Peter Gabriel - Shock The Monkey | REACTION! | This Is Crazy

[@SalvoG]

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[@DonMachado]

If you think the video for Shock the Monkey is trippy, you have to watch Sledgehammer.l

[@davej.4989]

Games without Frontiers is another brilliant track by him

[@Johonnac]

LOVE THAT SONG ❤

[@dunringill1747]

Background guest singer Kate Bush

[@PhillyGirl64]

That's my favorite song.

[@garyking6519]

Yes!

[@crazyfingers19]

Peter Gabriel’s videos showed were the gold standard of the MTV early years Amazing. All of them.

[@rk41gator]

Is it a coincidence that he and Phil had the best videos......much like their music? Authentic and high quality all around.

[@SPGhettus]

"Sledgehammer" is the video with the train-around-the-head thumbnail, and YES, you should hear it.

[@walterwhitejr.445]

Having a monkey on your back means being burdened by an overpowering obligation or addiction - hard to shake off. To shock the monkey is to get it off in one abrupt move - and in that light, I think you'll find the video more understandable. And Peter Gabriel's vocal dynamics are always amazing.

[@LurkyHedgehog]

Been hearing this song for 42 years and never had any idea what he was talking about. Thank you, Walt Jr. Enjoy your breakfast.

[@Eowyn187]

Exactly!! Well said.

[@tonys2899]

In the 80s, lip sink contests were popular. Me and a friend did this song. He sang first, dressed as a scientist while i jumped around the stage in an ape suite. Then he sat me doen in a chair and he sat in a chair and he put spaghetti strainers on our heads attached by wires. (So we could switch brains) then i finished singing the last part of the song in my ape suite while he jumped around like an ape still looking like a scientist. Then, on the way home someone had to pee in a blizzard so i pulled off the road and got stuck. Cell phones didnt exist, so i being the closest had to walk home in my ape suite to call a tow truck. All the while cars slowed and peered at me thinking they saw bigfoot or something😂😂!!

[@michaelbaucom4019]

Peter Gabriel had the best music videos, along with the Talking Heads

[@rafaa151]

Really.

[@luckylunaloops]

Peter Gabriel is a musical genius. Please carve out a couple days when you can sit and listen to 2 or 3 of his entire albums straight through. His faster songs get more airplay and recognition, but he has slower stuff that's truly mesmerizing. I think you'll find his music is quite magical.

[@CreativeMagique]

This. All of this. Start with “So.” It’s midcareer and loaded with mastery.

[@eggy1962]

Easy to see how peter and kate bush got on so wel

[@theDaoistBean]

Basically about shocking ourselves out of the everyday, comfortable, socially-accepted life. The monkey being the unexamined person on the treadmill of the rat race. This is reflected in the video as the office worker who has reached a crisis point, 'something knocked me out the tree, now I'm on my knees.' The other character is the primal self lying beneath the social mask crying to get out. And to reach a state of actualization, the two must be integrated...we must shock our monkey selves into also experiencing our primal selves. So at the end of the video we see the office worker has the face paint of the primal self showing that he has shocked his humdrum autopilot to life by experiencing both halves at once. I think of this as a four minute version of the themes in Terry Gilliam's movie, Brazil. The vocals reflect this dichotomy as well with his switch between the lower subdued and rational range with the higher, emotional primal screams, as you noted. And the music creates a feeling of crisis and panic that produces an emotional reaction as a listener to match the narrative themes of the song. For me, top tier Gabriel.

[@jodij6280]

This was extremely popular because there was nothing else like it. The beat gets into you.

[@janicez2630]

Peter G is one of the best. I saw him live last year and he and his band put on an amazing show. Have you done Digging in the Dirt? If not, that is a must!

[@catserver8577]

This was on 5th rotation on early MTV, it was weird then and it's weird now. Peter Gabriel made a video specifically for the MTV audience, and he understood the assignment.

[@TomClutch-i9j]

Time for ROCK THE CASBAH........

[@cadleo]

Epic track

[@ejtappan1802]

Oh man, this song would get people off their seats and out on the dance floor, every single time!!

[@biddendensue]

Peter Gabriel was at the top of his profession back in the early 80's and he really jumped on the music video bandwagon in a big way. Other tracks you need to hear are Sledgehammer, Sollsbury Hill & Game's Without Frontiers, all of which are absolutely outstanding.

[@toniannbarandon-o1j]

Peter is the greatest of all time. A magical balance of so deep and cerebral at the same time. The man is a genius.

