For years, the moniker “genius” is overused in the realm of popular music but Peter Gabriel rightfully belongs there on my short list. (You’ll have to bug me directly for the other nine.) While David Bowie is the grandfather of many bands I like that fall into the Alt-Rock label (Foo Fighters, Elefant, Peter Murphy and Maktub readily come to mind), Peter is the elder uncle whose contributions are more subtle, esoteric like when artists venture out into “international” territory, aka he and the Talking Heads making the world safe for Paul Simon to record Graceland to entertain the masses. Anyway, the only act I can think of which has his direct influence is Vampire Weekend. Given time, I could probably think of more.
I stumbled upon Peter Gabriel in eighth grade during my big musical awakening through Springfield’s FM Pop/Rock station WDBR. On a Sunday afternoon, one DJ decided to play the first single from Peter Gabriel’s third solo album, “Games Without Frontiers.” I guess he took the gamble because Abacab by Genesis was very popular then and he introduced the track by mentioning Gabriel’s past association with Genesis. Obviously, being 13, my first thoughts were, “Genesis had another singer before Phil Collins and albums before Duke?”
Fast forward about a year to the days of when we lived in Houston and MTV’s influence was the on the rise. My education on all things Genesis and Peter Gabriel grew through KLOL: songs such as “Solsbury Hill,” and “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” Peter’s affinity for visuals made him a perfect fit on MTV with his video “Shock the Monkey,” this little Action-Sci Fi movie of twins with a psychic link is my interpretation. However, the song is really about jealousy. Sadly, I didn’t get the opportunity to see him in Houston when he came through for the Security tour. My friend Steve did see this show in Normal, IL and confirmed the stories of him crowd surfing to “I Have the Touch.” Maybe he’ll chime in tell us all about it.
After 1986, everybody knows his story.
My other friend Jose saw his Us tour in the early Nineties when it swung through Orlando. I was impressed with Jose’s descriptions of the show’s opening and closing; again, maybe this friend will also post to share his experience with us. Side note of trivia. The woman touring then as his backup singer was Paula Cole years before she had her hit “I Don’t Want to Wait.” Don’t hold it against her, Paula’s first solo album was much better with “I am so Ordinary” and “Saturn Girl.”
Much like many people, I used to feel that the naming of his first three or four (depends upon the country) solo albums just Peter Gabriel to be a cross between laziness and vanity. It was confusing. Many artists only do this with their debut, then have titles for every successive record (Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles and Duran Duran), why is he so special? Then I read an interview with him in Spin where he explained it. Peter’s plan was to make his albums akin to a magazine; you go into the record store in 1980 and think, hey, what’s up with the latest “issue” of Peter Gabriel? Geffen Records (his American label in 1982) didn’t agree, therefore it put the title Security on the fourth album against his wishes. Afterwards, he has been a smartass by choosing two-letter words for titles: So, Us and Up.
This upcoming Tuesday will be his first new record in eight years. A rather cool thing to do while turning 60. Despite how disappointing I found his last one Up to be, I was willing to cut him some major slack. Peter has been busy supporting other artists he likes, finding a long-term solution to making a digital music label viable, being involved with causes important to him and occasionally doing a single. The one at the end of WALL-E was marvelous and a Vampire Weekend cover (“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”) with Hot Chip backing him; they mentioned him in is this single so he returned the favor.
Then I read about this upcoming album being a covers collection. I immediately reacted with “Ugh! Yet another one of these?” Way too many are made today and the novelty died off a while ago. I don’t even listen to the podcast Coverville anymore because it grew tiresome.
Leave it to him to turn this on its side, make it interesting and slip in some humor. The title alone says it all, Scratch My Back which will contain 12 songs by his contemporaries (Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Randy Newman and David Byrne/Talking Heads) and newer acts he likes (Regina Spektor, Elbow and Magnetic Fields). In return, they will appear on the companion album I’ll Scratch Yours performing his songs. Vain? No way! It’s absolutely genius! My only regret is the lack of Kate Bush who has sung memorable parts for him on “Don’t Give Up,” “No Self Control” and the one which started it all, “Games without Frontiers.” Side note number two, Kate is singing in French, “jeux sans frontiere,” not “she’s so functional,” as most people sing when they hear this. Others on the wish list? Andy Partridge (XTC) Neil Finn (Split Enz/Crowded House) and (no joke) Prince (former bandmates Wendy & Lisa introduced the Purple One to Security).