106-538: Scratch My Back is the eighth studio album (and fifteenth album overall) by English musician Peter Gabriel , his first in eight years. It was released in February 2010. The album, recorded at AIR Lyndhurst and Real World Studios during 2009, consists of cover versions of twelve songs by various artists, using only orchestra and voice. It is produced by Gabriel with Bob Ezrin . The album generally received favourable reviews by music journalists and performed well on
212-543: A Magnetic Fields song, together with "Not One of Us" – Stephin Merritt 's (The Magnetic Fields' frontman) cover of a Peter Gabriel song, was released on 30 January 2010. Gabriel's version of "The Boy in the Bubble" coupled with Paul Simon 's version of " Biko " was the second, released on 28 February 2010. The third in the series, Gabriel's take on "Flume" paired with Bon Iver's seven-minute long version of " Come Talk to Me "
318-528: A demo tape of songs. Gabriel and Banks contributed "She Is Beautiful", the first song they wrote together. The tape was sent to former Charterhouse pupil turned musician Jonathan King , who was immediately enthusiastic, largely due to Gabriel's vocals. He signed the group and suggested a band name of Gabriel's Angels, but it was unpopular with the other members. They settled on King's other suggestion, Genesis . After King suggested they stick to more straightforward pop, Gabriel and Banks wrote " The Silent Sun " as
424-529: A 100: Tokyo Story ; The Godfather ; Citizen Kane ; Rear Window ; Casablanca ; Boyhood ; Three Colors: Red ; Vertigo ; Fanny and Alexander ; Notorious ; Lawrence of Arabia ; Dekalog ; The Leopard ; and The Conformist . There are five TV show seasons that have received a 99, including Season 4 of Rectify , Season 4 and Season 6 of The Larry Sanders Show , Season 1 of Murder One , and Season 5 of Breaking Bad . The standalone highest-rated album of all time on
530-695: A European leg from September 2013 to December 2014. In 2014, Gabriel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin . They performed Gabriel's "Washing of the Water" together. Gabriel performed " Heroes " by David Bowie with an orchestra at a concert in Berlin to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 2014. In 2016, he
636-584: A Nation , Hardbodies , Mother's Day and United Passions . The standalone lowest-rated TV show of all time is The 1/2 Hour News Hour , with a 13. The standalone lowest-rated album of all time is Playing with Fire by Kevin Federline , with a 15. Metacritic has received mixed reviews from website critics, commentators, and columnists. Its efficacy has been analyzed, with conclusions finding it to be generally useful or unreliable and biased. The website won two annual Webby Awards for excellence in
742-525: A Puerto Rican youth living in New York City, and insisted upon writing all the lyrics himself, whereas on previous albums the lyrics had been divided among all the members of Genesis. Tensions increased during this period, and Gabriel split with the band to pursue a film project with William Friedkin , only to rejoin a week later. Matters were complicated further with the difficult birth of Gabriel's first daughter, resulting in periods of time away from
848-437: A chart illustrating a downward trend in the average critical ratings of the company's games. He took the ratings seriously and stressed the need for the company to bounce back. Also in 2008, Microsoft used Metacritic averages to delist underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games. Scores are weighted averages . Certain publications are given more significance "because of their stature". Metacritic has said that it will not reveal
954-497: A collection of his own songs with an orchestra. The result, New Blood , was released in October 2011. In September 2012, Gabriel kicked off his Back to Front Tour which featured So (1986) performed in its entirety with the original musicians who played on the album, to mark its 25th anniversary. When the opening leg finished a month later, Gabriel took one year off to travel the world with his children. The tour resumed with
1060-424: A completely different take on the song." But after a few listens I find it quite sweet. My version of the song focuses on the humour, and his focuses on the pathos. Of course, if I could sing like him I wouldn't have to be a humourist. The cover artwork is a micrograph of two red blood cells folding over each other. It was shot by Steve Gschmeissner and was included in the cover by Marc Bessant. Not coincidentally,
1166-544: A fan invading the stage. The incident received front-page coverage in Melody Maker , giving them national exposure which allowed the group to double their performance fee. One of Gabriel's stories was printed on the liner notes of their live album, Genesis Live (1973). By late 1973, following the success of Selling England by the Pound (1973), which centred on English themes and literary and materialistic references,
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#17327901327271272-444: A fox's head, mimicking the album's cover. The idea of the fox costume had been suggested to him by Paul Conroy and Glen Colson, employees of Genesis's record label, Charisma Records . Gabriel said he consulted the rest of Genesis about the fox costume but grew tired of arguing about it, but the other members all maintained that nothing was said about it beforehand and that when Gabriel came out in costume they initially mistook him for
1378-483: A frontman, and during an encore performance of " The Knife " on 19 June 1971, he took a running jump into the audience, expecting them to catch him, only for them to instead move out of the way and leave him to land on the floor, breaking an ankle. He consequently had to perform Genesis's next several shows with a wheelchair and crutches. Also during the Trespass tour, he started to recite stories to introduce numbers as
