"Sledgehammer" is a song by the English rock musician

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

. It was released in April 1986 as the lead single from his fifth studio album, '' So'' (1986). It was produced by Gabriel and

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...

. It reached No. 1 in Canada on 21 July 1986, and remained there for four weeks; No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the United States on 26 July 1986; and No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, thanks in part to its

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

. 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 video won a record nine

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at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards. The song also saw Gabriel nominated for three

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance,

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

and Song of the Year. In a 2005 poll conducted by

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the music video was ranked second on their list of the 100 Greatest Pop Videos.

Background

"Sledgehammer" was among the last songs recorded for the album and was presented to the band as they were packing up their equipment. The original intention was to include the song on Gabriel's next album after ''So''. Manu Katché was preparing to board a taxi and return home to Paris when Gabriel coaxed him into recording "Sledgehammer". Katché achieved his drum part in one take and was asked by Gabriel to record a few more passes, although Katché insisted that any subsequent attempt at recording another drum track would be inferior. Tony Levin opted to record his part on a

fretless bass A fretless bass is an electric bass guitar whose neck lacks frets and thus is smooth like traditional string instruments, and like the neck of an acoustic double bass. While the fretless bass is played in all styles of music, it is most common in ...

with a pick and through an octave pedal. Gabriel noted that he was influenced by soul music when writing "Sledgehammer" and also considered recording a soul-oriented album with a mixture of covers and original compositions. Gabriel contacted Jackson to assemble a horn section that included Jackson on trumpet,

Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director, and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor, a ...

on saxophone, and Don Mikkelsen on trombone. Gabriel explained that he wanted a real horn section on "Sledgehammer" to capture some of the intricacies of brass playing that could not be achieved with a synthesiser. He cited the slow brass swells in the second verse as an example of the expressiveness that he desired. The song also features a synthesised ''

shakuhachi A is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

'' flute generated with an E-mu Emulator II sampler. Gabriel said that the "cheap organ sound" came from an expensive

Prophet-5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential (company), Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith (engineer), Dave Smith and John S. Bowen (sound designer), John Bowen in 1977. It was the first Polyphony ...

synth, which he regarded as "an old warhorse" sound tool. The backing vocals were sung by P. P. Arnold, Coral "Chyna Whyne" Gordon, and Dee Lewis, who also did the backing for " Big Time". Overdubs for the horn section and backing vocals took place in September 1985 at Power Station Studios in New York City.

Release

Gabriel pushed for "Sledgehammer" to be the first single from ''So'' due to his belief that it was different from the rest of the album. He reckoned that the decision surprised certain fans who held a preexisting perception of his work. 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 A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of "Sledgehammer". "Sledgehammer" is Gabriel's only No. 1 hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It replaced " Invisible Touch" by his former band Genesis; coincidentally, that group's only US No. 1. Genesis lead singer

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

later jested about the occurrence in a 2014 interview, stating, "I read recently that Peter Gabriel knocked us off the No. 1 spot with 'Sledgehammer'. We weren't aware of that at the time. If we had been, we'd probably have sent him a

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

saying: 'Congratulations – bastard.'" "Sledgehammer" also achieved success on other ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' charts in 1986, spanning the Album Rock Tracks (two weeks at the summit in May and June) and

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

(one week atop this chart in July). In the UK, the single peaked at number four, tying it with 1980's " Games Without Frontiers"⁠ as his highest-charting song in that country.

Critical reception and legacy

"Sledgehammer" has been described as

dance-rock Dance-rock is a dance- infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and dis ...

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and Rock music, rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters (American band), the Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

, and new wave, Ryan Reed of '' Paste'' called the song a danceable " blue-eyed soul-strut". ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' gave it as an example of Gabriel's "characteristically sophisticated music" which in this case "touches on

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

". Stewart Mason of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

thought that "Sledgehammer's" "earthier foundation keeps the song from getting distracted from the pounding, swaggering groove at its core", adding that "it's not his masterpiece, but it's probably his best pop song. Later attempts at rewriting it, like 1992's dismal '

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

', didn't work half as well." "Sledgehammer" was used as the now defunct 3rd Brigade 3rd Infantry Division song. The Sledgehammer Brigade was located on Kelley Hill, Fort Moore (Benning), GA. The song was used to increase Esprit de Corps of the brigade at the end of physical training and special events.

