ABSTRACT
This chapter argues a nuanced understanding of 'Sledgehammer' as historically rooted, locally marked but nevertheless bound up with transnational discourses of artistic and cultural production at the time of its making. The legacy of the song and video is impressive, not least in Peter Gabriel's own subsequent work, including songs like 'Steam', 'Kiss that Frog' and 'The Barry Williams Show', where the songwriter audibly reproduces successes. The initial moments of 'Sledgehammer' feature a reverberated wash of sound supported by equally formless visual imagery. A sampled shakuhachi flute animates stellar spots of light, macrocosm ceding to microcosm as closer focus reveals the microscopic forms to be human spermatozoa–a flashback for many viewers to uncomfortable or mirth-filled biology lessons. Benjamin's encounter with French surrealism offers perhaps the most promise when it comes to accounting for surrealist imagery in Gabriel's video. Several feature in the video tally with Benjamin's understanding of a critical strain within surrealist expression.
