For 80s music and pop culture enthusiasts, this was such a sight to see witnessing a very unique, think-outside-of-the-box- impression kind of thing. If you want a classic slice of an 80s hit, ‘Sledgehammer’ is such a go-to!
This revolutionary and eye-popping music and music video was the first single from the award- winning 1986 album, So, by the English rock musician—Peter Gabriel.
Fun fact: ‘Sledgehammer’ was hailed as MTV’s most played music video of all time and in 1987, it swept 9 awards winning the title, ‘Video of the Year’—this is the most awards a single video has won.
What’s unique about the colorful approach is the astounding overall visuals which made its way on top.
The music video uses Claymation, pixilation, and stop-motion animation.
Claymation is an early form of animation where the characters or background might seem like “deformed” characters. It uses plasticine models that can be positioned and re-positioned in different poses.
Pixilation, on the other hand, is a technique in which the use of puppets is present, combined with edited photos to have it animated.
Those two styles are under stop motion technique animation where objects are physically manipulated in small increments to have a different appearance.
This music video was shot and edited within just a week, and Peter Gabriel admitted that it took him 16 hours laying under a glass of sheet during filming.
‘Sledgehammer’ was issued in the usual formats of 7″ and 12″ on vinyl but it was also one of the earliest CD singles and the cassette singles were released in cigarette pack style packaging.
