during a 2025 interview with Drumeo, Collins reflected on the song as one of the best pieces of work he ever produced, and suggested the reason he loved it so much was because of how perfectly the pieces fit together. Firstly, challenging some of the previous work he had done with the band as simply “filling holes” as a good musician would, he picked out ‘Aapocalypse in 9/8’ as one of the prouder moments of his career, saying: “One of my favourite things… it all just fitted together.”
Truly, Collins offers up a sincere lesson to any musician struck by the necessity to produce music in a certain way: “That happened just by luck, really, and not knowing what you were doing some of the time. A drummer’s takes are usually early ones and that was ‘Supper’s Ready’ version and later on they become more experimental.”
