PHIL COLLINS - IN THE AIR TONIGHT

In 1981, British musician and songwriter Phil Collins released his first solo album - Face Value, featuring his blockbuster downtempo hit In The Air Tonight, the first single released off the album. The vocoded vocal and drum machine driven song was about the pain, anger and despair Collins felt after divorcing his first wife - this song and the songs follow-up hit I Missed Again were written in hope of luring his ex-wife back after she left him. Collins later re-married and divorced again, and then again, inspiring a vast amount of new songs. He has said that he originally wanted to record In The Air Tonight with his band Genesis, but his bandmates didn't like the song because it was "too simple." The Face Value album was more successful then any of the Genesis albums, and after this record the band adopted more of a pop sound. The song's popularity really soared after it appeared in the first episode of Miami Vice, and later was featured on the hugely successful Miami Vice Soundtrack. Phil Collins even appeared in a cameo role as a bad guy on the second season of the show, on an episode titled "Phil the Shill."