Classical Composer reacts to PETER GABRIEL: SLEDGEHAMMER | The Daily Doug (Episode 839)

#petergabriel #sledgehammer
In this edition of #thedailydoug, I'm sharing a previously recorded reaction to Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. I filmed this back in June for my Patreon audience, and I was sure that I'd someday share it here on KZbin...and today's the day! It's one of Peter's all-time hits, and I'm pleased to share it with y'all!
Reference Video: • Peter Gabriel - Sledge...
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[@Toasterfinal5]

Peter Gabriel’s music is a whole different genre within itself, one of my favorite music artists.

[@danielsmith5088]

'So' is such an amazing album. 6 songs charting out of 9 is unbelievably impressive.

[@BayouMaccabee]

And Tony Levin's bass work is fantastic on this album. He certainly knows how to create & play perfect bass parts.

[@nickk6518]

Fun fact: My dad worked for Peter's parents on their farm near Woking in the 1960s and, apart from Peter, Woking also gave the music world The Jam and Status Quo's Rick Parfitt. One of my cousins, also called Peter, applied to be in Status Quo and it's also said that he taught Paul Weller to play guitar. 🙂

[@Karranos]

Sometimes, i wish i was born in UK in the 60's :D But I was born 270 km away from London on the other side of the Channel and 30 years too late!

[@robsmith1a]

​@@KarranosI was born in the UK about ten miles from Woking in the 1960s. I'd love to be 30 years younger and am happy to cross the channel. No internet when I was young so no Daily Doug!

[@eriklarson9137]

That's not what fun fact means.

[@nickk6518]

@@eriklarson9137 Fun fact: a fun fact is actually a fun fact!!

[@nickk6518]

@@Karranos It's never too late to enjoy decent music and, as is the case now, there was plenty of really bad music around back then. My taste has changed a bit over recent years and I love to immerse myself in what is broadly termed Berlin School Electronic music, which includes Eindhoven School Electronic music under its umbrella. Most of the artists are from Europe (including the U.K.). They are supremely talented and make bands like Kraftwerk (sorry Kraftwerk fans) seem pretty amateur!

[@danielduesentriebjunior]

Every and each artist associated with Genesis was/still is incredible.

[@Young_Jim]

@danielduesentriebjunior. Absolutely, I’m going to see Steve Hacket (again) next month. He’s doing some earlier Genesis music with his band, can’t wait.

[@CristiNeagu]

Peter Gabriel has such a unique, cool voice. And his songs are so unique. I can't say I'm a massive fan, but I really like his "Growing Up Live" concert. He gives a modern spin to his songs, and the result is amazing. Secret World is absolutely outstanding from that album. Red Rain is an incredible trip. Listening to it feels like a fever dream, so it was interesting learning that the song is inspired by a dream.

[@nicholasschneider6655]

The Secret World Live DVD is up there with Stop Making Sense as the greatest concert videos. Between the songs and the choreography/action on stage, any (or all) of Shaking the Tree, Solsbury Hill, Secret World and In Your Eyes would be amazing to have a reaction video for.

[@Yupppi]

YES! A fantastic choice! When I was in high school or whatever the equivalent in the US would be, I had a studio technology class and one time we went to this recording studio with 8.1 set that was quite a rarity back then, and the guy teaching us picked up a Peter Gabriel dvd and played Sledgehammer in that monitoring room 8.1. I will never ever forget when he isolated the vocals in one speaker and you could hear so clearly how perfect the performance was.

[@g54b95]

'Big Time' was always one of my favorites.

[@jonnuanez7183]

3:59 is the start Mercy Street is the standout track for me from the So album. One of those close your eyes with headphones tracks.

[@metalmark1214]

A very innovative music video in its day

[@VielFart]

*its

[@lemmy9809]

That video was pioneering at the time ..when the bars had video jukeboxes bring em back ..thanks mtv ❤

[@EdwardRLyons]

Aardman Animations involved in this video, the makers of Wallace and Gromit!

[@aka.Mr.French]

kerrect! Note also that Nick Park, the creator and director of Wallace and Gromit, was credited separately (in the second credits slide) among the 5-6 animators. The dancing chickens are his work, and he's spoken about that experience... including the joy of working, frame by frame, under hot lights with increasingly stinky chicken carcasses for numerous hours. Talk about suffering for your art...

[@Gnomojo]

This is by far the best music video ever made. Maybe aside from Take on me By Ah-ha.

[@jasonwilliams6005]

"So" is an incredible, huge hit album. Amazing from start to finish.

[@mikejohnson-dl7vt]

That Suit at the end-Peferct Uniform for "Space Force"🤣

[@Ricketik65]

The very first time I heard this on the radio I knew it was a classic. It sounded like it had always been there and it would always be there. And almost forty years later (man, I'm getting old!) it is still timeless and Peter Gabriel is a genius.

