In the Air Tonight

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"In the Air Tonight"
Single by Phil Collins
from the album Face Value
B-side	"The Roof Is Leaking"
Released	5 January 1981 (UK) May 1981 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Recorded	Old Croft, The Townhouse and Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California, 1980
Genre	Rock
Length	5:36
Label	Virgin Records (UK) Atlantic Records (international)
Producer	Phil Collins, Hugh Padgham
Phil Collins singles chronology
- "In the Air Tonight" (1981) "I Missed Again" (1981)
Audio sample
file info · help
"Take Me Home" (1985) "In the Air Tonight" (Remix) (1988) "A Groovy Kind of Love" (1988)
"You Touch My Heart" (2005) "In the Air Tonight" (re-release) (2007)

"In the Air Tonight" is a song by Phil Collins which first appeared on his 1981 album, Face Value. It was the first single of Collins' solo career, and remains one of his best known hits.

[edit] The song/recording

The recording is notable for its atmospheric production and macabre theme. Released in January 1981 in the UK, the single was an instant hit, quickly climbing to Number 2 in the Singles Chart. It was also an international hit, reaching the top 20 on the Billboard Chart in the summer of 1981.

"In the Air Tonight" remains, alone among Collins' solo oeuvre, a popular selection on many classic rock radio stations. It is the song most often associated with Collins' solo career, and he has performed versions of it at many events, notably at Live Aid, where he played the song on the same calendar day in both Philadelphia and London.^[1] He also performed the song at The Secret Policeman's Ball.

The lyrics of the song take the form of a dark monologue directed towards an unnamed, possibly prominent person; the singer describes having witnessed an unspecified act perpetrated:

I was there and I saw what you did

Saw it with my own two eyes

and anticipating an equally unspecified consequence:

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord

I've been waiting for this moment for all my life ^[1]

Musically the song consists of a series of ominous chords played over a simple drum machine pattern (the Roland CR-78 Disco-2 pattern, plus some programming); processed electric guitar sounds and vocoded vocals on key words add additional atmosphere. The mood is one of restrained anger until the final chorus when an explosive burst of drums releases the musical tension, and the instrumentation builds to a thundering final chorus.

Collins wrote the song in the wake of a failing relationship with his then-wife. Collins has described obtaining the drum machine specifically to deal with these personal issues through songwriting, telling Mix magazine: "I had to start writing some of this music that was inside me." ^[2]

The song's popularity in the 1980s increased after a nearly complete recording of it was featured in the pilot episode of the American television show Miami Vice ("Brother's Keeper"), thus becoming one of the first pop/rock songs to be featured as part of a TV programme in this manner. On the heels of this successful merging of media, Collins became associated with the show; other Collins tracks including "Take Me Home" were later featured and Collins himself also acted in an episode, "Phil the Shill".

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. This mix was picked up by Virgin records for an official release, which hit Number 4 in the UK charts.

[edit] Drum sound

The means by which Collins attained the drum sound on this recording was long a source of mystery. The exact process was, as happens so often, a result of serendipity: an unintended use of studio technology giving unexpectedly useful results.

In this case, the Solid State Logic 4000 mixing board had a "reverse talk-back" circuit (labeled on the board as "Listen Mic"). Normal "talkback" is a button that the mixing engineer has to press in order to talk to the recording musicians (the recording and the mixing parts of a studio are completely sonically isolated otherwise). Reverse talkback is a circuit (also button-activated) for the engineer to listen to musicians in the studio. In order to compensate for sound level differences — people can be close to the reverse talkback microphone or far off — this circuit has a compressor on it, which minimizes the differences between loud and soft sounds. While recording "Intruder" for his ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel's solo album, at some point Collins started playing the drums while the reverse talkback was activated. The engineers and his friend Jeffrey were amazed at the sound achieved. Overnight, they rewired the board so that the reverse talkback could be recorded in a more formal manner. Later models of the SSL 4000 allowed the listen mic to be recorded with the touch of a button.^[4]

When recording engineer Hugh Padgham was brought in to help develop Collins' demos that would become Face Value they recreated the "Intruder" sound using the reverse talkback microphone as well as heavily compressed and gated ambient mics. Hugh Padgham continued working with Genesis for Abacab later in 1981 and the same technique (generally referred to as Gated reverb) was used, and the powerful drum sound has become synonymous with later Genesis projects and Collins' solo career ever since.

