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Phil Collins says he's not the one to blame for Zeppelin's Live Aid Performance


mrmike9

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It is only after reading many of the posts here that I have come to realise that they were never a band known for rehearsing their own music before gigs. Live Aid showed just how much an integral part Bonzo was to their sound and live performances and was the lynch pin for the others to work around sonically. After seeing the performance again what shocked me was that  Collins seems to spend a great deal of time just hitting thin air. Even if he had 24 hours notice surely with a last minute set list he could have done better.

He never sounded a very happy man to me (PC) and still has that ability to irritate.

You forget how big he was in the 1980's and how pop his music became. I actually preferred his production work. His comments about McCartney has not down well with my Beatle mates either.

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Phil Collins, at the age of 65, can no longer play the drums and needs a cane to get around nowadays. He's also worth over 200 million dollars. You'd think he'd just hobble off into the sunset and enjoy his massive wealth. But no, he's got bones to pick with people like Page and McCartney because they didn't give him the respect that he felt he deserved. Phil Collins is a....wait for it......."Whiny Little Bitch"!!! 

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I don't know if this is in Phil's book but in August 1983, while on tour with Robert the two of them went to have dinner together at The Pump Room in Chicago. Phil was turned away for wearing an improper jacket, which inspired the 'No Jacket Required' title of his third album.

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What I don't get it why this stuff all comes out decades later.. If Paul McCartney upset him that much, Phil Collins should have dealt with it THEN.. If  Jimmy was that angry about the drummers performance at Live Aid, he should have said it THEN and put it to bed.. why dredge this crap up 30 years later.. very odd.

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3 hours ago, the chase said:

What I don't get it why this stuff all comes out decades later.. If Paul McCartney upset him that much, Phil Collins should have dealt with it THEN.. If  Jimmy was that angry about the drummers performance at Live Aid, he should have said it THEN and put it to bed.. why dredge this crap up 30 years later.. very odd.

He has a book about to be published, throwing out a few tasters.

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10 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

I don't know if this is in Phil's book but in August 1983, while on tour with Robert the two of them went to have dinner together at The Pump Room in Chicago. Phil was turned away for wearing an improper jacket, which inspired the 'No Jacket Required' title of his third album.

I heard that story as well. I saw  that show, at the Rosemont Horizon. I was in high school at the time. Years later I gigged regularly at the Pump Room with a jazz trio and there was a nice picture of Plant from what had to be 83.. They also had a killer pic of Jimmy at the bar from 75 that I badly wanted to nick! The Ambassador East hotel ( that the Pump Room was in) was sold a few years ago and  all those great photo going back to 30's disappeared. I wonder where they went. They also stopped requiring jackets. 

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I'm surprised that Jimmy dragged it out recently more than anything. I can't really blame Phil Collins for responding. 

Collins should have responded to Paul McCartney for that condescending crap too.. right on the spot. 

Sorry .. I thought I had JTM quoted.. 

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1 hour ago, Flyingzepp said:

Phil Collins is only good at soft rock. Opinion = invalid.

I don't think Genesis was soft rock. He's an accomplished musician and some of his solo stuff is pretty good.

We have to remember that Collins only spoke about Live Aid after he was was made a scapegoat by Jimmy Page. Collins was only defending himself. What he should acknowledge is that he should have rehearsed the parts more and did indeed make an arse of it. But we must bear in mind that Live Aid was chaotic and things were been thrown together and changed on the day. It wasn't like the smooth-oiled corporate tours of today. As I said before, the performance was secondary; it was about raising cash for starving children in Africa. 

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1 hour ago, Boleskinner said:

I don't think Genesis was soft rock. He's an accomplished musician and some of his solo stuff is pretty good.

We have to remember that Collins only spoke about Live Aid after he was was made a scapegoat by Jimmy Page. Collins was only defending himself. What he should acknowledge is that he should have rehearsed the parts more and did indeed make an arse of it. But we must bear in mind that Live Aid was chaotic and things were been thrown together and changed on the day. It wasn't like the smooth-oiled corporate tours of today. As I said before, the performance was secondary; it was about raising cash for starving children in Africa. 

