Peter Gabriel -- Sledgehammer

 

I started the Peter Gabriel file in the weekly Reminiscings of Youth series on KKP with the New Wave "Shock the Monkey" because it was the first time that I had heard of the English musician (and happy 75th birthday to him...happened a week ago). I learned that he had been the leader of the progressive rock band Genesis back in the 1970s and that back then it was quite the theatrically daring group during concerts. So, on seeing Gabriel providing his distinctive voice and a terrifying music video, I just had to go "Ahh, naruhodo".😕

Move ahead a few more years to April 1986. I hadn't heard all that much from Gabriel in the intervening years aside from a couple of other songs by him that I'd heard about in retrospect. But then, he released this rather interesting single titled "Sledgehammer" and once again, I was struck by the song and the music video for different reasons. For one thing, the nudge-nudge-wink-wink "Sledgehammer" didn't sound anything like New Wave or techno at all; it was more of a catchy epic pop tune with a battery of 1970s R&B horns...and a shakuhachi starting it all off. Of course, the amazing Gabriel vocals were still front and centre.

And then of course, there was the music video which earned a number of awards and probably had viewers' jaws dropping like yo-yos at the pure ambition, hard work and effects put into it. Yes, I did hear about Gabriel's back issues from his participation in the video along with the olfactory suffering inflicted upon the crew due to the two turkeys or chickens under the hot lights. That's definitely suffering for one's art. Almost forty years later, "Sledgehammer" still amazes.

It hit like a sledgehammer at No. 1 in both Canada and the United States. The song and the video will remain one of my biggest memories of the 1980s. So, what were some of the releases coming out in Japan in April 1986?

KUWATA BAND -- BAN BAN BAN

TUBE -- Season In The Sun

Akina Nakamori -- BEST