On this day in 1987, former Genesis front-man Peter Gabriel was absolutely cleaning up at the 4th annual MTV Video Music Awards. His groundbreaking video for “Sledgehammer” was the big winner of the night and anyone who has seen the video knows exactly why…. it’s beautiful!

If you haven’t seen the video (or don’t remember it’s complete awesomeness) please take a moment to watch it below.

 

See?!? It is a visual masterpiece, using painstaking stop-motion photography and claymation to create a music video that still holds up 30 years later. The animation was so good… and the reason why is probably because the animation was partially done by Nick Park, who later went on to create the award-winning children’s series Wallace & Gromit!

 

The video won a record 9 “Moon men” at the ’87 VMAs, including the coveted “Video of the Year”. FUN FACT ALERT… “Sledgehammer” remains MTV’s most-played video of ALL-TIME!!

Filed under: 1987, Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer, Video of the Year, VMAs