Mike Rutherford came into the Planet Rock studios in London to record an episode of "My Planet Rocks" with Mark Jeeves, talking through his career with Genesis and Mike + The Mechanics, as well as choosing his favourite songs to play.
Mike praised Prince's guitar skills, remembered a nocturnal collaboration with Eddie Van Halen, how Jimi Hendrix's first album changed everything, his admiration of Bob Seger's songwriting, amongst others.
He also discussed writing music for and touring with Mike + The Mechanics, as well as sharing memories of recording Genesis classics like "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and "Land of Confusion", and finding hidden Phil Collins drum fills.
Planet Rock reports: As with all My Planet Rock episodes, the one-hour show sees Mike select some of his favourite songs and regale stories around them.
One of his choices is Van Halen’s 1983 megahit "Jump", and Mike told Planet Rock: “First of all, it’s an amazing song. An incredible song. I love the story. Back in the day, I heard that the singer David Lee Roth was complaining ‘we’re a guitar band’, and it’s the most amazing keyboard part really.”
Commenting on the Eddie Van Halen collaboration, he continued: “I think Eddie heard a song from my second solo album (1982’s Acting Very Strange), which I sang – God knows how I thought of this! - and he rang me up and said, ‘will you do some writing?’ I mean, my voice for god’s sake!
“Anyway, I get to LA, and we arrive there and bring some gear with me and go into his studio. And he says, ‘Hey Mike, come over about 1.30.’ And I thought, ‘well, that’s going to work for me, a little lunch.’ (Eddie says) ‘AM.’ He starts at nighttime and works through the night. I just couldn’t really do that.
“We had some sessions. We wrote some songs. Bits. I’m not quite sure… I can’t find the tape. Quirky stuff, but it was fun to do.”
Read more at Planet Rock, and watch the video below:
