Synopsis

Peter Gabriel appears as two versions of the same man: a tightly wound businessman and a primal, white-painted alter ego. In a stark office filled with flickering lights, projected zoo footage, and a frightened monkey, the suited figure becomes increasingly overwhelmed as the room falls into disarray. The video cuts between this psychological breakdown, Gabriel running through a wilderness, and disorienting urban images. As the tension peaks, the two sides merge, suggesting the release of instincts buried beneath modern life.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video is often mistaken for a literal animal-rights statement, but Gabriel described "Shock the Monkey" as a song about jealousy. The monkey represents the primitive feelings jealousy can unleash.

• Gabriel appears in two contrasting forms. The man in the business suit represents modern, technologically controlled life, while the white-painted figure embodies a more instinctive and primal side.

• A projector repeatedly shows zoo footage, including images of a gibbon. The animal imagery reinforces the video's tension between civilization and instinct without presenting a conventional narrative about animal abuse.

• The production team drew some of the video's visual ideas from tribal imagery and from the futuristic machinery and lights of "Blade Runner," which had recently received a private screening.

• The video's unsettling imagery received heavy exposure during MTV's early years and helped establish "Shock the Monkey" as one of Gabriel's most distinctive early solo visuals.

• Released in 1982 as the first single from *Peter Gabriel* 4, also known as *Security*, the song became Gabriel's first US Top 40 hit, reaching No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• The single artwork used images derived from the video, linking the song's release campaign to its stark white-face imagery.