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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

January 22, 2008


This week, the Tuesday Timeline date is January 22, and on January 22, a lot of things happened throughout history. Among them are the following...

565– Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus

1555– Ava Kingdom falls to Toungoo Dynasty of Burma

1863– The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Belarus, and Lithuania

1877– American clergyman Arthur Tooth is taken into custody after being prosecuted for ritualistic practices

1889– Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington D.C.

1890– The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio


1899– Leaders of six Australian colonies have a meeting to discuss confederation; the country would become an officially recognized nation two years later in 1901

1901– After the death of Queen Victoria, her son, Edward VII is proclaimed King

1905– Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg kicks off the start of the 1905 revolution

1906– SS Valencia runs aground on Vancouver Island, Canada, killing at least 130 people

1915– 600 people lose their lives after a train careens off a cliff in the vicinity of Guadlajara, Mexico

1917– President Woodrow Wilson calls for “peace without victory” in Europe during World War I

1927– The first live radio commentary of a football (soccer) match was given by Teddy Wakelem

1931– American singer Sam Cooke is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi

1934– American actor Bill Bixby is born in San Francisco, California

1941– British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during World War II in an attack known as “Operation Compass”

1944– During World War II, the Allied forces commence “Operation Shingle” in Anzio, Italy

1946–The Central Intelligence Group (the precursor to the American CIA) is established

1947– The first television station west of the Mississippi River (Hollywood, California's KTLA) begins operation

1957– George P. Metesky, otherwise known as the New York City Mad Bomber, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut

1959– A dozen miners lose their lives in the Knox Mining Disaster in Pittston City, Pennsylvania

1962– Cuba's membership to the Organization of American States is suspended

1963– Charles de Gaulle of France and Konrad Adenauer of Germany sign the Elyssee Treaty of Cooperation

1968– Apollo 5 lifts off, carrying the first Lunar module into space

1970– The Boeing 747 enters commercial service for Pan Am airlines; its maiden voyage between New York's JFK International Airport and London's Heathrow Airport

1971– The Singapore Declaration is issued

1973 – Roe v. Wade; The Supreme Court reaches the decision to legalize legal abortion in all fifty states

1984 – This commercial aired

1987– Politician R. Budd Dwyre commits suicide during a televised press conference in Pennsylvania

1990– Robert Tappan Morris Jr. is convicted of releasing the 1988 Internet Computer worm

1991– Three SCUD missiles and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, killing 96

1999– Australian born missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons are burned alive by a Hindu gang in Eastern India

2002– American retail chain Kmart files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

2012– Disgraced football coach Joe Paterno dies of lung cancer at the age of 85

So, as you can see, January 22 was quite the busy day historically. As far as celebrity birthdays go, quite a few were born today as well. So join me in wishing Elmer Lach, Piper Laurie, Graham Kerr, Seymour Cassel, Joseph Wambaugh, John Hurt, Serge Savard, Gilbert Levine, Mike Caldwell, Steve Perry, Leon Roberts, Ramon Aviles, Teddy Gentry (Alabama), Jim Jarmusch, Tully Blanchard, Chris Lemmon, Thomas David Jones, Steve Riley (Steppenwolf), John Wesley Shipp, Mike Bossy, Brian Dayett, Linda Blair, Daniel Johnston, Eric Schaeffer, Javier Ortiz, Jeff Treadway, Joe Dudek, Wayne Kirby, Steven Adler (Guns 'n' Roses), DJ Jazzy Jeff, Diane Lane, Olivia d'Abo, Keith Gordon, Gabriel Macht, Larry Birkhead, Balthazar Getty, James Murray, Jimmy Anderson, James Dearth, Matthew Newton, Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Willa Ford, Beverley Mitchell, Ben Moody (Evanescence), Jason Peters, Shaun Cody, Ben Eager, Orianthi Panagaris, Ray Rice, Asher Allen, and Greg Oden.

Okay, clearly January 22 is a date where star power seemed to gleam brightly. Who knew?