1484-521: A full-time working band. In early 1970, Gabriel played the flute on Mona Bone Jakon by Cat Stevens . The second studio album by Genesis, Trespass (1970), marked Gabriel expanding his musical output with the flute, accordion, tambourine and bass drum, and incorporating his soul music influences. Gabriel explained that he was driven to play these instruments because he was uncomfortable with doing nothing during instrumental sections. He would have preferred to play keyboard instruments, but "Tony [Banks]
1590-478: A game's potential sales and, by extension, the publisher's stock price". However, a 2015 study analyzing over 88 Xbox 360 and 80 PS3 games from 2012 found that Metacritic scores did not impact actual sales. Controversially, the website has been used by game publishers as a means of determining whether a game's developer receives additional royalties. One notable example is the 2010 game Fallout: New Vegas , which received an average Metascore of 84, one short of
1696-449: A game's state in the future due to post-release updates and patches as well as most press reviews of games taking place around their launch. For example, the metascore for MediEvil (2019) was mixed mainly due to performance issues that existed around the time of the game's launch. These issues were fixed in post-release patches that made the game run smoothly, which would have led to a higher metascore in its patched state. Another example
1802-453: A greater investment of time and money, gamers are more informed about reviews than are fans of film or music; they want to know "whether that hotly anticipated title is going to deliver". In June 2018, Metacritic established the "Must-See" label for a movie that "achieves a Metascore of 81 or higher and has been reviewed by a minimum of 15 professional critics". In September 2018, it added the "Must-Play" certification for video games attaining
1908-483: A lengthy argument with Banks, he was allowed to play a minor keyboard part on " I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) ", only for this part to be left out of the mix. "I Know What I Like" became Genesis's first hit single, reaching number 21 in the UK Singles Chart . The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) was Gabriel's final studio album with Genesis. He devised its story of the spiritual journey of Rael,
2014-584: A long-established family of London timber importers and merchants, and his mother was from a musical family. Gabriel was raised at Deep Pool Farm, Coxhill, a Victorian manor just outside Chobham. His great-great-great-uncle, Sir Thomas Gabriel, 1st Baronet , was Lord Mayor of London from 1866 to 1877. Gabriel attended Cable House, a private primary school in Woking , Surrey, followed by St Andrews Preparatory School for Boys in Horsell , Surrey. During his time at
2120-514: A noise processing technique which came about while recording drums on " Intruder ", one of the tracks featuring Phil Collins . Collins implemented the reverb to great effect on his debut solo single " In the Air Tonight " and it has since became a signature sound of the 1980s and beyond. Upon completion Atlantic Records , Gabriel's US distributor who had released his first two albums, refused to put out Peter Gabriel 3: Melt as they thought it
2226-507: A pastiche of the Bee Gees , one of King's favourite bands. It became Genesis's first single, released in 1968. It was included on their debut studio album, From Genesis to Revelation (1968). After the commercial failure of From Genesis to Revelation , the band went their separate ways, and Gabriel continued his studies at Charterhouse. In September 1969, Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford and Phillips decided to drop their plans and make Genesis
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#17327901327272332-539: A powerful and original way". Gabriel used musicians from WOMAD to perform instrumental pieces with focus on rhythm and African, Middle Eastern and European textures, using the National Sound Archive in London for additional inspiration. The initial plan had dedicated ten weeks for recording before it was cut to three, leaving Gabriel unable to finish all the pieces he originally wanted to record. When
2438-421: A qualitative assessment of a game. Kotaku also highlighted a practice alleged to be used by some publishers who use Metacritic scores as a way to leverage more favorable terms for the publisher or deny developers bonuses should they not reach a certain score. Doyle countered this by saying "Metacritic has absolutely nothing to do with how the industry uses our numbers... Metacritic has always been about educating
2544-477: A score of 90% or more, and a minimum number of 15 reviews from industry professionals. The standalone highest-rated game of all time on the site is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , with a 99. The three games with a 98 are Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 , Grand Theft Auto IV , and Soulcalibur . There are about two dozen 97-rated games with standouts including Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V . There are fourteen movies that have received
2650-532: A typical Genesis show had Gabriel wear fluorescent make-up, a cape, and bat wings for " Watcher of the Skies ", a helmet, chest plate, and a shield for " Dancing with the Moonlit Knight ", a crown of thorns and a flower mask for " Supper's Ready ", and an old man mask for "The Musical Box". Gabriel continued to fight for involvement with Genesis's keyboards throughout his time with the group, and following
2756-518: A way to cover the silence between songs while the band tuned their instruments, or while technical faults were being fixed. These stories were all improvised on the spot, and evolved as the tour went along. The opener of their next studio album, Nursery Cryme (1971), " The Musical Box ", was their first song in which Gabriel incorporated a story and characters into the lyrics; the lyrics to previous story-based Genesis songs such as "White Mountain" and "One-Eyed Hound" were all written by other members of
