Peter Gabriel Goes to the Movies Quiz

Answer: The Gods Must Be Crazy

The African-made film about a Bushmen's trek to rid the earth of the trouble-causing bottle was a sleeper hit after its initial release in 1980. Peter Gabriel was among the first major western artists to embrace African music and interweave its rhythms and lyrics into his own music.

His version of "Shosholoza" was released as a single in 1980 along with "Biko" and "Jetzt Kommt Die Flut", a German version of "Here Comes the Flood".

Answer: Birdy

"Birdy" won the Grand Prize of the Jury award at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Peter Gabriel included adaptations from songs from his third and fourth albums on the soundtrack. Gabriel's first four albums were untitled with only his name being referenced. On his website, he refers to them as "Peter Gabriel 1", "Peter Gabriel 2", etc., but the album art led to nicknames including "Melt" and "Security".

Answer: Say Anything

The story of a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who ends up with the beautiful, brainy girl was one of several teen movies in the 1980s in which pop music played an integral part. The popularity of "In Your Eyes" along with the hits, "Big Time" and "Sledgehammer", made Peter Gabriel's album "So" one of his best-selling works. An extended version of the song became the standard encore at Gabriel's concerts.

Answer: Philadelphia

Based on a true story, the film was one of the first to address AIDS and homophobia. Bruce Springsteen won the Best Song Oscar for "Streets of Philadelphia", and Neil Young was also nominated for his song "Philadelphia" from the movie. Peter Gabriel later covered Young's song on his 2010 album "Scratch My Back".

Answer: The Last Temptation of Christ

The film about the fictionalized personal life of Jesus was protested even before it was released, although it did receive generally favorable reviews. Martin Scorsese was nominated for the Best Director Academy Award for the film (he didn't win), and Peter Gabriel's Middle Eastern-flavored soundtrack won the 1990 Grammy for Best New Age album.

The album was among the first to introduce major musicians from Africa and the Middle East, including Youssou N'Dour and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, to western audiences.

Answer: Babe: Pig in the City

The sequel to 1995's "Babe" was not as well received as the original film about a pig that wanted to be a sheep dog. Peter Gabriel performed the song with Randy Newman at the 1999 Academy Award ceremony, but the song lost to "When You Believe" from "The Prince of Egypt". Gabriel performed another Newman song, "I Think it's Going to Rain Today", on his 2010 "Scratch My Back" album.

Answer: The Gangs of New York

Inspired by a non-fiction account of the Five Points district of New York City, the film received favorable reviews and ten Academy Award nominations but it didn't manage to win any, losing to "Chicago" in several categories. An instrumental version of Peter Gabriel's "Signal to Noise" was used in the film, and he included a vocal version featuring Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as the opening track on his 2002 album "Up".

Answer: Rabbit-Proof Fence

Based on a true story, the film about the girls' 1,500 mile trek along the fence built to limit the range of the non-native rabbits was a critical success and won numerous awards around the world. Peter Gabriel's soundtrack entitled "Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence" won the Australia Film Institute Award in 2002 and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

The soundtrack included Aboriginal singing and an early version of the song "Sky Blue" which was later included on his album 2002 "Up".

Answer: WALL-E

The movie about robots that fall in love received favorable reviews although there was some criticism of its pro-environmentalism focus. "WALL-E" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2009 and was nominated for five other awards. Gabriel's "Down to Earth" was the only song nominated for the Academy Award in 2009 that wasn't from the movie, "Slum Dog Millionaire", and it lost to the song, "Jai Ho".

Answer: Shall We Dance?

"Shall We Dance?" was a remake of the 1996 Japanese film "Shall We Dansu?" Not to be confused with The Monotone's song "(Who Wrote) The Book of Love", Peter Gabriel's version also appeared in the final episode of the T.V. show "Scrubs". He also included the song on his 2010 album "Scratch My Back".