Sledgehammer

There are a handful of 1980s artists who dedicated their time and creative powers to their videos as much as their music.  The Man With One Glove is a well-documented example.  These performers are the reason why the 1980s had great videos; they amazed us repeatedly, and raised the bar for everyone else.

This is Peter Gabriel's video for Sledgehammer, simply put, one of the greatest music videos of all time.

How the hell do you follow that? There's more imagination and creativity in this video than in ten Def Leppard videos stacked together.  (WARNING:  Do not stack Def Leppard videos higher than your shoulders.  Falling videos may cause severe injury or death!)  It's clear that Mr. Gabriel wasn't satisfied with merely making himself look good.  He also felt the need to innovate.  He felt the need to take the time, money, and effort to take his music videos to a level way above and beyond what anybody could have expected.  And with Sledgehammer, he didn't just raise the bar, he took the bar up Mt. Everest, planted it on top, and challenged the rest of the world to "Come and get it, motherfuckers!"

Well maybe he never said those words, but the video speaks for itself. 

Animation was handled by a studio that was not quite famous for its stop-motion work:  Aardman Studios.  If you look closely, the bumper cars closely resemble the Chevron car mascots Aardman would animate years later.  Among the animators was a brilliant young man named Nick Park, who happens to be responsible for these two:

I guess you could call Wallace and Gromit cousins in the Sledgehammer family tree. 

It took months for the Sledgehammer video to be completed, which is just as unacceptable today as it was back then, but it was clearly worth the wait.  Mr. Gabriel himself spent many long hours being the clay for the animators to mold, which is a testimony to his own patience and dedication to the project.  In short, the man went way out of his way to create something for us to enjoy, and the world is better because of it.

So what do you do after Sledgehammer?  Simple:  You hit the Big Time:

I'm guessing it wouldn't surprise you to know that both Sledgehammer and Big Time were directed by the same person.  Stephen R. Johnson.  He also directed the video for Peter Gabriel's Steam, which is yet another amazing video, but it's from 1992, so you'll have to check it out on your own. 

Back to Sledgehammer.  Groundbreaking.  Inspiring.  Landmark.  And the song's great too.  This is one of the greatest videos every produced.  It will be remembered for ages, and will be forever be used as an example of what a video can be when you summon enough imagination and creativity.


Style: 5
Execution: 5
Nostalgia: 5
Impact: like a 10 pound sledge.

FINAL SCORE (not an average): 6.0

NEXT WEEK:  Debbie Gibson