2862-517: Is an autobiographical song about a spiritual experience on top of Solsbury Hill in Somerset. "It's about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get ..." said Gabriel. "It's about letting go." Gabriel toured the album with an 80-date tour from March to November 1977 with a band that included guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson often playing off stage and introduced as "Dusty Rhodes". In late 1977, Gabriel started recording
2968-445: Is flattened out and turned into this one melodramatic and depressing thing (...)"; although the album "sounds earnest [and] professional", it consists of "ponderous, dull, and ultimately pointless versions of songs that sound much better elsewhere." Sales figures based on certification alone. Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter and human rights activist. He
3074-539: Is to do it like a magazine, which will only come out once a year," he remarked in 1978. "So it's the same title, the same lettering in the same place; only the photo is different." Each album has, however, been given a nickname by fans, usually relating to the album cover. Peter Gabriel (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 1: Car ) was released in February 1977 and reached No. 7 in the UK and No. 38 in the US. Its lead single , " Solsbury Hill ",
3180-477: The 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and, according to a report in 2011, it was MTV 's most played music video of all time. Gabriel has been a champion of world music for much of his career. He co-founded the WOMAD festival in 1982. He has continued to focus on producing and promoting world music through his Real World Records label. He has pioneered digital distribution methods for music, co-founding OD2 , one of
3286-856: The 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, but FIFA cancelled the idea in January 2006. At the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , Gabriel performed John Lennon 's " Imagine ". In November 2006, the Seventh World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome presented Gabriel with the Man of Peace award. The award, presented by former General Secretary of the USSR and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev and Walter Veltroni , Mayor of Rome,
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3392-525: The 2008 Academy Awards telecast because producers of the show were limiting his performance of "Down to Earth" from WALL-E to 90 seconds. According to Gabriel, his window was reduced to 65 seconds. John Legend and the Soweto Gospel Choir performed the song in his stead. Gabriel's 2009 tour appearances included Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. His first ever performance in Peru
3498-552: The Brothers Quay and won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987. In 1998, it was named MTV's number one animated video of all time. So earned Gabriel two wins at the 1987 Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and Best British Video (for "Sledgehammer"). He was nominated for four Grammy Awards : Best Male Rock Vocal Performance , Song of the Year , and Record of the Year for "Sledgehammer", and Album of
3604-701: The Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1993 and 1994 for the videos to "Digging in the Dirt" and "Steam", respectively. Gabriel also won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for his Secret World Live video. In 1997, Gabriel was invited to participate in the direction and soundtrack of the Millennium Dome Show , a live multimedia performance staged in the Millennium Dome in London throughout 2000. Gabriel said
3710-495: The Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize laureates in 2006, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. AllMusic described Gabriel as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians, as well as one of its most political". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010, and as a solo artist in 2014. In March 2015, he
3816-490: The Pixar film WALL-E soundtrack in 2008 with Thomas Newman , including the film's closing song, " Down to Earth ", for which they received the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media . The song was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and an Academy Award for Best Original Song . In February 2009, Gabriel announced that he would not be performing on
3922-525: The second Peter Gabriel studio album (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch ) in the Netherlands, with Fripp as producer. Its "Mother of Violence" was written by Gabriel and his first wife Jill. Released in June 1978, the album went to No. 10 in the UK and No. 45 in the US. Gabriel's tour for the album lasted from August to December 1978. On this tour, Gabriel and his band shaved their heads. Gabriel recorded
4028-513: The third Peter Gabriel studio album (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 3: Melt ) in England in 1979. He developed an interest in African music and drum machines and later hailed the record as his artistic breakthrough. Gabriel banned the use of cymbals on the album in order to grant more sonic space for instruments like keyboards and synths. This resulted in the creation of the distinctive gated reverb ,
4134-605: The trad jazz outfit the Milords (or M'Lords). This was followed by a holiday band called the Spoken Word, which recorded an acetate in 1966. Gabriel played drums in both these bands, and his schoolmate Mike Rutherford commented in 1985 that "Pete was - and still is, I think - a frustrated drummer." In 1965, Gabriel formed Garden Wall with school friends Tony Banks on piano, Johnny Trapman on trumpet, and Chris Stewart on drums. Banks had started at Charterhouse at
4240-453: The "Guides/Ratings/Reviews" category, in 2010 and 2015. Metacritic has been criticized for converting all scoring systems into a single quantitative percentage-based scale. For example, an "A" score equates to the value of 100, an "F" the value of zero, and a "B−" the value of 67. Joe Dodson, former editor at GameRevolution , criticized Metacritic and similar sites for turning reviews into scores that he found to be too low. Doyle defended
