History Music / Us

* MythologyGag: Two in the video for "Steam": the sequence of Gabriel as a male stripper recalls a party scene illustrated in the music video for [[Music/{{So}} "Big Time"]], while a later sequence briefly features an actor dressed up to resemble Gabriel during his Music/{{Genesis|Band}} days.

** The CD releases of the album's associated singles feature label art consisting of {{palette swaps}} of the album's disc label; ''Music/{{Up|PeterGabrielAlbum}}'' and its own CD singles would repeat the gimmick a decade later.

* HeroicBSOD: The whole album is a prolonged case of this.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: The central theme of "Fourteen Black Paintings", inspired by Creator/FranciscoDeGoya's Black Paintings and the violence & slaughter of UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars that most art historians believe factored into their creation; compounding this is the song's artwork in the liner notes, featuring an egg surrounded by black spikes.

** "Fourteen Black Paintings" to Creator/FranciscoDeGoya, who infamously painted a series of fourteen "Black Paintings" on the walls of his home detailing haunting, morbid subject matter with heavy use of black tones.

* RegionalBonus: The Japanese release adds "Bashi-Bazouk", the B-side of "Digging in the Dirt", to the end of the album as a bonus track.

* LongestSongGoesLast: {{Inverted|Trope}}; the 7:06 "Come Talk to Me" ''opens'' the album.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Given that the entire album is more or less a darker take on ''So'', cases of this inevitably abound.
** "Steam" is overtly one to "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", in that it's a throwback to '60s soul and '70s funk on an album otherwise defined by a mix of art pop and African folk music.
** "Kiss That Frog" also acts as a successor of sorts to ''So''[='s=] funkier pieces, with it being an upbeat love song with heavy use of phallic metaphors in the vein of "Sledgehammer".
** "Fourteen Black Paintings" can be considered one to "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)", with it being a mostly-instrumental mood piece tucked near the end of its respective album.
** This even extends to the music videos, with "Steam" and "Kiss That Frog" following up on the stop-motion driven videos for "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" by making as much use of then-cutting-edge CGI animation technology as possible.

* MythologyGag: Two in the video for "Steam": the sequence of Gabriel as a male stripper recalls a party scene illustrated in the music video for [[Music/{{So}} "Big Time"]], while a later sequence briefly features an actor dressed up to resemble Gabriel during his Music/{{Genesis}} days.

* TheXOfY: "Washing of the Water"

* {{Retraux}}: "Steam", in the vein of "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", is a deliberate throwback to 60's soul and funk music.

** "Steam" is overtly one to "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", in that it's a throwback to 60's soul and 70's funk on an album otherwise defined by a mix of art pop and African folk music.

Released six years after the massively-successful and mainstream-friendly ''Music/{{So}}'', ''Us'' represents a refining of its predecessor's mix of worldbeat and art pop, presenting a somewhat more experimental sound that still remains accessible to fans who got into Gabriel's work through his 1986 megahit. It was his first proper studio album released through his Real World Records label, created following Creator/{{EMI}}'s purchase of Creator/VirginRecords and the consequent absorption of Creator/CharismaRecords shortly after ''So'' came out[[note]]technically, 1989's ''Music/{{Passion}}'' was Gabriel's first album on Real World Records, but that's typically classified more as a soundtrack than a studio album, thanks to much of it being written for and used in ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist''[[/note]].

While not as big of a success as ''So'', and despite being released long after the worldbeat boom had died out, ''Us'' still managed to peak at No. 2 on both the UK Albums chart and the Billboard 200. It would go on to become the 79th best-selling album of 1992 in the UK and the 81st best-selling album of 1993 in the US, and would be certified triple-platinum in Italy, double-platinum in Canada, platinum in the UK, the US, Australia, and Germany, double-gold in France, and gold in Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. The album was also a critical success, with both fans and the music press viewing it as a worthy follow-up to ''So''. ''Us'' also scored Grammy awards for Best Music Video in both 1992 and 1994, via the singles "Digging in the Dirt" and "Steam", respectively.

[[caption-width-right:350:''This time, you've gone too far''\\
''I told you, I told you, I told you, I told you'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"This time, you've gone too far."'']]

Released six years after the massively-successful and mainstream-friendly ''Music/{{So}}'', ''Us'' represents a refining of its predecessor's mix of worldbeat and art pop, presenting a somewhat more experimental sound that still remains accessible to fans who got into Gabriel's work through his 1986 megahit. It was his first proper studio album released through his Real World Records label, created following Creator/{{EMI}}'s purchase of Creator/VirginRecords and the consequent absorption of Creator/CharismaRecords shortly after ''So'' came out[[note]]technically, 1989's ''Passion'' was Gabriel's first album on Real World Records, but that's typically classified more as a soundtrack than a studio album, thanks to much of it being written for and used in ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist''[[/note]].

** The album cover repeats the visual motifs that were standard for Gabriel's Real World Records label at the time. Namely, the album features a rainbow stripe that spans from the bottom-left corner of the front cover to the bottom-right quadrant of the back cover, as well as a macro photograph occupying most of the back cover. Like the label's first release, Gabriel's 1989 soundtrack album ''Passion'', the back cover is also predominantly red. A white stripe featuring the artist, album title, and barcode stretch across the top of the back cover and the upper spine, the WOMAD logo is present in the upper-right, and the tracklist is featured on the left side of the back cover in a white box.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "Kiss That Frog" is, for all intents and purposes, a blowjob song muddied under allusions to a popular fairy tale.

'''''Us''''' is the sixth studio album recorded by English musician Music/PeterGabriel. It was released through Real World Records in the United Kingdom, and Creator/GeffenRecords in North America, on 28 September 1992.

Released six years after the massively-successful and mainstream-friendly ''Music/{{So}}'', ''Us'' represents a refining of its predecessor's mix of worldbeat and art pop, presenting a somewhat more experimental sound that still remains accessible to fans who got into Gabriel's work through his 1986 megahit. It was his first proper studio album released through his Real World Records label, created following Creator/{{EMI}}'s purchase of Creator/VirginRecords and the consequent absorption of Charisma Records shortly after ''So'' came out[[note]]technically, 1989's ''Passion'' was Gabriel's first album on Real World Records, but that's typically classified more as a soundtrack than a studio album, thanks to much of it being written for and used in ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist''[[/note]].

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Something in me, dark and sticky"''\\
''"All the time it's getting strong"'']]

While not as big of a success as ''So'', and despite being released long after the worldbeat boom had died out, ''Us'' still managed to peak at No. 2 on both the UK Albums chart and the Billboard 200. It would go on to become the 79th best-selling album of 1992 in the UK and the 81st best-selling album of 1993 in the US, and would be certified triple-platinum in Italy, double-platinum in Canada, platinum in the UK, the US, Australia, and Germany, double-gold in France, and gold in Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. The album was also a critical success, with both fans and the music press viewing it as a worthy followup to ''So''. ''Us'' also scored Grammy awards for Best Music Video in both 1992 and 1994, via the singles "Digging in the Dirt" and "Steam", respectively.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Don't talk back, just drive the car!"'']]

** Peter Hammill of Music/VanDerGraafGenerator sings backing vocals on "Digging in the Dirt".