I heard a Phil Collins song on the radio the other day and it got me thinking…remember when MTV used to play music videos? Video totally changed the game for the music biz as now everyone’s first exposure to an artist was their image at the same time as their music. Prior because of radio it was always music first then image. Thus began the artist “branding” as we know it today and I blame, er…credit MTV for that. Artists were constantly trying to outdo each other with crazy hair, wild outfits, and other visual effects but there was one artist that never really did any of that yet was a major success thru MTV, Phil Collins. Yes other artists like Billy Joel and Huey Lewis were made famous by MTV but even they were wearing flamboyant blazer and other attire to stand out. Yes there was Elton John but well, he always was a little flamboyant. Some might say Bruce Springsteen but he was already pretty popular before he was on MTV thanks to radio but Phil Collins wasn’t really a house hold name until his music hit MTV. And THAT is exactly what did it, his MUSIC. He really didn’t have much of an “image’, heck, I personally think the guy is a little goofy looking but extremely talented and he wrote great songs. So what’s the point of this blog? That even in the heyday of over the top imaging and visuals sometimes, just sometimes, great music still prevails.