Dettwiller 1

Chad Dettwiller

Professor Hunter

English. 1201.A53

23 January 2020

In the Air

Can you feel it coming? Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” is a song most people have

heard but most probably haven’t heard Nonpoint’s version. Although the versions are very

different, they both still get you to sing along. Phil Collins version of “In the Air Tonight” is

experimental pop sound and Nonpoint’s version for the movie Miami Vice and their version is

hard rock. With two different sounds came two different appeals and two different audiences.

Phil Collins released his debut solo single “In the Air Tonight” in 1980. Collins version

takes on an experimental pop and soft rock sound. “In the Air Tonight” is a song about revenge

with lyrics such as “So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you’ve been It’s all been a pack

of lies And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord Well I’ve been waiting for this

moment for all my life”. With these lyrics he is insinuating he caught someone doing something

and lying about it and now he is seeking revenge. The music video for this song was released in

1981 and it shows Collins sitting in a room alone and a white figure keeps appearing in the

window. Collins then gets up and walks through a door into a hallway of doors that he begins

looking into like he is looking for someone. While all of this is happening, the video goes back

and forth from showing Collins doing these things and just his face in black and white singing

the song. The video really gets you to think about the meaning and the message Collins is trying

to get across.
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In 2004 Nonpoint released a hard rock version of “In the Air Tonight” that was included

in the movie Miami Vice. Nonpoint really put their own spin on the Phil Collins classic by

putting their own sound on it. They turned it from a soft rock song to an intense hard rock song.

The video for Nonpoint’s version really promotes the movie Miami Vice. In the video it goes

back and forth from showing clips of Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell in the movie and the

Nonpoint performing the song under a highway. Seeing the band going hard while preforming it

and seeing intense clips from the movie really add to the hard rock feel of the song. This video

was a lot of fun to watch put it felt more like a promotion for the movie Miami Vice than a video

for their version. Although this song is great it is nowhere close to the original. Nonpoint set out

to make a hard rock version of a Phil Collins original and they did just that.

Phil Collins video for “In the Air Tonight” uses ethos. It uses ethos by showing him

firsthand wanting to seek revenge on someone. By doing this it also creates a credible testimony

for him wanting to seek the revenge. On the other hand, Nonpoints video used pathos. Pathos is

used by showing clips of Miami Vice and the band performing it to get the viewer excited about

the movie. Their hard rock version also makes people want to get up and rock out to it.

These two songs were released 24 years apart with very different sounds for very

different audiences. Phil Collins version of “In the Air Tonight” was made for an audience of

older adults that enjoy an experimental pop sound. However, there is a younger audience of teens

who enjoy his version also. Nonpoint’s version was targeted at an audience of young adults who

enjoy hard rock. Also, an audience who enjoyed the movie Miami Vice and might want to buy

the soundtrack.

Phil Collins version of “In the Air Tonight” is experimental pop sound and Nonpoint’s

version for the movie Miami Vice and their version is hard rock. With two different sounds came
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two different appeals and two different audiences. Phil Collins version will always be a classic

and Nonpoint’s version might be a fun version to listen to sometimes to change up the feel of the

song. Although they both have very different sounds with somewhat different messages, they are

both still great songs to listen to.

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Works Cited

Phil Collins- In the Air Tonight (Official Music Video). Youtube, 11 May

2010, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=in+the+air+tonight.

Accessed 23 January 2020.

Nonpoint- In the Air Tonight (Official Music Video). Youtube, 7 May

2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoGg9bIyDPY. Accessed 23 January

2020.