Go Big or Go Home - "Big Time"

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The final big big big big big big big big song. And I didn’t type out all of those bigs just for the sake of it. They are part of the lyrics of this final big song. “Big Time” is a song from Peter Gabriel’s smash 1986 album, So. It was Gabriel’s second single to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the other being “Sledgehammer” from the same album.) “Big Time” went through several variations before the final, released version, with the early incarnations not being hit material, according to drummer Jerry Marotta. Marotta and bassist Tony Levin teamed up on the bass to give it a funky, percussive sound - Levin fingered the frets while Marotta hit the strings with his drumsticks. Out of the three drummers Gabriel had play along with his own programmed drum machine, Police drummer Stewart Copeland had the version Gabriel liked best, but it didn’t quite fit the drum machine’s rhythm. The solution? They sampled Copeland’s drums into the parts of the song where they worked best with the tune. Fun Fact: Backup singer P.P. Arnold had previously been an Ikette for the Ike & Tina Turner Review. It’s 80’s funk-influenced dance rock at its finest. Link is to the official promotional video: