138: Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (III) (1980)

April 02, 2024 / Amanda Rodgers

“I thought I’d really found myself on that record, and then someone just squashes it. I went through some primordial rejection issues.”

—Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel is a favorite artist of many of us here at Discord & Rhyme, but we’ve saved him for our own 138th Episode Spectacular. Peter Gabriel III (aka Melt, so called because half of Gabriel’s face on the album cover looks like a melting candle) isn’t just John’s favorite Peter Gabriel album; it’s an album that made him reconsider (in a favorable light) the entirety of popular music in the 1980s and the concept of using the production studio to create entirely new sounds, and John leads a very enthusiastic discussion on an album that we love very much. Join John, Amanda, Rich, and Mike as we gush over an album that transformed solo Peter Gabriel into something greater than “the guy who used to sing for Genesis”; a dark noisy hellscape frontier of an album full of burglars, assassins, and not one cymbal anywhere.

Miscellany

The clip in the teaser comes from Kate Bush (along with Paddy Bush and Glenys Groves) introducing Peter Gabriel before a performance of “Here Comes the Flood” in the 1979 Kate Bush Christmas Special. We are including a link to this performance below, including the introduction.
The covers of “Not One of Us” and “Biko” from Stephin Merritt and Paul Simon came from a multi-stage project (alluded to in the episode but not described in detail) that Peter Gabriel pursued in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In 2009, Gabriel released an orchestral covers album called Scratch My Back, where he covered various songs from different artists in the hope that they would each reciprocate with a cover of one of his songs on a companion tribute album, And I’ll Scratch Yours. The tribute album came out in 2013, but the process to get there was somewhat embarrassing, especially when it came out that Gabriel didn’t receive an ironclad promise from all of the relevant artists to cover his songs before he released covers of their songs. This project came up and was explained in further detail during the first episode we did on 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields back in 2021 (and the cover of “Not One of Us” was clipped there as well).
Mike reminded us after the recording that Gabriel did “Biko” during his 2010/2011 shows with an orchestra, but did it as the first set closer rather than as a show closer. He also pointed out that the track had the desired effect of making him and his friends look up Stephen Biko on Wikipedia during intermission
If you don’t know the reason we refer to Peter Gabriel’s first two self-titled albums as Car and Scratch, just look up the album cover images and it will become instantly clear.
When John was 21 and first wrote about this album for his website, he referred to side one of this album as “The greatest psychological thrill ride in the history of mass art.” Early 20s John sure wrote some things.
John didn’t mention this in his personal history section, but “Red Rain” from So has been the calibration song he has used to verify proper stereo setup (after moves or getting new equipment) since college.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

John McFerrin (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Mike DeFabio

Peter Gabriel III tracklist

Intruder
No Self Control
Start
I Don’t Remember
Family Snapshot
And Through the Wire
Games Without Frontiers
Not One of Us
Lead a Normal Life
Biko

Other clips used

Peter Gabriel:

Growing Up
Red Rain
Steam
In Your Eyes
Mercy Street
Solsbury Hill
Moribund the Burgermeister
Exposure
The Barry Williams Show
Sledgehammer
Birdy’s Flight
Perspective
Biko (Live in Athens 1987)
Come Talk to Me
A Different Drum
Rhythm of the Heat
That Voice Again
Road to Joy (Dark-Side Mix)

Others:

Genesis - Dancing WIth the Moonlit Knight
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Polka Party!
Genesis - The Conqueror
Genesis - The Colony of Slippermen (Live from the Shrine Auditorium)
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Desafinado
Bernard Herrmann - Twisted Nerve
Paula Abdul - Straight Up
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
Oingo Boingo - Just Another Day
Def Leppard - Animal
Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
Heart - If Looks Could Kill
Genesis - Mama
Wendy Carlos - Brandenburg Concerto No.3: I. Allegro
King Crimson - Level Five
Stephin Merritt - Not One of Us
Genesis - Duchess
Genesis - That’s All
Supertramp - Asylum
Joni Mitchell - Trouble Child
Harold Budd and Brian Eno - First Light
XTC - Sacrificial Bonfire
Paul Simon - Biko
Genesis - In the Cage
Phil Collins - Hand in Hand
The Psychedelic Furs - Into You Like a Train
Genesis - Supper’s Ready

Band/album personnel

Peter Gabriel - vocals, piano; synthesizer on "Start", "I Don't Remember", "Games Without Frontiers" and "Not One of Us"; drum pattern on "Biko"; backing vocals on "Intruder", "Family Snapshot" and "Not One of Us"; whistle on "Games Without Frontiers"
Larry Fast - synthesizer on "Intruder", "No Self Control", "Start", "Games Without Frontiers" and "Biko"; processing on "No Self Control", "I Don't Remember" and "Not One of Us"; bagpipes on "Biko"
David Rhodes - guitar on all tracks except "Start"; backing vocals on "Intruder", "I Don't Remember" and "Not One of Us"
Robert Fripp - electric guitar on "No Self Control", "I Don't Remember" and "Not One of Us"
Dave Gregory - electric guitar on "I Don't Remember" and "Family Snapshot"
Paul Weller - electric guitar on "And Through the Wire"
John Giblin - bass guitar on "No Self Control", "Family Snapshot", "And Through the Wire", "Games Without Frontiers" and "Not One of Us"
Tony Levin - Chapman Stick on "I Don't Remember"
Jerry Marotta - drums on "I Don't Remember", "Family Snapshot", "Games Without Frontiers", "Not One of Us", "Lead a Normal Life" and "Biko"; percussion on "Games Without Frontiers" and "Not One of Us"
Phil Collins - drums on "Intruder", "No Self Control" and "And Through the Wire"; drum pattern on "Intruder"; snare on "Family Snapshot"; surdo on "Biko"
Morris Pert - percussion on "Intruder", "No Self Control" and "Lead a Normal Life"
Dick Morrissey - saxophone on "Start", "Family Snapshot", "No Self Control" and "Lead a Normal Life"
Kate Bush - backing vocals on "No Self Control" and "Games Without Frontiers"
Steve Lillywhite - whistles on "Games Without Frontiers"
Hugh Padgham - whistles on "Games Without Frontiers"
Dave Ferguson - screeches on "Biko"

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Peter Gabriel - No Self Control (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Peter Gabriel and other albums by Peter Gabriel at your local record store or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

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tags / John McFerrin