Every Billboard #1 Mainstream Rock hit discussion thread (1981 - present)

#22 Survivor, Eye of the Tiger
Written and produced by Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan
Label: EMI/Scotti Brothers
Issued July 3, 1982; 5 weeks at #1
^4 weeks



Looks like we're going to talk about Survivor some more.
As I'm sure you know, Eye of the Tiger was the theme song for 1982's Rocky III. Mr. Tiger was sadly not involved, as far as I can tell. What I can tell you is that I had only seen the first Rocky and the first Creed movie before I started writing this. I didn't have to watch Rocky II and III for this review, but I value going the extra mile, so watch them I did. They were good. Rest assured, there would've been plenty to discuss without watching Rocky III. With a song as big as Eye of the Tiger, it won't surprise you to know Songfacts has an abundance of material on it, including an interview with Survivor's Jim Peterik. Since the song was written for a movie, a lot of the trivia has to do with the movie. It does, after all, take its title from a repeated line of dialogue in the movie. So how about we divide this into sections?

1. Getting Survivor attached to Rocky III

Survivor was signed to the now-defunct Scotti Records, named after the brothers that co-founded it: football player Ben Scotti and media mogul Tony Scotti. Tony, the president of the label at the time, played Sylvester Stallone some songs from the previous Survivor album, 1981's Premonition. Stallone thought the band's sound would fit so well with Rocky III that he called Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan - the band's primary songwriters, as we hinted at in the last review - and left messages on their answering machines. This was back when answering machines were "still something of a novelty," as Peterik told Songfacts:

Needless to say, Survivor was on board. But they had two sets of big shoes to fill.
Firstly, there was the orchestral theme Gonna Fly Now by legendary composer Bill Conti. When you think of the Rocky franchise, that song's brass section immediately pops into your head. It was actually a #1 hit in 1977, and you know a song that's mostly instrumental is good when it can achieve that. But as Peterik told Songfacts, Stallone wanted Survivor to make something different:

Why would the "youth market" be so important to the Rocky franchise all of a sudden?
I dunno, it was the Eighties. But that brings me to the second set of shoes Survivor had to fill.
You might be wondering why Stallone was talking to the president of Survivor's record label in the first place. Well, you see, Stallone was looking for a backup plan. His first choice for the Rocky III theme song was Queen's Another One Bites the Dust. Yes, really. After Peterik and Sullivan were shown the rough cut of Rocky III that still had Another One Bites the Dust in it, they called Stallone and asked why it wasn't being used instead. Turns out Queen had said no. So without the publishing rights, Stallone turned to Survivor to write the theme song.
In short, Survivor had to write something on par with both Bill Conti and Queen.
Even Survivor knew that was a tall order. But they were nothing if not determined.

2. Writing and recording

Sullivan came up with the lines "Back on the street, doin' time, taking chances," which Peterik credited as "the lyrical spark that got the song started." To fit the storyline of the film and to fit the rhythm of the music Peterik was hearing in his head, he turned Sullivan's lines into "Rising up, back on the street, did my time, took my chances." By the end of the same day, most of the music was done, but the lyrics took a few more days. Peterik referred back to bits of dialogue, like "went the distance" from the first movie. He also came up with the intro - DUN.... DUN DUN DUN - while driving in his car one day. It was a dramatic way to start the song that felt reminiscent of the punches in the fight scenes.
As for the title, Peterik and Sullivan initially hesitated to call the song "Eye of the Tiger." They thought about calling it "Survival," because they were called Survivor and they were going to run with that. No, actually, it was because the chorus in the song's initial draft went:

But then they figured there didn't have to be a perfect rhyme, so "Eye of the Tiger" it was.
The first version of the song, the one used in the film, was recorded in Chicago, which is incidentally the hometown of Clubber Lang. The process of recording and mixing took two days. When Stallone heard the demo, he loved it. However, he requested a mix with louder drums. Oh, and a new third verse, instead of just singing the first verse again. They modified the first verse, but essentially gave Stallone what he asked for. So the version you hear in Rocky III is still basically the demo, which contains tiger growls that aren't on the version the band later recorded for their own album.
Regarding Stallone's suggestions, Peterik told Songfacts that Stallone knew what he was doing:

Interesting philosophy there, Jim. Do the results speak for themselves?
I think we all know the answer to that.

