Atlantic 81240
Producer: Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham
Track listing: Sussudio / Only You Know and I Know / Long Long Way to Go / I Don’t Wanna Know / One More Night / Don’t Lose My Number / Who Said I Would / Doesn’t Anybody Stay Together Anymore / Inside Out / Take Me Home
March 30, 1985
7 weeks (nonconsecutive)
By 1985, Phil Collins had certainly enjoyed a lengthy and successful career. In 1970, he became the fourth drummer of the veteran British rock band Genesis. In 1975, when singer Peter Gabriel opted to leave the band, it was Collins who took the spotlight, surprising naysayers who had pronounced Genesis dead with Gabriel’s departure. Not only did Collins flourish fronting Genesis, but in 1981 he launched a solo career with the album Face Value. That album and 1982’s Hello, I Must Be Going! were top 10 hits that went on to sell more than four million and two million copies, respectively.
In 1984 Collins scored a pair of smash singles. “Against All Odds (Take a Look a Me Now),” from the film of the same name, became his first Number One in April, while “Easy Lover,” a duet with Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire, climbed to number two, setting the stage for the most successful year of Collins’s career.
“One More Night,” the first single from No Jacket Required, wasn’t a dramatic departure for Collins. The vocal track on the cut, and other ballads on the album, were recorded as demos at Collins’s home, but that didn’t stop the song from striking a nerve with the public. The single became Collins’s second Number One, while No Jacket Required simultaneously topped the album chart — a career first for Collins.
Yet there was more to No Jacket Required than the ballads. “I was trying to do something a little differently than what I had done before,” Collins says. “I was interested in trying to explore the R&B influence and taking it a step further.” To achieve that goal, Collins enlisted the help of David Frank from the System, who played bass and keyboards on several tracks.
While the funky new direction won over fans — on July 6 “Sussudio” became Collins’s second consecutive Number One — it made him an easy target of critics who charged that “Sussudio” was a virtual rehash of Prince’s “1999.” Says Collins, “Well, it ain’t far wrong … There was something about ‘1999’ that I liked, but Prince is a Black American and I’m a white Englishman, so it’s going to sound very different. They are basically the same kind of dance groove, but that’s pretty much where the resemblance ends.”
Nonetheless, the song helped Collins reach a new audience. “I suddenly found out I was really across the board. Black kids in the street were stopping me and saying ‘Hey man, I love the new record,’ as well as the usual spotty white kids.”
The diverse selection of material also helped Collins win favor with the members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, as No Jacket Required received a Grammy for Album of the Year. Says Collins, “Maybe that will be viewed as the peak of my career, at least commercially speaking. I may never go that way again.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of Marcy 30, 1985
1. No Jacket Required, Phil Collins
2. Centerfield, John Fogerty
3. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen
4. Beverly Hills Cop, Soundtrack
5. Private Dancer, Tina Turner