[@RolandTumble23]

Knowing that Melt is in the EP Lounge may be the thing that pushes me to finally sign up for your Patreon (which I've been considering for some time...).

[@pascaloudot]

From France, I totally agree with your assessments of PG's limitless creativity. I saw the group last year in Bordeaux and it was a magnificent show.

[@rk41gator]

I saw Peter's tour last year and the concert was FANTASTIC. Definitely dive into his new album i/o.

[@drummerseb]

Well the drums and bass on that track are so tight I love it. Very controlled groove

[@stevenjwiles]

I love this man's music.

[@mrnoahlott]

A video like this would not even be attempted nowadays. They would just make it on a computer program. 😢 Seeing this when it came out in 1986 was quite the treat. make no mistake… The video is 100% why this song went to number one.

[@kellieelliott5198]

Pete’s got some soul.

[@acason4]

Another total classic! Gabriel with the Levin & Lanois as producer! This track is so mesmerizing! Awesome review Doug… 👌🏻

[@chriswerner5169]

There is an interview out from beato w/ Tony recently

[@VielFart]

Tony who?

[@chrisb.2178]

Tony Levin ​@@VielFart

[@eljefe68]

Awesome interview. Tony Levin is a bass God and and amazing human being. Played on over 500 albums.

[@malachi1974]

I just watched that interview this morning!

[@AnyRoadAnyTime]

Just watched it yesterday. Very good. I've actually met Tony some years ago. Such a nice, approachable guy.

[@clintonstapleton161]

So was the 1st compact disc I ever bought when I got my CD player back in the early 80’s. Couldn’t afford many discs at first so I just listened to this disc on repeat for months! Amazing album, brings back so many memories.

[@altair8598]

When this record came out I was living in a house of bedsits. Each year there was a new bunch of students and as I was almost 30 I felt more of an older generation. In '86 I got friendly with one of the students aged about 20, who was a proud owner of this album. I offered something like, "Isn't Peter Gabriel a bit old hat for you?" He declared to the contrary, averring that in his opinion it was a great album and lot better than most of the popular rock music around at the time. I still love 'So' though I didn't expect to see youngsters such as yourself, Doug, enjoying it so much nearly 40 years later!

[@ixtab1000]

These Genesis individuals are/were something really special.

[@markcompton6750]

What seems like a million years ago, I saw Peter in Birmingham UK. It was about 1986/87, this song was amazing, even more was seeing Kate Bush sing with Peter on the So tour. Great days ☀️

[@sandyago4735]

Wow Peter and Kate Bush. Super special concert

[@mikedonoghues4018]

My first ever concert - Birmingham NEC. I took a coach from Liverpool aged 16 to see him. Was just blown away - by everything. Happy days.

[@andreasd1132]

Great! Now do a listen to Peter Gabriel 3 in its entirety. Emotional rollercoaster guaranteed.

[@Stab_Knifewind]

The video played incessantly on the mtv. Like your show Doug, now shock the monkey.

[@sanandaallsgood673]

The 'Secret World' concert video is a great one! My wife was introduced to Peter through that video one night when she came over for a date.

[@drmauriciodiaz]

Masterpiece video, masterpiece song, masterpiece performance. Greatest music video ever made.

[@davidberge5851]

The tour in support of So was spectacular… even his most recent tour with I/O was rather special. Papa Bear was also still touring with him

[@jacevess7556]

Very excited for this one

[@cherylhurst7093]

Peter committed to this video, including getting numerous electric shocks from that light suit at the end of the video. I must have seen this 200 times.

[@mikedonoghues4018]

You’re correct in that this was the last song recorded for “So”. Daniel Lanois explained that they’d basically packed up after the best part of a year of recording. Gabriel played a basic melody he’d worked on, thinking about the next album. Much of the work to turn this into what it became lies with Tony Levin. Fretless bass, played with a pick and all sorts of pedals - combined with his own virtuosity and tonality. Thanks for the vid, Doug.

[@shemanic1]

Superb tune & great video.

[@MartinJessop-bi4yt]

One of the all-time greatest videos. It was created by the same animators that later did the wallace and gromit films. They had a long history of stop motion animation with plasticine figures as seen in the video. For me it ties in with Peter's Genesis live performances where he wore masks to represent facets of the songs. Thanks Doug for a great reaction.

[@stevejh6630]

Never really looked at the video credits before and spotted, animations Aardman & Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit fame.

[@fayesouthall6604]

Correct

[@kingoftadpoles]

'A singular vocal colour'. You said it Doug. How on earth does he do that?

