COLLINS: 'GENESIS GOT BETTER WITH ME'

PHIL COLLINS is annoyed by rock fans who feel he ruined GENESIS because the future supergroup was nothing but a small cult act when he replaced original frontman PETER GABRIEL.

With Collins as singer, the LAND OF CONFUSION hitmakers went on to become one of the world's biggest acts before splitting up a decade ago - something fans could only dream off when Gabriel fronted the act at the beginning of the 1970s.

Back then Collins was the group's drummer, who stepped forward when Gabriel went solo - and he's still hurt by claims Genesis were better before he took over as frontman.

He says, "When I replaced Peter, we were just a cult still. People like to look back now and say, 'The golden days when Peter Gabriel was in the band.' They should have been there to watch us because we were still playing to handfuls of people. "We were basically a small arena band by the time he left in 1975 and then I took over. Our progress with an audience had grown steadily. "When I joined in 1970, we were playing in pubs, then clubs and colleges/universities. Then we played town halls. Me singing didn't make much difference to our success. We just kept on getting more and more popular because we were getting better."