Music video

The "Sledgehammer"

was commissioned by Tessa Watts at

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

, directed by Stephen R. Johnson and produced by Adam Whittaker. Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay provided

claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

pixilation Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. This technique ...

, and

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animation that gave life to images in the song. Johnson and Gabriel wanted the music video to be satisfying on repeat viewings and set out to accomplish this by incorporating multiple ideas that were both "inventive and funny". They spent a couple of weeks generating ideas and later invited Brothers Quay and Aardman Animations to develop the music video. Gabriel said that the music video was shot frame by frame. For one scene, Gabriel lay under a sheet of glass for 16 hours with raw fish. "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.'" For each frame of a ten-second sequence, clouds were painted across Gabriel's face to create the illusion of moving clouds. Two dead, headless, featherless chickens were animated using stop-motion and shown dancing along to the synthesised ''

shakuhachi A is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

'' solo. This section was animated by

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is an English filmmaker and animator who created '' Wallace & Gromit'', '' Creature Comforts'', '' Chicken Run'', '' Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy ...

, of Aardman Animations, who was refining his work in plasticine animation at the time and later created '' Wallace & Gromit''. The video ended with a large group of extras jerkily rotating around Gabriel, among them his daughters Anna-Marie and Melanie, the animators themselves and director Stephen Johnson's girlfriend. A total of 100 hours were spent shooting the music video, with each second of video consisting of 25 unique poses from Gabriel. A major hit on music television, "Sledgehammer" won nine

in 1987, the most awards a single video has won. It ranked at number four on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made'' (1999). "Sledgehammer" has also been declared MTV's number one animated video of all time. 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 ''20 to One'' (known as ''20 to 1'' before 2016) is an Australian television series on the Nine Network from 2005, that counts down an undefined "top 20" of elements or events of popular culture, such as films, songs, or sporting scandals. The ...

'' 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. According to ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine, "Sledgehammer"'s music video is the all-time most played music video on MTV. Gabriel recalled that the music video for "Sledgehammer" was broadcast in the Soviet Union, India, and China, which had otherwise refrained from playing his other material. The music video was

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

into

4K resolution 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) with a 16:9 asp ...

, and was released in 2018 through

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Accolades

, - , rowspan="16",

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, rowspan="2", Brit Awards , British Single of the Year , , - , British Video of the Year , , - , rowspan="3",

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

, , - , Song of the Year , , - , Best Male Rock Vocal Performance , , - , rowspan="10", MTV Video Music Award , Video of the Year , , - , Best Male Video , , - , Best Concept Video , , - , Most Experimental Video , , - , Best Overall Performance , , - , Best Direction , , - , Best Visual Effects , , - , Best Art Direction , , - , Best Editing , , - , Viewer's Choice Award , , - , Soul Train Music Awards , Best Video of the Year ,

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of '' So''. *

– vocals, E-mu Emulator II,

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, music sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commerc ...

, piano,

* Manu Katché – drums * Tony Levin – bass * David Rhodes – guitar *

– guitar, tambourine * Wayne Jackson – trumpet *

– saxophone * Don Mikkelsen – trombone * P. P. Arnold, Coral Gordon, Dee Lewis – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Covers and parodies

In 1986,

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

parodied this song as the first song from his polka medley " Polka Party!" from the 1986 studio album of the same name.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

* * *
Episode 8: Music Videos
, Aardman.com. Retrieved 19 October 2013. {{Authority control 1986 singles 1986 songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles British soul songs Cashbox number-one singles Charisma Records singles Dance-rock songs Funk rock songs Geffen Records singles Peter Gabriel songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois Songs written by Peter Gabriel Animated music videos Music videos by Aardman Animations