The original 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 the 2007 book about Genesis, Chapter and Verse, Collins says: "Ahmet came down to the final mix in the cutting room in New York....We were playing back "In the Air Tonight." The drums don't come in until the end but Ahmet didn't know that at this point, because on the demo the drums hadn't come in at all; it was only drum machine all the way. And he was saying, 'Where's the down beat, where's the backbeat?' I said, 'The drums come in in a minute.' 'Yeah, you know that and I know that, but the kids don't know that; you've got to put the drums on earlier.' So we added some drums to the mix and put it out as a single."

[edit] Urban legend

This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2009)

An urban legend has arisen around "In the Air Tonight". According to the legend, the lyrics are based on a tragic event Collins witnessed, usually a drowning (as in the song's lyrics), in which a man could have helped the victim, but did not do so (an alternate version of the legend has the onlooker a murderer, intentionally drowning the victim, rather than a bystander). A common ending is that Collins invites this man to a show and sings the song to him, often with a spotlight pointed at him. Afterward, the man is arrested or, in some versions, is wracked with guilt and has a heart attack or commits suicide. Other versions of the story involve Collins discovering his wife having sex with (or being raped by) another man, often a close friend; the man subsequently drowns while Collins himself watches.

Years later, Collins commented on the legends about the song in a BBC World Service interview:

The urban legend is referenced in the song "Stan" by Eminem. The reference is contained in the following lyrics:

You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night" [sic]

About that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drowning

But didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?

Collins later stated on VH1 Classic's "Classic Albums" series that he came up with "99 percent" of the lyrics on the spot, based on what he felt the vibe was of the dark chords he had improvised over the ominous drum beat. He was "just messing around for fun", completely unaware that what he was creating would ultimately be the staple song from his next album.

Collins once performed his hit on Top Of The Pops (a UK leading chartshow) with a workbench and a pot of paint next to him on the stage, leading to speculation that the song was intended as a sideswipe at his ex-wife who'd had a relationship with a decorator. But Collins has put this down to coincidence.

[edit] Use in advertising

The song has been licensed repeatedly for use in television advertisements for various products; in several cases these uses led to a measurable resurgence in popularity for the song.

The song gained additional life in the mid-to-late 1980s when the brewer Anheuser-Busch adopted it for an ad campaign promoting Michelob beer, along with night-related songs by Collins' peers Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton.

In 2006, it was used by Mountain Dew in television commercials for its MDX energy drink.

Cadbury used the song in their 2007 Gorilla advertising campaign for its Dairy Milk chocolate bar. The commercial features a gorilla playing the piece's famous drum sequence. After its premier week in September, the song reached Number 14 in the UK singles chart and Number 9 in the UK Download Chart. The advertisement also helped the song re-enter the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart at Number 3 in July 2008 and went to Number 1 the following week staying there for two weeks, beating its original 1981 Number 6 peak. The single was also certified Gold with sales of over 7,500.^{[citation needed]}. This advert was so popular, it won the awards for the Best Ad of the Year, at New Zealands Fair-Go Ad Award.

[edit] Use in sport

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Since the song's release, "In The Air Tonight" has been the most played song on PA systems of NFL stadiums, and has become almost a tradition to some players. Some players, most notably all-pro linebackers Derrick Brooks and Ray Lewis, even sing the song while in a play.^{[citation needed]} The song's popularity among NFL players was the subject of an NFL Films piece on ESPN.

The song has been used as entrance music for a number of players and teams of various sports, including the University of Miami football team, NBA team the Miami Heat during their run to the 2006 NBA Championship, and boxers Shane Mosley, Riddick Bowe, and Jermain Taylor. Pro basketball player Kevin Garnett is often seen mimicking the drum solo in timeouts and refers to it as "one of his favorite songs", and it is also used during pre-game introductions at Boston Celtics games. The song has also been used during the 2008 Montreal Canadiens playoff games, before the players come out on the ice. The University of Georgia football team stretches to this song before every home game. Mo Williams of the Cleveland Cavaliers has stated this song he plays before gametime.

Before and through the 2005 NFL season, ESPN's Sunday Night Football used the song when introducing their "skycam" camera.

During the 2008-09 Season, the song has been played with a video pre-game prologue on the jumbotron for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux men's ice hockey team. The song was also used in the 2009 Playoff Run for the Carolina Hurricanes. The song would be played after the players left the ice from warming up.

[edit] Sampling of the song

• The song has been sampled by many artists, including Shaquille O'Neal in his song "Edge Of Night", Nas in his remix version of the song "One Mic", Slikk Frass in his dancehall version of the song "I Can Feel It", Tupac Shakur's "Starin' Through My Rearview" and "Letter to the President", DMX's "I Can Feel It", Krayzie Bone's "Silent Warrior", Joe Budden's "Rest in Peace (In the Air)", Nonpoint's "In the Air Tonight", Sean Kingston's "I Can Feel It", Young Buck's "New York City" and LL Cool J's "Doin' It", Lil Kim's "In the Air Tonight", Naturally 7's "Feel it", Beanie Sigel's "Feel It in the Air", Jully Black's "Mystery" and Ty-lo's "Waiting All My Life".

[edit] Other pop culture references

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2009)

• The song features prominently in the comedy film The Hangover (2009 film) in which boxer Mike Tyson is seen air drumming and singing along to it.
• The song appears on the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories soundtrack. It is also the title of a mission, which revolves around protecting Phil Collins as he sings, which unlocks a CGI cutscene of a Phil Collins concert where the song is played in full. Collins plays himself in the game, a first for Grand Theft Auto.
• In the Family Guy episode "Petergeist", Stewie is caught in an alternate universe in which he can speak through the TV to his mother, Lois, but only in an echoing voice. He sings a few lyrics of "In the Air Tonight", mimicking the song's famous echoing voice and drum solo transition.
• The melody of the song persists throughout the film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. It is also referenced multiple times in the dialogue.
• The song is quoted in an epigraph to the second book of Stephen King's novel The Tommyknockers, and is later recalled by the lead character.
• The song plays during the train love scene in the 1983 movie Risky Business.
• The song is used in the movie Big Trouble when a drunk security guard played by Andy Richter stalks a group of teens he finds suspicious. (In the novel on which the movie is based, the song plays in the security guard's mind as he does this.)
• The song is used at the end of the first season finale episode of Tru Calling - "Two Weddings and a Funeral".
• The song plays in an episode of "Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights" when Max & Paddy are following a man they have been hired to kill, when Max shouts "Put me tape in!" The scene is a homage to the pilot episode of Miami Vice, only instead of Sonny Crockett's Ferrari Daytona Spyder but instead a more comically aesthetic Volvo estate.
• The song plays in the pilot episode of Fastlane.
• The song's drum solo is mimed by a man in a gorilla suit in an Australian tv commercial for Cadbury's Chocolates.
• The song is mentioned on Jay-Z's remix of "A Milli" (titled "A Billi"). He raps "Call me Philly Collins, I feel a billion is in the air".
• The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore.
• On Natalie Bassingthwaighte's second released single, "Someday Soon". The title of song can be heard.
• After the soldiers in Bravo Two Zero break contact, the song is played as they run through the night towards the Syrian border.
• The song is used in the second episode of the second season of the British television series Ashes to Ashes as Gene Hunt walks out of his office.

[edit] Single and credits

[edit] UK and US single

1. "In the Air Tonight" 4:57
   • Phil Collins: Roland CR-78, vocals, drums, Prophet, Rhodes, Vocoder
   • John Giblin: Bass
   • Daryl Stuermer: Guitar
   • Shorokav: Violins
2. "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. ^[2]

[edit] Japan CD single (1988)

1. "In the Air Tonight (Extended)"
2. "In the Air Tonight ('88 Remix)"
3. "I Missed Again (Album Version)"

[edit] Videos

• Video of Collins singing "In the Air Tonight" on his "First Final Farewell tour" (Courtesy of Rootv.com):
  • Video (56K) (Windows Media Player)
  • Video (300K) (Windows Media Player)

[edit] Charts

[edit] "In the Air Tonite"

"In the Air Tonite"
Single by Lil' Kim featuring Phil Collins
from the album Urban Renewal
Released	14 August 2001
Format	CD single, 12"
Genre	Pop Hip hop
Length	4:07
Label	WEA
Writer(s)	Kimberly Jones, Phil Collins
Certification	Gold (IFPI Germany)
Lil' Kim singles chronology
"Lady Marmalade" (2001) "In the Air Tonite" (2001) "Kimnotyze" (2002)
Phil Collins singles chronology
"Two Worlds" (2000) "In the Air Tonite" (2001) "Can't Stop Loving You" (2002)

In 2001 the remix-version "In the Air Tonight" was re-released to promote the R&B/Hip hop Collins tribute album Urban Renewal, the song is a duet between Collins and Lil' Kim. They did not work together for the video; scenes from the original video and new scenes featuring Lil' Kim were used to create a video.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] UK CD single

1. "In the Air Tonite" (Boogieman Radio version)
2. "In the Air Tonite" (Stargate remix)
3. "In the Air Tonite" (Mintman's Floorfiller mix)
4. "In the Air Tonite" (Boogieman's Album version)
5. "In the Air Tonite" (True Business remix)

[edit] German CD single

1. "In the Air Tonite" (Soulforce Club mix)
2. "In the Air Tonite" (Soulforce Sunshine mix)
3. "In the Air Tonite" (Soulforce Monster dub)

[edit] Charts

[edit] Other versions

• Rapper Cuban Link along with fellow former Terror Squad members, Remy Ma and Triple Seis, reinterpreted the song in the track "Moment of Truth" as a diss track towards Fat Joe.
• Flatulist Mr. Methane recorded a version of the song with additional fart noises and alternate lyrics (describing the abdominal effects of eating hot curry)
• A version of this song is on the Gregorian album Masters of Chant Chapter II.
• Welsh rock band Lostprophets did a cover version.
• Austrian band Stahlhammer covered the song in their 2006 album Opera Noir.
• A remake of the song appears on the Nonpoint album "Recoil". This song was featured in the film Miami Vice (2006), and a video was made to promote the track using clips from the film.
• R&B group Naturally 7 performed the song on their 2006 album Ready II Fly. Their version, entitled "Feel It (In The Air Tonight)", has additional lyrics.
• Axel Rudi Pell covered the song for his solo CD, Diamonds Unlocked, released on 1 October 2007.
• Finnish symphonic metal supergroup Northern Kings covered the song on their first album Reborn in 2007.
• Noise Rock band godheadSilo also covered the song on their album Share the Fantasy.
• The African group Toure Kunda recorded a cover version of the song, and it was featured on the 2003 compilation CD, "Cover The World," on the Putumayo World Music label.
• Takka Takka recorded a cover of the song for Engine Room Recordings' compilation album Guilt by Association Vol. 2, which was released in November of 2008 ^[5].
• It was covered by Rocksolid on their Rock Anthems album in 2002.
• Scottish techno band Ultra-Sonic covered the song in a chilled/ambient style on their 1995 album "Global Tekno".
• Canadian singer Holly McNarland did a cover version.
• Columbian lyricist Abdulsalaam Chowdry featured the chorus in a short skit, to prelude his latest album.
• MercyMe covered this song in 2004 on the "Imagine Tour". They opened their set with this song and can be seen on their live DVD: "MercyMe- Live"
• On their 2009 album My Own Army Exilia covered this song
• Australian artist Bertie Blackman performed a cover of this song as part of Triple J's morning show Like a Version segment

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Singer and the Song, a "Learning English" episode from the BBC World Service, which includes a clip from the song and a recording of Collins reading part of the song's lyrics (in RealAudio)
• "Classic track: In the Air Tonight" About the lyrics and the drum sound.
• Snopes.com, reference to the urban legend of the drowning
• aglassandahalffullproductions.com, Cadbury advert featuring the song.