Sadly, for one up and coming rising star, January 22 was a day in which his star power...and his life...faded to black.





Five years ago, on January 22, 2008, we said farewell to an Australian bloke who wanted to be an actor more than anything. And just as he was reaching new heights with his career, it ended with the discovery of his body in a fourth-floor loft in Manhattan's SoHo District.





This is the tale of Heath Ledger, who died five years ago today at just twenty-eight years of age.


Heath Ledger was born in the city of Perth, Australia on April 4, 1979, the son of Kim and Sally Ledger. Heath attended school at Mary's Mount Primary School in Gooseberry Hill, and later ended up at Guildford Grammar School. It was at Guildford that Heath got bitten by the acting bug, taking on a role in the school production of Peter Pan when he was just ten years old.


TRIVIA:  Heath Ledger was also an accomplished chess player, winning Western Australia’s junior chess championship at the age of 10!


With the support of his parents (who divorced when Heath was eleven), and his older sister Kate (who later became Heath's publicist), Heath left school at the age of sixteen to pursue his acting career.  His first gig came in 1992, when Heath was just thirteen, when he played a small part in the Australian two-part miniseries “Clowning Around”.  Four years later, in 1996, he won the role of a gay cyclist in the television series “Sweat”.  In 1997, he scored a guest starring role on the Australian soap opera “Home and Away”, and later that year, he earned a role in “Blackrock”, which ended up being his feature film debut.





It wouldn’t be until 1999 that Ledger would be introduced to American audiences when he took on the role of Patrick Verona in the teen comedy film “10 Things I Hate About You”, which also starred Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, Gabrielle Union, and David Krumholtz.  

Ledger’s performance in the film was praised by critics, with Geoff Andrew describing him as “effortlessly charming”.  Believe it or not, Ledger was even nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Performance with this song!





You know, I have to admit, that scene was corny as heck...but I liked it.  It was a nice moment in a fairly decent film.


Little did Heath (or anyone else realize) that “10 Things I Hate About You” would be the stepping stone for better things to come.  From 2000-2005, Heath was cast in a slew of supporting roles in high-profile movies.  Do you remember any of these films?


-          Played Mel Gibson's son in the 2000 film "The Patriot", and played Billy Bob Thornton's son in 2001's "Monster's Ball".

-     Had the lead role in 2001's "A Knight's Tale.


-          Starred as Harry Faversham in the 2002 film “The Four Feathers”.



-          In 2003, Heath played two roles; Alex Bernier in “The Order”, and the title character in the film “Ned Kelly”.

As the years passed, Heath Ledger’s star began to rise, and by 2005, the supporting actor roles soon turned into lead actor roles.  2005 was an extremely busy year for Ledger, as he made four appearances in four different movies that year.  The first three were “Casanova”, “The Brothers Grimm”, and “Lords of Dogtown”.  The fourth film, however, would bring Heath much deserved praise, a little bit of controversy, and a huge change in his personal life.



The film was 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain”, and it was a controversial film at the time as it was a love story between two men.  Ledger played the role of Ennis Del Mar, a ranch hand from Wyoming who embarks on a love affair with rodeo rider Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhall).  The film was released on December 9, 2005, and ended up making almost $178 million worldwide.  The acting skills of both Gyllenhall and Ledger were praised by critics, and at the 2006 Academy Awards, the picture was nominated for eight Academy Awards.  Heath Ledger also received an Academy Award nomination, making him, at age 26, the ninth youngest Oscar nominee of all time.



TRIVIA:  You see the shirt that Heath is crying into in the above clip from “Brokeback Mountain”?  They reportedly sold on eBay for $101,100.51!  They are displayed at the Autry National Center.

“Brokeback Mountain” was also the film set where Heath Ledger fell in love with his co-star Michelle Williams.  Mind you, this wasn’t the first Hollywood starlet that he had developed feelings for.  He also had high-profile romances with Heather Graham and Naomi Watts prior to meeting the former “Dawson’s Creek” star.  In October 2005, Michelle Williams gave birth to their daughter, Matilda, and the two remained a couple until their split in 2007.

