I have a reputation with my friends as a person who enjoys “weird” things. They make fun of me for enjoying artistic movies/music and art that differ from the norm of society. However, when it comes to this video “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins I feel absolutely no fondness for the present “weirdness”. I dislike his face in the video, and think that it is creepy. I can even say that for the most part I appreciate songs with no actual meaning or symbolism. I thoroughly enjoyed the video “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, which was criticized for being “pointless”. The first time I ever saw this Phil Collins video was on VH1’s “100 greatest songs of the 80’s”. I remember watching it and wondering what the heck Phil Collins was thinking. I was confronted with the video again in another VH1 special, “Behind the Music” and began to wonder what brought Phil Collins, an artist I generally enjoy, to write this song. When I went to my computer that day to uncover the meaning behind the madness of this song and video I expected to come across some deep meaning which was intricately woven into the lyrics. After a couple hours of fruitless searching, however, I had to except Phil Collins’ own explaination of the video, “

I don't know what this song is about. When I was writing this I was going through a divorce. And the only thing I can say about it is that it's obviously in anger. It's the angry side, or the bitter side of a separation.”

To this day whenever I encounter this video, or hear this song on the radio I generally respond by making a disgusted noise and changing the channel. It is a video I can not, no matter how much I wish I could, bring myself to enjoy in any way.