Ione Skye

February 18th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Ione Skye

Peter Gabriel Tickets - Becoming a Pop Star through Sound and Vision

Musical heavyweight Peter Gabriel has always been an odd duck. It's hard to even call him a pop star, really, although 1986's So jumped to the top of the charts. He's always been too weird, too experimental and frankly a little too smart for most of the charting material of the time.

But it wasn't just Peter Gabriel's music that made him a pop star; it was his also visuals. Gabriel has actually always been a very visual artist ever since his days in Genesis, where his elaborate costumes and storytelling turned the band's concerts into a kind of performance art. Peter Gabriel's first few solo album covers were marked by stunning visuals, and sent a clear message that this was an artiste set to vinyl.

Was some of it pretentiousness? For sure. But a lot of it was also emotive, intelligent pop music that blended several sounds most people hadn't ever thought of putting together. Combine those sounds with, say, the burgeoning media of MTV fame, and you had an outlet for a very different kind of pop star.

Here is a list of some of the most critical visuals in the '80s that helped define Peter Gabriel as one of the most unique artists of that decade. The artist is on tour now, and you can find <a href="http://www.stubhub.com/peter-gabriel-tickets/">Peter Gabriel tickets</a> on StubHub.

The "Sledgehammer" video: Let's not beat around the bush. The music video for "Sledgehammer" was and still is one of the most creative of All Time. Featuring the work of a then-unknown British company, Aardman Animation, as well as the more obscure and experimental Brothers Quay, the video delivered a stunning shock to the senses. It was bright, cartoonish, blended Live Action with animation and happened to lend visuals to one of the catchiest songs to come out of the mid-'80s. Even years later, the dancing chickens earn giggles from viewers. It's a classic.

Lloyd Dobler and a boom box: Okay, granted, Gabriel isn't actually responsible for this one. But "In Your Eyes," one of Gabriel's hit songs off So, is forever remembered as the track Lloyd Dobler uses to express what he can't find the words for in …Say Anything. The Cameron Crowe teen drama may have some pretty dated references, but teens can still relate to Dobler's relentless optimism, and the image of a young John Cusack lifting a boom box over his head while wooing Ione Skye has become a pop culture icon.

Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ: Controversial as it may have been during its release, Last Temptation has held up as one of Scorsese's finest masterpieces. In it, he boils all his internal spiritual turmoil into one of the most epic and heroic stories ever told. But a large part of the success is transporting audiences back a couple thousand years, to a time very unlike our own. By bringing Peter Gabriel onboard to compose the soundtrack to this film, he helped set the atmosphere for this otherworldly, ancient story.

About the Author

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com and was written by Andrew Good. StubHub.com is a leader in the business of selling <a href="http://www.stubhub.com/peter-gabriel-tickets/">Peter Gabriel tickets</a>, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.