Heath’s star continued to rise after “Brokeback Mountain”.  He starred with Abbie Cornish in 2006’s “Candy”, and in 2007, he signed on to the film “I’m Not There”, where Ledger was one of six different actors who embodied the various parts of the life and times of Bob Dylan.


Later in 2007, Ledger would be cast in the film that ultimately became the second-last film that he would ever star in.  When the Batman franchise was rebooted in 2005 with Christian Bale playing the iconic role, the first film in the new series, “Batman Begins” was well-received.  It was so successful that a sequel was commissioned, set to be released in 2008, “The Dark Knight”.

And, Ledger was cast in the role of The Joker.  Just have a look at just a couple of his scenes below.



Is it any wonder that Heath Ledger would end up being nominated for a grand total of FORTY different awards, including the coveted Academy Award?  And, that of the forty awards that he was nominated for, he ended up winning thirty-five?  Just take a look at a partial list of awards that Heath Ledger ended up winning for his work in “The Dark Knight”!

 


-          Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actor

-          BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

-          MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

-          Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor

-          Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

-          People’s Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up (shared with Christian Bale)

-          Rembrandt Award for Best Foreign Actor

Oh, yeah...I should mention that Heath Ledger also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the 2009 Academy Awards ceremony, with his family accepting the award on his behalf.

The real tragedy of all those honours was that Heath himself wasn’t around to bask in all of the glory.  He wasn’t even able to see his performance on screen when “The Dark Knight” debuted in July 2008.  Because by now, we all know what happened on January 22, 2008.

Heath Ledger was found unconscious by his housekeeper and masseuse at around 2:45pm at his loft apartment located on Broome Street in New York City.  Emergency medical technicians arrived at the scene almost an hour later, and tried to revive the young actor, but it was too late.  At 3:36pm, Heath Ledger was declared dead.

It would take two weeks before a cause of death was revealed.  In February 2008, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York revealed that Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication.  Further tests revealed that there was a lethal mixture of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine.  A DEA investigation had cleared two physicians of any wrongdoing in Ledger’s death, with the discovery that they had prescribed medicines that weren’t found in Ledger’s body at the time of his death.

Why Ledger needed so many medications is not known, although he had been having trouble sleeping a year and a half prior to his death, according to his own admissions in interviews that he gave while doing promotion for his film projects.  A similar account was given by actor Christopher Plummer (who starred with Ledger in his final film appearance, 2009’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”), who claimed that Ledger was growing frustrated over his insomnia, as well as a suspected respiratory illness that he had contracted in the month before his death.

Strangely enough, many theories were speculated in the wake of Ledger’s death, including the bizarre claim that former “Full House” star Mary-Kate Olsen was connected to his death in some manner.  But by August 2008, Ledger’s death was officially declared as accidental, and the case was closed.

It’s hard to predict where Ledger would be today in 2013 had he lived.  Today, he would have been thirty-three years old, and with several accolades to his name, I could see him taking whatever acting roles he wanted.  Before he died, he had also taken an interest in directing, and I probably could have seen him directing a couple of film projects by now.  Unfortunately, the real tragedy in all of this is that we’ll never know how far Heath could have gone.  He truly was a star that shone brighter than most others...and sadly, it also burned out way before it should have.

And, that was our look back on January 22, 2008.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Casablanca...Behind The Scenes


I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m kind of disenchanted with the movie industry as of late.  In fact, the last time that I went to a movie theatre to watch a film was all the way back in the summer of 2010...and it was a movie marketed for children at that!

It’s not that I don’t like going to the movie theatre.  I’ll admit that I do like the experience of going to the movie theatre and watching a film in a giant theatre with a huge screen.  I may have to take out a bank loan just to afford the movie theatre concessions, but I do enjoy the experience.

It’s just a shame that movies these days don’t seem to interest me.

In the last couple of years, we’ve seen sequels, prequels, re-makes, movies inspired by vampire books, movies inspired by board games, and movies that appear to be nothing more than two hour commercials.  It’s a really bleak time for the movie industry, and I’m sorry to say that the movie theatres aren’t getting my money simply because I’m not that thrilled by the current selection of films out there.

