“Sledgehammer” is the biggest hit of Peter Gabriel’s solo career and his only #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 (1986). Its revolutionary music video, directed by Stephen R. Johnson, featured groundbreaking stop-motion, claymation, and pixilation work by Aardman Animations (the Wallace & Gromit studio) and the Brothers Quay.
Gabriel spent a grueling 16 hours lying motionless under a glass plate while animators worked frame-by-frame around him. The entire shoot was an exhausting, week-long production. The result? It won a record 9 awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards (including Video of the Year) and remains the most played music video in MTV history.