"Easy Lover," Phil Collins

The final part of the Phil Collins trilogy/trifecta is “Easy Lover,” a duet with Philip Bailey.  

It’s like Collins was too busy to film a real music video.  Instead, a crew just followed him around for a couple days while he did promotion for the song and they turned that into the music video we have today.  (Why else would we be subjected to watching him get his hair trimmed at the 1:15 mark?)

Then there are the backstage shenanigans.  As we’ve seen in “Sussudio,” Collins loves to bust out wacky dance moves.  In “Easy Lover,” he’s full of them, even doing a Beyoncé-like booty shake around the 3:00 mark in his very best sweater vest and khakis.  (As a sidenote, the more I rewatch this video, the more I’m convinced it’s the retro male version and inspiration for Beyoncé and Shakira’s “Beautiful Liar.”)

The final product of all this is the music-video-within-the-video, where our tag team against easy lovin’ performs on stage in suits straight out of the era.  What is happening with Bailey’s pink lamé tie?  (Lamé is just lame without the fancy accent.) And why is Collins wearing sneakers with his suit?  Surely at this point in his career he could afford to invest in something a bit swankier.  I guess they spent most of the video’s budget on the heliocopter ride over London that starts the video.  Cause anyone who’s taken (or tried to take) a helicopter ride knows that that experience is not cheap – or easy.  

80s Throwback Trilogy: "Against All Odds," Phil Collins

I’ve decided on “Against All Odds” as the second part of our special Phil Collins throwback trifecta. Few would deny that this is a solid song.  In fact, I’d rank it up there with the finest pop breakup songs.  The video, however…

Wow.  I know it was still early on in the whole let’s-use-music-videos-to-promote-movies trend, but the tie-in with the 1984 film Against All Odds is just cringeworthy. (I’ve never seen the movie, but after rewatching this video, I’m pretty sure I don’t need to.)  Collins himself looks downright uncomfortable at times – whether it’s singing through a symbolic mask at the video’s beginning or emoting the chorus.  And if that weren’t enough, the video uses different colors to represent each character in the film, leading to the ultimate conclusion of Collins singing in the middle of a triangle that has a side lit with each color.  Such blatant symbolism and theatrics are best kept within the song – where they belong.

"Sussudio," Phil Collins

Although he announced his retirement earlier this year, Phil Collins still seems to be everywhere – whether it’s in movies, on video games, or playing at your local dentist’s office.  In honor of this, The Throwback has decided to do a trilogy – a trifecta, if you will – of Phil Collins posts, starting with “Sussudio.”

This song and video always crack me up because, well, what the hell is sussudio?  Is it a person?  Is it a place?  Is it a state of mind? The 1985 video provides no clues, just pure cheese.  Set at a nondescript pub, Phil Collins plays the poor man who must entertain a dwindling crowd with the one song left in his arsenal – “Sussudio.” Even Phil Collins seems to realize how ridiculous this plot is, busting out his wackiest expressions and greatest wedding reception dance moves in an attempt to woo us over.  Then, of course, there’s the guitarist with the ZZ Top beard and a brass brand – dressed in white suits (!) – that ultimately get the crowd on its feet.    

On the plus side, it’s refreshing to see a crowd featured in music videos that looks like average 80s Joes (and Jills) just trying to have fun. But, ultimately, if this is the song that will determine the outcome of your entire evening, you might just be in for a good laugh, not a good time.