3. The song


Keeping in theme with Rocky III, Eye of the Tiger is about the working hard and facing adversity in the hopes of coming out on top. And the band does a great job with it. Sullivan and Peterik have some excellent guitar work, bassist Stephan Ellis and drummer Marc Droubay are straightforward but effective with their contributions, and lead singer Dave Bickler... I mean, we've all heard him nail those high notes.
There probably isn't much to say about this song that hasn't already been said; it's just good. So let's move on to...

4. The aftermath

We'll begin with the music video. One member of Survivor - Peterik didn't say who - objected to the idea of making the video feature footage of the band alongside footage from the movie. For a time, that was standard practice with many videos of songs from movies, as they were considered more of a promotion for the film than for the artist. Because of that, the objection was based on the notion that Survivor was an actual band with its own identity and not one tied to the Rocky franchise, which Peterik admitted in hindsight was completely valid. Survivor did also write and record a song for Rocky IV, after all.
However, at the end of the day, Eye of the Tiger was still a huge multi-platinum hit. It won the band a Grammy for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group. They did lose Song of the Year, but the winner that year was Willie Nelson's Always On My Mind, so no one complained.
Especially not Survivor's accountants.
Having spent fifteen weeks in the top ten, Eye of the Tiger placed second on 1982's Year-End Hot 100 list behind Olivia Newton-John's Physical. Those two songs tied with Queen's Another One Bites the Dust (small world, huh?) for the longest run in the top ten for a #1 song during the Eighties. Eye of the Tiger was so huge that it's the reason John Cougar's Jack and Diane wasn't a #1 hit. Don't feel bad for John, though. Eye of the Tiger had the second-longest run of 1982 behind Hurts So Good.
Asked why he thought Eye of the Tiger was so successful, Peterik told Songfacts:

Now, two of the last few reviews had me roll my eyes at artists acting like their songs had more to them than there actually was. Here, though, Peterik's assessment is absolutely true. Eye of the Tiger still holds up, and their 1982 album of the same name is pretty good too. It went in one ear and out the other, but it is pretty good.
Believe it or not, though, Survivor had a second #1 rock hit. Stay tuned for that review.

Oh, and one more thing: it was suggested that I do a companion review of the "Weird Al" Yankovic parody Theme from Rocky XIII (aka: The Rye or The Kaiser (Theme From Rocky XIII)). I was a bit hesitant since I had reviewed Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' I Love Rock 'n' Roll without discussing the "Weird Al" parody I Love Rocky Road. Also, I made mention here of Queen's Another One Bites the Dust without discussing Another One Rides the Bus. This might be inconsistent of me given the effort I already put into this review, but I'm going to opt out. "Weird Al" parodies are usually some degree of good and there isn't much else to say beyond that. You should still listen to those songs if you haven't already.

 

To think Mr. Peterik's main claim to fame prior to this was "Vehicle" by The Ides Of March from 1970 . . .

But I also remember on this, a "parody" song performed on Z-100 in New York with new lyrics relating to the Soviet downing of a Korean Air Lines jet in 1983. For evident reasons I'll go no farther on that.

Oh, and Scotti Brothers at the point this came out was distributed by CBS.

 

Caught Up In You
The pendulum on this one has swung there and back. I dug it when it came out and was making sure I grabbed every .38 Special release ASAP. Then I went through a snobbery phase where I decided it was too poppy and worse, the corporate version of Southern Rock... a travesty. Then I came back to digging it. I certainly don't listen to it as much as when I was wearing the grooves out of their LPs in the early 80s, but I'm more than happy to throw it into my rotation.

Eye of the Tiger
No pendulum here. This was cheez whiz right from the get-go and has only gotten worse, to the point it's rightfully become a parody of itself; the flag bearer for all that was wrong with cheezy commercial arena rock. What a come down from the great Bill Conti soundtrack from the original movie! I think this may be the only time I've ever said this about a group, but their power ballads (I shudder to even use the term) were better.

 

Rest in peace, Eddie.

#23 Eddie Money, Think I'm In Love
Written by Eddie Money and Randy Oda
Produced by Tom Dowd
Label: Columbia
Issued August 7, 1982; 3 weeks at #1
^6 weeks



I took a couple of community college classes on music theory and music production. One day, for one of these classes, we watched a documentary on the late famed producer Tom Dowd. I believe it was called Tom Dowd & the Language of Music. I don't remember whether it covered his production work on Eddie Money's platinum-selling 1982 album No Control. Considering Dowd also produced for the likes of Aretha Franklin, The Allman Brothers and Rod Stewart, I would be pleasantly surprised if there was any room for Eddie. But just in case, let's talk about No Control and its lead single Think I'm In Love.
Eddie Money, real name Edward Mahoney, had three #1 rock hits. You could say he hit the ground running, scoring a top 20 hit on the Hot 100 with his debut single, Baby Hold On. And yet, oddly, even though Think I'm In Love was also a top 20 hit on the Hot 100, I couldn't find nearly as much information on it. Songfacts has a page on the album's second single Shakin' (#63 on the Hot 100, #9 on Top Tracks), but not the more successful first single. Strange.
At any rate, Think I'm In Love is as straightforward as a song with that title can get. It's a guy singing about how madly in love he is with a woman. Now, Eddie Money was a good singer with an ear for hooks, but to me, his vocals struggle on much of this song to convey the kind of passion the lyrics demand. Everything else about the song works. Tom Dowd's production makes the song a well-aged product of its time. The guitar work and drumming is great. Eddie himself actually does some good harmonizing in the chorus. But when the verses have lines like "Hold me tight babe, don't leave me by myself tonight/'Cause I don't think I can make it through the night," and Eddie is okay with rhyming "night" with "tonight," he could at least have brought enough vocal strength to make up for it. Lou Gramm sings more passionately on Foreigner's Urgent about being one of a woman's multiple booty calls than Eddie Money does when singing about being deeply in love.
Actually, upon listening to the whole album, I realized Eddie Money might honestly have been one of those singer-songwriters who was better at writing than singing. No Control has plenty of great instrumentals, especially on the second half, but there are only two songs where Eddie's vocals worked for me. Those would be Take a Little Bit and the closing track It Could Happen To You, which are consequently my favorite tracks.
So yeah, Think I'm In Love is okay, but I wouldn't say it's the best song off the album.

 

"Eye of the Tiger" is the lone Survivor song I have heard. I am okay with that never changing.

"I Think I'm In Love" has some sweet hooks. I really like Eddie Money's gruff voice, but have never heard more than 5 of his songs.
The drum kit's SQ is horrid, the harmonized guitar break is fine. It is almost too short. I enjoyed this one very much.

 

Wow, a bit harsh with Eddie. That was nice write-up, though! I like this song a lot. To be fair, it doesn’t appear he was trying to rhyme anything, as shown by other verse. Agree that his strength isn’t in power vocals but that probably wasn’t what he was aiming for.

 

Thanks. Sorry for the tone. I will happily acknowledge that both the song and the album have their merits.

 

I Think I'm In Love

Musical cotton candy.. Catchy, kinda fun, but in the end, kinda' hollow. Good to dance to, okay party music, but a pretty limited life span.

 

Frankly it could have been anyone. Nothing uniquely "Eddie Money" about it. Tailor made for radio.

 

Sorry if I uploaded this at an odd hour. I didn't want to do any writing on Thanksgiving. Please enjoy regardless.

