"On the Air" | |
---|---|
Song by Peter Gabriel | |
from the album Peter Gabriel | |
Released | 1978 |
Length | 5:30 |
Label | Charisma |
Songwriter(s) | Peter Gabriel |
Producer(s) | Robert Fripp |
"D.I.Y." is a song written and recorded by English musician Peter Gabriel. The song first premiered on Gabriel's first solo tour in 1977 and was later included as the opening track on his 1978 self-titled solo album. For the album's accompanying tour, the song served as the set opener. [1]
Gabriel wrote "On the Air" about a fictional character named Mozo, a derelict alienated by the world around him who attempts to attain fame through the medium of shortwave radio by concocting an alter-ego that closely aligns with his aspirations. [2] [3]
There is a story here concerning this character Mozo who is mentioned. At this point, he's an outsider and he lives in a hollow in a dump on the outside of an anonymous town and he lives out his fantasies on the radio. Through shortwave he becomes whoever he wants, but on the street, he's totally ignored. [2]
Gabriel attributed some of the inspiration of Mozo to a childhood memory of a dilapidated caravan in Horsell Common that he used to think was occupied by a witch. [4] In July 1978, Gabriel considered the idea of expanding the story of Mozo with Radúz Činčera and had been working with Stuart Kranz in 1979 to develop ideas for the story. [2] [3] By 1987, Gabriel had considered the idea of transforming the Mozo story into a movie, but none of these projects ever came to fruition. Gabriel's idea of scattering songs surrounding the character of Mozo across his studio albums was pursued through his 1986 album So , specifically with "Red Rain" and "That Voice Again". [5] He intended for these songs to exist as part of an overarching story surrounding Mozo, with "On the Air" representing the fantasy world that Mozo occupies. Another song on Gabriel's 1978 eponymous album, "Exposure", was also included within the Mozo story, although "On the Air" was the first and only time the character was explicitly mentioned in the lyrics. [2] [5]
Gabriel debuted "On the Air" during his first tour in the United States prior to the release of his second eponymous album as the second song of the set. [6] It then appeared during the European leg of the tour later in the set. The synthesiser parts for these performances were played by Bayete. [7]
During Gabriel's tour promoting his 1978 eponymous release, he and his band members navigated through the aisles donning fluorescent orange construction vests and searchlights that they shone into the crowd as Larry Fast's "Disruption in World Communication" instrumental played through the loudspeakers. [8] [9] Upon reaching the stage, the band turned their backs to their audience before playing the first chords of "On the Air." [1] Fast, who played synthesisers on this tour, developed some of the sequencing at home on his Apple computer and transferred the data onto cassettes and ROMS. He constructed a case for his single-board machine, which he used to access the coded information. [10]
Along with "D.I.Y.", Stephen Thomas Erlewine described "On the Air" as "stunning slices of modern rock circa 1978, bubbling with synths, insistent rhythms, and polished processed guitars, all enclosed in a streamlined production that nevertheless sounds as large as a stadium." [11] The Chicago Sun-Times also identified these songs as the only two highlights on the album. [12] Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone was complimentary of "On the Air", labeling it as a "good rock number". [13] Ultimate Classic Rock placed particular attention on Fripp's production choices, specifically the delay applied to Gabriel's vocals. [14] The Rolling Stone Album Guide thought that the song's "Who-style pomp" demonstrated Gabriel's reluctance at the time to shed his progressive rock inclinations. [15]
Robert Fripp is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session musician and collaborator, notably with David Bowie, Blondie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall, the Roches, Talking Heads, and David Sylvian. He also composed the startup sound of Windows Vista operating system, in collaboration with Tucker Martine and Steve Ball. His discography includes contributions to more than 700 official releases.
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Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, songwriter and human rights activist. He was the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving the band in 1975, he launched a solo career with "Solsbury Hill" as his first single. His fifth studio album, So (1986), is his best-selling release and is certified triple platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the US. The album's most successful single, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and, according to a report in 2011, it was MTV's most played music video of all time.
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Selling England by the Pound is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Genesis, released on 5 October 1973 on Charisma Records. It reached No. 3 in the United Kingdom and No. 70 in the United States. A single from the album, "I Know What I Like ", was released in February 1974 and became the band's first top 30 hit in the UK.
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Peter Gabriel is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter and producer Peter Gabriel, released on 25 February 1977 by Charisma Records. After his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis was made public in 1975, Gabriel took a break to concentrate on his family life. In 1976, he began writing material for a solo album and met producer Bob Ezrin, who agreed to produce it. Gabriel hired several additional musicians to play on the album, including guitarist Robert Fripp and bassist Tony Levin. The album was later known as Peter Gabriel I or Car, referring to the album's artwork produced by Hipgnosis. Some music streaming services, including Gabriel's own Bandcamp page, refer to it as Peter Gabriel 1: Car.
Peter Gabriel is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 2 June 1978 by Charisma Records. Gabriel started recording the album in November 1977, the same month that he had completed touring in support of his debut solo release. He employed former King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, who was part of Gabriel's early touring band, to produce the album and incorporated his use of Frippertronics effects on the co-written "Exposure".
Peter Gabriel is the third solo studio album by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released on 30 May 1980 by Charisma Records. The album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, has been acclaimed as Gabriel's artistic breakthrough as a solo artist. AllMusic wrote that it established him as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians".
"Solsbury Hill" is the debut solo single by English rock musician Peter Gabriel. He wrote the song about a spiritual experience atop Solsbury Hill in Somerset, England, after his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis, of which he had been the lead vocalist since its inception. The single was a Top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 13, and reached number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977.
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"The Carpet Crawlers" is a song by the English progressive rock band Genesis, recorded for their sixth studio album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks wrote most of the music, with the help of Peter Gabriel. Lyrically, the song tells the section of the album's story whereby Rael, the lead character, finds himself in a red carpeted corridor surrounded by kneeling people slowly crawling towards a wooden door. Rael dashes by them towards the door and goes through it. Behind the door is a table with a candlelit feast on it, and behind that, a spiral staircase that leads upwards out of sight.
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"D.I.Y." is a song written and recorded by English musician Peter Gabriel. It was included on his 1978 self-titled solo album and was released as a single in May with "Perspective" as a B-side, although it failed to chart.
"I Don't Remember" is a song written and recorded by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released as the fourth and final single from his third eponymous studio album in 1980. Although originally only released as an A-side single in the United States and Canada, a live version released with the album Plays Live (1983) reached No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 75 in Britain for 4 weeks. The song was included in Gabriel's compilation album Shaking the Tree (1990) and two different versions were included in Flotsam and Jetsam (2019).
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