[@Jp421JP]

Peter Gabriel looks kinda normal but he’s pretty wacky and insanely talented

[@mischiefmanaged444]

Love Love LOVE the percussion in this one.❤❤❤ Never really cared what it was about. Just love it for IT!

[@stuBdoc]

Next do Games Without Frontiers, another of Peter's avant-garde songs that's worth a listen.

[@taniaPBear]

In the '80's, it was like, the more obscure your lyrics were, the more 'artistic' you were, and that went for videos too. We all gave up trying to work out what the artist meant, just take what works for you lyrically, enjoy the visual stimulation, but most importantly, dance like no one's watching. It was all about the dancing. Thanks for this, love Peter Gabriel.✌❤

[@mrmossart]

YOU HAVE TO HEAR "The Rhythm of the Heat!!!!!!!!!"

[@SpikeMatthews]

Seconded.

[@wordygirlandco]

❤PG is brillant. This is about jealousy really. "Don't Monkey with the monkey" 😂 In Your Eyes live version featuring Severa Nazarkhan is absolute perfection. If you haven't heard Don't Give Up with PG and Kate Bush......do it

[@duncanny5848]

Superb and under-appreciated innovative track from Gabriel. One of my faves. Good on you for finding and reacting to it!

[@jaquettajones]

Peter Gabriel is Performance and Visual Artist. I saw him last year live and Nothing has Changed. He is an artists artist - IN YOUR EYES Live from the Secret World Tour is about as Life Affirming of a performance as you will ever see :-)

[@PhillyGirl64]

Phenomenal artist! He's very creative & different.

[@magicbrownie1357]

Probably my favorite artists from the eighties were Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Loved that they put together a duet on Peter's SO album called "Don't Give Up." Highly recommended.

[@jwilk1281]

Love that song......its great

[@kwanshiyin]

In a couple of interviews, Gabriel has said that ‘Shock the Monkey’ was a song about jealousy. It refers to jealousy as a trigger for an animal nature to surface, and the monkey is a metaphor for one's feelings of jealousy. He had found out his wife was having an affair with David Lord, the co-producer of Gabriel's fourth studio album. The couple ended up divorcing in 1987, and Gabriel fell into a period of depression.

[@AddSerious]

my favorite Peter Gabriel song (book of love is #2)

[@O_Towne_Bear]

I have caught every single solo tour that peter gabriel has done. He is, without hesitation, the most important artist in my life. I have learned so much about song craft, social awareness and lyrical writing from him.

[@mikefetterman6782]

This song was my introduction to Peter. When this came out in those early days of MTV, it was a hit. I got to see Peter at Woodstock 1994, on the last day of the show not long after Bob Dylan.

[@annewoodard6803]

Anything from "The Secret World" concert will knock you out. I've seen him 3 times in concert and it's always a great show. "Digging In The Dirt" and "In Your Eyes", "Secret World", "Mercy Street", "Don't Give Up" are an easy start. Peter Gabriel is a genius.

[@judyyurchuk4904]

The best! ❤🎶💃💃💃

[@rafaa151]

Other of my favorites. Maybe my favorite Gabriel song, along "Mercy Street", "in Your Eyes", "Here Comes the Flood" (studio version), "Humdrum", "Games Without Frontiers", "No Self Control", "Sledgehammer" and "San Jacinto" (live version). There are a lot of great and "weird" Gabriel songs. Well, I think that "weird" and "creative" are the main words to "explain" Peter Gabriel.

[@mrkelso]

lol After you listen to this one about a dozen times, the lyrics start to make sense. He's the monkey. He wants his girl to help him feel safe, but instead she's out there "casting her pearls before the swine, make the monkey go blind"... blind with rage. Freaking him out, making him jealous. It reminds him of how scientists re-train the thought processes of lab animals: shock the monkey, watch it get hurt. He's not particularly cool with being treated like that. He needs someone to "cover" him, not torture him. Stop shocking the durned monkey.

[@edeleveritt7113]

You really need to react to videos from the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis

[@kyrasharp7048]

Love Peter Gabriel! This was probably my second video I ever saw. At 12 years old, it remains as one of my favourite songs😊. 41 years later.

[@macdaddyns]

takes me back to my youth hanging out in the arcade across from the high school. The 80's was coloured with Synths and PacMan.

[@stephenpublicover8818]

Ah! 1980 classic "New Wave" seen a lot on Much Music (Canadian) MTV!😀🤣👍✌👌🧔‍♂

[@paoladaniele9119]

I was fifteen in 1982 when I first heard it - and I was already a huge Genesis and Peter Gabriel fan - and it is still one of the best songs - and videos - ever !

