The horn section is phenomenal the lyrics, while full of innuendo, are easy to sing along (badly) to the song itself is extraordinarily infectious. “Sledgehammer”, much like Genesis’ “Invisible Touch”, is Gabriel’s singular #1 hit in the United States and for good reason. Maybe he followed the monkey in shock treatments? Anyway, back to why we’re here. Sinister, gray chin beard? Balding head? Long, black robe? It’s as if the pop star/avant garde live performer has grown up to be a wizard or a maniacal priest. Jeeze.Ĭase #2: Have you looked at Peter Gabriel lately? Check out his singles collection, appropriately titled Hit. It’s as if those old rubber Nixon masks were born like Cabbage Patch Kids…in hell. Oh, and did I mention that these caricatured puppets are seriously grotesque looking? Phil Collins’ face appears as though a black hole popped up behind his nasal cavity, and early in the video, we take a camera tour through a swamp full of heads. There are countless puppet cameos and references therein, but you can play Count The Easter Eggs on your own time I still think I’m hallucinating. Reagan wants to clumsily go about saving the world while Genesis performs and narrates, but he is obstructed by dinosaurs, and Phil Collins sings into a telephone as Prince eats his own tongue as a hot dog. While his spouse and ape companion stare wide-eyed through a window at a bird spontaneously cooking in mid-air, Reagan dreams about being Superman as various world leaders and celebrity personalities ramble on a giant screen. One gets the suspicion that children suffered chronic nightmares in 1986, because one look at either of the these singles’ respective videos screams bad acid trip.Ĭase #1: Genesis‘ “Land Of Confusion” features the storyline of exploring Ronald Reagan’s psyche as he lays sleep-drowning in cold sweats next to an oblivious wife and a chimpanzee. As a 1984 baby, the face of Genesis has always been and will always be drummer/vocalist Phil Collins (Peter Gabriel left the band in 1975), and to that end, Genesis and Gabriel are 80’s acts to me personally. Genesis’ Cold War-influenced and heavily drum-driven “Land Of Confusion” was released prior, on the album Invisible Touch, and its video featured puppets from the then-popular satirical television series Spitting Image. The sexually charged soul effort “Sledgehammer”, featured on the album S0 by former Genesis lead Peter Gabriel, was an extremely hot single in 1986, due in large part to an innovative stop-motion music video. On that note, taken out of context, what was once an urging for peace in a “land of confusion” during the 80’s and what were once revolutionary production methods, now appear…frankly…fucking weird. Perspectives are vastly different now, and the world has a new series of threats and a new era of political celebrities to poke fun at. “Soviets versus Westerners” and nuclear stalemates have been replaced by anti-terrorism and Middle Eastern holy wars. One area where context can come across as dated is political humor, as the climate wherein its relevance lies constantly shifts. Future generations will probably look at our 3OH!3 and My Chemical Romance videos and be as taken aback by the hair and the whiny voices as we were by glam rockers or Bobby Brown’s look during the 80’s. The message provided by any song or music video is subject to context, no matter how surreal or true-to-life the content might be.
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