The rare star who gave Peter Gabriel hope that “real originality” still exists in music
While the entire point of progressive rock has always been to push rock music to its limits and create something that is original and stands out from the crowd, there aren’t many more original artists in the genre than Peter Gabriel.
As the main creative force and frontman for Genesis in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Peter Gabriel was right there at the dawn of prog – back when the genre was still finding its feet and there weren’t many rules to follow. That freedom gave him room to push boundaries in ways few others dared. Sure, there were contemporaries like Jethro Tull and King Crimson who were also tearing up the rulebook, but Gabriel was off doing his own thing – a bit weirder, a bit bolder, and completely different to what Ian Anderson or Robert Fripp were up to.
When he departed from the band, he chose to push things even further in different directions, with his post-Genesis art pop and new wave experiments paving the way for even more permutations in the genre, and his embrace of music from all corners of the world making him an admired figure in multiple different scenes. Gabriel’s innovations haven’t really ever ceased to draw attention throughout his career, but he’s passed the baton to others since the peak of his popularity.
There are plenty of people who can claim to have been influenced by Gabriel, but not too many who can claim to have pushed the boundaries of where ‘rock’ could go in quite the same way. However, one such artist who emerged in the 1980s was one whom Gabriel had a certain affinity for the work of, and who can be said to have helped define the term ‘post-rock’, which has since been used to describe a strand of progressive rock that features non-standard instrumentation and extensive passages that take a more meditative and ambient approach.
Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis is not necessarily the best known name outside of niche circles, with the band only ever having had a couple of flirtations with the mainstream through songs like ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Life’s What You Make It’, but it’s the evolution of the group from their sophisti-pop origins to their cutting-edge post-rock ingenuity that has gained them plenty of plaudits from listeners and critics alike.
Gabriel recognised how vital Hollis’ work was, and how important it has proven itself to be in the development of music to this day. Many modern artists look towards their final two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, as a benchmark for how post-rock ought to sound, yet nothing quite comes close to either album in terms of how they craft atmosphere. In an obituary for Hollis published in the Guardian in 2019, Gabriel acknowledged how stellar his work was.
“Real originality is a rare commodity in music,” he proclaimed. “Mark created very personal pictures with his music and magical voice, a wry, unique and soulful take on the world. He will be missed.”
It’s fair to say that much like Gabriel, Hollis was a truly singular artist, and one whose retirement from the industry and unfortunate passing left a gaping hole in progressive and experimental rock music. His trailblazing efforts live on, but the frequency with which people like him crop up is rare, and Gabriel knew to cherish that.