[@moonlightfairy100]

This is the only song by Peter that I do not like hearing from cd…but listen in a concert live I love it

[@Ozymandi_as]

'So' was easily Gabriel's most commercial album, and a massive hit internationally. Even so, in the UK, not even Slegehammer reached #1 in the singles chart, although it did hit the top of the Billboard chart. However, chart success was not something that was not important to him in comparison to doing work that interested and excited him creatively. A real musician's musician, and a good and humane man.

[@rolling-roadkill]

When this first came out, when I was a kid, the video blew me away. The dancing chickens however freaked me the F out. 😂 The drums and bass are facemeltingly good in this tune.

[@Kelters]

Backing singers included P.P.Arnold? -- I never knew that. -- It would be good to hear a reaction to something from her catalogue someday.

[@LizziFromCanada]

Best drum sequence ever!

[@JamesKlas]

Thank you for this. Peter Gabriel is one of my favorite artists although this is not my favorite song of his, I love the album

[@mattleppard1970]

He was my first live gig on this tour aged 16 ❤

[@wilsonMelo6]

Waiting for a reaction to a song by the Incredible String Band. Maya, Darling Belle, The Cool Days Of February, etc... Cheers from Brazil.

[@ashleygraham8781]

One of my personal Top 5 artists. Great in concert.

[@DavidM-qq8yb]

Who else has spent the last 38 years not knowing what this song was about ... until now.

[@disgruntledtoons]

The bit with his face blue and clouds passing over it took six hours to shoot.

[@annieD67]

😮

[@reinhardt2002]

Boys and girls, please watch (or re-watch) this 'state of the art' video clip with two things in mind: it's from 1987. It doesn't have a single byte of CGI. 😯😉🤔 (You can call us nostalgic, but in the face of artists like Peter Gabriel we really don't care. ☺)

[@AmonRa33]

I love all Peter Gabs solo career but I love even more his career and songs with Genesis

[@Kevin-wj1jy8hu1t]

Looking fwd to this ….

[@WayneKitching]

The song came out when I was very young and innocent. I never realized what the song was about until I heard the cover by Postmodern Jukebox featuring Morgan James. That version was downright sexy!

[@stevem-h3562]

absolutely dripping in Fairlight......

[@ashleygraham8781]

He was one of the very first users. He also loaned it to Kate Bush for her Never Forever LP.

[@courtneywallace871]

PG is one of “my 6 musical geniuses” (Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, Pete Townshend, Roger Waters and Joe Jackson). Would love to see you release the Melt songs to KZbin. Definitely would love to see you do more PG and more from any of the above artists, pretty please.😊

[@danc3636]

He creates wonderful imaginative videos

[@anicolau]

Gabriel is a genius. It's funny that, when Genesis finally reach Top 1 of the charts, Gabriel release this song. There is a good comment from Phil Collins about the fact

[@rorycunningham8324]

I am one of Prof. Helvering's biggest fans and am so grateful to him for reviewing this... but for me the video made a grater impact than the audio. Might someone as expert in video as Doug is in audio provide a commentary, drawing upon all the various precedents and influences?

[@kratino]

Keith Emerson's The Nice started out as the backing band for PP Arnold.

[@AnyRoadAnyTime]

The quality of production on this album is incredible.

[@rk41gator]

Such an infectious tune. I never tire of hearing and seeing this video. Now you must give his buddy Phil Collins equal time, eh? "it's like a short movie" hmmm. Maybe do something without music? How about an obscure film noir piece with Collins as the lead actor called 'Calliope'.

[@andreaseileng]

Awesome video as always 🙂

[@porgy29]

As you are exploring Peter Gabriel try to inclued some of his live performances because not only is he an amazing showman but he will use different arrangements for his live performances which I often feel are better than the original album tracks. The big example of this is his classic In Your Eyes. I actually dont love the album version (not bad but many of his songs that I prefer) but his live versions are always great. Over the years he has reworked the song, adding an additional verse and giving it a real different feel. And that is before adding in the fact that he regularly uses the song to feature different guest performers and give the members of his band a time to shine.

[@benardolivier6624]

Shock the Monkey and Big Time also had some incredible videos.

[@valoriel4464]

Oh yea, definitely Shock The Monkey! Thx ✌🏻

[@puddleglumsmusiccollection9151]

The guys from Wallace and Gromet did the video

[@darkpitcher5242]

The guy from Wallace & Grommet ( Nick Park) did some of the video Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay did the whole thig Park worked at Ardman at the time

[@edsmith3461-z7m]

Peter Gabriel - vocals, E-mu Emulator II, Fairlight CMI, piano, Prophet-5

[@alansmith8195]

OH Doug, please do more Peter Gabriel.... I Grieve, Signal to Noise, Father Son, come to mind

[@soggytom]

I never knew (but am not surprised) about Aardman doing the animation. Those are the Wallace & Gromit / Chicken Run / Chevron Cars people. Also at max fame in 1986.