Now, if my movie theatre showed films that were released in 1989 and earlier, then maybe I would shell out the dough for the overpriced popcorn and Junior Mints, and enjoy the picture.  I’ve always preferred older movies, and would rather watch a movie from 1973 instead of 2013. 

I think a part of the love that I have for vintage films came from the film studies class that I took when I was in school.  Mind you, I took the class from 2000-2001, but the most recent film in that class that we watched was from 1997 or 1998...and it was a foreign film at that.  The majority of the movies we watched in my film studies class were released between 1930 and 1980, and that suited me just fine.

There’s just something magical about vintage Hollywood productions that I have always found wonderful.  From “The Wizard of Oz” to “Citizen Kane”, from “On The Waterfront” to “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, I would rather watch a marathon of those films instead of watching all of the various “Saw” movies.

But, I’ve always have had a love affair with retro pop culture.

So, why am I telling you this?  Simple.  Today’s Monday Matinee will be focusing on a film that has been critically acclaimed as one of the best films of the 1940s.  It’s music score is memorable, the film lines are quotable, and with huge names like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman starring in the film, it definitely has the star power of Hollywood’s finest.


Of course, I am talking about the 1942 classic movie “Casablanca”, a film directed by Michael Curtiz, and was based on a unpublished play “Everybody Comes To Rick’s”, written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.


When “Casablanca” was filmed, it was filmed on a $964,000 budget, and featured A-list actors, and the best writers that were employable at the time.  Despite this, nobody believed that it would become a huge hit when it had its world premiere on November 26, 1942 in New York City.  Two months later, “Casablanca” was released nationwide, and became a runaway hit.  Now, part of that could have been the timing that the film was released.  After all, it came out smack dab in the middle of World War II, and debuted just shortly after the Allied invasion of Africa in 1942.


The film’s main plot was also set during World War II, where the main character of Rick Blaine (Bogart) is put into a rather precarious position.  He is forced to make a difficult choice...does he choose the love of a woman named Ilsa Lund (Bergman), with whom he shared a previous relationship with?  Or does he put those feelings aside to help Ilsa’s husband escape Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.

And, guess what?   Because I love this movie so much, I want all of you to go and watch the movie yourselves.  And because I want you to watch this movie, that’s all the plot information that I will be doling out!  No spoilers for you this week!

So, to make up for it, I thought that it would be fun if we did an entire feature on the behind the scenes trivia and secrets associated with “Casablanca”.  There may be some minor spoilers that pop up every now and again, but none will spoil the ending.  This much I promise you.

So, let’s begin with the behind the scenes trivia, shall we?

01 – You might not have realized this, but “Casablanca” was the very first film in which Humphrey Bogart had a romantic lead role.

02 – You know the iconic song that was associated with “Casablanca”?  The title of it was “As Time Goes By”.  Here...why not have a listen to it below?


Well, after shooting wrapped up, there were second thoughts about using it as the theme song for Rick and Ilsa.  Composer Max Steiner in particular wanted to use an original song to qualify for royalties.  But by then, it was too late, as Ingrid Bergman had already signed on to film the movie “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, in which her hair was cut super short!

03 – Hedy Lamarr was briefly considered for the role of Ilsa by producer Hal B. Wallis, but MGM refused to let Lamarr out of her contract.  Besides, at the time she was asked, the screenplay for “Casablanca” was still unfinished, and she didn’t want to make a commitment to a project with an unfinished script.


04 – There’s quite a few bits of interesting trivia regarding the iconic character of Sam (Dooley Wilson).  Did you know that the producers considered casting a female in the part of Sam instead of a man?  The people that they considered bringing onto the project?  Ella Fitzgerald, Hazel Scott, and Lena Horne!


05 – Another interesting fact about Dooley Wilson was that he was not able to play the piano!  As a result, Dooley pretended to play the piano along with the recording of the piano music which was actually played by Elliot Carpenter.  Dooley memorized and mimicked Carpenter’s hand positions almost perfectly.


06 – Paul Henreid (who played Victor Lazlo) was loaned to Warner Brothers by Selznick International Pictures.  Unfortunately, the decision was not one that Henreid would have made if it was up to him.  He was worried that appearing as a secondary character in a film would jeopardize his career as a romantic lead.

07 – Henreid also had less than flattering words to say about the two leads of the movie, stating that Bogart was a mediocre actor, while Bergman shot back that Henreid was nothing more than a “prima donna”.  Ouch.

08 – Only three of the sixteen actors that were cast in “Casablanca” were born in the United States.

09 – The film ended up winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

10 – The movie had a record six movie quotes appear on the American Film Institute’s special “100 Years...100 Movie Quotes”.  Among them...

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”

“Play it, Sam.  Play ‘As Time Goes By’.”

“We’ll always have Paris.”

“Louis...I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

11 – There was one memorable moment behind the scenes that involved director Michael Curtiz.  He had asked a prop man to create a puddle of water on the stage.  Unfortunately, the prop man couldn’t quite understand Curtiz’s Hungarian accent, and came back to the set with a poodle!

12 – Although the film contained several scenes at an airport, due to the film being shot during World War II, the airports were blocked from filming after the sun went down.  As a result, a makeshift soundstage was constructed with a cardboard cutout of an airplane with forced perspective.  Little people were hired specifically for the scene to give the illusion that a full-sized crew were working on the airplane.

13 – When the crew were able to film at an airport, the airport that they chose was Metropolitan Airport (later renamed Van Nuys Airport).

14 – The actors who were playing Nazis were in reality German Jews who had escaped from Nazi Germany.

15 – When Julius and Philip Epstein won the Academy Award for their script, they became the first set of twins to win an Oscar!


16 – The chemistry between Bogart and Bergman was undeniably present.  They certainly did share a spark.  Unfortunately, this also caused Bogart’s then wife Mayo Methot to suspect that Bergman and Bogart were having an affair!  This, of course, was false, but Bergman and Bogart rarely spoke after filming wrapped up.

17 – Ingrid Bergman was actually taller than Bogart.  To help camouflage this, Curtiz tried to have Bogart standing on boxes, or had Bergman slouch down.  Therefore, you may notice that there are height inconsistencies between the two actors throughout the movie.

18 – Only one cast member had visited the city of Casablanca at the time the film was being made...Dooley Wilson.

19 – Believe it or not, despite the big screen stars Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet appearing in the film, a minor character played by S.Z. Sakall had more screen time than either of them!

20 – The letters of transit heavily featured in the movie didn’t actually exist in Vichy-controlled France at the time.  It was purely a device planted by the screenwriters to advance the plot.

21 – When Casablanca won Best Picture, it left a bad taste in Hal B. Wallis’ mouth when Jack L. Warner beat him to the stage to accept it instead.  Wallis never forgave Warner, and he left Warner Brothers shortly after.

22 – Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid don’t make their first appearance in the film until the twenty-four minute mark.

23 – Ingrid Bergman watched “The Maltese Falcon” dozens of times to help her prepare for working alongside Bogart.

24 – The Writers Guild of America named Casablanca’s screenplay the best of all time in 2006.

25 – There was a $100,000 life insurance policy taken out on Bogart in case he died during the production of the film.




26 - Casablanca was colourized and aired on TBS back in the 1980s, but the response to it was overwhelmingly negative.

27 – On December 14, 2012, the piano that Sam “played” in Casablanca sold at auction for $600,000!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Shock MTV - The Videos of Peter Gabriel


I’ll be the first one to admit that when it comes to finding inspiration for this blog, I rely on YouTube an awful lot.  Aside from using some of the VEVO videos that are included within YouTube to supplement a lot of my blog topics, I use it for research purposes as well.  There are times in which I’ll be inspired to choose a topic based on a video that I have recently watched.  There are also the occasional instances in which I choose a topic that I vaguely remember, but need a serious refresher course in because it has been years since I watched it/played with it/listened to it.  In that case, YouTube becomes a very essential research tool for me.