4346-439: The 1990s. He planned its release in the US without assistance from a label; he raised £2 million towards the recording and distribution of the album with Ingenious Media with the worldwide release handled through Warner Bros. Records . Gabriel appeared on a nationwide tour for the album in 2009. Gabriel was a judge for the 6th and 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. Gabriel contributed to
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4452-585: The 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video , naming director Francois Girard and producer Robert Warr. Gabriel employed an innovative approach in the marketing of the Us album. Not wishing to feature only images of himself, he asked artist filmmakers Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson to co-ordinate a marketing campaign using contemporary artists. Artists such as Helen Chadwick , Rebecca Horn , Nils-Udo , Andy Goldsworthy , David Mach and Yayoi Kusama collaborated to create original artworks for each song on
4558-434: The 85 points required by Bethesda Softworks , the game's publisher. As a result, its developer, Obsidian Entertainment , received no additional bonus. Columnists took issue with the company's use of Metacritic, with one suggesting that this makes game critics ultimately accountable for deciding the developer's profits and another pointing out that a Metascore of 84 is not significantly lower than 85. The latter also pointed out
4664-726: The Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) with worldbeat music. Released in June 2002, Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score – Motion Picture. Later in 2002, Up , Gabriel's first full-length studio album in a decade, was released in September 2002. He started work on it in 1995 before production halted three years later to focus time on other projects and collaborations. Work resumed in 2000, by which time Gabriel had 130 potential songs for
4770-498: The Dirt " directed by John Downer. Accompanied by a video featuring Gabriel covered in snails and various foliage, this song made reference to the psychotherapy which had taken up much of Gabriel's time since the previous studio album. Gabriel describes his struggle to get through to his daughter in " Come Talk to Me " directed by Matt Mahurin , which featured backing vocals by Sinéad O'Connor . O'Connor also lent vocals to " Blood of Eden ", directed by Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson,
4876-891: The Independent Albums chart and No. 3 on the Rock Albums chart on 12 March 2010. Scratch My Back was initially released on compact disc and as music download ; a vinyl album edition was subsequently released in late March 2010. The idea behind the Scratch My Back project is a song exchange where each artist would cover one of Gabriel's songs in return for his covering one of theirs; the other artists' renditions of Gabriel's songs were to appear on an album titled I'll Scratch Yours . Initially planned to be released simultaneously with Scratch My Back in 2010, several artists were late in delivering their songs or ultimately declined to participate, necessitating changes to
4982-452: The UK and No. 28 in the US. The second single, " Shock the Monkey ", became Gabriel's first top 40 hit in the US, reaching No. 29. To handle American distribution, Gabriel signed with Geffen Records , which—initially unbeknown to Gabriel—titled the album Security to differentiate it from the first three. Gabriel's 1982 tour lasted a year and became his first to make a profit. Recordings from
5088-470: The UK. Gabriel toured worldwide with the New Blood Tour from March 2010 to July 2012 with a 54-piece orchestra and his daughter Melanie and Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun on backing vocals. The follow-up, And I'll Scratch Yours , was released in September 2013. During the New Blood Tour, Gabriel decided to expand on the Scratch My Back concept and, with Metcalfe's assistance, re-record
5194-516: The US alone. It produced one of Gabriel's signature songs, that has become a concert staple: In Your Eyes , with a distinctive vocal appearance by Youssou N'Dour , and three UK top 20 singles: " Sledgehammer ", " Big Time " and " Don't Give Up ", a duet with Kate Bush . The first went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 , Gabriel's only single of his career to do so. It knocked " Invisible Touch " by Genesis, his former band, out of
5300-426: The US. Up until 1989, Gabriel was managed by Gail Colson . From 1989 to 1992, Gabriel recorded his follow-up to So , titled Us . The album saw Gabriel address personal themes, including his failed first marriage, psychotherapy, and the growing distance between him and his eldest daughter at the time. Gabriel's introspection within the context of the album Us can be seen in the first single release " Digging in
5406-531: The Year for So . Gabriel toured worldwide to support So with the This Way Up Tour, from November 1986 to October 1987. In 1988, Gabriel became involved as composer for Martin Scorsese 's film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Scorsese had contacted Gabriel about the project since 1983 and wished, according to Gabriel, to present "the struggle between the humanity and divinity of Christ in
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#17327901327275512-759: The album charts around the world, peaking at No. 1 in Belgium, No. 2 in Germany and Canada, and No. 3 in the Czech Republic, Italy and Switzerland. It also reached the top 5 in France and Sweden. In Gabriel's native United Kingdom it peaked at No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart on 21 February 2010, the week following its release. In the United States it peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 , No. 2 on
5618-517: The album, and spent almost two years on it before management at Virgin Records pushed Gabriel to complete it. Up reached No. 9 in the US and No. 11 in the UK, and supported with a world tour with a band that included Gabriel's daughter Melanie on backing vocals. The tour was documented with two live DVDs: Growing Up Live (2003) and Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped (2005). In 2004, Gabriel met with his former Genesis bandmates to discuss
5724-503: The audience in a crucifix position. The stunt became a staple of his live shows. On Peter Gabriel four (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 4: Security ), Gabriel took on greater responsibility over the production than before. He recorded it in 1981 and 1982, solely on digital tape, with a mobile studio parked at his home, Ashcombe House , in Somerset. Gabriel utilized a Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer and incorporated electronic instrumentation with sampling world beat percussion. "Over
5830-480: The band of his intention to leave at its conclusion. Rutherford recalled that they all "could see it coming." Music critics often focused their reviews on Gabriel's theatrics and took the band's musical performance as secondary, which irritated the rest of the band. The tour ended in May 1975, after which Gabriel wrote a piece for the press on 15 August, entitled "Out, Angels Out", about his departure, his disillusion with
5936-425: The band. The other members complained that Gabriel was showing a lack of commitment to the band. Gabriel saw this as a "really unsympathetic handling of my dealing with a family crisis" and said it caused a breakdown in his relationships with the rest of Genesis; Rutherford later admitted that they had been overly fixated on their music and were very unhelpful in what must have been a difficult time for Gabriel. Gabriel
6042-449: The business, and his desire to spend time with his family. The news stunned fans of the group and left commentators wondering if the band could survive without him. His exit resulted in drummer Phil Collins reluctantly taking over on lead vocals after 400 singers were fruitlessly auditioned. Gabriel described his break from the music business as his "learning period", during which he took piano and music lessons. He had recorded demos by
6148-404: The companion album's concept. With several new artists aboard, the slightly retitled And I'll Scratch Yours was released in September 2013. According to Gabriel, although he and arranger John Metcalfe had talked about Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich as inspiration, it was the work that Metcalfe did on "Heroes" that "gave us the confidence to be bold in the way in which we were going to approach
6254-498: The course of the last two albums," he observed, "I've got back into a rhythm consciousness. And the writing—particularly with the invention of these drum machines—is fantastic. You can store in their memories rhythms that interest you and excite you. And then the groove will carry on without you, and the groove will be exactly what you want it to be, rather than what a drummer thinks is appropriate for what you're doing." The fourth Peter Gabriel , released in September 1982, hit No. 6 in
6360-518: The end of 1975, the fruits of a period of writing around 20 songs with his friend Martin Hall. After preparing material for a studio album Gabriel recorded his solo debut, Peter Gabriel , in 1976 and 1977 in Toronto and London, with producer Bob Ezrin . Gabriel did not title his first four studio albums. All were labelled Peter Gabriel , using the same typeface, with designs by Hipgnosis . "The idea
6466-539: The film was finished, Gabriel worked on the soundtrack for an additional four months to develop more of his unfinished ideas. Its soundtrack was released as Passion in June 1989. It won Gabriel a Grammy Award for Best New Age Performance and a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score – Motion Picture . In 1990, Gabriel put out his first compilation album, Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats , which sold 2 million copies in
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#17327901327276572-479: The first online music download services. Gabriel has also been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts. In 1980, he released the anti- apartheid single " Biko ". He has participated in several human-rights benefit concerts, including Amnesty International 's Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and co-founded the Witness human rights organisation in 1992. Gabriel developed The Elders with Richard Branson , which
6678-589: The gamer. We're using product reviews as a tool to help them make the most of their time and money." Metacritic has also been criticized for how it handles banning users and their reviews, with no notice or formal process for appeal. Critics and developers have pointed out that a product can suffer from rating manipulation by users, as by garnering low ratings that purposely damage its reputation or by receiving high ratings from throwaway accounts to make it appear more popular than it actually is. Signal Studios president and creative director Douglas Albright described
6784-491: The grading system, believing that every scale should be converted directly to that of the website, with its lowest possible score being 0 and the highest 100. Further criticism was directed to the website's refusal to publicize how it aggregates scores. According to Doyle, publishers often try to persuade him to exclude reviews they feel are unfair, but he said that once a publication is included, he refuses to omit any of its reviews. A Washington Post review of Uncharted 4
6890-574: The group. Gabriel was the primary writer of "Harold the Barrel", another story song on Nursery Cryme , with Collins helping him on the lyrics. The shows featuring Foxtrot (1972) marked a key development in Gabriel's stage performance. During a gig in Dublin in September 1972, he disappeared from the set during the instrumental section of " The Musical Box " and reappeared in his wife's red dress and
6996-433: The impressive sales of five million sold units and US$ 300 million in revenue, and also noted a series of Obsidian's layoffs in 2011 and 2012. The website has also been used by columnists and commentators as a general reference for critical reception, and by publishers as a tool of improving their products. Along with other executives, in 2008, John Riccitiello , then CEO of Electronic Arts, showed Wall Street analysts
7102-428: The latter, his teachers noticed his singing talent, but he opted for piano lessons from his mother and developed an interest in drumming. At age 10, he purchased a floor tom-tom. Gabriel remarked of his early influences, " Hymns played quite a large part. They were the closest I came to soul music before I discovered soul music. There are certain hymns that you can scream your lungs out on, and I used to love that. It
7208-442: The life from Paul Simon’s The Boy in the Bubble and somehow over-eggs Arcade Fire 's My Body Is a Cage" and concluded "this is exceptionally classy karaoke." In The New York Times , Jon Pareles wrote: "Covers albums don’t get any more idiosyncratic or high concept than Scratch My Back ." Pitchfork reviewer Mark Richardson was less enthusiastic: "Every song on Scratch My Back , regardless of its original tone or meaning,
7314-473: The multi-million-selling CD. Coulson and Bruce documented the process on Hi-8 video. Bruce left Real World and Coulson continued with the campaign, using the documentary background material as the basis for a promotional EPK, the long-form video All About Us and the interactive CD-ROM Xplora1: Peter Gabriel's Secret World . Gabriel won three more Grammy Awards , all in the Music Video category. He won
7420-505: The name of Gabriel's supporting tour for the album is "The New Blood Tour". The album's graphic design concept is credited to Marc Bessant and Peter Gabriel. Gabriel originally intended to release Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours simultaneously. However, as completion of the latter dragged out, it was instead decided to release a series of double A-sided singles with one song from each album every new full moon during 2010 on iTunes . The first, "The Book of Love" – Gabriel's cover of
7526-440: The original source, using colors like green, yellow, or red to indicate the overall sentiment of the critics. Metacritic won two Webby Awards for excellence as an aggregation website. It is regarded as the foremost online review aggregation site for the video game industry. Criticism of the site has focused on the assessment system, the assignment of scores to reviews that do not include ratings, third-party attempts to influence
7632-677: The possibility of staging The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) as a reunion tour. He ultimately dismissed the idea, paving the way for Banks, Rutherford and Collins to organise the Turn It On Again: The Tour . Gabriel produced and performed at the Eden Project Live 8 concert in July 2005. He joined Cat Stevens on stage to perform " Wild World " during Nelson Mandela 's 46664 concert. In 2005, FIFA asked Gabriel and Brian Eno to organise an opening ceremony for
7738-456: The record." "Heroes" became the opening track because "without any of the drive of guitar and drums...it builds an enormous tension that bursts open." If you’re going to reinterpret something, then really do something. Nail your colours to the mast and say, 'This is different, and it isn’t everybody's cup of tea. Stephin Merritt , who wrote "The Book of Love", commented on Gabriel's cover of his song: At first I thought, "How hilarious, he's got
7844-402: The relative weight assigned to each reviewer. Games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed in 2008 by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to "get a look behind the metascoring process". Stuart wrote: "The Metascore phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings , have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years". Doyle said that because video games lead to
7950-467: The release of the album with the Secret World Tour , first using touring keyboardist Joy Askew to sing O'Connor's part, then O'Connor herself for a few months. O'Connor quit the tour, and was replaced by Paula Cole , the latter appearing on the tour recordings: a double album Secret World Live , and a concert video also called Secret World Live , both released in 1994. The film received
8056-467: The respective rapid rise and fall in company values after BioShock and Spider-Man 3 were released. In an interview with The Guardian , Marc Doyle cited two major publishers that "conducted comprehensive statistical surveys through which they've been able to draw a correlation between high metascores and stronger sales" in certain genres. He claimed that an increasing number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as "an early indicator of
8162-415: The review on a positive note by saying: "An album to make you happy feeling sad, Scratch My Back gets better with each play; it might just turn out to be the best surprise birthday present of the year." In Metro , Arwa Haider awarded the album 3 stars out of 5 and commented: "Its most impressive quality is sensitivity; these are elegant orchestral arrangements … It’s sporadically successful; Gabriel saps
8268-418: The sales of games and the stocks of video game publishers". He explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores "can hurt the long-term sales potential". Wingfield wrote that Wall Street pays attention to Metacritic and GameRankings because the sites typically post scores before sales data are publicly available, citing
8374-431: The same time as Gabriel; the two were uninterested in school activities but bonded over music and started to write songs. At a final concert before they broke up, Gabriel, dressed in a kaftan and beads, showered the audience with petals he had picked from neighbouring gardens. In April 1967, after Garden Wall had disbanded, Gabriel and Banks were invited by fellow pupils Anthony Phillips and Mike Rutherford to work on
