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Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel song)

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"Sledgehammer"
Song
B-side"Don't Break This Rhythm", "I Have the Touch" (mix), "Biko" (ext)

"Sledgehammer" is a song by British musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album So. It hit number one in Canada on 21 July 1986 where it spent four weeks; number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States on 26 July 1986;[1] and number four in the UK singles chart, thanks in part to a popular and influential music video. It was his biggest hit in North America and ties with "Games Without Frontiers" as his biggest hit in the United Kingdom.

The song's music video has won a number of awards, including a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, and Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards.[2][3] Gabriel was also nominated for three Grammy Awards: Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.[4] As of 2011, "Sledgehammer" is the most played music video in the history of MTV.[2]

Personnel

History

The song was influenced by 1960s soul music, in particular the music made by the Memphis label Stax. The distinctive horn track was provided by the Memphis Horns, house musicians at Stax. The opening horn riff is similar to the beginning of John Coltrane's "Chronic Blues" from the Coltrane album. The song also features a synthesized shakuhachi flute generated with an Emu Emulator II sampler.[5]

The lyrics are thought of as a mosaic of sexual innuendos. The fact is, it is more of a metaphor for a relationship, pleading a woman to love him and clamining he can give her anything if she just accepts his love. The reference to steam trains, Big Dipper (rollercoaster), airplanes, and bumper cars are metaphors for the not yet satisfied wants of the woman. Sledgehammer refers to him wanting to be her lover. Fruit cage and his reference to being a honeybee refers to pollination not of a sexual act, but getting to know the woman deeply and personally. In a larger sense, the song has nothing to do with sex, but to love in general.

"Sledgehammer" was Peter Gabriel's first and, to this date, only number-one hit in the United States. It replaced "Invisible Touch" by his former band Genesis, which had been that group's only U.S. number-one hit the previous week. "Sledgehammer" also achieved chart success on other Billboard charts in 1986, spanning the range between Album Rock Tracks (two weeks at the summit in May and June)[6] and Hot Dance Club Play (one week atop this chart in July).[7] (Original Length: 5:09) The single release also included a previously unreleased track called "Don't Break This Rhythm" and an "'85 Remix" of his 1982 single "I Have the Touch." U.S. versions of the single contained an extended dance remix of "Sledgehammer." It was among the first singles released on compact disc.

Music video

"Sledgehammer" spawned a widely popular and influential music video commissioned by Tessa Watts at Virgin Records, directed by Stephen R. Johnson and produced by Adam Whittaker. Aardman Animations (of Wallace and Gromit fame) and the Brothers Quay provided claymation, pixilation, and stop motion animation that gave life to images in the song. The video ended with a large group of extras jerkily rotating around Gabriel, among them: Gabriel's daughters Anna and Melanie, the animators themselves, and director Stephen Johnson's girlfriend. Also included were six women who posed as the back-up singers of the song. Gabriel lay under a sheet of glass for 16 hours while filming the video one frame at a time.[8] Notably, two oven-ready chickens, headless and featherless, were animated using stop-motion and shown dancing along to the synthesized flute solo in the middle of the song. This section was animated by Nick Park of Aardman Animations who was refining his work in plasticine animation at the time. The style was later used again in the video for Gabriel's other successful single from the album Big Time.

Although many of these techniques had already been employed in earlier music videos (such as Talking Heads' 1985 hit "Road to Nowhere"), the Sledgehammer video won nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987, a record which still stands as of 2011.[2] It ranked at number four on MTV's 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made (1999). MTV later announced that "Sledgehammer" is the most played music video in the history of the station.[2] "Sledgehammer" has also been declared to be MTV's number one animated video of all time.[9]

The video was also voted number seven on TMF's Ultimate 50 Videos You Must See - first aired 24 June 2006. It ranked at number 2 on VH1's "Top 20 Videos of the '80s" as well as being named the No. 1 "Amazing Moment in Music" on the Australian TV show 20 to 1 in 2007. The video won Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards. Also, the video was nominated for the Best Music Video category for the first annual Soul Train Music Awards in that same year.

Covers and appearances

In 1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic covered this song as the first song from his polka medley "Polka Party!" from the 1986 album of the same name. He also imitated the video in the music video for UHF.

In 1986, the song appeared in the Miami Vice episode "Better Living Through Chemistry", during a scene inside a biker bar. A slightly altered version of the shakuhachi refrain in the opening was used by background musician Jan Hammer at appropriate moments.

In 1991, rappers 3rd Bass borrowed the Tony Levin bass line from the song for their hit "Pop Goes the Weasel." The 1993 Naughty By Nature song "Hip Hop Hooray" also samples the shakuhachi intro. In 2000, the song was sampled for "I've Got to Have It" by Jermaine Dupri, Monica and Nas, which appeared on the soundtrack for the motion picture Big Momma's House.

In 1993, the song appeared on a British television commercial for the Vauxhall Cavalier, followed by the guitar riff from Eric Clapton's "Layla."[10]

The Trey Anastasio Band covered Sledgehammer on May 4th, 2005. [11]

In 2005, progressive rock band Umphrey's McGee did a rendition of "Sledgehammer" on the Wrapped Around Chicago - New Year's Eve at The Riviera (2005) DVD. The band occasionally covers the song in live performances.

In 2007, Finnish Symphonic Epic Metal Northern Kings featuring Jarkko Ahola from Teräsbetoni, Marco Hietala from Nightwish and Tarot, Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto from Charon covered the song on their album Reborn.

In 2008, R&B singer Maiysha did a sensual rendition of "Sledgehammer" for her album "This Much Is True"

Dave Matthews Band began covering this song during the 2008 tour.[12]

This song was the bumper music on The Rush Limbaugh Show leading to Rush Limbaugh's controversial comments about Sandra Fluke following Fluke's testimony before Congress. Consequently, Gabriel asked that the program no longer use his music.[13][14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 160. ISBN 0-87586-207-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Peter Gabriel, 'Sledgehammer' (1986) - The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos Time. Retrieved 19 November 2011
  3. ^ The BRITS 1987 Brits.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2011
  4. ^ 29th Grammy Awards - 1987 Rock On The Net. Retrieved 19 November 2011
  5. ^ Famous Sounds synthmania.com
  6. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 246.
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003, (Record Research Inc.), page 106.
  8. ^ Cross, Alan. "The Impact Of The Music Video". Corus Radio. October 7, 2001.
  9. ^ MTV. Top Ten Animated Videos Countdown. June 28, 1998
  10. ^ Cauxhall Cavalier advert on Youtube.
  11. ^ "PhishNET".
  12. ^ "DMBAlmanac". Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  13. ^ Peter's response to 'Sledgehammer' on the Rush Limbaugh show
  14. ^ Schillaci, Sophie A. (March 5, 2012). "Peter Gabriel Withdraws Music From Rush Limbaugh Show Following Sandra Fluke Controversy". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
July 26, 1986 		Succeeded by

External links

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