Phil Collins’ music is a guilty pleasure. I could endure any sling or arrow thrown against it with nodding agreement and continue listening with joy. I first listened to Collins through his work with Genesis. I received their greatest hits as part of my first BMG order. Something about his continual introspection seems appropriate for my teenager years (and I would imagine all teenage years). Yet as I read this book it seems that, in some ways, Collins did not move past this developmental stage.
Most autobiographies are self-interested without becoming self-absorbed. Collins’ is not one. Its self-absorption arises from Collins’ apparent need to justify himself. The most egregious case is his attempt to justify his affair to his young daughter; however, the thread of self-justification runs through the entire work. One would think that shame or a virtuous editor would have prevented this outcome.
While reading, I found myself thinking how much happier Collins would be if he could forget about himself. I’m currently preaching through 1 Corinthians 13 and this week we have arrived at “love is not proud.” We are usually blind to our own self-inflation and I fear that is the case for Collins. He unwittingly reveals himself to be a prisoner of himself. For example, he was always too busy touring, promising his family that he would slow down, and then making excuses for not slowing down. What makes all of this fascinating and rather depressing is that he doesn’t seem to see through those excuses even now. He acts if there were nothing else he could do.
The book is laced with sadness. As I listened to the audio version of it (which Collins thankfully reads), I never had the sense that I would want to be this man. The same is true as I listen to his music. I enjoy listening to his music but I would never want to live any of it out. I find this dynamic to be one of the strangest parts of our celebrity culture. We idolize people who are in so many ways unenviable. Nevertheless, if you have two ears and a heart, you will enjoy Phil Collins’ music and you might enjoy his book.