#24 Billy Squier, Everybody Wants You
Written by Billy Squier
Produced by Billy Squier and Reinhold Mack
Label: Capitol
Issued August 28, 1982; 6 weeks at #1
^4 weeks



Ah, Billy Squier. He was quite the Robert Plant soundalike, wasn't he?
Squier's presence in the top 40 was short-lived, but don't feel too bad for him. He was more at home on the rock chart anyway. Out of the twenty charting rock singles he released between 1981 and 1993, five peaked in the top 20, two in the top 10, three in the top 5, and two at #1. And it all began with his second album, 1981's Don't Say No. That record spawned two of his most well-known songs with its first two singles, The Stroke and In the Dark; they peaked respectively at #3 and #7 on Top Tracks. One could argue that the album owes at least part of its success to its co-producer Reinhold Mack, or simply "Mack," as he's known. I say that because Mack has an awesome production discography, having previously worked with bands like T. Rex, Deep Purple, Electric Light Orchestra, and Queen, as well as friends of the thread Rainbow, Scorpions, and The Rolling Stones.
So with the follow-up to Don't Say No also being co-produced by Squier and Mack, safe to say 1982's multi-platinum Emotions in Motion met expectations. It was Squier's second consecutive album to peak in the top five on the Billboard 200. Must've helped that, presumably because of Mack's connections with Queen, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor provided backing vocals on the title track.
But I digress. Everybody Wants You is directed towards what sounds like a celebrity. They put on airs and they're always being chased by a long line of adoring fans they want nothing to do with. Or maybe it's the paparazzi - Squier doesn't specify. At any rate, the hedonistic life they live is a façade. The constant attention and fixation on glamour drives the subject of the song to, as Squier puts it, take their pension in "loneliness and alcohol." So he's essentially mocking them for being in the spotlight when they clearly don't enjoy it.
And I thought the lyrics to Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic were sad.
To recycle what I said about Survivor's Eye of the Tiger, Everybody Wants You still holds up. Though it's not my favorite Billy Squier song, the track has really good instrumentation and overall energy that complements Squier's vocals. As for the whole album, Emotions in Motion went in one ear and out the other, but it is pretty good. Keep Me Satisfied is a great deep cut that I recommend highly.

 

Rest in peace, Neil.

#25 Rush, New World Man
Written by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart
Produced by Terry Brown and Rush (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart)
Label: Mercury
Issued October 9, 1982; 1 week at #1
^5 weeks
Issued October 30, 1982; 1 week at #1
^8 weeks



Rush needs no introduction, especially not in the context of the rock chart. The first two singles from their 1981 album Moving Pictures - Limelight and Tom Sawyer - would rank among the band's most well known songs. But despite Moving Pictures being the band's highest selling album, their first #1 album in their native Canada, and their highest charting album in the US for a decade, neither of its first two singles were Top 40 hits in the US. Tom Sawyer came close, peaking at #44. On Top Tracks, meanwhile, Limelight and Tom Sawyer peaked respectively at #4 and #8. And those were their first singles on that chart. The band promoted Moving Pictures with an exhausting six-month tour. The tour's March 1981 stop at The Forum in Montreal was recorded for the live album Exit...Stage Left.
Rush returned to the studio in April 1982 to record their next album with producer and longtime associate Terry Brown. In August of that year, the band released New World Man, the lead single for their ninth album Signals. The album itself would be released the following month, peaking at #10 on the Billboard 200.
Signals marks an important point in Rush's career. It would be their last album co-produced by Terry Brown, who had been working with the band since 1974. On the plus side, its singles performed quite well. The second single Subdivisions was a top 5 hit on the rock chart. More importantly, New World Man was Rush's only song to break the top 40 on the Hot 100, peaking at #21. Quick disclaimer, though: if you go up to a Rush fan and say they're a one hit wonder, I am not responsible for what happens next. You may as well give Signals two stars like our old pal J.D. Considine.
But anyway, though Signals holds an important place in the Rush discography and fans tend to speak positively of it, I got the impression from my research that not many can talk about it without bringing up its predecessor, myself unfortunately included. They do admittedly have some common traits. The songs on Signals are similarly streamlined and synth-heavy (albeit more so this time around) with the occasional nods to the band's prog rock roots made subdued enough to keep the material radio-friendly. What sets this album apart, however, are the elements of new wave the band introduced with a Thanksgiving-sized portion of The Police-style reggae thrown in for good measure. Neil Peart was a big fan of The Police. He and The Police drummer Stewart Copeland actually became good friends even after Copeland tried to start a feud between the two trios. Evidently, Neil was too polite to reciprocate and there was already a lot of internal feuding within The Police that another feud would probably have only made worse.
So that's the story behind Signals. Before I share my thoughts on the overall record, let's talk about New World Man.
The song was the last song written for the album. Terry Brown suggested the band write something to even out the lengths of the two side of the album's cassette release. For that reason, the song's working title was "Project 3:57," named for the amount of time they were trying to fill. In addition to being the last song written for the album, it was also written in the shortest amount of time. Geddy Lee and Neil Peart have both spoken on how quickly they put the track together. Peart once said of the process:

Makes its success and quality all that more impressive, doesn't it? So what is the song about?
I don't know of any explanation given by the band themselves. The most common interpretation I've seen is that the titular "New World Man" is the USA, and the song is a commentary on its status as a world leader. If that's true, Neil Peart had a rather nuanced impression of the country:

I dig it. Neil Peart's lyrics were usually very intellectual. The music complements them remarkably well. The song starts with a reggae-tinged intro (see: The Police fans), and once Geddy's bass comes in during the first verse, it's all over the track and it's awesome. Alex Lifeson's guitar is placed perfectly throughout the song. And anyone who has even a passing familiarity with Rush probably won't be surprised to know Neil Peart's drumming is as great as usual.
Considering the reputation Rush's synth period has, think of Signals like soy milk. You know, if the synth period makes you lactose intolerant. The synths are definitely there on Signals, but they aren't as cheesy as they would be on the rest of the band's Eighties albums. I'd say on their own merits, New World Man and Signals hold up pretty well. Also, for whatever reason, when the closing track Countdown was released as the third single, New World Man was made the B-side. Not sure why, unless people just couldn't get enough of New World Man.

 

Massive FM hit. Does not translate to singles sales. People bought the album as the band intended.

 

Makes sense.

 

I really do like "Everybody Wants Some". I hadn't heard it in decades which seems to be a bit of a pattern for me on this thread. I really liked "The Stroke" whenever I heard it on the radio, but never picked up Don't Say No (I still don't, but have been eyeing the Intervention vinyl for some time now). I did buy Emotional in Motion, but even as a 15 year old it didn't really click other than a couple songs. Yesterday for kicks and giggles, I popped it on the turntable...I only made it through 3 songs.

I am stunned, actually, that Squier had that much chart success.

 

"New World Man" was a #1 single in Canada (Rush's sole #1, I believe). It's a great song, and along with the Scorpions track, perhaps my favorite of those discussed thus far.

 

Everybody Wants You
This song is pure.... pure hollow cheez! Delivered by an annoying voice with annoying production. As a hard rocker from the era, you'd think I'd dig it, but this song sets me on edge in a microsecond. Not quite Squier's worst, but close enough to be an automatic skip under the best of circumstances.

New World Man
Now we're talkin'. I didn't care much for it right at the release, feeling betrayed by my favorite group's drift out of hard rock and into synth land... I wrote them off as sellouts... but after concerning myself with the music rather than the mode, I had to conclude this was an excellent song, delivered with absolute perfection. Al though one of the lighter songs on the album, my appreciation has only grown through the years.

 

Having thought a bit more about Rush's New World Man, I speculate that the subject matter connected with American audiences and that was why it charted so high. I guess the key is to just make a song about something Americans can relate to. Such as - to give a completely random example - not trusting the media.

#26 Don Henley, Dirty Laundry
Written by Don Henley and Danny Kortchmar
Produced by Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, and Greg Ladanyi
Label: Asylum
Issued October 16, 1982; 2 weeks at #1
^6 weeks
Issued November 6, 1982; 1 week at #1
^9 weeks



