1982 Songs: Shock the Monkey

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Do you remember what you were doing in 1982? I do (serving in the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia). If you don’t, do you remember these songs? Did you know they’re forty years old now? Wow! Good music doesn’t have an expiration date, so you may hear this on the “oldies” station today. Here’s the next song on the list. Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel And speaking of Norfolk, I can’t think of this song without remembering a story about WNOR-FM’s legendary shock jock, Henry “The Bull” Del Toro. He played this song on the radio one morning, dedicating it to a convicted murderer being put to death that day in Virginia’s electric chair. Yes, Del Toro received a suspension and a fine over the joke. But that’s why people like Howard Stern just bore me: I had a professional to listen to. (Kind of like that classic time that Don Imus played James Taylor’s “Her Town Too” on VH-1 and said over the outro, “Bet he’s doing better since he dumped ol’ liver lips [Carly Simon]!” ) Enough shock jock memories. I love this song, misunderstood though it is. Peter Gabriel swears up and down it’s not an anti-PETA song or a 1984- type dystopia. No, he says, it’s a love song. In this case, the way jealousy can turn men into animals. Or you just forget about shock jocks and trying to decipher the meaning of the video and enjoy the heck out of the song. Shock the Monkey Written by Peter Gabriel Recorded by Peter Gabriel From Peter Gabriel (“Security”), 1982 (Today’s 1972 song: “Take It Easy”) There is one thing you must be sure of: