It looks like Phil Collins has finally had enough of the music industry and has decided to pack it all in, with immediate effect. While we undwerstand a lot of people don't like Phil Collins, here at HM we've never really understood why, after all, he's written some amazing songs (as well as some admittedly terrible ones), took baldness better than most men and also divorced his second wife by fax, something which made it into the Guinness book of records as the both the least and most rockstar-ish thing to ever happen.

Speaking to FHM about his decision to quit, Phil said people were sick of him, no-one would miss him, he thinks music nowadays is a big old bag of dog turds and if anyone wants to know where to send any hate mail as a result of his announcement, address it c/o Mr Noel Gallagher.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to miss me. I’m much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely…”

 

“I know that when I did interviews it came across like I could do everything, but I’ve never actually felt like that. I went through all my own VHS stuff recently and found mountains of old interviews with me and it was very, very hard to watch. I barely recognised the person I saw from that time. I’m a very different person now. I saw some of this show of mine from 1985 and I was on-stage and I never stopped running, never stopped talking.”

 

“The fact that people got so sick of me wasn’t really my fault. Yes there was a lot of me to dish out – there was me, me and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Phil Bailey, me and Genesis, me and that movie I was in, Buster – there was a lot of stuff. But I only made those records once.”

On when people started to hate him:

“Around the time that the music was being played so incessantly people wanted to strangle me. It’s hardly surprising that people grew to hate me. I’m sorry that it was all so successful. I honestly didn’t mean it to happen like that!”

 

“I look at the MTV Music Awards and I think, “I can’t be in the same business as this.” I don’t really belong to that world and I don’t think anyone’s going to miss me. I’m much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely. I’ll go on a mysterious biking holiday… And never return. That would be a great way to end the story, wouldn’t it?”

On Noel Gallagher:

“He definitely seems to consider me the Anti-Christ of music. There’s nothing I can do to change that impression of me. I have, at times, been very down about it.”

 

Asked if he had ever felt suicidal about his critics, Phil added: “Tony Hancock’s suicide note read, “Too many things went wrong too often…” That’s something I find hard to forget.”

On his disabilities, including the ruined hearing in his left ear, a dislocated vertebra in his neck and nerve damage in his hands.  

“I think of it like Air Miles – it’s all part of the job. I’m not worried about not being able to play the drums again, I’m more worried about being able to cut a loaf of bread safely or building things for my kids. My doctors tell me it’s a work in progress, that it’ll take about a year for me to recover. They’re not strong enough to play the drums. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that again.”

 

“It feels like a good time to stop for a while. David Letterman wanted me to go on his show on a Monday night recently but I said, “No. Can’t do it. I have the kids on a Monday.” And my label said, “But this is Letterman!” And I was like, “Guess what? I. Don’t. Give. A. F**k!”

Of course no Phil Collins' story would be complete without a look back at some of his best and worst moments. Plus, Mr HM has made several demands about certain songs being included. We'll let you guess which ones they are.