History of Music Videos

Its rather obvious music videos didn’t just simply appear out of nowhere in 1981, when MTV was established. In fact there was many music videos that were produced before this time period, however the majority of them were extremely unsuccessful due to a weak promotional campaign that would usually just consist of the occasional airings on weekly pop shows.

Within the modern era music videos are mostly exclusive to YouTube, this is actually only the latest stage in the evolution of the movie sub-genre that can be as elaborate as a feature film.

Significant/iconic music videos:

“Strawberry Fields Forever”   (1967)

The Beatles are without a doubt the

important band in pop music history. Back in

the 1960’s very few acts recorded music videos, there was no

MTV to help promote, they were mostly

distributed through their endless

dedication in touring – consequently artists

didn’t even have enough time to make

it to the recording studios. However The Beatles heavily flirted

with the idea of releasing a promotional video, for two of their songs that featured in movies’ A Hard Day’s Night, and Help, they

finally recorded a series of promotional films after giving up touring in1966.

Bohemian Rhapsody 1975Eight years later, the music video was still nothing more than an occasional promotional film, usually the syndication of a particular TV

performance. Although some artists including David Bowie recorded frequent music videos, but on the whole the concept was ignored. As shows aired in Europe including Top of the Pops preferred accompany songs with dancers if artist were unable to perform.

When Queen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” made the number one spot in 1975, the band was on tour and unable to make it to the recording of Top of the Pops on BBC One. Instead, they recorded a special video for the occasion, featuring the band performing the beginning and end of the song on stage, and with a collection of stunning visual images using the latest video editing technology accompanying the middle “opera” section.

Thriller 1983Once Michael Jacksons

solo career hit the stratosphere with his

Thriller album, pop videos had become

more commonly published, with debut

solo artists and

establishing acts spending time recording, and

dedicating video performances in

order to help sell their own records.

Directed by John Landis, Thriller enjoyed its 13-minute running

time video being released at MTV’s worldwide premiere on December 2nd 1983. Since this time Thriller has been announced the first music video added to the National

Film Registry.

Baby One More Time 1998 Britney Spear’s debut single was released with a slightly cheesy video, which happened to be directed by Nigel Dick, Funnily enough this did appeal to the MTV audience, resulting in almost instant worldwide fame for the former Disney Club actor. However this particular video didn’t follow all conventions which had been put in place, instead using minimal special effects, it attempts (successfully) to recreate perfect synchronicity between the song and video.

Born This Way 2011

Lady Gaga has made music

videos the focus of her pop single

career, more than any artist since

Michael Jackson. She has since

produced a seven minute long “Born

This Way” video, which was directed

by fashion photographer Nick Knight. It consists of Lady Gaga in a

number of costumes, ranging from scary-looking facial protrusions. As well as, various

references to Greek and Roman mythology.