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"'''Sledgehammer'''" is a song by English rock musician [[Peter Gabriel]], which appeared on his 1986 album ''[[So (album)|So]]'', and was produced by Gabriel and [[Daniel Lanois]]. It hit No. 1 in Canada on 21 July 1986, where it spent four weeks; No. 1 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart in the United States on 26 July 1986;<ref>{{cite book|first= Maury |last= Dean |authorlink= Maury Dean |title= Rock N' Roll Gold Rush |year= 2003 |publisher= Algora |isbn= 0-87586-207-1 |page= 160}}</ref> and No. 4 on 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 (song)|Games Without Frontiers]]" as his biggest hit in the United Kingdom.
"'''Sledgehammer'''" is a song by English rock musician [[Peter Gabriel]], which appeared on his 1986 album ''[[So (album)|So]]'', and was produced by Gabriel and [[Daniel Lanois]]. It hit No. 1 in Canada on 21 July 1986, where it spent four weeks; No. 1 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart in the United States on 26 July 1986;<ref>{{cite book|first= Maury |last= Dean |authorlink= Maury Dean |title= Rock N' Roll Gold Rush |year= 2003 |publisher= Algora |isbn= 0-87586-207-1 |page= 160}}</ref> and No. 4 on 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 (song)|Games Without Frontiers]]" as his biggest hit in the United Kingdom.


The song's music video won a record nine [[MTV Video Music Award]] at the [[1987 MTV Video Music Awards]]<ref name="MTV">{{cite web|title= VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS – Biggest Winners |publisher= [[MTV]]. [[Viacom]] |accessdate= January 18, 2015 |url= http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/archive/multiple-winners.jhtml}}</ref> and Best British Video at the 1987 [[Brit Awards]].<ref name="Time"/><ref name="Brits">{{cite web|title= The BRITs 1987 |url= http://www.brits.co.uk/history/shows/1987 |publisher= [[Brit Awards]] |date= 9 February 1987 |accessdate= 19 November 2011}}</ref> Gabriel was also nominated for three [[29th Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance|Best Male Rock Vocal Performance]], [[Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year]] and [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]].<ref name="Grammys">{{cite web|title= 29th Grammy Awards - 1987 |url= http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1987/grammys.htm |publisher= Grammy Awards. Rock On The Net |accessdate= 19 November 2011}}</ref> As of 2011, "Sledgehammer" is the most played music video in the history of [[MTV]].<ref name="Time">{{webarchive|title= Peter Gabriel, 'Sledgehammer' (1986) |date= 28 February 2012 |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120228125440/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2085389_2085392_2085368,00.html}}. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 28 July 2011.</ref>
The song's music video won a record nine [[MTV Video Music Award]] at the [[1987 MTV Video Music Awards]]<ref name="MTV">{{cite web|title= VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS – Biggest Winners |publisher= [[MTV]]. [[Viacom]] |accessdate= January 18, 2015 |url= http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/archive/multiple-winners.jhtml}}</ref> and Best British Video at the 1987 [[Brit Awards]].<ref name="Time"/><ref name="Brits">{{cite web|title= The BRITs 1987 |url= http://www.brits.co.uk/history/shows/1987 |publisher= [[Brit Awards]] |date= 9 February 1987 |accessdate= 19 November 2011}}</ref> Gabriel was also nominated for three [[29th Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance|Best Male Rock Vocal Performance]], [[Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year]] and [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]].<ref name="Grammys">{{cite web|title= 29th Grammy Awards - 1987 |url= http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1987/grammys.htm |publisher= Grammy Awards. Rock On The Net |accessdate= 19 November 2011}}</ref> As of 2011, "Sledgehammer" was the most played music video in the history of [[MTV]].<ref name="Time">{{webarchive|title= Peter Gabriel, 'Sledgehammer' (1986) |date= 28 February 2012 |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120228125440/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2085389_2085392_2085368,00.html}}. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 28 July 2011.</ref>


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 02:16, 29 January 2017

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

"Sledgehammer" is a song by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, which appeared on his 1986 album So, and was produced by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois. It hit No. 1 in Canada on 21 July 1986, where it spent four weeks; No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States on 26 July 1986;[4] and No. 4 on 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 won a record nine MTV Video Music Award at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards[5] and Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards.[6][7] Gabriel was also nominated for three Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[8] As of 2011, "Sledgehammer" was the most played music video in the history of MTV.[6]

History

The song was influenced by 1960s soul music, in particular that made by Memphis label Stax. The distinctive horn track was provided by a horn section led by Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns, Stax's house musicians.

