Sledgehammer

Sledgehammer was released in April 1986 as the first single from So, produced by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois. It reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 26 July 1986 and number 4 in the UK. It is his only US number one. It took the top spot from Genesis's Invisible Touch, the first time a band and a former member of that band held the top two places.

Gabriel first wrote it during the Birdy sessions in 1984. A version with Leland Sklar and Chester Thompson did not satisfy him, so in spring 1985 he recorded it again with David Rhodes, Tony Levin and Manu Katche, live in two or three takes. Levin played fretless bass with a pick and an octave pedal. Gabriel said soul records on Stax and Atlantic were an influence, and he brought in Wayne Jackson on trumpet, with Mark Rivera on saxophone and Don Mikkelsen on trombone, to play real brass. P. P. Arnold, Coral Gordon and Dee Lewis sang backing vocals. The opening flute is a synthesised shakuhachi sound.

The video

Stephen R. Johnson directed the video, with stop-motion and claymation work from Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay. Nick Park animated the dancing chickens. It took about 100 hours to shoot, and in 1987 it won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards and the Best British Video prize at the Brit Awards. Time reported it as the most played video in MTV history. Eric Harvey of Pitchfork heard the song as a sharp turn into a 1960s soul rave-up after its flute opening. The song was first played live on the 1986 and 1987 This Way Up Tour, and Weird Al Yankovic parodied it in his Polka Party medley.