As I've mentioned in a previous review, the group of men that were the original members of the Eagles started out as Linda Ronstadt's backup band. This included a drummer by the name of Don Henley, who - after the Eagles' breakup in 1980 - had a successful solo career, especially on the rock chart. Of his twenty charting singles, two peaked in the top 20, four in the top 10, four in the top 5, and four at #1. For some reason, that doesn't include his debut single Johnny Can't Read. Instead, it would be the second single from Henley's Gold-certified solo debut, I Can't Stand Still, that earned Henley his first big solo hit.
Dirty Laundry is about newspeople doing anything for a story and being more concerned with their looks than their integrity. Henley is a very private man, so the attention he got as the member of a hugely successful band served as a big influence on this song. One of two notable incidents involved his then-girlfriend, model Maren Jensen, to whom Henley dedicated the album. Around that time, she had contracted Epstein-Barr virus (*insert political joke here*), which cut her modeling/acting career short. That unsurprisingly drew a lot of unwanted press attention.
Oh, and there was also those charges a few years earlier. This isn't directly referenced in the song, but you'll understand in a moment why I bring it up. In November 1980, Henley was throwing a party for the Eagles' breakup at his home in Los Angeles. As was apparently customary for these types of parties, there were drugs and prostitutes. One of the prostitutes sent over was underage, which Henley didn't know until after she became intoxicated and paramedics were called in to treat her. Henley would be arrested on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes. Henley insisted he never had sex with the girl or gave her the drugs. According to him, he was upstairs for most of the evening while the party was happening downstairs. Furthermore, he added, the drugs were meant for the roadies. Since he was never charged with statutory rape, I'm inclined to believe him; he was, after all, the one who called in the paramedics. It seems the judge felt similarly. Henley was fined, put on two years' probation and ordered to attend drug counselling.
Now imagine the press coverage that would come of such an incident, especially since it involved a member of one of the most successful bands in history. You can probably understand why that would make Henley feel a certain way about the press, hence Dirty Laundry.
Songfacts had a lengthy interview with co-writer Danny Kortchmar back in 2013. One question was about writing Dirty Laundry with Henley, to which Kortchmar answered:

The music fits the biting subject matter of the song perfectly. It even sounds like transition music in a news program. Despite the impactful synths being the more prominent instrument, the guitar work is also excellent. Kortchmar played the basic parts. Fellow Eagle and friend of the thread Joe Walsh did the first solo. Steve Lukather of Toto did the second solo. Lukather says it's one of his favorite solos of his, which is all the more impressive knowing he reportedly did it in one take. Henley himself sings with the faintest hint of vitriol as he mocks sensationalist news. Once the key change happens, though, the anger in his voice becomes much more pronounced. It's like he stops just short of shouting "F**k you, KTLA."
In my humble opinion, Dirty Laundry is the best song on I Can't Stand Still. Don't get me wrong, it is a good album overall. But if you listen for only one song, it's Dirty Laundry.

 

Meanwhile, a hit in this period from one of his once-and-future Eagles bandmates, Glenn Frey, sounded more destined for the Adult Contemporary chart (indeed, "The One You Love" made #2 there). So evidently there was even a difference between Mr. Henley and Mr. Frey in terms of where their solo songs were geared.

 

Glenn Frey actually had a #1 rock hit himself, so mark your calendar for that.

 

Le'me guess - tied to a certain TV show off in the future?

But I was referring to the proverbial "here and now" in the timeline.

 

Fair enough. But yes, that's the one.

 

Eye Of The Tiger : It has some catchy hooks and the production was top notch but the song itself just hangs there.

Think I'm In Love : Powerful, propulsive and hook-filled. Pop-rock perfection that still holds up well almost forty years later.

Everybody Wants You : It's simplistic but fun. The intro is very effective in the way that it brings in the various instruments gradually before kicking in full bore right before the verse.

New World Man : A rare instance where a classic is borne out of the desire to fill up an album side. (Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" was also written under similar circumstances). Rush had used synths before but "New World Man", along with the parent album, Signals, represents the turning point whey synths became an integral element in Rush's sound rather than an instrument that was utilised here and there to add some color. Musically, it's an homage to The Police and a tastefully executed homage at that.

Dirty Laundry It's scary how a song that's almost 40 years old perfectly describes modern mass media's emphasis on breaking a story before checking the facts beforehand.

