Phil Collins Breaks Silence on Noel Gallagher's 'Antichrist' Comment

Phil Collins believes it will be "interesting" to come face to face with Oasis at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony after years of public criticism from Noel Gallagher.

The 75 year old music legend will be inducted into the Hall of Fame later this year alongside artists including the "Live Forever" hitmakers, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, and Wu Tang Clan. Phil admitted he is curious to see how any encounter with Noel might unfold after the guitarist previously called him the "antichrist," joked about wanting his "severed head," and even urged people to vote Labour in 1997 to stop him from moving back to Britain.

Phil told MOJO magazine: “The [Hall Of Fame] inductees have all been invited to a lunch before the ceremony.

“Which will be interesting, as I’m sure to bump into Oasis.”

Back in 2007, Phil's daughter Lily, who was 18 at the time, confronted Liam Gallagher backstage at the Live Earth concert to ask why his brother had repeatedly criticised her father.

Phil recalled: “She went up to him and said, ‘Why do you hate my dad?' And apparently Liam said, ‘I don’t hate anybody, love.’ ”

Despite Noel's comments over the years, the "In the Air Tonight" singer does not believe the Oasis guitarist genuinely sees him as the antichrist. He also thinks he has worked out what may have inspired the remark after Noel once admitted Phil frightened him during a Genesis concert in the 1980s when he attended the show "completely out of it."

He said: “Now I’ve thought this through, and although Noel didn’t specify what song it was, I reckon it was Mama, where I go (recites the lyric) ‘Ha-ha-ha… Oww,’ with the light under my face.

“I think Mama is why Noel called me the antichrist. But I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here, and assuming he doesn’t really think I’m the antichrist.”

Noel first referred to Phil as the "antichrist of music" in 1994.

He said: “We’re gonna get rid of Phil Collins and Sting. We’ve got to get in the charts and stamp them out. I want the severed head of Phil Collins in my fridge by the end of this decade. And if I haven’t, I’ll be a failure.”

Three years later, Noel again took aim at the former Genesis singer and drummer, who was living in Switzerland at the time, while encouraging people to vote Labour in the UK general election.

He said: “If the Conservatives get in, Phil Collins is threatening to come back and live here. And let's face it, none of us want that."

Phil eventually responded in 2005, describing Oasis as “rude, horrible… and not as talented as they think."