"In the Air Tonight" is a song by the English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released as the lead single from Collins's debut solo studio album, Face Value, in January 1981. It was selected as the second single from the album in the United States and Canada, after "I Missed Again".
Collins co-produced "In the Air Tonight" with Hugh Padgham, who became a frequent collaborator in the following years. It reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. It reached No. 1 in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany, No. 2 in Canada, and the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand and several other European territories. In the United States, it reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 2 on the Rock Tracks Chart, later certified gold by the RIAA, representing 500,000 copies sold. The song's music video, directed by Stuart Orme, received heavy play on MTV when the new cable music video channel launched in August 1981.
"In the Air Tonight" remains one of Collins' most prominent hits, often cited as his signature song, and is especially famous for its drum break towards the end, which has been described as "the sleekest, most melodramatic drum break in history" and one of the "101 Greatest Drumming Moments". In 2006, the song was ranked at No. 35 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s". In 2021, it was listed at No. 291 on Rolling Stones "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Background and recording Inspiration Collins wrote the song amid the grief he felt after divorcing his first wife Andrea Bertorelli in 1980. In a 2016 interview, Collins said of the song's lyrics: "I wrote the lyrics spontaneously. I'm not quite sure what the song is about, but there's a lot of anger, a lot of despair and a lot of frustration." In a 1997 BBC Radio 2 documentary, the singer revealed that the divorce contributed to his 1979 hiatus from the band Genesis, until the band regrouped in October of that year to record the album Duke. Collins remembered playing the song to Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks but he felt it was too simple for the group.
Musical style
"In the Air Tonight" has been described as being "at the vanguard of experimental pop" in 1981 and "a rock oddity classic", having been influenced by "the unconventional studio predilections of Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel". It has also been described as a "soft rock classic." Musically, the song consists of a series of chords played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 over a simple drum machine pattern (the Roland CR-78 Disco-2 pattern, plus some programming); processed electric guitar sounds and vocoded vocals, an effect which is increased on key words to add additional atmosphere. The mood is one of restrained anger until the final chorus when an explosive burst of drums finally releases the musical tension and the instrumentation explodes into a thunderous crescendo. Composed in D minor, it has a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute.
Collins has described obtaining the drum machine specifically to deal with personal issues relating to his divorce through songwriting, telling Mix magazine: "I had to start writing some of this music that was inside me". He improvised the lyrics during a songwriting session in the studio: "I was just fooling around. I got these chords that I liked, so I turned the mic on and started singing. The lyrics you hear are what I wrote spontaneously. That frightens me a bit, but I'm quite proud of the fact that I sang 99.9 percent of those lyrics spontaneously".
Drum sound The song is known for its use of the gated reverb drum sound. Fellow musicians and journalists have commented on its use in the record. Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne called the drum fill "the best ever – it still sounds awesome", while music critic and broadcaster Stuart Maconie was quoted:
The U.S single version of "In the Air Tonight" features extra drums that play underneath the song until the signature drum crash appears. These were added at the suggestion of Atlantic Records head Ahmet Ertegun. In 2007, Collins wrote:
Release Speaking about the song's rapid ascension in the music charts, Collins wrote the following in 2007:
Critical reception Record World called the song "futuristic pop that's also rhythmically captivating." Cashbox described "In the Air Tonight" as "ethereally electronic" that "relies on atmosphere more so than melody to transport the listener." They also felt that the "dramatic drum break alone makes the record a standout."
Urban legend An urban legend has arisen about "In the Air Tonight", according to which the lyrics are based on a drowning incident in which someone who was close enough to save the victim did not help them, while Collins, who was too far away to help, looked on. Increasingly embellished variations on the legend emerged over time, with the stories often culminating in Collins singling out the guilty party while singing the song at a concert. Collins has denied all such stories; he commented on the legends about the song in a BBC World Service interview:
The urban legend was referenced by Eminem in his 2000 single "Stan":
Music video The music video (directed by Stuart Orme) animates the photograph of Collins's face from the cover of the Face Value album, slowly fading in through the introduction until it fills the screen, singing the first chorus. The video then cuts to Collins sitting in an empty room at night. Twice a spectral figure appears in the window, but only the second time does Collins get up to look at it, then is shown walking to the one door of the room.
Collins's face returns for the second chorus. He is then shown leaving the room and entering a hallway full of doors. The first one is locked, then the second opens and Collins sees himself looking at the window again, only now the spectre has turned into his own reflection.
The third door is locked, but as the fourth one opens, the drum break sounds and the viewer is returned to Collins's face again, this time in thermal coloring, which gradually reverts to black and white. His reflection from the window is briefly superimposed on the face, this time seemingly reflected in water. Collins recedes into the darkness as the song repeats and fades.
In 1983 the music video was released on the home video Phil Collins available on VHS and LaserDisc which received a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form.