All good points but to me, that set really illustrated how integral Bonzo was. Led Zeppelin were a chemical reaction and that chemisrty ,or alchemy was destroyed when Bonzo died. This show is just painful to see again, I haven't seen it since 85.  I was 18 and I remember being so excited to see Zep playing together again and then once they started I thought, god they sound awful. I guess poor monitoring and sound issues affected their ability to hear each other well but ....Jimmy bloated and alcoholic , Plant in poor voice (as usual) and doing his silly stage primping,  an under rehearsed Tony Thompson overplaying and missing the break at the end of Rock and Roll, no grooving going on. He was Chic's drummer, so you know he had pocket! But he was trying too hard to " bring it". I saw him with Bowie in 83 and he sounded great. Here he sounded like he was sitting in and didn't really know the tunes and overplaying to compensate. And what the hell was Collins there for anyway? Plant invited him? Maybe he was set up to fail and Page has unfairly dissed him but he really didn't need to accept the invite. Jive MTV bullshit. Collins name first in the screen caption of names (Paige?!) Ridiculous to see him getting a visual plug for No Jacket Required after Led Zeppelin are announced and about to play! WTF? The performance clearly was secondary to the good cause , but sadly it was an embarrassment for Zeppelin. I think in a certain aspect it was a bit of a disrespect to Bonzo to go up there and slop it up like that. I wonder what Jones thought while they were playing. 

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5 hours ago, porgie66 said:

All good points but to me, that set really illustrated how integral Bonzo was. Led Zeppelin were a chemical reaction and that chemisrty ,or alchemy was destroyed when Bonzo died. This show is just painful to see again, I haven't seen it since 85.  I was 18 and I remember being so excited to see Zep playing together again and then once they started I thought, god they sound awful. I guess poor monitoring and sound issues affected their ability to hear each other well but ....Jimmy bloated and alcoholic , Plant in poor voice (as usual) and doing his silly stage primping,  an under rehearsed Tony Thompson overplaying and missing the break at the end of Rock and Roll, no grooving going on. He was Chic's drummer, so you know he had pocket! But he was trying too hard to " bring it". I saw him with Bowie in 83 and he sounded great. Here he sounded like he was sitting in and didn't really know the tunes and overplaying to compensate. And what the hell was Collins there for anyway? Plant invited him? Maybe he was set up to fail and Page has unfairly dissed him but he really didn't need to accept the invite. Jive MTV bullshit. Collins name first in the screen caption of names (Paige?!) Ridiculous to see him getting a visual plug for No Jacket Required after Led Zeppelin are announced and about to play! WTF? The performance clearly was secondary to the good cause , but sadly it was an embarrassment for Zeppelin. I think in a certain aspect it was a bit of a disrespect to Bonzo to go up there and slop it up like that. I wonder what Jones thought while they were playing. 

I think this sums it up perfectly. Whenever I hear someone saying "they could have got another drummer" I always point them in the direction of the Live aid fiasco. That's also why I feel the tentative reunion in January 1986 would not have worked either as Tony Thompson, although a great drummer in his field, wouldn't have suited these songs with his style. Bonzo was such an integral part of the sound: this is not to criticise Jason Bonham at the o2 show as he did a fantastic job, but in terms of a permanent replacement, I never felt there was anyone in rock who could replace John Bonham.

 

And slightly off topic, but how the hell can the screen caption writer not know how Page's surname is spelt after nearly 20 years of megafame as a guitarist?!

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2 hours ago, 76229 said:

I think this sums it up perfectly. Whenever I hear someone saying "they could have got another drummer" I always point them in the direction of the Live aid fiasco. That's also why I feel the tentative reunion in January 1986 would not have worked either as Tony Thompson, although a great drummer in his field, wouldn't have suited these songs with his style. Bonzo was such an integral part of the sound: this is not to criticise Jason Bonham at the o2 show as he did a fantastic job, but in terms of a permanent replacement, I never felt there was anyone in rock who could replace John Bonham.

 

And slightly off topic, but how the hell can the screen caption writer not know how Page's surname is spelt after nearly 20 years of megafame as a guitarist?!

I think Page initially liked the fact that two drummers were required to replace Bonham, such was his talent. As in he was twice the drummer Collins or Thompson were, which he was.

