Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Peter Gabriel: A Retrospective (1969-2026)

Peter Gabriel

A Retrospective: 1969-2026

Overview

Born: Peter Brian Gabriel
When: February 13, 1950
Where: Chobham, Surrey, England

Worldwide Album Sales: 23.3 million *

* 11.3 million sales worldwide as a solo artist + 12 million sales worldwide of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis albums.

Peter Gabriel first rose to fame as the frontman of British progressive rock band Genesis from 1967-1975 before leaving for a successful solo career. For the first decade of his career, he released five solo albums which allowed him to be experimental but also explore his commercial side. The most significant of the latter was his blockbuster 1986 album So, which made him a superstar.

However, Gabriel retreated from the limelight. Although he was involved in other projects such as live albums, soundtrack work, projects with various artists, and producing world music, his post-So work consisted of a mere trio of proper solo albums over the next near-quarter century. Through it all, however, Gabriel has remained a respected and revered artist, known for experimentation and expansion of the boundaries of music.

Awards

Studio Albums with Genesis (1969-1974)

Links for below albums take you to the Genesis profile page.

Studio Albums as a Solo Artist

Soundtracks

Compilations

^RV Revisited (1976-78)
^ST Shaking the Tree (1977-1989)
^H Hit (1977-2003)
^NB New Blood (re-recordings, 2011)
^FJ Flotsam and Jetsam (box set: 1976-2016, released 2019)
^PG Rated PG (1984-2017, released 2019)

Live Albums

^PL Plays Live (1983)
^SW Secret World (1993)
^GU Growing Up (2003)

Spotify Playlist

Here’s my Title of Playlist playlist at Spotify for this artist.

Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

In the Beginning There Was Genesis (1965-72)

Genesis’ roots went back as far as 1965 when fifteen-year old Gabriel and friend Tony Banks were in a band called Garden Wall. They met fellow students Michael Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, who were in another group called Anon, while attending Charterhouse School in Goldalming, Surrey. “The two groups initially merged out of expediency as the older members of each graduated.” ^AM

The group recorded and released a couple singles in 1968 followed by their first album, From Genesis to Revelation, in 1969. Trespass followed in 1970, moving their sound a bit farther away from the “lyrical folk-based progressive pop.” ^AM There was some notable shifting in membership after this, including the departure of Phillips, who suffered from crippling stage fright, and the arrival of drummer Phil Collins, who would later replace Gabriel as the vocalist and lead Genesis to its greatest commercial heights.

Nursery Cryme was released in 1971. Gabriel was building his reputation as a theatrical performer through his “extensive use of masks, makeup, and props in concert.” ^AM “Word soon began to spread about Genesis being an act that was worth hearing and, even more so, worth seeing in concert.” ^AM The 1972 album Foxtrot showed the effects, lifting the band to its greatest commercial heights yet.

Critical Acclaim…and the Final Gabriel Years (1973-75)

“The group’s next release, Selling England by the Pound (1973), featured Gabriel’s strongest vocal performance” ^AM and gave Genesis its first top 10 album in the U.K. They were starting to expand beyond cult status in the U.S. as FM radio listeners and college students began to discover them.

Then came the ambitious concept album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, in 1974. It involved “a story outlined and written (along with most of the lyrics) exclusively by Gabriel. The singer had worked separately from the rest of the group for most of the composition, and a creative split developed between him and the others.” ^AM In addition, “the other members began to feel that his performance – and the costumes and costume changes that he required – began to seriously detract from the music.” ^AM “The breaking point came with the difficult pregnancy of Gabriel’s wife, Jill, and the subsequent birth of their first child, Anna. When he opted to stay with his sick daughter and wife, rather than record and tour, the resentment from the rest of the band led Gabriel to conclude that he had to leave the band.” ^WK “In May of 1975, Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis.” ^AM

The Solo Years (1976-1985)

Gabriel launched a solo career with his 1977 self-titled debut album (his first four albums, in fact, would bear only the title Peter Gabriel). His debut single, Solsbury Hill, “was written specifically about his departure from Genesis.” ^WK

“Gabriel worked with guitarist Fripp as producer of his second solo LP, in 1978. This album was leaner, darker and more experimental, and yielded decent reviews, but no major hits.” ^WK

“Gabriel developed a new interest in world music (especially percussion), and for bold production, which made extensive use of recording tricks and sound effects. Gabriel’s interest in music technology is considered by many people to be the spark of his success as it inspired his third album, which sported the hit Games Without Frontiers and the powerful Biko.

For his fourth album, Gabriel “took more production responsibility. It was one of the first commercial albums recorded entirely to digital tape.” ^WK “Gabriel combined a variety of sampled and deconstructed sounds with world-beat percussion and other unusual instrumentation to create a radically new, emotionally charged soundscape. Furthermore, the sleeve art consisted of inscrutable, video-based imagery. Despite the album’s peculiar sound, odd appearance, and often disturbing themes, it sold very well. This album featured his first Top 40 hit in the U.S.,Shock the Monkey.” ^WK A video “which featured Gabriel in white face paint and a caged macaque, held the #1 spot on MTV for 9 weeks. Geffen records forced Peter to give his fourth self-titled album a name in the US – Security – to mark his arrival on the label and to differentiate his fourth album from the other three.” ^WK

“Gabriel toured extensively for each of his albums. Initially, he pointedly eschewed the theatrics that had defined his tenure with Genesis. For his second solo tour, his entire band shaved their heads. By the time of Security he began involving elaborate stage props and acrobatics.” ^WK as well as “distorting his face with Fresnel lenses and mirrors, and wearing unusual make-up.” ^WK “Recordings of this tour were released as the double LP Plays Live.” ^WK

“The stage was set for Gabriel's critical and commercial breakout with his next studio release, which was in production for almost three years. During the recording and production of the album he also found time to develop the film soundtrack for Alan Parker’s 1984 feature Birdy, which consisted of new material as well as remixed instrumental tracks from his previous studio album.” ^WK

Peter Gabriel 1 (aka “Car”)

Peter Gabriel

Released: February 25, 1977

Peak: 38 US, 7 UK, 30 CN, 25 AU Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 0.50 US, 0.10 UK

Genre: rock

Rating:

3.627 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

Tracks:

Moribund the Burgermeister ^RV
Solsbury Hill (3/21/77, 68 BB, 81 CB, 80 HR, 2 CL, 3 CO, 13 UK, 92 CN, 45 AU, 1 DF) ^{PL, RV, ST, H, SW, GU, NB, FJ}
Modern Love (6/17/77, 21 CL, 30 CO) ^RV
Excuse Me
Humdrum (36 DF) ^{PL, RV}
Slowburn ^{RV, FJ}
Waiting for the Big One ^RV
Down the Dolce Vita
Here Comes the Flood (25 DF) ^{RV, ST, H, GU, FJ}

Total Running Time: 41:42

Also from This Era

Strawberry Fields Forever (from All This and World War II soundtrack, 11/5/76) ^FJ

About the Album:

After Peter Gabriel’s departure from Genesis in 1975, he moved to New York City where he started writing songs for his first solo album. He had demos in place by mid-1976 and recorded the album later that year. The album’s lead single, “Solsbury Hill,” has been viewed as Gabriel’s commentary about leaving Genesis and going through a spiritual journey.

Peter Gabriel 2 (aka “Scratch”)