Songoftheday 11/14/14 - You could have a steam train if you just lay down your tracks....

Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer"
from the album So (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's Song of the Day comes from English singer/songwriter Peter Gabriel, who left his position as lead singer for the progressive rock band Genesis in the mid-70s for a solo career. His first work was critically heralded and sonically innovative, although his commercial success was modest, save for the top-40 hit from his fourth album Security, "Shock The Monkey", in 1983. Later that year, he released a live album from the tour behind that record, and had a top-40 rock hit with "I Go Swimming" and a minor pop hit in the U.S. with the live version of his classic "Solsbury Hill". Peter also contributed music to the soundtracks to films like Birdy and Against All Odds. By the time his fifth album So would be released in 1986, his profile in America was quite low, and his "comeback"as it were would be even more startling. Instead of following his new-wave influence style his last albums sounded like, the first single was a mid-tempo groove called "Sledgehammer" that rocked and rolled like a couple doing the nasty. Produced by Daniel Lanois, the song used the horn section (including former Otis Redding sideman Wayne Jackson) like former bandmate Phil Collins, but in a more lascivious context, peppered with references clearly sexual in nature, describing his junk in ways culminating into the titular "Sledgehammer". For the fans of his solo work, this was a huge departure from his art-rock past. But the most memorable thing about the record is its music video, which used all kinds of camera tricks and animation to end up with possibly the ultimate clip of the decade....

"Sledgehammer" became Peter's first and so-far sole #1 pop single in the U.S. in July of 1986. The record also topped both the Mainstream Rock radio chart and Dance Club Play chart in Billboard magazine, and even crossed over to the R&B singles chart at #61. Internationally, the song went to #1 in Canada and top-10 almost everywhere else, including a #4 spot in his native Britain....

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Here's Peter performing the song live on tour in 1987...