Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel spent 16 hours lying perfectly still under a heavy sheet of glass to film the "Sledgehammer" music video. In 1986, director Stephen R. Johnson and a team of legendary animators (including Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay) built one of the most innovative visual experiences in history. To pull off the seamless pixilation and stop-motion effects, the production required a staggering 100 hours of painstaking, frame-by-frame filming. The sheer amount of sweat equity required from Gabriel to endure being pelted with props, wrapped in clay, and covered in raw fish resulted in a surreal, jittery visual trip that digital effects simply cannot replicate. The famous dancing chickens were animated by Nick Park (the future creator of Wallace & Gromit), who used real chicken carcasses that actively started to rot and stink under the hot studio lights. "Sledgehammer" remains the most-played music video in the entire history of MTV and won a record-breaking nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987. Director Stephen R. Johnson initially rejected the pitch because he disliked the song, but he finally agreed to direct it after Gabriel took him out to dinner and got him drunk on wine.