8480-423: The scores, and the reported lack of staff oversight for user reviews. Metacritic was launched in January 2001 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, and his University of Southern California law classmate Jason Dietz, after two years of developing the site. Rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. Metacritic
8586-475: The site is Ten Freedom Summers by American trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith , with a 99. The standalone lowest-rated game of all time is Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing , with an 8. There are eleven movies that have received a 1: Bio-Dome , 10 Rules for Sleeping Around , Chaos , Inappropriate Comedy , Not Cool , The Singing Forest , The Garbage Pail Kids Movie , Death of
8692-410: The soundtrack to Birdy , Gabriel shifted his musical focus from rhythm and texture, as heard on Peter Gabriel four and Birdy , towards more straightforward songs. In 1985, he recorded his fifth studio album, So (also co-produced with Lanois). So was released in May 1986 and reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US. It remains Gabriel's best-selling album with over five million copies sold in
8798-491: The team were given free rein, which contributed to the various problems they encountered with it, such as a lack of proper budgeting. He also felt that management, while succeeding to get the building finished on time, failed to understand the artistic side of the show and its content. Gabriel's soundtrack was released as OVO in June 2000. The Story of OVO was released in the CD-booklet-shaped comic book which
8904-518: The third single to be released from the album, and once again dealing with relationship struggles, this time going right back to Adam 's rib for inspiration. The album is one of Gabriel's most personal. It met with less success than So , reaching No. 2 in the album chart on both sides of the Atlantic, and making modest chart impact with the singles "Digging in the Dirt" and the funkier " Steam ", which evoked memories of "Sledgehammer". Gabriel followed
9010-470: The top spot, which was also their only US number one hit. In the UK, the single went to No. 4. In 1990, Rolling Stone ranked So at No. 14 on its list of "Top 100 Albums of the Eighties". "Sledgehammer" was particularly successful, dealing with sex and sexual relations through lyrical innuendos. Its famed music video was a collaboration between director Stephen R. Johnson , Aardman Animations , and
9116-655: The top"), Paul Simon 's " The Boy in the Bubble " ("the song it might have been had not the writer been so determined in 1986 to bring the joys of South African township jive to the Western pop charts") and Talking Heads ' "Listening Wind" ("Gabriel shines a soft light into the song's inner desolation"). On the downside Snow describes the version of Lou Reed 's "The Power of the Heart" as "a misstep" and Randy Newman 's " I Think It's Going to Rain Today " as "superfluous". He concludes
9222-570: The tour were released on Gabriel's debut live release, Plays Live (1983). Gabriel produced versions of the third and fourth Peter Gabriel albums with German lyrics. The third consisted of the studio recordings, overdubbed with new vocals. The fourth was remixed, with several tracks extended or altered. In 1983, Gabriel developed the soundtrack for Alan Parker 's drama film Birdy (1984), co-produced with Daniel Lanois . This consisted of new material, without lyrics, as well as remixed instrumentals from his previous studio album. After finishing
9328-440: The website as having no standards. In July 2020, Metacritic added a 36-hour waiting period for user reviews to be posted for video games at launch in an effort to reduce user score review-bombing during that period by users that have not played or barely played the game during a period when most players will not have finished the game. Some have noted that Metacritic scores for modern video games may not be accurately reflective of
9434-433: Was acquired by Fandom, Inc. in 2022. Metacritic turns each review into a percentage score. This can be done either by calculating the score from the rating given or by making a subjective decision based on the review's quality. Before averaging the scores, they are adjusted based on the critic's popularity, reputation, and the number of reviews they have written. The site also includes a summary from each review and links to
9540-522: Was album of the month in the March 2010 issue of Mojo . Reviewer Mat Snow writes: "He [Gabriel] and his top-of-the-range collaborators (...) have created an album of great insight into the untapped potential of familiar songs, a profound re-imagining made manifest in an orchestral soundworld as rich and thrilling as ever recorded at Air (...)". He gave special mention to the reinterpretations of David Bowie 's " Heroes " ("the song’s underlying despair rises to
9646-541: Was an acknowledgement of Gabriel's extensive contribution and work on behalf of human rights and peace. The award was presented in the Giulio Cesare Hall of the Campidoglio in Rome. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Q magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by American musician Moby . In an interview published in the magazine to accompany the award, Gabriel's contribution to music
9752-522: Was assigned with a rating of 40/100 by Metacritic; this was the only negative review of the game. Readers who disapproved of the review petitioned Metacritic to remove the Post as a trusted source. As a result of its perceived negative influence on the industry, several reviewing sites, including Kotaku and Eurogamer , have dropped numerical reviews that would appear in Metacritic, instead favoring
9858-698: Was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia in recognition of his achievements in music. Peter Brian Gabriel was born on 13 February 1950 in Chobham , Surrey , England, son of Ralph Parton Gabriel (1912–2012) and Edith Irene (1921–2016), daughter of Colonel Edward Allen, chairman of the Civil Service Department Store on the Strand, London . Gabriel's father was an electrical engineer and dairy farm-owner from
