Peter Gabriel
The 50 Best Albums of 1982
Looking back at 1982 in music, the headline is obvious: Thriller Sells A Bajillion Copies, Becomes World’s Biggest Album. But is it the year’s best album? Funny enough, Michael Jackson‘s sixth LP hardly even affected the charts that year — it snuck out in late November, just as Men at Work’s 1981 blockbuster, Business as Usual, began its commercial stranglehold in the U.S. Only one record on our list, Fleetwood Mac‘s chart-targeted Tusk follow-up, Mirage, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (Doesn’t it seem weird, looking back, that Prince‘s 1999 peaked at No. 9?) Lots of fascinating shit was happening in 1982, and you didn’t always find it on the radio. On our list, we included everything from early hip-hop (Grandmaster Flash) to horror-punk (Misfits) to lo-fi synth-pop (Solid Space). Revisit...
Iggy Pop, Peter Gabriel Lead New Leonard Cohen Tribute Album
Iggy Pop, Peter Gabriel, James Taylor, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan and Mavis Staples are among the heavy hitters appearing on the new Leonard Cohen tribute album Here It Is, which will arrive Oct. 14 from Blue Note. The 12-track project was produced by longtime Cohen friend Larry Klein and is led by Taylor’s cover of “Coming Back to You,” originally found on Cohen’s 1984 album Various Positions. “Leonard Cohen had been a friend since 1982 or so, and in the last 15 years of his life, he became a close friend,” Klein says. “He was possibly the wisest and funniest friend that I had, and someone that I enjoyed, immensely, in every way. After he passed away, I found myself frequently covering his songs with other artists that I was working with. One reason, of course, is that the songs are so ...
Peter Gabriel Attends Final Genesis Show
Last night marked the last time Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks would take the stage together as Genesis. “Tonight is a very special night. It’s the last stop of our tour, and it’s the last show for Genesis,” Collins said during the set. “After tonight, we’ll all have to get real jobs.” While the concert was memorable for obvious reasons, there was also a special guest in attendance at London’s O2 Arena: Peter Gabriel. Collins announced to the crowd that the band’s former singer was in the audience. “Maybe he’s the one shouting for ‘Supper’s Ready’ — I don’t know!” he quipped. Genesis formed in 1967 and Gabriel announced his departure, to the shock of fans, in 1975. See footage from the final performance and check out the setlist below. [embedded content][embedded content] [em...
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Tom Morello
Name Tom Morello Best known for Star Trek fandom, competent Dungeons and Dragons play, and reinventing the electric guitar. Current city Los Angeles, CA Really want to be in Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL reliving past baseball glories. Excited about The Atlas Underground Fire! My current music collection has a lot of Legends. And a little bit of Upstarts. Don’t judge me for Not caring what you think about my musical taste, which includes Lady Gaga, Articles of Faith, and Ratt. Preferred format Streaming, so I can embarrass my kids with my musical taste on the Family Playlist. 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: 1 3Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel’s 3 is a spectacular album of ennui and desperation. “Games Without Frontiers” is the track that draws you in with its brilliant, disjointed poetry and equall...
The 40 Greatest Music Video Artists
Music videos are the perfect bastard child of art and commerce, even more than pop music itself. A promotional visual accompaniment to a popular song doesn’t need a coherent narrative (although on rare occasions, they do). It just needs to suit the song, sell the record, and possibly make the artist look cool. But since the launch of MTV 40 years ago this week, a select few recording artists have helped raise music videos to an art form — sometimes by accident, and sometimes by carefully curating the work of brilliant directors like Mark Romanek, Hype Williams, and Spike Jonze. Here are 40 artists from the last four decades that helped video kill the radio star. 40. Lil Kim [embedded content] Although earlier female MCs like Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah used music videos to help launch th...
The 100 Greatest Rock Stars Since That Was A Thing
Three of the 100 are in this picture! The Rolling Stones, in 1964, from left to right: Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones. The problem with lists like this is they are invariably bullshit. So our prime objective was to make sure we didn’t do a bullshit list. I’m not saying we did a scientific one either. Because that isn’t possible — actually, it is, if you wanted some compilation of who sold the most records/concert tickets/has the most fans/got the most death threats, etc., and someone could come up with a bunch of very empirical metrics and create a “heat index” or something, and could deliver an actual scientific ranking! But we, um, didn’t do that. In fact we didn’t even, technically, do the “we...
The 35 Best Albums of the Last 35 Years
Let’s face it: With most “Best Albums” lists, you know the broad strokes of the ranking before you even click. Part of that predictability is understandable: Most iconic records earn their reputation. But these rankings shouldn’t be fossilized, and a shit-ton of amazing LPs have been shoved aside in the pursuit of maintaining the status quo. We didn’t ignore the unimpeachable on our list — you’ll see plenty of the staples you’ve come to expect. But we also hope we’ll spark your curiosity and encourage you to hunt for a title you may have missed over the last 35 years. 35. Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love (1987) CREDIT: Columbia Records How does one follow up a rock album that recalibrates stadium sound systems and offers a stark look at hard times in America? With love songs, of course. ...
Peter Gabriel Teases Performance of ‘Biko’ With Angélique Kidjo and Yo-Yo Ma
As part of tomorrow’s (Dec. 1) Peace Through Music livestream concert, a number of musicians will be teaming up for a performance of rarities and dream collaborations. One of those is Peter Gabriel, who is enlisting Angélique Kidjo and Yo-Yo Ma for a performance of his 1980 song “Biko.” You can see a preview of that collaboration below. [embedded content] “The virtual music event will premiere exclusively on Facebook for 48 hours and then on Dec. 10 we’re doing another major launch for International Human Rights Day with the United Nations and that will be all across Playing For Change YouTube and the UN YouTube Channel. So December 1, Giving Tuesday, that’s a 48-hour window where it’ll premiere on Facebook and that’s an amazing opportunity for people to support charities around the w...
The 35 Greatest Concerts of the Last 35 Years
We know, we know — the best concert of all-time is your friend’s obscure indie-punk band playing a sweaty neighborhood basement back in ‘94. We admit that one slipped through the cracks. Maybe it’s a fool’s errand, but this list is our attempt to narrow down three and a half decades of worthy live music events — legendary festivals, headlining tours from major artists, one-off stage collaborations, multimedia spectacles — into an eclectic and satisfying blend. – Ryan Reed 35. Heilung at Castlefest (8/5/2017) CREDIT: Gonzales Photo/PYMCA/Avalon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Music-related viral clips tend to be silly and easily digestible, like the dude riding a skateboard to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” while sipping on Ocean Spray. So it’s heartening that Heilung’s debut l...
The 35 Best Videos of the Last 35 Years
SPIN launched in the peak MTV era, when an innovative — or even just salacious — music video could make or break an artist. Thirty five years later, YouTube is an obligatory part of any promotional push, but no one’s counting on a mind-blowing clip to sell a record. (The views do often matter — just not always the creativity.) A sizable chunk of the best videos came out during the ‘90s alternative bloom, when directors like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Hype Williams experimented with the style and substance of this malleable medium. But the format hasn’t died with MTV: artists like Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar and Miley Cyrus all made this list for a reason — and it wasn’t to meet a decade quota. Here are the top 35 from the last 35. Ready or not, here we go again. – Ryan Reed 3...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