And, mostly, I use YouTube to get my fix for music videos.  These days, it seems to be one of the few sources left to view music videos as television stations that once catered to the music video loving crowd no longer play them.  Let’s face it, MTV has been a reality show wasteland since the turn of the new century, and VH1 isn’t much better.  Even the Canadian MuchMusic has seemingly dropped the music from the station, simply going by Much.  I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t really feel like watching a network that has reruns of Degrassi, marathons of Silent Library, and a special look back on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

But, I suppose times change.

During the heyday of the music video channel (also known as the 1980s), music videos were the quintessential way to promote your singles in hopes that they would make it to the top of the charts.  And some artists achieved this goal better than others.

You remember all of those Top 10 singles that the late Michael Jackson had during his career?  Many of them got that way from the creative and innovative music videos that he shot during the peak of his career.  Some of the more creative videos that I can recall are “Billie Jean”, “Thriller”, “Bad”, “Leave Me Alone”, “ Black or White”, and “Scream”.

Madonna is also an artist who has been using the music video to her advantage.  Ever since 1984’s “Like A Virgin”, she has consistently been releasing video masterpieces.  From “Like A Prayer” to “Express Yourself” to “Vogue” to “Bedtime Story” to “Ray of Light”, she’s definitely earned her way to the queen of the video.

I’d say that British New Wave band Duran Duran has also made some killer music videos.  If you don’t believe me, give “Rio”, “The Wild Boys”, “The Reflex”, and “Come Undone” a second glance.

Even some current artists have had some gems in the music video industry.  Katy Perry has made some fantastic, eye-popping music videos as have Lady Gaga and La Roux.

There are several artists that are worthy of my pick for the most creative and innovative music videos ever made.  The examples that I posted above were on my shortlist.  Still, there can only be one winner.

The winner of the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life Award for Most Creative and Innovative Music Videos, and the subject of this blog is...


PETER GABRIEL!!!

...though, given that I gave the answer away in the title of this blog, it is fairly anti-climactic.

Though I still stand by my decision.

It seems hard to believe, but this upcoming February 13, Peter Gabriel will be turning 63 years old!  I know!  Shocking, isn’t it?  Peter Gabriel is only four years younger than my own father!  I didn’t even think he was that old.  I would’ve guessed his age as fifty-seven, tops. 


But when you consider that his music career began when he helped create the rock band “Genesis” over four and a half decades ago, I suppose his age does make sense.  Gabriel, along with Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, and Chris Stewart founded Genesis in 1967, and the band released their debut album two years later in 1969.  By 1970, original members Phillips and Stewart had left, and after a revolving door of band members were permanently replaced by Steve Hackett and Phil Collins.

The band Genesis worked well together between 1970 and 1975, but failed to really crack the charts anywhere in the world.  Prior to the mid-1970s, Genesis’ only hit was the 1974 single “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”, and that song only peaked at #21 on the UK charts.  But despite their lack of chart success, the band did attract its own group of fans.  At the time, Peter Gabriel sang lead vocals for the band, and his singing during the band’s earliest gigs were a source of frustration for the audience.  Due to some faulty PA equipment at the concerts, the audience couldn’t really understand what Gabriel was singing.  Hence came the need for Gabriel to stand out in other ways...


...such as wearing costumes and outfits that made him stand out. 

So, as you can see, before the age of the music video, Peter Gabriel felt a need to stand out among a crowd and carve out his own unique identity.  I think that’s probably one reason why I admire him so much as an artist.  He has the guts and the personality to charm people with his lavish stage performances and has probably one of the most creative minds that have existed in the world of music.  What can I say, creative minds have to stick together, right?

Unfortunately, Gabriel’s larger than life personality as well as his stage presence was one of the factors behind Peter’s decision to walk away from Genesis in the mid-1970s.  Though all the members of Genesis mutually agree that Gabriel walked away from the band on good terms, there was tension that was present around the time he left Genesis.  Perhaps the one thing that helped Gabriel make the final decision to walk away from the band was the fact that at the time his wife was having a difficult pregnancy with their first child, and rather than tour with the band, he opted to stay with his wife and daughter, causing resentment between Gabriel and the remaining members of Genesis.


