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On May 19, 1986, Peter Gabriel released his fifth solo album, So. With the assistance of smash hit single Sledgehammer, it propelled the former Genesis singer to the international big time. And despite appearances, he hadn’t abandoned his prog roots to make the record, as Prog argued in 2013.
In 1986 Peter Gabriel released So, a record of high commercial values that chimed perfectly with its era. It appeared he had junked his progressive past and wrapped everything in a commercial sheen. It came in a Peter Saville-designed sleeve featuring an unambiguous portrait of Gabriel, and the album tapped into the nascent worldwide CD phenomenon. But on closer inspection, it’s still a progressive rock album at heart.
By not involving other musicians immediately Gabriel could, in theory, head down fewer cul-de-sacs, as had become the norm on previous outing Security – which had taken 18 months to record.
Co-producer Daniel Lanois was aware of Gabriel’s love of a distraction and attempted to keep him on track. So, of course, went to the wire with Gabriel’s customary reticence in providing final lyrics, much to the frustration of Lanois. In order to force the project’s completion, he’d actually nailed Gabriel inside his barn at his house to get the words written.
Within a year, the album was ready, bristling with top-drawer musicianship – Stewart Copeland, Youssou N’Dour and Nile Rodgers all took part – and a surfeit of ideas.
It was Sledgehammer, of course, that was to change the course of Gabriel’s career. It presented him as a child in a sweet shop, dabbling in all manner of sexual innuendo. Working with his first love, soul music – listen to early Genesis demos for glimpses of prog-soul – the song was a celebration of life that stunned the listener on first hearing.
Sledgehammer was issued shortly before it and put Gabriel squarely into the charts and hearts of millions. With its Brothers Quay/Aardman Animation video, Gabriel showed that, after all, he was a song and dance man. Here was the flower-headed pipecleaner of Willow Farm, vamping it up for the MTV generation.
The video was a viral sensation long before such things existed. The single reached the top spot in the US. Gabriel was delighted. The most affectionate homage to the music that originated from deep within America, here was almost the ultimate tribute. An introverted white boy from a privileged British background convincingly interpreting the music of the impoverished, segregated south of America. And somehow, it not only worked, but absolutely nailed it.
So, just funky enough, just obscure enough, just nostalgic enough, fitted perfectly with the CD generation. Gabriel began to attract a breed of listener that welcomed him as a ‘new artist’. This was liberating but would ultimately prove constraining. Although a super-slick short single had always been part of Gabriel’s oeuvre, how willing would this new audience be when he was experimenting?
In 2012 he said: “When I first heard So I was really pleased. It wasn’t as rich with texture and sonic experiment as my earlier albums, but it had a very strong spirit.
“It wasn’t like I was an obscure artist. I’d had hits with Shock The Monkey, Games Without Frontiers and Solsbury Hill, but after each of them I’d purposefully retreated partially back into the shadows.
“So was the end of the idea of me being a sort of cult artist at the fringes of the mainstream, especially in America. There wasn’t an option to go and hide in the shadows any more.”
There were no shadows left to hide in. Gabriel was in the full glare of the spotlight, and for the first time in his life, it shone really very brightly indeed. And he did it with So, largely a progressive rock album.
