History Music / Melt

** "Biko" opens with a sample of Steve Biko's funeral procession, specifically the crowd of mourners singing "Ngomhla sibuyayo", and features another sample of the same crowd singing "Senzeni Na?" just before the gunfire-esque drumbeats that close the song. On the single release, the closing sample is replaced with a recording of "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika" (which by coincidence would later become the South African national anthem following the abolition of apartheid), with excerpts of the song both opening and closing "Biko" on the German-language version of ''Melt''.

The album topped the UK Albums Charts, peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, his highest chart placement at that date, and was certified gold by the BPI just three days after its release (later being certified gold in France and the U.S. as well), overall acting as Gabriel's BreakthroughHit as a solo artist in the UK. Additionally, lead single "Games Without Frontiers" peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles chart and became the 54th best-selling single of the year in Britain. The song reached a respectable No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, but received heavy airplay on American rock radio.

The album topped the UK Albums Charts, peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, his highest chart placement at that date, and was certified gold by the BPI just three day' after its release (later being certified gold in France and the U.S. as well), overall acting as Gabriel's BreakthroughHit as a solo artist in the UK. Additionally, lead single "Games Without Frontiers" peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles chart and became the 54th best-selling single of the year in Britain. The song reached a respectable No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, but received heavy airplay on American rock radio.

* MetalScream: "I Don't Remember" opens with a fairly impressive one that rapidly approaches CarefulWithThatAxe territory.

''Peter Gabriel'', also known by its FanNickname ''Melt'', is the third album by the English ProgressiveRock musician [[Music/PeterGabriel of the same name]]. It was released through Creator/CharismaRecords in the United Kingdom, and Creator/MercuryRecords in the United States, on 30 May 1980. It would later be re-issued in the US by Creator/GeffenRecords in 1983.

To better consolidate this drastic shift, Gabriel enlisted the help of producer Steve Lillywhite, by then already a known name in the post-punk scene for his work with Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees and the first incarnation of Music/{{Ultravox}}. Melding Siouxsie's Gothic atmosphere with Ultravox's leftfield style and Gabriel's knack for general strangeness, Lillywhite worked closely with Gabriel and a large bevy of session musicians, including fellow Genesis alum Music/PhilCollins and young art pop innovator Music/KateBush, to bring together an album that was both abrasively dense and forebodingly hollow.

* {{Instrumentals}}: "The Start".

* LastNoteNightmare: "I Don't Remember" ends with a low synthesizer drone, while "Biko"-- and by extent, the album-- ends with two echoing drumbeats that invoke the sound of gunfire; a common interpretation of the latter is that it represents the white South African government's violent oppression against the anti-apartheid movement, especially with how it abruptly cuts off a sample of Steve Biko's funeral procession singing "Senzeni Na?"

* OneManSong: "Biko"
* OneWordTitle: "Intruder", "Biko"; played with in regards to "The Start", which is known as just "Start" on some releases. ''Melt'' is also a single word, albeit the product of a popular FanNickname.

** Music/KateBush provides backing vocals on "No Self Control" and "Games Without Frontiers".

* StudioChatter: Opens "Not One of Us".

** Music/KingCrimson leader Robert Fripp plays guitar on "No Self Control", "I Don't Remember", and "Not One of Us".

-->'''"Intruder"'''

# "The Start" (1:21)