I just saw this:

Now this brought up a question. You may or may not know, but Phil Collins was struggling with alcoholism the past decade. A voice, on the other hand, needs to be taken care of and trained to work as expected. Yet, his voice is as it always was. Is it just luck? Is it good genes? Is it a myriad of dollars that allows for the most expensive specialists?

I don't drink any alcohol and never did, but I smoke cigarettes for more than 30 years and my voice is just a bad out-of-toner-copy of what it once was.

How about you? Has anything ever influenced you to a point where your performance (not neccessarily singing) suffered badly? Or has someone experienced something similar to Collins, meaning performing as good as always despite serious issues?

 

Well no addiction is good for the voice, but smoking directly interferes with your lungs and throat, thus it logically causes permanent and evident damages to the voice. And while alcoholism can and will in fact damage your voice too, it won't be as hard as smoking, AND Phil Collins wasn't a severe alcoholic. As I read on his interviews, he had some problems some years ago, but "the alcoholism was temporary" (he didn't even need to follow rehab) and the main issues were due to the medications he was taking due to tendon problems not mixing well with alcohol.
I don't imagine Phil Collins drinking serially every day for ten years; I imagine a short period as a "bored drinker", which probably won't have struck his vocal cords so bad.

Not totally related: since due to age, untraining (he's just starting to go back on tour again) and all these little factors his voice is a little weaker nowadays, I would have thought he'd use some more effects, especially on In The Air Tonight, which featured a heavily processed voice. The one we hear today is way too dry!

As for myself, I don't smoke and don't have addictions, plus I'm fairly young...The only issues that bugged my performance were sheer cold, totally messing up the setup on my guitar AND threatening my throat, and generally singing too much/too loud, because of lack of technique, leading to a strained voice. I'd sing wonderfully for a night, and then have to rest my voice for two days...Definitely gotta shape up!

 

I have huge respect for the guy, what a talent.
Though honestly, i think he should have stayed retired, this performance is so so....

 

Did anything ever affect your performance?

Yep, everytime I'm asked "Are you in?"

 

Same here. Huge Phil Collins fan and I'm definitely excited to see him continue but I agree that this performance was a bit lack luster. He looked visibly winded and its apparent his stamina isn't what it used to be, but that's probably a bit much to expect from an artist who's peak was nearly 30 years ago. Either way, I hope he continues.

 

28 years ago...Our next door neighbor's insane and vicious German Shepherd named King was a victim of some very bad people. I felt sorry for him because those that "owned" him left him outside throughout the year tied up with just this shitty little house for shelter even through the entire bitter winter cold, snow and rain. They even needed to keep him away with a big stick when they fed him, both he and them crazy, crazy, crazy. I had called the ASPCA but to no avail, he wasn't beaten and was fed just enough that it passed legal muster and not into the realm of abuse. Anyway, one night after dinner I went outside with some food to give him. I stopped at the spot where I knew he couldn't get to me and proceeded to tell him how sorry I felt for him and that I knew that he was a good puppy deep inside, yada, yada, yada. He seemed to enjoy the company as he sat there and wagged his tail and was very relaxed, out of character with the dog I knew. I tossed him over the chicken breast that I had brought out to give him, but instead of him going for the food, King lunged at me and got me with his incisor fangs in the meaty part of my right hand between my thumb and index finger and then tried to drag me towards him and into his killing zone. I remember screaming, NOOOOO, and thank goodness I was wearing my steel toed, high, black shit-kicker boots, and as hard as I could, gave him my hardest kick and carried through with my entire body weight right square in his ribs. He let go. He went down with a whimper and he didn't get back up right away. My hand was punctured and it hurt like crazy. A few moments later he slunked back to his brown dog house as fast as he could, though in obvious pain when he noticed his master's family caming out of their home. I guess he knew that he was in serious trouble. As well, my four housemates bolted out the back door to see what was going on. I went to the hospital for a tetanus shot because the wound didn't bleed enough to clean itself out.

The gig that night was almost impossible for me to play because there was just no way that I could hold a pick. My hand throbbed painfully, deeply so even without moving it. Strumming was agonizing even though one of my housemates had some codeine which I remember gobbling down like candy which helped the pain, but I got pretty fucked up from them and could barely talk let alone sing and play the guitar. I kept a bag of ice on a chair while on stage and applied cold between songs. So yes, I would say something has affected my performance...it was my karma with a dog Named King.