[@JeffreyTheTaylor]

Papa Bear Tony Levin laying down the groove.

[@jmarcosreyes]

This video blew my mind when I was a kid

[@bobobear1977]

Almost... it's a sampled Shakuhachi from the Fairlight CMS sample library.

[@gregorygant4242]

Which series Series I , II OR III do you know ?

[@rebeccajohnson8769]

Great choice. Would be awesome to see you react to some Dead Can Dance some time.

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

Peter's later song "Steam", also a big hit, was basically an attempt to recreate the sound of "Sledgehammer". The video was created by "Wallace and Gromit/Shaun the Sheep" creators Nick Park and Aardman Animations. Tony Levin adds the great funk with finger sticks.

[@realchilldude1271]

This is such a good song lol

[@cowsdotricks]

Great pick

[@debmacdonald1037]

remember this was 38 years ago too.........

[@gpreactions3194]

I seem to remember Peter Gabriel being no.1 in the US swapping places with Genesis at no.1 with Invisible Touch. Almost surreal to see the top 2 taken up with Genesis and Peter Gabriel.

[@splitimage137.]

From his early days with GENESIS, Peter has put out a WHOLE LOTTA GOOD music. INTRUDER would be a good one to do. BIKO (about Stephen Biko) is from the same album. (P.S. I know you have already listened to his third album (aka Melt)... but I just wanted to mention these great songs.)

[@EdDunkle]

This made Stephen Johnson's career. He directed the first season of Pee Wee's Playhouse.

[@SteveC-Shaman]

Levin played this on a real bass with a funky mix. It sounds a bit artificial but that's because he used actual "sticks" on his fingers for tapping the strings. Gives the bass that odd synth sound that it has. Look him up on google image or something and you'll likely see what I'm talking about. He's used it on other songs, King Crimson etc.

[@michaelpeuplie6464]

They're called "funk fingers"

[@jasonbelldata]

For Sledgehammer Tony Levin was playing a fretless with a pick, through a octave pedal and an awful lot of compression. The drumsticks on the bass strings was on one track from So, and that was Big Time.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

In general a lot of people have a misperception about the actual amount of non-synth instrumentation in 80's pop. A lot of tech was being used that hadn't really been used before, but certainly by today's standards, 80's pop had quite a bit of stellar musicianship.

[@otterlyso]

Yes, he talks about in his recent interview with Rick Beato

[@davidhansen2748]

I've been a fan of Peter's since his Genesis days. I somehow missed his debut solo album "Car", but a local radio station played the entirety of his second "Scratch" late night when it first came out. KZbin used to have the entire 1993 Secret World Live concert on a single video, but I can't find that now. Lots of individual songs, though, well worth seeking out... The first Morgan James song I ever heard was her cover of Sledgehammer. Made me a life-long fan. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6nFaJl8bdOfmrc

[@chillbc6550]

Listen to deep stone lullaby from the video game Destiny 2!! 🎮 one of my favs from that game.

[@TheCharliethomas]

I think the flute was not a synth, Gabriel is an accomplished flautist

[@jimwilson5148]

I wrote a marching band arrangement of this

[@scottzappa9314]

Sir, must ask you if you've seen the "In Your Eyes" done live in the round with that wonderful woman singer and everyone else he has for the show? Please review that one.

[@Great_King_Rat]

Video made by Aardman Studios (Wallace & Gromit/Chicken Run, etc)...

[@pwethman1]

At the VMAs that year Sledgehammer edged out Genesis’ Land of Confusion for Best Video.

[@timothybrennan3600]

Doug, look up the Chapman Stick if you’re not familiar with it. Tony is otherworldly on this instrument.

[@johanbruinenberg4401]

A favourite of mine: Moribund! The burgemeister.

[@davidberesford7009]

Peter - very creative, have you seen/heard his "Downside Up" or "Growing Up"?

[@GanstaGranny-j1d]

Red Rain same album🎙️🎛️🎚️🎛️🎙️

[@AraCarrano]

Hope the Credits song Down to Earth from Wall-E is on the list. Thanks for your reactions.

[@Jonathan-d1b3g]

👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@Leopold-fy7bp]

Would be cool to see you react to some soundtrack in World of Warcraft. Very LOTR-ish with its own unique twist.

[@SubRosaUSA]

Musically - there are only really 2 sections to this song An "A" section and a "B" section, but someone it doesn't sound repetitive.

[@Dragoodranite]

Did In Your Eyes never chart in the 80s? I thought it had with how many "all the hits" stations I've heard it on in the past. Someone may have already cleared this up further down in the comments, idk.

[@grnmntla2107]

Please do the studio version of Mercy Street

[@onanc]

Tony Levin was fantastic in this song.