Performance "In the Air Tonight" remains a popular selection on classic rock radio stations. It is the song most often associated with Collins' solo career, and he has performed it at many events, including Live Aid, where he played the song on a piano on the same calendar day in both Philadelphia and London. He also performed the song at The Secret Policeman's Ball, which was his first live performance as a solo artist. "I remember doing 'In the Air Tonight' at Live Aid," he recalled, "and [Pete] Townshend saying, 'Are you going to do that fucking song again?' as if it was the only one I ever played."Ellen, Mark: "Does everybody still hate Phil Collins?"; Classic Rock #217, December 2015, p82
Legacy The song appeared as part of the soundtrack for the 1983 movie Risky Business and plays when the characters played by Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay have sex on a subway train.
In 1984, the song was used in a scene from the first episode of the television series Miami Vice, which film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz cited as why the song has been stamped as "Property of Michael Mann" (the series' executive producer) for years, rarely being used in other screen works due to its indelible use in the series. "In the Air Tonight" received a new wave of attention thanks to its use in the series, enough for it to rise in sales outside the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 102.
The song played in the Pilot Episode of the 2013 TV Series The Americans. It is a direct homage to the iconic pilot episode of Miami Vice, where night driving, long wordless scenes, and glances by the main characters as they head into the night to finish up a covert operation.
The song was remixed in 1988 by Ben Liebrand for his weekly appearance in the Curry & Van Inkel radio show on Dutch radio. The mix was completed and then taken by Liebrand to be part of a mix showcase at the DMC Mixing Championship Finals in London, attended by 3500 worldwide deejays. The mix was picked up by Virgin Records for an official release, which reached No. 4 on the UK chart.
In 2006, the song appeared in the PSP and PS2 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, during the Collin's concert in the Hyman Memorial Stadium, during the mission with the song name.
The song gained notoriety again when it was used in a 2007 Cadbury's Dairy Milk advert featuring a man in a gorilla suit warming up and playing the drum fill towards the end of the advert. Collins stated in a BBC interview that he thought the advert was 'fantastic'. The song eventually reached No. 14 on the UK singles chart. That same year it was also included on the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.
The song appeared in the 2009 movie The Hangover when boxer Mike Tyson, playing a fictionalized version of himself, orders a roomful of bewildered people to be quiet so he can mimic playing the drum break. Rolling Stone noted "The Hangover marked the moment where the Fill broke through to another level of pop-cultural immortality."
In July 2020, a video reaction to the song by TwinsthenewTrend increased the sales and streaming of Collins's original version. The TwinsthenewTrend first-listen video was viewed 4.9 million times in its first two weeks online. Continued popularity brought new traffic to the Collins song which rose to No. 3 on Billboard Digital Song Sales chart in August 2020.
Since the 2023 NFL season, a cover version by Chris Stapleton, Cindy Blackman Santana, and Snoop Dogg has opened up each edition of ESPN's Monday Night Football, with unique lyrics each week describing the playing teams.
On 15 November 2024, the song was used by Jake Paul as his entrance song in his boxing match against Mike Tyson, the first live event to be broadcast by Netflix. In March 2025, it played on the soundtrack of eighth episode of Season 1 of The Hunting Party.
Single and creditsVSK102 UK Single Release (Martin H) "In the Air Tonight" "The Roof Is Leaking"
Sleeve includes a black and white 12-page cartoon storyboard drawn by Collins' brother Clive Collins.UK and US single (1981) "In the Air Tonight" – 4:57 Phil Collins – Roland CR-78 drum machine, vocals, drums, Prophet 5 synthesizer, Rhodes piano, Roland VP-330 vocoder John Giblin – bass Daryl Stuermer – guitar L. Shankar – violins "The Roof Is Leaking" – 3:36 Phil Collins – piano, vocal Daryl Stuermer – banjo Joe Partridge – slide guitar A demo track for "In the Air Tonight" also appeared on the "If Leaving Me Is Easy" single.12" German maxi-single (1981) "In the Air Tonight" (album version) – 5:35 Phil Collins – Roland CR-78 drum machine, vocals, drums, Prophet 5 synthesizer, Rhodes piano, Roland VP-330 vocoder John Giblin – bass Daryl Stuermer – guitar L. Shankar – violins "The Roof Is Leaking" – 3:36 Phil Collins – piano, vocal Daryl Stuermer – banjo Joe Partridge – slide guitarJapan CD single (1988) "In the Air Tonight" (extended) "In the Air Tonight" ('88 remix) "I Missed Again" (Album Version)German CD single (1990) "In the Air Tonight" (extended version) – 7:33 (Additional production by Ben Liebrand) "In the Air Tonight" ('88 remix) – 5:07 (Remixed by Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham) "I Missed Again" – 3:42 (catalogue 2292-57672-2)
Personnel "In the Air Tonight" Phil Collins – Roland CR-78 drum machine, vocals, drums, Prophet 5 synthesizer, Rhodes piano, Roland VP-330 vocoder John Giblin – bass Daryl Stuermer – guitar L. Shankar – violins"The Roof Is Leaking" Phil Collins – piano, vocal Daryl Stuermer – banjo Joe Partridge – slide guitar
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