So, Gabriel officially left Genesis in 1975, Phil Collins stepped into the spotlight as the new lead singer of the group in 1976, and in 1977, Gabriel’s solo career began with the release of the single “Solsbury Hill”, a song that reflected his feelings upon leaving Genesis.


In the end, everything worked out for Genesis.  With Collins fronting the band, Genesis ended up charting hit after hit, having several Top 10 singles between 1984 and 1992, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.


And Peter Gabriel’s solo career was a huge success as well, largely due to the innovative and beautifully crafted music videos that accompanied his songs.  Part of the appeal of Peter Gabriel’s music videos are the fact that he utilized dozens of filming styles and a variety of animation techniques that made them stand out.  But, there’s also a lot of symbolism and hidden messages included in each video that are like little Easter eggs, waiting to be found.

(And, thanks to shows like Pop-Up Video, we now know some of the secrets.)

But, if I only had five videos to choose from...which ones would I classify as Peter Gabriel’s best?

It was a tough task.  After all, Peter Gabriel has released twenty-seven music videos during his entire career thus far.  And those videos have helped Peter Gabriel win six Grammy Awards and a whopping 13 MTV Video Music Awards (nine of which were awarded in the same year)!  So, to choose just five was nearly impossible.

At any rate, here’s my list.  Do you agree?  Let me know!


05.  SHOCK THE MONKEY
ALBUM:  Security
DATE RELEASED:  September 25, 1982

This particular song was the first song to reach Top 40 status in the United States, peaking at #29 (in the UK, it did worse at #58).  And it was also one of the first music videos that really featured the creative mind of Peter Gabriel at work.  The video seems to cross a divide between normal life and a warped life.  Regular Peter is decked out in a black business suit slaving away in an office, while Warped Peter is in a white world complete with scary white face paint.  Many people have the belief that the song promotes animal rights (which given the frequent images of poor monkeys undergoing animal testing isn’t a bad guess).  But Peter himself later admitted that the song is about the subject of jealousy, and that the monkey acts as a metaphor.  Now that I look at the video again, considering that the end of the video features a hallway that looks like a science lab or a psychiatric ward, I suppose it fits.  After all, I have heard that jealousy can make people act irrationally.



04 – STEAM
ALBUM:  Us
DATE RELEASED:  January 16, 1993

Now, I will say this.  Although there are three other music videos that I like better than this one, I will state that “Steam” is this blogger’s all-time favourite Peter Gabriel song.  Heard it for the first time when I was twelve years old, and I loved the beat and the accompanying video.  Of course, it wasn’t until I watched Pop-Up Video that I realized that there is some rather...adult imagery hidden in the video itself in the form of phallic symbols and sexual puns.  Just look at the scenes that involve Peter and his girl walking through the jungle, Peter’s face appearing in the steam locomotive, the skeleton holding a pair of guns, and the symbols that appear behind Peter’s stretchy dance after the “aging Peter scene”.  You’ll get what I mean.

TRIVIA:  On that note, the man who appears after Peter in the aging Peter scene is Peter's father Ralph.  He recently passed away in November 2012 at the age of 100!

At any rate, “Steam” was a video that really utilized computer generated imagery, and it is probably one of the most vibrant and colourful videos that Peter Gabriel has ever filmed.  Symbolism aside, the song is described as being about a posh, sophisticated woman who is in a relationship with a man who knows nothing about anything except that he doesn’t know about the woman, and she doesn’t even know much about herself.

