The History Of Music Videos

The History Of Music Videos 

When did music videos start?

• ...as soon as cinema was developed, there came with it the opportunity to put songs to music.
• ...as early as the 1920's, jazz musicians began to make short films to accompany popular songs

What do people consider to be the first music video?

• ...in 1965, Bob Dylan made "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as a segment of the film "Don't Look Back"
• ...This is widely recognised as one of the first music videos

Music TV- Promos

• ..in the 1970's, producers of music television recognised an opportunity to make short promotional films to promote their artists
• ...they began to make 'promos' - early music videos. These often replaced live performances which had previously been the most common way to promote releases on TV.

Bohemium Rhapsody

-In 1975 Queen released "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a groundbreaking video which marked the beginning of the music video era and set the language for the modern music video.
-The video is considered one of the first to use advanced visual effects.





The First Feature length video

• Soon artists realised the power of the music video and how it could affect their image.
• In his 1988 book 'Moonwalk', Michael Jackson expressed interest in having director 'John Landis' direct the music video for 'Thriller'. Having seen Landis' previous work on a horror film. Jackson based himself on a character from Landis' film.
• In 1983 MJ released 'Thriller', a 14 minute music video. It was shown in many cinemas during its release. This led to acting roles in films including 1990 when he starred in 'Arachnophobia'.