"It's probably about three years old… I was playing at that time with the idea of doing an album full of soul songs – mainly other people's, but maybe a couple of my own. I'm still tempted, although probably that would be construed as an even greater sell-out. But, as a teenager, soul music was one of the things that made me want to be a musician. It was really passionate and exciting… Wayne Jackson, who plays on that track, was also with Otis Redding and was touring with him when I saw them in London. So that was a thrill for me, just to get a whole lot of fan stories. But I think the song was more influenced by many of those Stax and Atlantic tracks rather than Otis particularly." – Peter Gabriel, July 1986[9]

The song also features a synthesised shakuhachi flute generated with an E-mu Emulator II sampler.[10] The backing vocals were by P. P. Arnold, Coral "Chyna Whyne" Gordon, and Dee Lewis, who also did the backing for "Big Time".

"Sledgehammer" is Gabriel's only US No.1. It replaced "Invisible Touch" by his former band Genesis; coincidentally, that group's only US No.1. "Sledgehammer" also achieved success on other Billboard charts in 1986, spanning the Album Rock Tracks (two weeks at the summit in May and June)[11] and Hot Dance Club Play (one week atop this chart in July).[12]

The single release included the previously unreleased "Don't Break This Rhythm" and an "'85 Remix" of 1982's "I Have the Touch". US versions of the single contained an extended dance remix of "Sledgehammer".

Music video

"Sledgehammer" had a 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. "It took a lot of hard work," Gabriel recalled. "I was thinking at the time, 'If anyone wants to try and copy this video, good luck to them.'"[13]

The video ended with a large group of extras jerkily rotating around Gabriel, among them his 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.[14] Two oven-ready chickens, headless and featherless, were animated using stop-motion and shown dancing along to the synthesised 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.

Many of these techniques had been employed in earlier music videos, such as Talking Heads's 1985 hit "Road to Nowhere", also directed by Johnson. The style was later used in the video for another single from So, "Big Time".

"Sledgehammer" won nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987,[5] the most awards a single video has won.[6] It ranked at number four on MTV's 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made (1999). MTV later cited "Sledgehammer" as the most played video in the history of the channel.[6] "Sledgehammer" has also been declared MTV's number one animated video of all time.[15]

The video was voted number seven on TMF's Ultimate 50 Videos You Must See, which first aired 24 June 2006. It ranked at number 2 on VH1's "Top 20 Videos of the '80s" and number one on "Amazing Moment in Music" on the Australian TV show 20 to 1 in 2007. It won Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards and was nominated for the Best Music Video category for the first annual Soul Train Music Awards in that same year.

Musicians

Awards and nominations

1987 MTV Video Music Awards
  • Won (9)[5]
    • Video of the Year
    • Best Art Direction in a Video
    • Best Concept Video
    • Best Direction in a Video
    • Best Editing in a Video
    • Best Male Video
    • Best Overall Performance in a Video
    • Best Visual Effects in a Video
    • Most Experimental Video
  • Nominated (1)
    • Viewer's Choice
1987 Brit Awards
  • Won (1)[7]
    • Best British Video
  • Nominated (1)
    • Best British Single
29th Annual Grammy Awards
  • Nominated (3)[8]
    • Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
    • Record of the Year
    • Song of the Year
1987 Soul Train Music Awards
  • Nominated (1)
    • Best Video of the Year