 

#27 Peter Gabriel, Shock the Monkey
Written by Peter Gabriel
Produced by Peter Gabriel and David Lord
Label: Geffen
Issued November 13, 1982; 2 weeks at #1
^7 weeks



After leaving Genesis in 1975, founding member Peter Gabriel embarked on a solo career. A good solo career, to be sure, but one could be forgiven for being skeptical based on the fact that his first four solo albums were all self-titled. Not in the Led Zeppelin or Chicago way where there's a number at the end - no, each album is officially called "Peter Gabriel." That might come across a bit lazy, you know? Unsurprisingly, the albums have been given unofficial names so people can distinguish them from each other in conversation. Peter Gabriel's fourth self-titled album, released in September 1982, was given the title Security in North America, so that's how I will refer to the album.
The lead single, I Have the Touch, peaked at #46 on Top Tracks and didn't chart on the Hot 100 as far as I can tell. The second single was Shock the Monkey, which was Gabriel's first Top 40 hit in the US and the first single of his to chart higher in the US than in his native UK. I assume its success in America was due largely, if not entirely, to the title. When you come across a song called "Shock the Monkey," you're going to give it a listen just out of sheer curiosity. It's one of those perfect titles that both grabs your attention and effectively describes the song, which has a beat that does indeed merit the use of "shock." Ooh, actually, let's talk a bit about that beat.
As with the rest of Security, Gabriel and co-producer David Lord used a number of fun toys to make the backing track on Shock the Monkey. There were synthesizers and drum machines that had only been invented between two to four years before work began on Security. One of the synthesizers used was a Fairlight CMI, which was invented in 1979 and had sampling features. Now, the idea behind sampling had been around as early as the 1940s. But the Fairlight CMI's creators were credited with coining the term "sampling." I guess if anyone was going to come up with a name for that, it would be the people behind one of the earliest music workstations with an embedded digital sampler. And like with many electronic devices, a select few big names were early users. The first buyer was John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame. One of the several buyers that followed suit shortly thereafter was Trevor Horn, who co-founded The Buggles with Geoff Downes and produced a certain hit by Yes that we'll get to later.
But getting back to Peter Gabriel, he was also one of Fairlight's first big name users. He and a relative were in fact so impressed that they set up a company called Syco Systems to be Fairlight's UK importer and distributor. So it's little surprise that Security would be an early full digital recording with mostly electronic instrumentation that made use of extensive sampling. The electronic instrumentation was so central to the album that it even dictated how the human musicians played. Drummer Jerry Marotta, for example, played according to how the drums could be processed, which meant avoiding cymbals. And instead of a kick drum, they used a surdo drum, a large bass drum played in many types of Brazilian music.
You might now be thinking to yourself, "Hang on... electronic instrumentation, extensive sampling, world music-inspired percussion... that sounds like Remain in Light by Talking Heads." I don't know if Gabriel explicitly confirmed that Remain in Light was an influence, but considering he would later cover Listening Wind from that album, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't take a few notes. That's certainly a great album to "borrow" from, and the results speak for themselves.
According to Peter Gabriel's website, Shock the Monkey is about jealousy. It's admittedly a bit hard to pick up on, though. The abundant use of animal-based expressions gives the lyrics an overall abstract feel, which lead some to mistakenly believe the song was literally about monkeys. The monkey is apparently just a metaphor for man's primitive instincts. Gabriel himself has never elaborated much on the meaning in interviews, save for one time in 1993 when he said "This song is about jealousy and a sort of animal nature.” He certainly wasn't kidding; the animal nature is manifest successfully in the primal energy of the beat. The video also matches the energy quite well, so much so that it was used as the cover art for I Have the Touch. One could imagine the video's director Brian Grant trying to one-up himself on ridiculousness after his video for Olivia Newton-John's Physical. He would later direct the video for Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf, but we'll get to that song later.
Shock the Monkey is the good kind of over-the-top. While it might be cheesy to some, there isn't so much cheese that it ages the song poorly. The rest of Security is also good, though like with Don Henley's I Can't Stand Still, it's clear which song was fated to be the hit single.

 

Fared worse in his native UK, where it could only scrape by at #58.

 

I first heard Peter Gabriel in 1980 when both "Games Without Frontiers" & Peter Gabriel peaked at #7. In 1982, "Shock the Monkey" made the Canadian top ten & that year's Peter Gabriel made it to #2.
I loved both "Games Without Frontiers" and "Shock the Monkey". Still do.