WHATEVER MAY COME, AND WHATEVER MAY GO -- THAT RIVER'S FLOWING: Twenty-five years ago this week Peter Gabriel's So was released. It is an album I can picture as easily as I can see, yet it's the songs beyond the big hits -- and let's not forget, "In Your Eyes" didn't become an anthem until its use three years later in Say Anything -- that I'm drawn towards now. "Don't Give Up," "Mercy Street," and "That Voice Again" all stick with me more than the singles with the claymation.
I was thirteen at the time, so I had no context whatsoever for Gabriel before the videos -- and So served as the gateway drug. Soon enough came "San Jacinto" and "Solsbury Hill,"to "No Self Control" and wondering why the people in "Games Without Frontiers" were singing she's so popular, to "D.I.Y." and "Here Comes the Flood." I only saw him live once, when the Amnesty tour came to J.F.K. Stadium in 1988, and I remember being blown away by the lighting, by the sincerity and emotion, by all those fists for Stephen Biko.
I don't listen to Peter Gabriel much anymore, but this week's anniversary reminds me that there once was a high school Adam who loved those cassettes, and played them 'til they wore thin.
So was one of the few cassettes I actually wore out, I played them so much.
ReplyDeleteSuzanna Vega's Solitude Standing was another.
I absolutely love Solsbury Hill, Mercy Street and almost all of the songs you mentioned. The big one for me, though, is In Your Eyes, and here's why. When i had just finished school and started my career, some of my friends were sending around this chain email with all these get-to-know-your-friends questions, and one of them was What's your favourite song? I received a reply from the best friend of my boyfriend at the time, and his answer to that one was, "Always has been and always will be In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel." I listened carefully to the song the next chance I got, and realized that the love I saw between this guy and his wife was exactly what was being described. I also realized that that wasn't what I had with his best friend. It took about a year for me to break up with that guy, and about three weeks to start seeing someone else who almost right away made me feel the light, the heat. I married him eleven years ago and so far, so good.
ReplyDeleteAdam, that's a lovely essay. Really. We're exactly the same age, and I've had great joy in going back in time and discovering Gabriel's earlier work...all the solo work, all the Genesis work and so on.
ReplyDeleteSo does Peter Gabriel make the HOF as a solo act?
High five, D'Arcy. Through lovely tears.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the few people who like Us even more than So, but both are great. And as for more obscure Gabriel songs, I urge folks to listen to "Wallflower," a terrific and amazingly moving song about political prisoners.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm a little bit older than most people on this blog, so my experience with Gabriel is a little different. I was listening to a lot of Genesis in high school, and so I was following his solo career from the beginning, right after he left the band. For me, his third solo album is his best, all the way through -- not just "Games Without Frontiers," which got all the airplay, but also "I Don't Remember" and"Family Snapshot" (the Kennedy assassination as seen from the assassin's view) and "Not One Of Us" (a razor-sharp critique of classism, with one of my favorite lyrics: "There's safety in numbers / when you learn to divide / how can we be in / if there is no outside?").
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, "Biko," a great song that came out at a time when people in the U.S. were just starting to pay attention to what was going on in South Africa.
I've got nothing against "So." In fact, "Don't Give Up" was my go-to song during my many periods of depression, and "This is The Picture" introduced me to Laurie Anderson. But whenever I get a hankering to hear some Peter Gabriel when he's not dressing up as a daisy or singing about talking lawnmowers, "Peter Gabriel (3)" is the album I turn to.
By the time he got to "So," I was feeling that Gabriel was starting to get
<span>I think I'm a little bit older than most people on this blog, so my experience with Gabriel is a little different. I was listening to a lot of Genesis in high school, and so I was following his solo career from the beginning, right after he left the band. For me, his third solo album is his best, all the way through -- not just "Games Without Frontiers," which got all the airplay, but also "I Don't Remember" and"Family Snapshot" (the Kennedy assassination as seen from the assassin's view) and "Not One Of Us" (a razor-sharp critique of classism, with one of my favorite lyrics: "There's safety in numbers / when you learn to divide / how can we be in / if there is no outside?").
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, "Biko," a great song that came out at a time when people in the U.S. were just starting to pay attention to what was going on in South Africa.
I've got nothing against "So." In fact, "Don't Give Up" was my go-to song during my many periods of depression, and "This is The Picture" introduced me to Laurie Anderson. But whenever I get a hankering to hear some Peter Gabriel when he's not dressing up as a daisy or singing about talking lawnmowers, "Peter Gabriel (3)" is the album I turn to. </span>
Ooh, Family Snapshot is another favourite.
ReplyDeleteI used to listen to Peter Gabriel 1-4 constantly in the car in high school. The live album is also great. Listening to "And Through the Wire" just now brought back an instant memory of the neighborhood right around high school, something I haven't thought about in years. I really should pull these albums out.
ReplyDeleteI had "So" and had listened to Genesis and the radio-friendly Gabriel songs, and I was fine. And then I saw "The Chocolate War", which had a pretty great soundtrack for an '80s high school movie -- "I Have the Touch", "We Do What We're Told", plus Yaz, Kate Bush, and Joan Armatrading. Good movie too.
ReplyDeleteI also love PG, and Here Comes the Flood is one of my favorite songs. This live version is really great; better than any of the recorded ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9JS8dJ9fY
ReplyDeleteMy intro to Peter Gabriel was the video for Sledgehammer and I still want a star suit like he wears at the end. I listened to So over and over again as well and remember it's being the soundtrack to some really great times in my life. But Solesbury Hill is a song that feels like a warm blanket on a cold day, that feels like home, to me. If I could listen to only one song for the rest of my life, it would be that one.
ReplyDeleteI feel compelled to say that I did NOT put the apostrophe in its. Damn you, autocorrect, indeed.
ReplyDeleteA very similar experiece to mine with Gabriel. I knew a couple for the prior hits as DeBella's Morning Zoo (RIP Mark the Shark) played a lot of Gabriel as their 'patron saint.'
ReplyDeleteI ended up with all the albums prior to So on vinyl and worn them thin. Gabriel's activism and subjects broadened my horizons vastly. Gabriel's work introduced me to Kate Bush, which is great thing, too.
I saw a couple arena shows, and also that Amnesty show at JFK. (I think that was my one and only event there; I foolishly skipped the U2 tour that landed there with Bruce!)
I'm a couple years older than Adam B., so while my intro to Gabriel was also through MTV, it was "Shock the Monkey," which was in heavy rotation back in MTV's early days. And that, for me, was one of the most memorable songs of PG's set at the JFK Amnesty show (along with "Biko").
ReplyDeleteI have those strong Peter Gabriel/Chocolate War associations too.
ReplyDeleteI used to fall asleep listening to cassettes and So was a favorite - the only problem with it was the fact that "Big Time" came right after "Mercy Street." "Mercy Street" works so well as a lullaby and I'd juuuust be drifting off and then, bright and clear out of the speakers, the beginning of "Big Time" - a very chirpy Gabriel saying "Hi there!"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/Yg2FAUT6GY4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
ReplyDeleteOh, my. Long-haired Sting!
Thanks for posting- a seminal album/cassette for me also. "Don't Give Up" helped me through a dark place one time... I have not listened to it in toto for a while. Must do that soon.
ReplyDeleteMay I now express my anger at the janky radio edit I hear all-too-frequently which removes the line "I see the doorways of a thousand churches" from "In Your Eyes?" Has anyone else experienced this travesty, and is there anything out there offering any sort of logical reasoning?