"Big Time" is a song by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel from his fifth studio album So (1986). It was his second top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at no. 8.[6]
Recording
The song underwent many permutations before being finalized; Jerry Marotta remembers an early version of "Big Time", which he described as more intense and so far out from the released version that it "would not have been a hit".[7]
The song's bass guitar part is unique in that backing bassist Tony Levin and drummer Marotta teamed up to record it. Levin handled the fingerings while Marotta hit the strings with his drumsticks, resulting in a percussive sound; it was inspired by a technique developed by Gene Krupa in the 1940s or early 1950s.[8] Inspired by this sound, Levin later invented funk fingers, small drumstick ends that could be attached to the fingertips in order to reproduce it during live performances.[9]
The drum parts were a considerable challenge to record - Gabriel requested that Marotta, Manu Katché and Stewart Copeland each play a take over a click track from a LinnDrum.[7] Marotta recorded a drum part with a harder rock feel, but Gabriel instead opted for Copeland's "lighter, poppier approach".[9] Gabriel liked Copeland's drum take but felt that it did not quite lock in rhythmically.[7] He said, "I love Stewart's playing. He's not the world's best timekeeper, as he would be first to admit, but he can drive a track like very few others; it's always ahead of the beat, sits right up and forward, and his kit always sounds very alive."[10]
To get around the timing problems, engineer Kevin Killen mixed Copeland's drum parts to mono and sampled sections of his playing that lined up best with the click track. Gabriel additionally wanted to incorporate Copeland's drum fills, which were also meticulously sampled and adjusted to align with the rest of the song.[7]
Critical reception
Cash Box said that the song "features Gabriel in a characteristic lyrical goldmine delivering a passionate, believable vocal".[11]Billboard called it a "dynamic, big-room funk-rocker" that recreates the old Memphis sound.[12] The Los Angeles Times was more critical and labeled the song as the album's "biggest failure", arguing that it was "a satire on ego and ambition that says nothing we haven't heard from lesser observers many times before".[13]
"Big Time" was used in 2006 by WWE as the main theme for WrestleMania 22.[29]
It is featured in the intro of the documentary film Inside Job (2010).[30]
The B-side, "Curtains", was not released in digital format until 2004, when the "Broad mix" of the song was featured in the videogame Myst IV: Revelation, to which Gabriel also lent his voice as an actor.[31]
