"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".
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 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 2007, Collins wrote:
Release
Speaking about the song's rapid ascension in the music charts, Collins wrote the following in 2007: