In a 2016 conversation with Prog, Phil Collins said he didn’t mind if Peter Gabriel used his work, as long as he got paid.
The interviewer said some of Collins’ songs are similar to Gabriel’s from the same period. “When Peter first heard that sound – we called it the ‘facehugger’ like that thing in ‘Alien’ – he got off the sofa and went, ‘What is that?’” Phil said of the ‘gated drum’ sound used in Gabriel’s song ‘Intruder.’
The rocker continued, “I said, ‘What are you going to do with it? That’s my baby.’ He said, ‘I’m going to use it,’ and I went, ‘Mmmm…’ Then Peter rewrote ‘Intruder’ to fit the drum rhythm.”
“We were different animals. I was just trying to write the best songs I could, but you’re right, Peter got all the credibility… and I got the money!” Collins said when asked whether it bothers him that Gabriel gets all the credit and he doesn’t. “Ha. I’ve never said that before, but that does sum it up.”
Collins created the gated drum with Hugh Padgham. The gated drum effect was used in Collins’ song ‘In the Air Tonight’ and was also heard on other 1980s hits like David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ and the Power Station’s ‘Some Like It Hot.’
Gabriel also reflected on the drums in a 2020 Classic Rock chat. “He [Padgham] was playing with it in the studio, and I got quite excited and asked him to turn it right up,” the singer recalled.
He continued, “I remember saying: ‘This is going to revolutionise drum sounds.’ I wanted to do a track that was entirely based around that sound. And that track was ‘Intruder.’ Phil was playing on that track and he got excited by it too.”
Gabriel and Collins had a good working relationship. They worked together in Genesis, with Collins backing Gabriel’s vocals. Gabriel also helped Collins become the lead singer when he left the band after the 1974 album.