10. “Mercy Street”
When Peter Gabriel 1986 songs for his album “So” wrote, he came across a book by Anne Sexton. An American poet who committed suicide in 1974. She started writing when the doctor of a psychiatric clinic suggested that this was a good form of therapy. Her work – which also includes the play “Mercy Street” from 1969 – always concentrated in search of a kind of father figure. “This search kept her alive longer than many others around her. And made sense of her life,” said Gabriel. “And now your work gives other hope.”
Sexton had a great influence on Gabriel when he wrote “Mercy Street”. A beautiful ballad of Sothat became a fan favorite even though she was never an official single. He played them at concerts countless times. And always dedicated to Anne Sexton.
9. “San Jacinto”
The San Jacinto Mountains are near the wealthy holiday resort of Palm Springs in California. A impoverished tribe lives in the immediate vicinity. Peter Gabriel employed the contrast between these two communities when he “San Jacinto” for his album in 1982 Security wrote.
The narrative is about a ritual in which a boy who has infected himself with rattling snake venom is left alone on a mountain. “When he made it back down, he was brave,” says Gabriel. “If not, he was dead. Very simple. [Dieses Lied] Is the story of what he returned. And what America Antat of his culture. “
8. “Games Without Frontiers”
Was in the 1970s and 1980s “Jeux sans Frontières” A popular game show in all of Europe, in which teams from different countries competed against each other in absurd competitions. The show should actually serve to bring the nations closer to each other. But Peter Gabriel did not see it fun. And made fun of the whole thing in his song “Games Without Frontiers” from 1980, in which Kate Bush sings in the background.
The song became his first top 10 hit in England and even made it into the top 50 in America. It was the beginning of a very successful decade for the former Genesis front man.
7. “Shock the Monkey”
Many people assume that Peter Gabriel’s “Shock The Monkey” from 1982 is about animal rights. Because it’s called “Shock the Monkey”. And the video shows a desperate, locked up primate. In fact, the song is about jealousy, and the monkey stands for the primitive instincts of man.
6. “Here Comes The Flood”
When Peter Gabriel recorded his first solo album in 1977, he was determined to do everything to prove that he had grown beyond genesis. Songs such as “Modern Love”, “Moribund the Burgermeister” and “Humdrum” are far from everything on what on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway can be heard.
The whole thing is rounded off with the biblical piano ballad “Here Comes The Flood”. At night he wrote it after a particularly lively dream in which “the psychological barriers that usually prevent us from looking into the thoughts of the other were completely broken and triggered a mental flood”.
5. “Sledenhammer”
“Sledhammer” differed from all the songs that Peter Gabriel had released until then that many people thought it was a conscious attempt to crack the pop charts. “There had never been anything like that”, Gabriel said 2012 dem Rolling Stone. “In fact, reminded me [der Bassist] Tony Levin that he wanted to pack his things to go home. I called him back to the studio. And said: ‘I have an idea that we might be able to play around for the next album. I like the feeling. ” It was already late in the groove.
He also made a crazy innovative video that MTV played about 50,000 times in 1986 and 1987. It made Peter Gabriel an arena act. But it also turned out to be impossible to follow him. “I didn’t have many points of contact with the mass culture”, Gabriel said 2012. ‘So that was one of the few occasions in which the “’ ‘since the publication of’ Sled” have passed.
4. “Red Rain “
Like many songs by Peter Gabriel, “Red Rain” started as a recurring dream. In this dream, Gabriel swam in a huge pool with a red and white liquid. This resulted in the idea for the urgent title song of the album published in 1986 “So”in which Stewart Copeland plays drums from the band The Police. The song was not a big hit. But it has been an important part of his live repertoire in the past three decades.
3. “Biko”
On September 12, 1977, the anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko was murdered by the police. He had been arrested because he had spoken out against the racist South African government. The tragedy was another sign for the world that apartheid was an unbearable evil.
Three years later, Peter Gabriel wrote “Biko” to honor his memory. The urgent song with the chorus of just one word was typical of Peter Gabriel in the 1980s. It was typical of many of his concerts where Gabriel left the stage before the chorus ended. And the audience made the “Biko” singing sing alone.
2. “In your eyes”
“In your eyes” was a pretty big hit when it came out as a single in September 1986. But it could not surpass the effect of “Sledhmermmer”. But then Cameron’s Crowe’s came three years later Say Anything in the cinemas. In the final scene, John Cusack kept up a huge boombox from which “In Your Eyes'” boomed to serenade Ione Skye.
It is one of the most iconic film moments of this era. And made “in your eyes” an absolute classic. “I talked to John Cusack about it,” said Gabriel in 2012. “We are caught up in contemporary culture, so to speak, at a tiny moment.”
1. “Solsbury Hill “
Peter Gabriel wrote “Solsbury Hill” shortly after his exit at Genesis. Almost every text reflects its frustration about life in an extremely active rock band. “I felt like a part of the backdrop,” he sings.
“I went straight out of the machinery.” It was his first solo single. The lively song was played a lot on the radio in America and England. In recent years it has been used in so many film trailers that a brilliant Parodie trailer from The Shining The practice parodened.
“Maybe I let it go too much”, Gabriel said 2011. “I know that some people believe that the song is played too often, and I have had it used too often.”