"Anything She Does" by Genesis

Genesis is another one of those bands that changed dramatically over the course of several decades. Formed in the late 60s, Genesis remained a prog rock band lead by Peter Gabriel until he left in 1975. At that point, drummer Phil Collins stepped up to the mic and helped put the band on the charts for the first time with "Your Own Special Way," which went to #62 in 1977.

The follow-up singles established the Collins-led version of Genesis as a radio-friendly act that occasionally dipped back into its prog roots. "Follow You Follow Me" reached #23 in 1978 and "Misunderstanding" hit #14 in 1980, which would prove to be a decade owned by Phil Collins and Genesis. Genesis ranks as the 38th most successful act of the 80s and #159 of all-time.

The band roared back to radio in 1983 with "That's All!" hitting #6. Hot off the heels of a hugely successful solo album by Phil Collins, Genesis scored their first (and only) #1 hit with "Invisible Touch" in 1986. The record of the same name was a monster success and mined for nearly every track. One that got lost in the mix of the many hits such as "Throwing It All Away" (#4), "Land Of Confusion" (#4), "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (#3), and "In Too Deep" (#3) was "Anything She Does."

Genesis would return in 1991 as a full-fledged adult contemporary act to rack up a bounty of hits like "No Son Of Mine" (#12), "I Can't Dance" (#7), "Hold On My Heart" (#12), "Jesus He Knows Me" (#23), and "Never A Time" (#21). After an amazing run, they haven't recorded with Collins again and haven't seen the charts since.

"Tell Me It's Over" by Frida

After the demise of the legendary pop group ABBA, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (aka Frida) embarked on a short-lived solo career that yielded a lone top 40 hit with "I Know There's Something Going On." The tune landed at #13 in 1982. 

You may recognize some of the drums and backing vocals on her record, as Phil Collins had a heavy hand in it. Still, outside from the title track and a handful of others, the songs just aren't there and failed to make a lasting impression, even among die-hard ABBA fans. The rocking lead off track, "Tell Me It's Over," is an exception, and I wonder what kind of solo career Frida might have had if she rocked out like this more often.

"Only You And I Know" by Phil Collins

It seemed that Phil Collins could do no wrong in the 80s. His first couple solo releases earned him a few chart splashes, but things really kicked into high gear with his first #1 in 1984, "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)". The song earned him a Grammy for Pop Male Vocal and was quickly followed up by another hit, a duet with Philip Bailey called "Easy Lover" that reached #2.

Enter his biggest blockbuster record, 1985's "No Jacket Required", which stayed at #1 for 7 weeks and has sold over 12 million. The record would give Collins two more #1 hits, "One More Night" and "Sussudio", and two more top 10 hits, "Don't Lose My Number" (#4) and "Take Me Home" (#7). In-between, he scored another #1 hit with "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin that appeared on the soundtrack to White Nights.

With this kind of success, it is no wonder Collins was ranked the #8 most successful artist of the 80s. Beyond the radio hits on "No Jacket Required" are a number of other gems, like "Only You And I Know". 

“Slipping Through My Fingers” by ABBA

Everyone knows ABBA and can probably even sing every word to their monster hits like “Dancing Queen”, “SOS”, and “Mamma Mia”. The group consisted of two couples:  Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (incidentally, the initials of their first names is where the moniker “ABBA” originated).

The band cranked out hit after hit from 1974 to 1982. The final ABBA single to chart in the US was 1982’s “The Visitors” – it only went to #63 and was the title track of their last studio album together.

While their songs were always catchy and danceable, the lyrics on the last couple records were getting more sophisticated and often heart wrenching, as the band members wrote about their divorces in song (listen to “The Winner Takes It All”).

Another prime example of their more emotive songwriting can be heard in one of my favorite underplayed ABBA tracks from “The Visitors” called, “Slipping Through My Fingers”.

As you can read in the lyrics below, this song sees Fältskog lamenting how quickly her daughter is growing up, and how many of the things she planned to do together are just slipping away with the ages. The song was written for her daughter Linda, who was seven at the time.

“Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness

And I have to sit down for a while

The feeling that I'm losing her forever

And without really entering her world

I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter

That funny little girl…

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing

Slipping through my fingers all the time”

The song gets me every time!

Despite numerous attractive offers for a reunion, “The Visitors” was all she wrote for the band ABBA. However, Lyngstad would resurface as Frida with the hit, “I Know There’s Something Going On”, which went to #13 late in 1982. Do you recognize those drums? They sound a lot like what you hear at the end of “In The Air Tonight”, don’t they? That’s because Phil Collins produced and drummed on the record…listen carefully and you’ll hear his backing vocals, too.