Chart performance

Covers and parodies

Samples

Soundtrack appearances

  • The song appeared on a 1993 British television commercial for the Vauxhall Cavalier, followed by the guitar riff from Eric Clapton's "Layla".[49]
  • The song appeared in the 1987 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 2012, radio commentator Rush Limbaugh played "Sledgehammer" on his show during his commentary on Sandra Fluke's crusade for free birth control, during which he called her "a slut". Consequently, Gabriel demanded that the program stop using his music.[50]

References

  1. ^ Staunton, Terry (December 2012). "Peter Gabriel: So". Classic Rock (178): 103.
  2. ^ Reed, Ryan (13 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel: The Darwin of Pop". Paste. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  3. ^ Grant, Steven; Robbins, Ira. "Peter Gabriel". Trouser Press. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  4. ^ Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 160. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
  5. ^ a b c "VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS – Biggest Winners". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d Peter Gabriel, 'Sledgehammer' (1986) at the Wayback Machine (archived 28 February 2012). Time. 28 July 2011.
  7. ^ a b "The BRITs 1987". Brit Awards. 9 February 1987. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  8. ^ a b "29th Grammy Awards - 1987". Grammy Awards. Rock On The Net. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  9. ^ WMMR interview, 16 July 1986, as transcribed by Fred Tomsett in Gabriel fanzine White Shadow #2, circa 1989
  10. ^ "Famous Sounds". Synthmania.com. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). Billboard Publications. p. 246.
  12. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003. Record Research Inc. p. 106.
  13. ^ WMMR interview, 16 July 1986, as transcribed by Fred Tomsett in Gabriel fanzine White Shadow #2, circa 1989
  14. ^ Cross, Alan (7 October 2001). The Impact Of The Music Video. Corus Radio.
  15. ^ Episode Guide – Transcript of MTV's "Top 10 Animated Videos Countdown" at the Wayback Machine (archived 10 July 2012). Outpost Daria. 28 June 1998.
  16. ^ "Hits of the World". Billboard. 98 (27): 69. 5 July 1986. ISSN 0006-2510.
  17. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  18. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  19. ^ "Radio 2 Top 30 : 7 juni 1986" (in Dutch). Top 30. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  20. ^ CHART NUMBER 1538 – Saturday, June 14, 1986 at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 November 2006). CHUM.
  21. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0704." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  22. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  23. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Sledgehammer". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  24. ^ a b "I singoli più venduti del 1986" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia. Creative Commons. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  25. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  26. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  27. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  28. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer". VG-lista. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  29. ^ "SLEDGEHAMMER – Peter Gabriel" (in Polish). LP3. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  30. ^ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (G)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  31. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  32. ^ "Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  33. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  34. ^ a b c d e "So – Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  35. ^ CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending JULY 26, 1986 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 October 2012). Cash Box magazine.
  36. ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts – 1980s". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  37. ^ "Jahreshitparade 1986" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  38. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1986" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  39. ^ "Top Singles – Volume 45, No. 14, December 27, 1986". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  40. ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1986" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  41. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1986" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  42. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1986" (in German). Hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  43. ^ "Top 100 Hits for 1986". The Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  44. ^ The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1986 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 October 2012). Cash Box magazine.
  45. ^ "British single certifications – Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Sledgehammer in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  46. ^ "Sledgehammer Every Time Play". Phish.net. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  47. ^ "DMBAlmanac". DMBAlmanac.com. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  48. ^ Sledgehammer - live looping Peter Gabriel cover with Ableton Live on YouTube
  49. ^ Cauxhall Cavalier advert on YouTube
  50. ^ Schillaci, Sophie A.; Zakarin, Jordan (5 March 2012). "Peter Gabriel Withdraws Music From Rush Limbaugh Show Following Sandra Fluke Controversy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 March 2012.

External links

Preceded by Canadian RPM number-one single
26 July 1986 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
26 July 1986 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
US Cash Box number-one single
26 July 1986 – 2 August 1986 (2 weeks)
Preceded by US Billboard Album Rock Tracks number-one single
31 May 1986 – 7 June 1986 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
12 July 1986 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
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