Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel song)

"Sledgehammer"
A blurred image of a sledgehammer. The text reading "hammer" in the song's title is seen italicized, while the artist's name appears in white text in a purple rectangle.
Single by Peter Gabriel
from the album So
B-side
Released14 April 1986[1]
StudioAshcombe House (Bath, England)
Genre
Length
  • 5:12 (album version)
  • 4:58 (7-inch single edit)
  • 4:55 (video version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Peter Gabriel
Producer(s)
Peter Gabriel singles chronology
"Walk Through the Fire"
(1984) 		"Sledgehammer"
(1986) 		"Don't Give Up"
(1986)
Music video
"Sledgehammer" on YouTube

"Sledgehammer" is a song by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released in April 1986 as the lead single from his fifth studio album, So (1986).[2] It was produced by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois. It reached 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;[3] and No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, thanks in part to its 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 video won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards[4] and Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards.[5][6] The song also saw Gabriel nominated for three Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[7] In a 2005 poll conducted by Channel 4 the music video was ranked second on their list of the 100 Greatest Pop Videos.[8]

  1. ^ "BPI".
  2. ^ "Sledgehammer". Petergabriel.com. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  3. ^ Dean 2003, p. 160.
  4. ^ "VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS – Biggest Winners". MTV. Archived from the original on August 25, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  5. ^ "Peter Gabriel, 'Sledgehammer' (1986)". Time. 28 July 2011. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012.
  6. ^ "The BRITs 1987". Brit Awards. 9 February 1987. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  7. ^ "29th Grammy Awards – 1987". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  8. ^ "100 Greatest ... (The 100 Greatest Pop Videos)". ITN Source. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2019.