Happy Anniversary: Phil Collins, “Another Day in Paradise”

26 years ago today, Phil Collins released the first single from his fourth album, a track which found him getting more socially conscious than usual and focusing on the plight of the homeless.

In 1989, Phil Collins was practically unstoppable on the pop charts. No, he might not have been able to cross the threshold between music and film, but while his starring role in Buster failed to turn into him into a full-fledged movie star, the two singles he recorded for the soundtrack - “A Groovy Kind of Love” and “Two Hearts” - both topped the US singles chart. As such, there was little chance that “Another Day in Paradise” would do anything other than follow suit…and, yeah, you guessed it: that's exactly what it did.

David Crosby contributed backing vocals to “Another Day in Paradise,” an assist he would repeat at the 1991 Grammy Awards, where the song took home Record of the Year while also being nominated for Song of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, and Best Music Video, Short Form. The UK press gave Collins trouble over the song, complaining that he was far too wealthy to have any real idea what poor people are going through, but Collins argued that “when I drive down the street, I see the same things everyone else sees.”

Well, you can't really argue with that, now, can you?