"Throwing It All Away" is the seventh track on the 1986 album ''

Invisible Touch ''Invisible Touch'' is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band Genesis, released on 6 June 1986 by Atlantic Records in the United States and on 9 June 1986 by Charisma/Virgin Records in the United Kingdom. After taking a break in 1 ...

'' by

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

. It was the second single taken from the album in the United States, reaching No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in October 1986, as well as No. 1 on ''Billboard'''s

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart and the

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" fo ...

chart. It was the last single released from the album in the UK in June 1987, reaching No. 22. The song was also a top 40 hit on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

, peaking at No. 24. The working title was "Zephyr and Zeppo". The song is a

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

structured around a guitar riff by

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, best known as co-founder, lead guitarist and bassist of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis. He and keyboardist Tony Banks (musici ...

, who also wrote the lyrics. The U.S. single included an edited version of the instrumental "Do the Neurotic" as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

; the UK edition featured the track "I'd Rather Be You".

Live performances

"Throwing It All Away" was performed live during the

, The Way We Walk,

Calling All Stations ''...Calling All Stations...'' (stylised in all capitals) is the fifteenth and final studio album by English rock band Genesis. It was released 1 September 1997 by Virgin Records and is their only album featuring Scottish singer Ray Wilson as ...

and

Turn It On Again "Turn It On Again" is a song by the English rock band Genesis featured on their 1980 album ''Duke''. Also released as a single, the song reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's second top 10 hit. The lyrics, by Mike Rut ...

tours; aside from the 1986 leg of the Invisible Touch tour, the song was transposed to a lower key to accommodate Collins' deepening voice with each succeeding tour (or Ray Wilson's deeper voice in the case of the Calling All Stations tour). The song was also performed live on the 2018 North American and Latin American legs of Collins' solo Not Dead Yet Tour. 2145 - Pittsburgh - Mellon Arena - Genesis - Throwing It All Away

2145 - Pittsburgh - Mellon Arena - Genesis - Throwing It All Away

A live version appears on the CDs of '' The Way We Walk, Volume One: The Shorts'' and ''

Live Over Europe 2007 ''Live over Europe 2007'' is the sixth live album by the British band Genesis (band), Genesis. It was recorded during the Turn It On Again: The Tour of 2007. It was released in North America by Atlantic Records on 20 November 2007, and in Euro ...

'' and the ''

When in Rome 2007 ''When in Rome 2007'' is a live DVD by British rock band Genesis recorded at Circus Maximus, Rome, Italy, on 14 July 2007, during the Turn It On Again Tour. The concert was directed by David Mallet. The collection was released on 26 May 2008 ...

'' DVD. During the intro and just before the end of the live performances, Collins would engage in

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

with the audience using nonsense language. Predominantly Collins would chant "Deeee Da Daaayyyyy" and the audience would in turn reply.

Music video

A music video for the song was composed of

soundcheck A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small po ...

footage and shots of the band travelling while on their

Invisible Touch Tour The Invisible Touch Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English rock band Genesis. The tour began on 18 September 1986 in Detroit and ended on 4 July 1987 in London. London dates at Wembley Stadium were filmed for a video release entitle ...

of North America, much of which was filmed by Collins on his 1985 Sony

Handycam Handycam is a line of camcorders made by Sony and introduced in 1985. Handycam was first used as the name of the first Video8 camcorder in 1985, replacing Sony's previous line of Betamovie, Betamax-based models of camcorders. The name was intend ...

, mostly filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

(

Exhibition Stadium Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (commonly known as Exhibition Stadium or CNE Stadium and nicknamed The Ex) was a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the grounds of Exhibition Place. Originally built for Canadian National ...

) and

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

(

Joe Louis Arena Joe Louis Arena was an arena in Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1979 at a cost of US$57 million as a replacement for Olympia Stadium, it sat adjacent to Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and was accessible by the Joe Louis Arena ...

). It is featured on their DVD '' The Video Show''.

Reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' called it a "dance ballad" that sounds a lot like "a cheerier version" of Collins' earlier single " Take Me Home." In ''

'' magazine's Critics' Choice at the end of 1986, Kim Freeman chose the song as No. 7 in his top ten countdown, describing it as "a rare ballad that isn't too sappy to enjoy". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "romantic and wistful." Stevie Chick, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in 2014, called the song a "genuinely affecting ballad" but observed its similarity to Collins' solo work, stating it "could have easily fitted on his solo albums". In his assessment of the song for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, François Couture wrote, "This love song featured heartfelt vocals, a simple piano accompaniment, and Mike Rutherford's trademark rhythm guitar, plus a very catchy chorus. Nothing striking, but all the elements came together nicely and adult contemporary radio stations played it extensively."

Track listing

7": Virgin / GENS 5 (UK)

# "Throwing It All Away" – 3:41 # "I'd Rather Be You" – 3:57

7": Atlantic / 7-89372 (US)

# "Throwing It All Away" – 3:41 # "Do The Neurotic" (Edit) – 5:21

12": Virgin / GENS 5–12 (UK)

# "Throwing It All Away" (live) # "I'd Rather Be You" # "Invisible Touch" (live) * Also released on MC (GENSC5) * Live tracks recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, 1986

Personnel

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

– vocals, drums, percussion * Tony Banks – keyboards *

– electric guitars, bass guitar

Release history

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles Genesis (band) songs 1980s ballads Atlantic Records singles Rock ballads Songs written by Mike Rutherford Songs written by Phil Collins Songs written by Tony Banks (musician) Song recordings produced by Hugh Padgham Virgin Records singles