"The Barry Williams Show"
Single by Peter Gabriel
from the album Up
ReleasedSeptember 2002
Length
  • 7:18 (album version)
  • 4:44 (single edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)Peter Gabriel
Producer(s)
  • Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel singles chronology
"When You're Falling"
(2001)		 "The Barry Williams Show"
(2002)		 "More Than This"
(2002)

"The Barry Williams Show" is a song by English rock musician Peter Gabriel from his 2002 album, Up.[1] The song was released as the album's lead single and charted in various European countries. In 2003, the song received a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, although it lost to Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising".[2]

Background

Gabriel wrote "The Barry Williams Show" as a commentary on TV culture. His decision to name the song's titular talk show host “Barry Williams” was made without knowing that several notable individuals also possessed the same name, including a rugby player and an actor, the latter of whom starred in The Brady Brunch.[3] The actor from The Brady Bunch later made a cameo in the music video for "The Barry Williams Show", which was directed by Sean Penn. Christopher McDonald depicted the fictional television host in the music video.[4]

Prior to its release as a single, Gabriel reviewed the lyrics to ensure that radio stations would not find the song too controversial, although Gabriel believed that none of the lyrics would have been out of place in a Sunday newspaper.[3]

The cover art uses an image taken by Paul Thorel titled Regardez Madame! L’Escargot Vola!. It was designed by Marc Bessant, who worked with Dilly Gent to find visual material that matched Gabriel's lyrics.[3]

Critical reception

"The Barry Williams Show" has been panned by reviewers. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that “The Barry Williams Show” felt out of place on Up and characterized the song as "ham-fisted" and "wrong-headed".[1] Scott Schinder of Entertainment Weekly thought that the song was a “muddled stab at social criticism”.[5] Andy Greene of Rolling Stone called "The Barry Williams Show" the worst song on Up "and quite possibly the worst song he's ever released going all the way back to the earliest days of Genesis in 1967".[4]

Track listing

7-inch single (2002)
  1. "The Barry Williams Show" (Unadulterated Radio Edit) – 4:44
  2. "Cloudless" (Radio Edit) – 4:08[3]
CD (2002)
  1. "The Barry Williams Show" (Unadulterated Radio Edit) – 4:44
  2. "The Barry Williams Show" (Album Version) – 7:18
  3. "My Head Sounds Like That" (Remix By Röyksopp) – 8:22
  4. "Cloudless" (Radio Edit) – 4:08[3]

Personnel

Credits from the Up liner notes.[6]

Charts

Chart performance for “The Barry Williams Show”
Chart (2002) Peak
position
France (SNEP)[7] 74
Germany (Official German Charts)[8] 66
Hungary (Single Top 40)[9] 19
Italy (FIMI)[10] 10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[11] 81
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[12] 9

Awards and nominations

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2003 Grammy Award[2] Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Up - Peter Gabriel". Allmusic. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 "45th Grammy Awards - 2003". Rock On The Net. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Barry Williams Show". PeterGabriel.com. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  4. 1 2 Greene, Andy (16 February 2021). "Flashback: Peter Gabriel Mocks Trash TV With 'The Barry Williams Show'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  5. ↑ Schinder, Scott (27 September 2002). "Music Review - Up (2002)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Up Liner Notes (Liner Notes). Peter Gabriel. USA: Real World Records. 2002.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ "Peter Gabriel – The Barry Williams Show" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  8. ↑ "Peter Gabriel – The Barry Williams Show" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  9. ↑ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Top Singoli – Classifica settimanale WK 37" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "Peter Gabriel – The Barry Williams Show". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "Peter Gabriel Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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