AceShowbiz - Phil Collins struggles to watch footage of Genesis onstage at the height of their 1980s success - because he was so "annoying". The rocker reveals he recently started work on an archive of all his performances and was embarrassed by his over-confident persona while the band was selling out the world's arenas.

He tells Mojo magazine, "The persona onstage came out of insecurity. (Former Genesis frontman) Peter (Gabriel) had his mysterious traveler vibe, and I didn't have anything. So I thought, 'What can I do?' So I overdid it. There was a time and a place for it, but it seems embarrassing now. I recently started transferring all my VHS (video) tapes onto DVD to create an archive, and everything I was watching, I thought, 'God, I'm annoying.' I appeared to be very cocky, and really I wasn't."

And Collins also regrets becoming a film star in "Buster" - because it simply made him more irritating. He adds, "I was omnipresent... I only did it (film) because Julie Walters was doing it. So I also represented someone biting off more than they can chew. I can only apologize as it annoys me... and I'm me."