The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Today in Music History: Peter Gabriel Goes Commercial

May 09, 2014

Peter Gabriel So album
Peter Gabriel released his first commercially successful album Today in Music History.
album art

History Highlight:

Today in 1986, Peter Gabriel's So was released. Many of its songs reflect a more conventional pop-writing style and became Gabriel's first radio hits, including "Sledgehammer," "In Your Eyes" and "Big Time."

Also, Today In:

1965 - The Beatles and Donovan were in the audience for a new American artist named Bob Dylan. The concert was at London's Royal Albert Hall.

1973 - Mick Jagger tossed in $150,000 of his own money along with the $350,000 raised by The Rolling Stones' January benefit concert to aid the victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.

1988 - A number of Minnesota department stores refused to stock the new Prince album, Lovesexy, due to the cover: a nude shot of the artist (with nothing naughty revealed in the photo, duh).

Birthdays:

Dave Gahan, of Depeche Mode, is 52 today.

Tom Petersson, Cheap Trick bassist, is 64 today.