I should note that above paragraph was the way that Peter Gabriel himself described the song.  Great, even when he tries to make things clearer, he’s cryptic.  Damn him!  J


03.  BIG TIME
ALBUM:  So
DATE RELEASED:  July 1986 (US), March 28, 1987 (Worldwide)

This video is kind of all over the place with animation, bright colours, and garish imagery.  And, in a way, it’s highly symbolic of the theme of the decade.  Ironically enough, this video was released the same year that a stock market crash happened, but the mood of the 1980s was all about trying to make it big, and live in excess.  Why else was the 1980s the heyday of “Dynasty”, “Falcon Crest”, and “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous”?  The song “Big Time” was the perfect soundtrack to the big egos and the Wall Street gurus that were celebrated during the 1980s.  After all, as Gordon Gekko stated in the 1987 film “Wall Street”, greed was good in that time period.

This song happens to have a guest appearance by a member of a prominent band.  With The Police broken up and Sting pursuing a solo career by 1987, Stewart Copeland was available to play the drums on this classic hit, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard Charts in the spring of 1987.

As far as how I would best describe this video...well...think what would happen if you took the set of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and looked at it through beer goggles.  Yeah, that sounds great.  Again, the video is big and bold, which set the tone for the big and bold 1980s.  A job well done, as far as I’m concerned.


02 – DIGGING IN THE DIRT
ALBUM:  Us
DATE RELEASED:  September 19, 1992

The end of a marriage is never easy to deal with.  Shortly after the success of Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album “So”, his marriage to his first wife broke apart in 1987.  It would take a few years before Peter Gabriel would release a new studio album (barring the release of his greatest hits compliation “Shaking The Tree” in 1990).  When “Us” was released in 1992, it ended up being one of his most personal albums to date.  The songs dealt with the strained relationship between himself and his eldest daughter, the relationship that he shared with his then-girlfriend Rosanna Arquette (whose relationship ended just before the album was recorded), and the break-up of his first marriage.  The marriage break-up inspired the song “Digging in the Dirt”, released September 1992.

And, what a masterpiece of a video it is at that.  It’s also got some rather disturbing imagery within it, so I wouldn’t recommend that small kids watch it, as it can probably induce nightmares.  The scenes with the bees still creeps me out to this day.

I mean, let’s face it...being buried alive, consumed by foliage, and seeing snails and larvae crawling over top of Peter’s body was grotesque and stomach-churning.  But the ending provides a little bit of hope as Peter comes back to be reborn.  And, really, the symbolism seems to fit with what was happening with Peter’s life at the time.  Sure, he was hurting over the loss of two relationships in five years.  And, yes, he may have been a little bit angry and felt like he was being swallowed in despair.  I think when Peter was filming this video, he was getting out a lot of his frustrations, and he needed to do that to move ahead.  Since this video was aired, he remarried, and had two more sons, and he seems to be happier than ever.


01 – SLEDGEHAMMER
ALBUM:  So
DATE RELEASED:  April 25, 1986



You knew it was coming.  This video not only helped catapult “Sledgehammer” to the top of the charts (giving Gabriel his only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100), but it was the video that helped Peter Gabriel win a record NINE MTV Video Music Awards in 1987.  And, why wouldn’t it?  Of all the Peter Gabriel videos, this one is the most memorable one in terms of imagery, as the video uses two different forms of animation...stop-motion and Claymation.

I mean, where else can you find a video of bumper cars crashing into Peter’s cheeks, a giant hammer breaking apart an ice mould of Peter’s cranium, and dancing headless chickens?


(Seriously, the chickens made the video.  They were the true stars.)

This video seems to have been a bit of an inspiration for Peter’s “Steam” video, released seven years later.  Both videos start off almost the same way, and whereas the imagery of Steam is filled with sexual references, the lyrics of Sledgehammer are sexual in nature.

IRONIC TRIVIA:  When “Sledgehammer” topped the charts in July 1986, guess what song it dethroned?  Genesis’ “Invisible Touch”!

MORE TRIVIA:  You’ll notice that in the scene where the choir starts singing behind Peter, you’ll quickly see two young girls appear in the scene.  Those two girls are Peter’s eldest children, Anna-Marie and Melanie.

And, those are just five of the many music videos that Peter Gabriel made that helped cement his status as a true superstar of MTV.  What are some of your favourites?  Let me know below!