[@troysimpkins4528]

I was 13 when this song came out and I can remember hearing it on the radio for the first time and just going bonkers over how much I loved it! It is definitely an awesome 80s song!

[@skyblueo]

The video is trippy, but the song was a big dance club hit in New York. It even got played in strip clubs at one point. That was a surprise.

[@anthonyblakely399]

Peter Gabriel music is Funk, R & B, Electronic, New Wave, and very African based. One reason he loves African cultures and he lives in South Africa!!! But his beats are very Funk and African style with a little Western vibe to it.

[@DG-yo3tk]

One of the most sublimely profound music videos of ALL time

[@calixto_azevedo]

First time I heard this song was in the beginning of the movie Project X (1987) and I went on to become a huge fan, having seen him live several times during and after his growing up tour.

[@Eijianthony]

Sic Song! Brings me back to my youth!

[@richardhunter7363]

7" picture disc of this in my vinyl collection - bought when it came out originally.

[@reginabelt7656]

Yes his videos are very crazy but love his music! Need to check out more of his videos

[@rk41gator]

Relentlessly trippy video.

[@tomaszg.8167]

Actually, according to what Peter Gabriel says, it's in fact about jealousy. So it's about how you feel when you're been betrayed. Well, the monkey is put off the tree and in state of shock, I suppose..great track 👍

[@barryjurgensen9396]

3:57 (single edit) 5:28 (album version) US Billboard Hot 100 peak at # 29

[@shemanic1]

Superb Gabriel & so is "Sledgehammer" and the video.

[@jamesizbicki959]

Here comes the flood has some great vocals from Peter.

[@cindyp1033]

How great was it to experience the music and the video back in the day and not feel compelled to dissect the lyrics. 😂❤️👏🏻

[@Ferretbomber]

loved this song as a kid when it was one of the first in the Mtv era, though I admit I am not a Peter G fan. Thanks for the reaction.

[@anthonyblakely399]

This song Shock The Monkey was one of the first videos I saw in the the Video Bar when Video Bar were just coming out because it was a big tech breakthrough and artists for the first time in music history were able to make video and post the videos so Video Bars were opening up every where.

[@Rhiannon011]

I remember when Genesis was a fairly new group with Peter G.. as the lead singer, the first time i heard and saw them during "their early era" was on Saturday night live, where Peter had a huge mohawk haircut, they were very very alternative at that point. Right after I watched them on SNL I ran out and got their album...

[@jamesanthony5257]

In Surround Sound, the music in this song circles around you.

[@mandyfox2962]

Peter Gabriel makes great videos

[@setdrift]

this is one of his best...

[@rafaa151]

Well, I watched some live performances of this (1986, 1987 or 1988, I don't remember exactly). The Gabriel performance was stunning, he was in top of his career.

[@BobChamblin]

The song was about stirring up jealously and how that primal instinct can be "shocked...to life" by actions that trigger it in relationships.

[@calixto_azevedo]

If you really want to hear more Tony Levin on the chapman stick listen to King Crimson album Discipline, Three of a Perfect Pair, then Beat. All favorites of mine along with Peter Gabriel.

[@wickedmirage]

Loved this song from the first time I saw it on MTV. Not being a fan of Gabriel's work after he left Genesis, this song made me give him a second look.

[@jeffreyberry8643]

Love your reactions, if I can,like to suggest "Lucky Man" Emerson Lake and Palmer, great song

[@jennujor1551]

"What the..." indeeeed lol 😅

[@fantasmigorical8618]

💜💖💜

[@bobbolan4672]

Yep. The music is breaking.

[@spawn4582]

"Shock The Monkey" 🙈🙉🙊 short and clear!

[@rafaa151]

I usually read critics about Peter Gabriel, descibing him as Art Rock artist, never Synth Pop. For me, this is an Art Rock tune with some Synth Pop elements, but It don't really sound as Symth Pop, because is a lot more complex. I think that there a lot of Gabriel hits which I would "labeled" as Art Rock: "Games Without Frontiers" and "No Self Control", for example.

[@brianh9358]

Peter has said the song is about jealousy in interviews - but I sure can't tell that from the lyrics. :)

[@courtneywallace871]

PG is one of 6 artists I consider musical geniuses. Great song, but honestly there are so many even better ones. Off this album alone you could do Rhythm of the Heat, San Jacinto, I Have the Touch, The Family and the Fishing Net and Lay Your Hands on Me. Really can’t think of a bad PG song.

