BOLLOCKS AND BRUCEY
How the sound and spirit of the Sex Pistols and Springsteen fed into Gabriel’s work.
Gabriel’s sabbatical allowed him time to fully appreciate the music of others, and he was deeply receptive to the change in the air. Before punk ripped up the rule book, the arrival on British shores of Bruce springsteen had a profound effect on Gabriel. on november 18, 1975, he went to see springsteen and his e street Band at their debut uk concert at london’s hammersmith odeon.
“i remember Peter phoning me and saying he’d gone to see springsteen and that he was very impressed with him,” david stopps, a close friend who ran friars in aylesbury, told this writer in 2013. “he was overwhelmed with how good he was live – it had a major effect on him.”
Gabriel’s writing could now absorb all his influences, away from the constraints of his band. “springsteen was a huge influence,” says richard Macphail. “he wouldn’t stop going on about that – it really made a huge impression.”
Gabriel has said this concert was second only to his fabled viewing of otis redding on the stax/volt revue in the 60s. stopps added: “i later saw Peter at hammersmith odeon on his first tour and you could see the influence of springsteen on his show.”
this infatuation increased when roy Bittan of the e street Band played on scratch. later, Gabriel was to appear on steve van Zandt’s sun city project, before working with the Boss himself on 1988’s human rights now! tour.
Gabriel was to see another life-changing concert the year after he saw springsteen when he went to london’s oxford street and saw the sex Pistols at one of the 10 fabled gigs they played at the 100 club that year. already enamoured with the stripped-down bombast of springsteen, Gabriel knew this was another part of the jigsaw of change, and that something new was in the air.
“he was deeply impressed,” richard Macphail says. “i was deeply unimpressed, i must say. Peter saw the bigger picture better than i did. all he talked about was the Pistols and Johnny rotten. he loved the rawness of it – it really appealed to him.”
although hardly ready to go to Pistols-like extremes, both these artists showed clearly to Gabriel that he could easily attempt something different. While in toronto recording car, he and larry fast went to see the ramones. Gabriel seemed to have escaped the enormous backlash that progressive rock was getting in the media – it was as if he’d jumped off the juggernaut exactly at the right time.
With punk’s ‘year zero’ revisionist approach, all of these new characters – many of whom were of a similar age or only slightly younger than the bands they were taking swipes at – pretended they had no time for any of the music they had spent the previous three years listening to. Gabriel was pleased that car was displayed in Malcolm Mclaren and vivienne Westwood’s seX shop in kings road and that nick kent, then the hottest, most revered rock critic, was onside with his new work.