Billboard chart flashback: Phil Collins hit #1 with ‘Against All Odds’ 40 years ago

Tariq Khan
·4 min read
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My favorite scene in the hilarious new film “The Fall Guy” is the one where Emily Blunt (recent Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for “Oppenheimer”) belts out the Phil Collins classic “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” as Ryan Gosling (recent Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for “Barbie”) finds himself in a particularly dramatic — and dangerous — sequence of events.

As Blunt sang with all her heart, I couldn’t help but think of how perfect the timing was.

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Forty years ago this very month, the famous power ballad had just completed a three-week reign on top of the Billboard Hot 100. “Against All Odds” was the title song from the romantic thriller starring Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward and James Woods. The Taylor Hackford-directed movie was met with solid reviews and healthy ticket sales. But its most notable success was Collins’s song, which quickly took the Billboard chart by storm. In April it kicked away another movie melody — “Footlose” by Kenny Loggins — to take the number one spot. It would only say goodbye when “Hello” by Lionel Richie overtook it in early May.

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But that wasn’t the end for “Against All Odds.” It would be nominated for the 1984 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. While it lost to “What’s Love Got to Do with It” by Tina Turner, Collins did earn the prize for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Collins would also receive his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Unfortunately, the odds were against him in that most competitive race. It was Stevie Wonder whose name was called out, for “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from “The Woman in Red.”

“Against All Odds” did mark the first of seven solo number ones for Collins outside of his illustrious career with the band Genesis. His other chart toppers were “One More Night” (March 1985), “Sussudio” (July 1985), the duet with Marilyn Martin “Separate Lives” (November 1985), “A Groovy Kind of Love” (October 1988), “Two Hearts” (January 1989) and “Another Day in Paradise” (December 1989.)

And while “Against All Odds” didn’t bring him the Best Original Song Oscar, the academy held nothing against him. After an unsuccessful second try for 1988’s “Two Hearts” from “Buster” (losing to Carly Simon for “Let the River Run” from “Working Girl”) Collins would finally run away with the gold for “You’ll Be in My Heart” from 1999’s animated hit “Tarzan.” I was in the backstage press room when an emotional Collins appeared there to take questions from reporters. I brought up his first Oscar nomination for “Against All Odds” fifteen years earlier, and asked him how it felt to finally have the elusive trophy in his hands.

”It feels great,” he said after taking a deep breath.

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“Against All Odds” failed to produce a Best Actor nomination for Bridges, though he was singled out for his turn in that same year’s “Starman.” (The stars would align instead for F. Murray Abraham in 1984’s Best Picture “Amadeus.”) Bridges would finally get his chance to shine 25 years later, when he was named Best Actor for 2009’s “Crazy Heart” (his one victory out of seven total bids). Woods would also go on to reap two Oscar nods, as Best Actor for 1986’s “Salvador” (the riches going to Paul Newman in “The Color of Money”) and Best Supporting Actor for 1996’s “Ghosts of Mississippi” (the money shown to Cuba Gooding Jr. in “Jerry Maguire.”) And Hackford would get his first and only shot for Best Director two decades after “Against All Odds,” for 2004’s “Ray.” (He was knocked out by Clint Eastwood for helming the Best Picture champ “Million Dollar Baby.”)

There’s a reason that Collins’s “Against All Odds” continues to be played to this day, and why it is prominently featured in films like “The Fall Guy.” It has to be one of the most powerful and iconic songs of its day. And it did make Collins a Billboard number-one hit maker, a Grammy winner and an Oscar nominee.

Forty years later, he can owe it all to “Against All Odds.” Take a look at him now.

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