“He was doing something humanitarian and beautiful while everyone else was doing ecstasy in the clubs”: Peter Gabriel could have made another pop album like So. Instead he turned to the dark side of prog with Us and Up
Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album So made him a global star and gave him the financial security to pursue more ambitious, less commercial work. Rather than repeating its accessible pop formula, he used the follow-up albums Us and Up to explore darker, more progressive and introspective territory.
So topped the UK album chart and reached number two in the US, propelled by singles including Sledgehammer and the Kate Bush duet Don’t Give Up. The success came after Gabriel had faced bankruptcy in 1982 and been financially helped by his former Genesis bandmates, making his later artistic freedom particularly significant.
- So’s success enabled Peter Gabriel to take greater artistic risks.
- Us and Up moved away from pop towards darker prog.
- Gabriel had previously faced bankruptcy despite his creative ambitions.