Does Peter Gabriel shock your monkey, or is he a pretentious, over-serious earsore? Today I’ll take a look at the pros and cons of his self-titled 1980 album and try to get to the bottom of this scientifically challenging question…
THUMBS UP: Gabriel left Genesis (bonus points for that) to make many enjoyable, if challenging albums, and some of the smartest pop music of the late 70’s/early 80’s. His third solo album is perhaps his most consistent, and contains some of his best-loved work, including ‘Biko’, ‘Games Without Frontiers’, ‘I Don’t Remember’ and ‘Family Snapshot’. His songs are all cut with a healthy dose of paranoia, and he sings like a guy sitting in an unfamiliar waiting room, thinking out the bad things that are about to happen to him. His ground-breaking videos for many of these songs perfectly conveyed that ‘lost tourist’ feeling, and helped make him an icon of the 80’s.
THUMBS DOWN: Like George Foreman naming children, PG named all of his first four solo albums after himself, making any discussion of those albums an instantly absurd affair. Gabriel is a serious fellow with important things to say, and that tone can often make listening to his albums feel like sitting through a high school Lit class. The esteemed Dr. David Thorpe picked ‘Games Without Frontiers’ as one of his 10 Worst Songs Of All-Time, and it’s a hard point to argue (unless you think he should have chosen ‘Sledgehammer’). While I enjoy Gabriel’s work in places, his albums rarely get plucked from the shelf for a trip to the turntable. With good reason, I think…
[What's your take? Is Peter Gabriel a smart guy with lots of great musical ideas, or a posturing professor in a pop overcoat? Your thoughts and comments are requested and welcomed...]
Tags: Melt, Peter Gabriel
5 January 2008 at 9:38 am |
PG’s discs hit my player very rarely, but when they do, I’m really glad.
Games w/o Frontiers one of the ten worst songs of all time? Wow. I’ll assume Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life is one of his ten worst albums too.
5 January 2008 at 9:45 am |
Here’s a quote from the good doctor: “The lyrics are perhaps the most insipid crap ever written; look them up if you’re in the mood for a laugh.”
5 January 2008 at 9:58 am |
I’ve met PG, and he’s a very serious English fellow who puts on one of the best live shows you’ll ever see. That said, his lyrics, with the possible exception of ‘Biko,’ tend to be vapid in the Jon Anderson (of Yes) vein; very much ado about nothing. Generally speaking, I’ve found his music is better served in a live setting than on my turntable.
5 January 2008 at 10:02 am |
The Stones Monkey Man has some of the dumbest, non-sensical lyrics of all time too. Then again, that must be why I love them so much.
5 January 2008 at 10:14 am |
Thank you, dk, for capturing so eloquently my ambivalence toward PG. I was a huge fan of his ultra serious, self-important music fan back in the day, but mainly because I was an ultra-serious, self-important teen at the time. He rarely gets played by this listener these days, despite some very solid albums. I wasn’t sure why until I recently saw some concert footage of him in bad KISS makeup, darting about the stage on a Segway during what I think was supposed to be a choregraphed dance routine symbolizing something profound about the world. It was painful to watch [and very, very (unintentionally) funny]. He was dead serious the whole time, and several times teetered with disaster as he tried to sing and navigate the beastly Segway at the same time. Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge scene had nothing on this travesty.
That said, his Security album popped up on the iPod last month and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the overt self-righteousness of Shock the Monkey, San Jacinto, Rhythm of the Heat, and, well, pretty much the entire track list. There’s something undeniably thrilling about the percussion-heavy sounds he produced during those years.
Oh, and one last thing, insisting that GWF is as crappy as Sledgehammer is like claiming Hannah Montana is as slutty as Tila Tequila. C’mon; it’s a classic!
5 January 2008 at 10:35 am |
One of the most memorable albums covers from my youth.
5 January 2008 at 2:10 pm |
funny you should bring this up. woke up last week with “games…” stuck in my dome for some reason. don’t own the album, and haven’t heard the song in years. copped it from itunes and just put it into my set last night. lyrics? eh, can’t really call it, i’ll take your word that they’re drivel, but it’s got a groove to it that is unique and recognisable which is helpful in a crowd (hey! i know this one from college!). I think it would make a great sample for the right lyricist, perhaps i’ll pass it on to azeem. “miss you” by the stones followed it up quite nicely. one of the “worst songs ever” is not deserved in my opinion. i think gabriel is an adventurous musician who may miss the mark often, but occasionally stumbles on to something near brilliant. i love “games” as a beat. “shock the monkey” may be cheese today, but at the time it was kind of shocking and on point, even a little ahead of the point (a point we’ve happily moved far beyond). not to hit it with a sledgehammer (oooh, sorry) but i guess the point is how it all holds up against the test of time. i think he’s scored enough to be on my team, though not a starter. like that wise old vet you keep on the bench to school the young-stars. that said, i don’t own one album.
6 January 2008 at 12:38 pm |
Is Peter Gabriel a smart guy with lots of great musical ideas, or a posturing professor in a pop overcoat?
he’s both, but i still give this lp a thumbs up….
yu could do this same post about Robyn Hitchcock & about his ripping off of Mr. Gaberiel….
6 January 2008 at 12:39 pm |
Or Gabriel for that matter…. Excuse me, I’ve had a few glasses of fine red….
6 January 2008 at 2:13 pm |
I can’t speak to Robyn Hitchcock’s solo stuff, but his late 70’s work with the Soft Boys (particularly the album ‘Underwater Moonlight’) has a nasty streak to it that PG has never really approached.
Oh, and while I’ve got the mike on, I’d like to add this:
Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane
Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again
Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt
Adolf builds a bonfire, Enrico plays with it
-Whistling tunes we hid in the dunes by the seaside
-Whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle
It’s a knockout
If looks could kill, they probably will
In games without frontiers-war without tears
Games without frontiers-war without tears
7 January 2008 at 2:55 am |
He is terrible. He really is…
7 January 2008 at 12:56 pm |
I agree with Devil Dick (and I like to type and say “Devil Dick”). PG has some goofy stuff out there, but I wouldn’t throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.
Aren’t the lyrics to this song describing adults acting like children? I thought it was made in the wake of the 1980 Olympic boycotts and made statements about Andre Malraux and Chiang Kai Shek having places to fly their flags while the Vietnamese puppet government didn’t. Finest piece of songwriting? Hardly. 10 worst? Not in my book.
7 January 2008 at 1:24 pm |
A friend of mine from Newcastle once told me that Genesis ceased to exist once Gabriel left, adding that Phil Collins was a self-serving talentless twat.
I managed to conceal the fact that the first cd I ever owned was Face Value. Truth be told Phil Collins was actually a huge step up for me, as I was a huge Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, and Al B. Sure fan at the time.
But back to Gabriel. I think his music is brilliant. Experimental, multi-facetted, political, silly, and yet poignant.
Roger Kuhl used Sledgehammer as a pre-game chant for his 4th graders Willamalane baseball team.
Don’t Give Up provided guys with a song that could identify without losing their machismo and yet possibly get a sympathy lay.
Games Without Frontiers is lyrically absurd and yet epitomizes the confusion of a world on the brink of a global nuclear tragedy run by mad leaders.
Funny how history is so circuituous.
11 January 2008 at 5:31 pm |
With the standard “I’m not an expert on so-and-so” disclaimer said, I will say that the imagery of his videos is firmly implanted in my head, and he’s got at least 5 songs entrenched in personal time/place memories. Since the depth of any artist’s impact is never more accurately measured than this “personal history” association, I’ve gotta go thumbs-up on P.G. in general (though I know just about nothing about his early albums).