The Genesis song that Phil Collins is not a big fan of

One of the few artists who were able to sell more than 100 million records both as a solo artist and a band member, Phil Collins is certainly one of the most influential musicians of all time. He first achieved fame as a member of Genesis, being part of 12 studio albums by the band. Four of them as their drummer and eight as the drummer and vocalist. He became their frontman after the original singer Peter Gabriel decided to leave the group in 1975.

For two more albums the band still had the guitarist Steve Hackett, who then decided to leave in 1977 and then the group became a trio. It was a turning point for the band, with Mike Rutherford also becoming their guitar player. In the following albums the band changed their sound, becoming more commercial and it was crucial for reaching a new audience and becoming one of the best-selling bands of that era.

But, like any artist, Phil Collins didn’t like everything he recorded with the band. There is even an specific song he is not really a big fan of, which comes from his least favorite Genesis album.

The Genesis song that Phil Collins is not a big fan of

In an interview with Drumeo for the documentary “Phil Collins: Drummer First” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), Collins talked about many Genesis songs. One of them was “Down and Out”, the opening track of “And Then There We Three…”, the group’s first album as a trio. He is not a big fan of that song and explained why.

“Well, that period of Genesis, ‘Then There Were Three”, I’m not particularly fond of. This is just my personal point of view. I mean, I do some fills on ‘Down and Out’ that I couldn’t do today. They worked great, I did them in the studio and they worked great. But that was when I was, you know, only just becoming the singer a couple of albums in. So I was very intent on chops trying to do things that I had never done before. So ‘Down and Out’ is, I mean, I haven’t heard it for ages. But I mean, it’s a period piece,” Phil Collins said.

Although that album is not among the band’s most famous ones, it had the hit “Follow You Follow Me“, which was really important for the band.

Why Collins doesn’t like “And Then There Were Three…” that much

The album released in 1978 performed well in the charts. It peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 14 on the United States Billboard 200. However, as Collins said in an interview with Mario Giammetti for the book “Genesis: 1975 to 2021 – The Phil Collins Years”, he is not a big fan of the record.

“This is probably my least favourite record. But maybe that’s just because it wasn’t a particularly happy period in my life. I contributed little bits. But the songs were kind of short, a little inconsequential.”

“I felt, apart from ‘Follow You Follow Me’ which I thought was great. I remember writing some lyrics for different things. But certainly not the kind of lyrics I would go on to write a couple of years later [on Genesis’s next album, Duke], which were much more personal.”

“I suppose there are a couple of lyrics in there that I might have written based on personal experiences. But I was still writing some fantasy things, based on what the Genesis history was. As opposed to what I would become. I was always more direct, while Genesis were always more ‘round the houses’ storytellers,” Phil Collins said.