9964-496: Was described as "vast and enduring." Gabriel took on a project with the BBC World Service 's competition "The Next Big Thing" to find the world's best young band. Gabriel judged the final six young artists with William Orbit , Geoff Travis and Angélique Kidjo . In June 2008, Gabriel released Big Blue Ball , an album of various artists collaborating with each other at his Real World Studios across three summers in
10070-586: Was extraordinarily possessive about the keyboards. I'd done a bit of flute at school, I always liked the sound, and a little bit of oboe (I was an even worse oboe player, but it made a couple of good noises now and again). Then the bass drum was something physical, visual, that I could kick hard and occasionally it was in time!" The album sold little and at one point, Gabriel secured a place at London School of Film Technique because Genesis "seemed to be dying." Genesis recruited guitarist Steve Hackett and drummer Phil Collins . Gabriel began growing in confidence as
10176-453: Was featured on the song " A.I. " by American pop rock band OneRepublic from their fourth studio album Oh My My . Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films , television shows , music albums , video games , and formerly books . For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average ). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999, and
10282-511: Was for Gabriel to cover an artists' song if they, in turn, covered one of his for an album simultaneously released as I'll Scratch Yours , but several participants later declined or were late to deliver and it was placed on hold. Gabriel avoided using drums and guitar in favour of orchestral arrangements, and altered his usual songwriting method by finishing the vocals first and then the song, for which he collaborated with John Metcalfe . Released in February 2010, Scratch My Back reached No. 12 in
10388-594: Was great when you used to get the old shivers down the back." At age 12, Gabriel wrote his first song, "Sammy the Slug". Around this time, an aunt gave him money for professional singing lessons, but he used it to buy the Beatles ' debut studio album Please Please Me (1963). In September 1963, he started at Charterhouse , a public school in Godalming , Surrey. There, he was a drummer and vocalist for his first band:
10494-682: Was held in Lima on 20 March 2009, during his second visit to the country. On 25 July 2009, he played at WOMAD Charlton Park, his only European performance of the year, to promote Witness. The show included two tracks from the then-forthcoming Scratch My Back : Paul Simon 's "The Boy in the Bubble" and the Magnetic Fields ' "The Book of Love". In 2009, Gabriel recorded Scratch My Back , an album of cover songs by various artists including David Bowie , Lou Reed , Arcade Fire , Radiohead , Regina Spektor and Neil Young . The original concept
10600-524: Was late to deliver the lyrics, but has denied that he was too busy to write much music for the album and relied on contributions from Banks and Rutherford. Banks corroborated that Gabriel was the primary composer of the Lamb songs " The Carpet Crawlers " and "The Chamber of 32 Doors" and the sole composer of "Counting Out Time". During a stop in Cleveland, Ohio, early into the album's tour, Gabriel informed
10706-752: Was launched by Nelson Mandela in 2007. Gabriel has won three Brit Awards —winning Best British Male in 1987, six Grammy Awards , thirteen MTV Video Music Awards , the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards , the Q magazine Lifetime Achievement, the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Polar Music Prize . He was made a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his "influence on generations of music makers". In recognition of his many years of human rights activism, he received
10812-537: Was not commercial enough. Gabriel signed a recording contract with Mercury Records . Released in May 1980, the album went to No. 1 in the UK for three weeks. In the US, it peaked at No. 22. The single " Games Without Frontiers " went to No. 4 and " Biko " went to No. 36 in the UK. After a handful of shows in 1979, Gabriel toured the album from February to October 1980. The tour marked Gabriel's first successful instance of crowd surfing (following his failed June 1971 attempt when touring with Genesis) when he fell back into
10918-503: Was part of the CD edition with the title "OVO The Millennium Show". Around that same time, the Genesis greatest hits album, Turn It On Again: The Hits (1999), featured Gabriel sharing vocals with Phil Collins on a new version of " The Carpet Crawlers " entitled "The Carpet Crawlers 1999", produced by Trevor Horn . In 2002 he stuck with soundtrack work for his next project, scoring for
11024-444: Was released on 30 March 2010. On 17 April 2010 "The Book of Love" / "Not One of Us" as well as "Flume" / "Come Talk to Me" were also released on 7" vinyl to independent record stores. Scratch My Back received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic , which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it received an average score of 67 based on 21 reviews. Scratch My Back
11130-487: Was sold to CNET in 2005. CNET and Metacritic were later acquired by the CBS Corporation . In 2020, Metacritic and other CNET titles were bought by Red Ventures . In 2022, Red Ventures sold Metacritic and other entertainment websites to Fandom, Inc. Metacritic has been used by businesses to predict future sales. In 2007, Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote that Metacritic "influence[s]
11236-406: Was the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis . After leaving the band in 1975, he launched a solo career with " Solsbury Hill " as his first single. His fifth studio album, So (1986), is his best-selling release and is certified triple platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the US. The album's most successful single, " Sledgehammer ", won a record nine MTV Awards at
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