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^ I think that and Robert didn't settle on 1 full time drummer till his 3rd solo album.. the drummers were almost treated as a guest spot on his first two solo albums.. I think this was deliberate and a sign of respect towards JB. 

I still think Robert was calling the shots at Live Aid. Why else would his solo bass player, Paul Martinez be sitting in?  Why did John Paul Jones have to INVITE HIMSELF??  I know the reunion kind of snowballed and Martinez is a good player, but that was a little odd.

Phil Collins was Robert's friend, not Jimmy's.. I don't blame Jimmy for being pissed off that one of the drummers (that he didn't pick) didn't know the material, but should have let it go years ago.  

Jimmy insisted Jason play at the Atlantic 40th while I believe Robert was originally pushing for Chris Blackwell..

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39 minutes ago, the chase said:

I believe Robert was originally pushing for Chris Blackwell..

Never heard that one before by anyone anywhere. Sounds like a joke taken as truth. Unlike Live Aid, the Ertegun tribute was always meant to be a reformation of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. Jason Bonham is clearly the most appropriate and deserving person to fill in for his father. His impressive knowledge of the material was self-evident during rehearsals. 

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1 hour ago, Balthazor said:

The best part is Jimmy's expression when Robert says "I have my own career" at about 2:11.

I am surprised Jimmy played as well as he did as he could not even form a single coherent sentence. Mr. Page was pretty wasted, and not elegantly so.

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2 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Never heard that one before by anyone anywhere. Sounds like a joke taken as truth. Unlike Live Aid, the Ertegun tribute was always meant to be a reformation of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. Jason Bonham is clearly the most appropriate and deserving person to fill in for his father. His impressive knowledge of the material was self-evident during rehearsals. 

 

2 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

 

Well I did.. from someone somewhere.. maybe you're right, a joke or it was urban legend.. but I did read it.. I'll see if I can dig it up.. Robert makes a crack about Jason just signing with Atlantic that morning during the show. 

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I cringed when I read that JPJ quote about how he "had to barge his way" into Live aid. Not exactly a great way for a guy who was a founder member of the band to be treated. The non invite to P&P in the 90s was just as bad if not worse.

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3 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

This is more painful to watch than the actual performance. 

 

So Phil says right on this interview that he asked Robert if he could play.. He asked if he could play and didn't bother to learn 3 songs.. That sucks on his part.. imagine if Tony Thompson wasn't there!!??

Maybe he thought it was going to be Honeydrippers or RP solo stuff, songs he knew or could fudge.. if not, he has no excuses.. 

I don't care how wasted Jimmy was or if he left his flanger on during Rock and Roll.. he played fine and knew the songs.. 

They all seem pretty happy at this interview ... even with the lame Alan Hunter and his even lamer questions. 

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I recall seeing a few post performance clips but not the entire interview. Interesting to hear Roberts willingness at the end about yes, he would want to perform again with them. Thanks for posting. 

Sidenote, I recall being in high school and the biggest Zephead in the world at the time and could not wait to see them on stage. Its easy to look back now with a critical eye, but for those of us who watched it let's be honest and admit that it was totally awesome at the time. Flanger and all. 

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I think people get far too hung up on Live Aid, the whole point was to raise money for charity & I believe the donations shot up when 'Led Zeppelin' played the last chords of Stairway to Heaven, job done. OK, they didn't play great & Phil Collins didn't really need to be there but we have 10 years of mainly great performances by the real Led Zeppelin to listen to & watch.

As for Collins himself, I'm no fan of his solo career or Genesis after Steve Hackett left in the late 70s but some of the comments on this thread are baffling, listen to Colony of Slippermen from The lamb lies down on Broadway, Phil Collins was one of the most progressive drummers around in the 70s, a huge fan of John Bonham & a great drummer in his own right. Some of his Brand X stuff is reminiscent of Billy Cobham & the great 70s fusion players.

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I'll try to be constructive. Phil Collins  is a conceited gobshite. What an ego. He stank at live aid. 

Growing up as a teenager listening to his shite in the charts has scarred me for life. He's the complete anathema to good music. 

 

 

 

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