 

Haha,wow.Been there myself.A little bit different,a little smaller dog...."Come doggy..." tried to be nice with him.....doggy came and bit in the inside of my thigh,close to my balls"...
Nasty bite, hurt as well.

 

Love Phil Collins! In The Air Tonight >>> the way this song was put together was/is pure Genius ;)

 

pretty intense story bro.. some bad karma indeed ,musicians getting their creative "extensions" damaged..

like when Tom Petty decided to punch that wall.. ouch...!

Smoked cigars for a while, when they were a coming fad.. those are really harsh for the
throat.. glad I dumped them.. expensive and nasty habit..hated how it ragged out my voice

some people never had it to begin with.. so good on yer Phil...

watch this if you dare.. 30s is more than enough

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 26, 2016

Not really sure what to make of this story. Kicking animals is bullshit. Even if he bit you, you were the one that created the situation that got you bit. Way to make sure that poor dog never trusts anyone ever again...

 

oh man.. did you ever experience extreme pain, and reacting in the moment to it?
not to mention self defense.. That dog had already been abused past all human empathy..

this time you're off the mark... I seriously doubt Super is any kind of animal abuser
except he makes his doggie listen to his harmonica playing on their daily walks..


go back and read it again... or here i'll do it for you.. !

 

I remember taking a chunk out of my index finger with a LAW that had a missing rubber boot over the trigger. I had a gig a day afterwards. Played 3 sets for a total of 5 hours using the three other fingers. Solos weren't as showy that night, and the fretboard had blood on it by the end, but I managed to make it through. Voice wise, I was singing all of the Metallica/Megadeth type vocals for the band I was in at the time. Years later I blew out my voice singing that way and couldn't sing for three weeks afterward. So I started singing in a clear, less gravelly tone which really changed me in terms of being a singer. My range, breathing method, etc. all improved greatly after that. Sometimes a bad thing isn't really a bad thing after all in retrospect.

 

Seeing as I rehabilitate aggressive dogs, no, I'm not off base here. If the dog is that dangerous that was really stupid to do what he did. And it resulted in hurting that dog even more that it already was. I've been bit by dogs many times and I haven't kicked a single one. If you're going to get yourself into that kind of situation, I have little sympathy for you when you get bit. And someone who kicks an animal is, by definition, an animal abuser. He wasn't randomly attacked and defending himself. He invited that behavior. How did the dog even get a hold of him if he was being cautious?

EDIT: I should mention that I look after dogs as my day job. This is literally what I do.

 

No man, he did the right thing.Im a huge dog lover but if you panic and lose your shit you can get seriously wounded or killed.
You can bleed out really fast, it just takes one good/deep bite.There is a time to love and a time to punch if man has to defend himself.

 

AoN.. he was feeding the damn thing.. and it bit him..

get a clue m8...

most of the world is not a "dog whisperer" ok...
I don't know what it is about the mentality these days..that absolutely insists on taking
literally "everything" out of context !

respect for all your contributions nevertheless

 

That would be true if he didn't create the situation itself. He got himself bit. I do this professionally and that is NOT how you handle an aggressive dog.

 

No he isn't a dog whisperer. But I would argue common sense was all that was as required. I'm not saying he's malicious. I'm saying it was unnecessary. And stupid. And resulted in a dog getting kicked that didn't need to. Which it did.

 

Well, he isnt a professional dog trainer, he acted out of love and compassion.Like when you try to help a homeless man on the street and get mugged or knifed.Shit happens man.

 

I get that he was acting from a place of goodness. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In the end, he ended up hurting the dog he wanted to help. And he made it more difficult for anyone else to make a breakthrough. My goal isn't to make him feel bad. But I can't see this stuff and not respond. Because at the end of the day, I value the dog's welfare more than I value his feelings.

 

clearly... and that's sort of upside down.. well.. enjoy it..

@tulamide sorry about getting off topic...

Phil is no spring chicken of course, and additionally he does have some substantial
hearing loss, as well as other health issues... well he is 65... as said above
we don't achieve our peak and get to stay there...

all the best to Mr. Collins...

http://www.healthyhearing.com/conte...uses/47742-Musician-hearing-loss-phil-collins

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 26, 2016