[6] Peter Gabriel, ‘Sledgehammer’

Of all the unlikely massive pop stars in 1986, Peter Gabriel was, erm, one. It helped that he was a clever lad, in tune with the zeitgeist (man), and understood how to harness the shiny pristine power of video. Sure, it wasn’t all that new, but consider the effect the ‘Sledgehammer’ film had on the populace. It was like being hit by a heavy object on a stick.

And no harm was done by the tune, a filthy, brassy, funky, resolutely 80s AOR stormer that had wit, pizzazz and whacking great horns that hit you like a large metal slab fixed to a wooden handle.

Junior expresses admiration for “the singing and the drums”, but that’s a bit of a kiss-off. Later I show her its still-diverting video – which she loves, particularly the literal representations of lyrics about steam trains and aeroplanes. Good for the kids, those touches, what with them being subtle as a weighty tool for swinging when you want to spread distribution of force.

You could be a bumper car, bumping:

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