Phil Collins Wakes Up

Phil Collins said he was retiring from music today. He'll still write but he's done with making records. So, will he be a Billy Joel, pimping his old hits on endless concert tours. Maybe he'll be a Paul Simon who makes a record every 10 years and claims it'll be his last. It took Joel 14 years before he make a new single. A horrible love song to his new lady. Why did he bother? Collins falls in and out of love so often, it won't surprise me if a new love inspires more cheesy love ballads. Then there's the lure of scoring films or writing a theme for one that could easily snare Collins. No, what's bothering Collins is the same thing that bothers all the older singers. They don't sell records anymore. Simon's last album didn't top 300,000. No one downloaded Joel's single, Elton John's last album flopped. So why keep making records for only a few devoted fans? Collins is past his hit making days. Any of his new songs might make a dent on the AC charts, but without a plug from an American Idol appearance, his new stuff wouldn't make the Itunes Top 100 singles. Time rolls on in the music biz. If you're a Bruce Springsteen or a Tom Petty you still believe people will buy your new stuff. If you're a Jackson Browne or James Taylor you repackage your old songs with gimmicks like "Solo Acoustic" or "One Man Band". But you haven't given up hope that some new listener will latch on to your songs and spread the word. Phil Collins now knows it's no longer 1986.