Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer as a '50s rhythm and blues song

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Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/30/peter-gabriels-sledgehammer.html

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Fantastic! Thanks for sharing - this is the stuff I come to BB for.

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Brilliant, Sledgehammer just got owned, Eminently listenable. Like the second tune too. Great talent in this band.

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I think I prefer this to Gabriel’s version. Awesome.

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I love that version of “Sledgehammer,” and that comes from someone who loves the original. Need to add these folks to my list.

On the opposite side of the cover spectrum, but staying with Peter Gabriel, here’s Local H’s cover of “Shock the Monkey” from the AV Club series of covers.

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Considering that Sledgehammer is already an R&B song, just of the quirky 80s variety rather than a 50s song, it converts pretty straightforwardly to what they’re doing. They essentially “flattened out” the song, removing all things Peter Gabriel from it. The uniqueness, too, I fear.

But even just removing it from the context of the Gabriel video casts it in a new light for me. That part I can appreciate. I’m glad to hear this song without seeing spinning chickens.

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I totally did not get all the sexual innuendo in the Gabriel version, but it’s obvious here…

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As much as I like the song, I think I saw the video enough from 86-88 (my Prime MTV years) to never need to hear the song again.

This was reasonably catchy though

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Ah yes, thank you, this is a great cover!

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if you like authentic blues you really gotta check out blues hammer they’re so great.

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I’m particularly fond of their jazz covers of Bad Romance and Habits.

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Awesome. But the handoff of the guitar to the backup singer got weird, it was obviously not rehearsed, and she had no idea what to do, ultimately putting it on and pretending to play.

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Oh wow. loved that song back in the 80s, and this cover certainly does it justice in terms of intensity. Thanks for the share.

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I couldn’t take my eyes off Adanna Duru. I was wishing so hard that she would suddenly break out with a killer guitar solo.

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Hasn’t it always been a 1950s rhythm and blues song?

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The backup singer who takes his guitar (around 2:00) doesn’t seem to know what to do with it… starts fidding with it, then puts it down, then picks it up and straps in.

Then, after she’s strapped in, she pretends to play. I’m not surprised that someone would pretend, but I am surprised at how badly some people pretend, not even shifting the fret hand around for different chords.

I recently saw Jimmy Buffet himself – who presumably has played guitar for decades – on stage pretending to play his guitar, and was staggered by how badly he pretended. He strummed it not even remotely in time with the music. It actually made me feel a bit sad, he must be losing some serious marbles, and I’m astonished that his handlers would have thought it’d be a good idea.

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So . . . the question now is WHY was he “pretending”?

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My best guess would be something along the lines of arthritis.

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He might not be able to remember the chords anymore, either. He’s 70. It’s easy to put the words up for him and not make it that obvious.
We saw the Stones last time they came through and Keith is starting to forget at times. And he’s one of (IMO) the greatest guitarists of all time.

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Season 6 they said?! I’m somehow just now hearing about this video series for the first time. Thanks for posting it!

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