Modern Love (Peter Gabriel Song)

"Modern Love" is a song written and performed by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released in 1977 as the second single released from his 1977 self-titled album, although it failed to chart. The song was also performed live on the album's accompanying tour.

Background

During the vocal sessions for Modern Love, producer Bob Ezrin thought that Gabriel's delivery of the line ''oh the pain, modern love can be strain'' sounded "too polite", so he offered the singer three more attempts to sing the line. Once this proved unsuccessful, Ezrin asked engineer Brian Chistian to hoist Gabriel up a ladder and duct-taped his armpits to one of the pillars in the studio. "We rolled the tape and he was up there arms flailing and screaming 'Ahh, the pain, Modern Love' and we got it."

The lyrics include sexual innuendos and references to Roman mythology and classical art, including Leonardo da Vinci ''Mona Lisa'' and Sandro Botticelli '' The Birth of Venus''. A music video directed by Peter Medak, who Gabriel selected after watching '' The Ruling Class''. Parts of the music video were filmed at a shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush on moving escalators, which Gabriel thought were "of the future at the time."

When asked by ''Melody Maker'' why the single failed to match the commercial performance of "Solsbury Hill", the previous single, Gabriel posited that most of the people who would have otherwise purchased "Modern Love" already had the song on the album, adding that the label was unwilling to promote the single despite a willingness for some commercial stations to play it. He also stated that he would have preferred to release "Modern Love" as the lead single instead of "Solsbury Hill". The artwork on the disc featured Gabriel nude in a Vitruvian Man pose with the spindle hole obscuring his crotch.

The idea was when you put the record on the turntable the little thing in the center gave me generous endowments. I was quite pleased with the idea at the time but it didn't go down very well. I think it joined the long list of misses from my single releases, of which there have been many."

Critical reception

Alan Jones of ''Melody Maker'' described "Modern Love" as a "rousing and highly enjoyable" power pop song. He also stated that "Modern Love" was the only song on the album that evoked the previous production work of Bob Ezrin, an observation that Gabriel agreed with.
In its review of Gabriel's debut album, ''AllMusic'' characterised Modern Love as a "surging rocker". ''NME'' complimented the guitars and keyboards on "Modern Love", and quipped that the riff was "strong enough to land Concorde on."

Track listing

;7" single
# "Modern Love." – 3:06
# "Slowburn" – 4:20

Personnel

* Peter Gabriel – lead vocals
* Robert Fripp – electric guitar
* Tony Levin – bass guitar
* Jozef Chirowski – keyboards
* Larry Fast – synthesizers
* Allan Schwartzberg – drums
* Jimmy Maelen – percussion

References

{{Peter Gabriel

1977 songs
1977 singles
Peter Gabriel songs
Songs written by Peter Gabriel
Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin