On 14 January 1985, Phil Collins released “Sussudio” - the first single from No Jacket Required. Billboard Hot 100 #1 for one week, UK #12. The song started as a nonsense vocal riff “sus-sus-sudio” during a drum improvisation, and turned into the biggest US hit of 1985. A year later in “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986) the track soundtracked Cameron staring at himself in the mirror. Collins appeared as himself in the video - an unusual move for a mainstream act.
What does “Sussudio” mean?
Nothing. The word is something Collins invented mid-improvisation behind the drum kit. He was hunting for a name for the song's subject - a girl the narrator wants to call but can't - and rhyme-tested out loud: “sue-do… sus-sudio… sus-su-dio”. He decided not to replace it.
In a March 1985 Rolling Stone interview Collins said: “I tried to swap "Sussudio" for a real girl's name - "Julie", "Susan", "Lisa", - and every time the song sounded worse. The nonsense word worked better because the listener kept it”.
“I felt guilty for a long time that the biggest hit of 1985 had a meaningless word at its centre. A year in, I realised it was exactly the meaninglessness that made it memorable”.
- Phil Collins, Not Dead Yet memoir, 2016
The Townhouse and Hugh Padgham
Recording for No Jacket Required took place at The Townhouse Studios on Goldhawk Road, London - the same studio where Collins cut “In the Air Tonight” with its famous gated reverb back in 1981. Producer on both albums: Hugh Padgham.
“Sussudio” was written and recorded in four days in September 1984. The main instrument is a Roland Prophet-5, running the unmistakable syncopated sequence (a pseudo-7/8 grouping) in Collins's left hand. His right hand plays a guitar-like riff that mimics a bass drum.
The drums are not a LinnDrum and not Simmons, as is often claimed. Collins played his live Gretsch kit, but with gated reverb. Padgham recorded the drums through an SSL 4000E, compressed the attack, and added reverb on an SPX90 with the gate shutting after 200 ms.
Anatomy of the sound
- Key: D major (bridge in F♯ minor)
- BPM: 120
- Length: 4:20 (album), 3:43 (single edit)
- Lead synth: Roland Prophet-5, bassline
- Horns: the Phenix Horns (Don Myrick - sax, Louis Satterfield - trombone, Rahmlee Michael Davis - trumpet) - the same section that played for Earth, Wind & Fire
- Drums: Phil Collins, Gretsch, gated reverb via SPX90
- Bass: a live line doubling the synth, Prophet-5 duplicate
- Vocals: Collins, Neumann U87, a single lead track + chorus harmonies
- Producer: Phil Collins + Hugh Padgham
- Studio: The Townhouse, London
- Single release: 14 January 1985, Virgin UK / Atlantic US
The syncopation that won't let go: 7/8 or 4/4?
The core hook of “Sussudio” - that synth line many listeners assume is in 7/8. It isn't. The meter stays standard 4/4, but Collins groups the eighth notes unusually: 3+3+2 (instead of 2+2+2+2).
The grouping is a direct borrow from Prince's “1999” (November 1982). Collins confirmed this in 2016: “I listened to "1999" the entire winter of 1983. Its synth did the same thing - 3+3+2. I stole the grouping on purpose”.
A small detail: Collins says he only noticed he'd stolen from Prince when “1999” and “Sussudio” wound up back-to-back on MTV in 1985. By his own account, he expected a phone call from Prince's lawyers. The call never came.
Ferris Bueller and Cameron in the mirror
On 11 June 1986, John Hughes's “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” hit cinemas. In one scene the character Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) stares at himself in the mirror, makes a self-reckoning, and “Sussudio” plays underneath.
That scene is one of the two moments in the film that cemented the track's cultural place. John Hughes paid Virgin $25,000 for the use - standard money for a 1985 top-10 hit. “Sussudio” re-entered the Billboard chart for three months after the film opened, though the original single had come out seventeen months earlier.
The American Psycho reading
In 2000, “American Psycho” (director Mary Harron) put Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) in the middle of a monologue about Genesis and Phil Collins. During that scene, “Sussudio” plays.
That was one of the two main Collins references in 2000s pop culture. The other was Gorillaz in 2001, where Damon Albarn called Collins in Mojo the “architect of 80s sonic emptiness”. The knock-on effect: a sharp rise in ironic interest in No Jacket Required among zoomers in the 2010s.
Chart history: #1 in July 1985
“Sussudio” climbed Billboard Hot 100 slowly: #42 in May, #17 in June, #1 on 6 July 1985. It held for one week before being knocked off by “A View to a Kill” by Duran Duran. In the UK it stalled at #12.
The No Jacket Required album held seven weeks at Billboard 200 #1 and sold 25 million copies worldwide. It won the 1986 Grammy for Album of the Year, beating Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits and We Are the World - a result that ignited arguments in music press for the rest of the year.
What to listen for next
Phil Collins 1981-1985: “In the Air Tonight” (1981) → “Against All Odds” (1984) → “Sussudio” (1985). Three different Collinses - dark, balladic, danceable.
The 3+3+2 syncopation in dance pop: “Sussudio” (1985) → “1999” Prince (1982) → “Kiss” Prince (1986). Three tracks built on the same non-standard eighth-note grouping.