[@eggy1962]

After seeing loads of PG songs/videos…..In Your Eyes secret world live version is the one never to miss.

[@ThePrincepiggy]

Imagine watching this video at 14 years old in the beginnings of the mtv era

[@loisrogers9042]

I wondered when someone would get to this😊

[@IsabelleRSG]

It's such an amazing and creative song, and despite being so unique and unusual, it's catchy as hell. By the way, the Coal Chamber / Ozzy cover is interesting and very well done, if you want to give it a listen.

[@JimboKM]

Weird but complex. If you like that sound you'll love 80's King Crimson. Same bass player Tony Levin. Strange guitar noises from Adrian Belew & Robert Fripp. Drums by Bill Bruford of Yes fame. What's not to like?

[@Una...]

My favourite early Peter Gabriel sing! It's about greed and profit over the environment/animals/indigenous peoples, and a corporate man having an epiphany.

[@courtneywallace871]

I don’t know that I’d necessarily consider this EARLY PG. He’s only released 8 studio solo albums and this was his fourth.

[@dandodds5536]

To me, the song is about how our modern lives stress us in ways our primal selves are not equipped to handle.

[@sobaal]

Yes this is crazy because he was and he is realy crazy and too much creative in him music.

[@mayabairey]

🎉😂

[@mrkelso]

Thank you, Maya! I really wanted Sal to hear this one, but had kinda given up hope it'd ever happen. Noice!

[@epongeverte]

If you haven't, check out RED RAIN.

[@Carlux777]

That song it's about jealousy.

[@Kayjee17]

In the early days of MTV - when they actually played music videos - there was a wild west feel to everything. The musicians, directors, and other creative people surrounding the process had no idea what viewers wanted, so there were all kinds of interesting things popping up... and a lot of forgettable junk too. This video was kinda strange, but I think it fit the song well. However, you should check out Sledgehammer for his best video, and frankly, one of the best music videos of all time!

[@JustMe-vk4fn]

:D Personally, I was never sure why the monkey had to be shocked.... but that's just me.

[@mayabairey]

Maybe you're the monkey being shocked by the music 😂

[@SalvoG]

True lol

[@soccerdad2539]

Cry Freedom movie and Steve Biko are other performaces to explore👍🍻

[@NABIL7]

Please, react to Peter Gabriel - Intruder.

[@heathcliff8624]

The guys over at TOOL seemed to have been influenced by this vid. The Sober video comes to mind.

[@preesi1403]

Seona Dancing - Bitter Heart

[@MegaCairoman]

Fox the fox, rat on the rat. You can ape the ape, I know about that.

[@potatisen84]

Can you React to Erik grönwall's house of the rising sun

[@HisDearMissK]

I came here to watch your reactions to Dimash... but you have so many of my favorite bands and musicians on your playlist that I'm going to stay for a little longer. may I suggest a song that I'm not sure anyone else has suggested to you but it's just one that everyone needs to hear imho It's Yebba "My Mind" kzbin.info/www/bejne/iInadmR9bMSIb68si=3PgzcT2EKAKq0V76 edited to add... sometimes watching another reactor reacting to a song is really the best way to hear that song so I'm going to attach here one of my favorite reactors reacting to Yebba My Mind kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5_UqH-Bi5Kdl5Isi=ET4xyKOthKxElxpS

[@schmedrake5429]

Weird is a good keyword for PG. Leaving Genesis made him a better singer and performer. He became more mainstream with an acceptable level of weirdness. I liked him solo. He was tedious in Genesis… too absorbed in his weirdness. And the dude in the bubble costume and flower head never sounded this good. I know it’s still a tragedy for his hardcore fans, but leaving Genesis was best for everyone involved. Everybody got what they wanted. And Peter put aside the makeup and haircuts and became a performer that was more accessible to the audience. And he wrote lyrics that, while still complex, were more accessible too.

[@davidgiles5912]

Wait til you watch Sledgehammer.

[@larrydest1466]

I always thought this was anti animal testing

[@loisrogers9042]

Monkey on his back? Monotonous, meaningless job or even drugs? Feeling like a trained Monkey with no way out? Terrific beat and changeups😊

[@AmyW-qo4se]

Got a good beat, melody etc... but not a top favorite. 80's had lot of weird/ interesting video

[@Eowyn187]

I never considered this Pop. Maybe from his connection with Phil Collins. Doesn't register, to me, as Pop.