Music video
Encyclopedia
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song
and imagery, produced for promotional
or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing
device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV
based their format around the medium. Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip" or "film clip".
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation
, live action
filming, documentaries
, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film
. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.
publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song "The Little Lost Child
". Using a magic lantern
, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the first step toward music video.
In 1926, with the arrival of "talkies
" many musical short films
were produced. Vitaphone
shorts (produced by Warner Bros.
) featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. Spooney Melodies
in 1930 was the first true musical video series. Shorts were typically six minutes in duration, and featured Art Deco
-style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing.
Animation artist Max Fleischer
introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs
, which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball", which is similar to a modern karaoke machine. The sing along concept is still used today, especially with younger audiences such as High School Musical
. Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoon
s. The early animated films by Walt Disney
, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia
, which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music. The Warner Brothers
cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes
and Merrie Melodies
, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical film
s. Warner Brothers also produced the cartoon "Three Pigs in a Polka", set to Johannes Brahms
' Hungarian Dances. This film actually included many elements to the Walt Disney version of the Three Little Pigs, such as the pigs playing a violin and a piccolo. Live action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway
, were also distributed to theaters.
Blues
singer Bessie Smith
appeared in a two-reel short film called St. Louis Blues
(1929) featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period. Later, in the mid-1940s, musician Louis Jordan
made short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into a feature film Lookout Sister. These films were, according to music historian Donald Clarke, the "ancestors" of music video.
Another early form of music video were one-song films called "promotional clips" made in the 1940s for the Panoram
visual jukebox
. These were short films of musical selections, usually just a band on a movie-set bandstand, made for playing. Thousands of "soundies
" were made, mostly of jazz
musicians, but also of torch singer
s, comedians, and dancers. Before the soundie, even dramatic movies typically had a musical interval, but the soundie put the music in the forefront; virtually all known jazz performers appeared in soundie shorts. The Panoram jukebox with eight three-minute soundies were popular in taverns and night spots, but the fad faded during World War II
.
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Musical film
s were another important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for "Material Girl
" (directed by Mary Lambert) which was closely modelled on Jack Cole
's staging of "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend
" from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Several of Michael Jackson
's videos show the unmistakable influence of the dance sequences in classic Hollywood musicals, including the landmark "Thriller
" and the Martin Scorsese
-directed "Bad" which was influenced by the stylised dance "fights" in the film version of West Side Story
.
In 1956, Petrushka, directed by John David Wilson
for Fine Arts Films
aired as a segment of the Sol Hurok Music Hour on NBC
. Igor Stravinsky
conducted a live orchestra for the recording of the event. In 1957, Tony Bennett
was filmed walking along The Serpentine
in Hyde Park, London
as his recording of "Stranger in Paradise
" played; this film was distributed to and played by UK and US television stations. According to the Internet Accuracy Project, disk jockey-singer J. P. "The Big Bopper
" Richardson was the first to coin the phrase "music video", in 1959. It is no coincidence that the rise of popular music was tied with the rise of television, as the format allowed for many new stars to be exposed that previously would have been passed over by Hollywood, which normally required proven acts in order to attract an audience to the box office.
, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg
, Françoise Hardy
, Jacques Brel
, and Jacques Dutronc
to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented. In 1961 Ozzie Nelson
directed and edited the video of "Travelin' Man
" by his son Ricky Nelson
. It featured images of various parts of the world mentioned in the Jerry Fuller song along with Nelson's vocals. In 1964, Kenneth Anger
's experimental
short film, Scorpio Rising
used popular songs instead of dialog.
In 1961, for Canadian show Singalong Jubilee
, Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-syncing, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and the location shoot "videos" were to add variety. In 1963, singer Kyu Sakamoto
is featured on the Japanese television program Shall We Meet At Seven? singing eight of his best-known songs, including his international hit Sukiyaki
. Sakamoto is shown singing the latter as he walks through an alley past barrels.
One of the earliest Videos of a Top 40 hit, was Jan & Dean's "Surf City", produced in Summer 1963, contemporaneous with the single release reaching Number One nationally in July 1963 (ref: Wikipedia). Filmed on location on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, it's a period-piece, capturing much of the atmosphere and vibe of the Southern California early 60's beach scene. This video is readily available for download and viewing on YouTube.com.
Another early performance clip was The Animals
's 1964 hit "House Of The Rising Sun". This high-quality color clip was filmed in a studio on a specially-built set; with the group lip-synching.
starred in their first feature film A Hard Day's Night
, directed by Richard Lester
. Shot in black-and-white
and presented as a mock documentary
, it was a loosely structured musical fantasia interspersing comedic and dialogue sequences with musical ones. The musical sequences furnished basic templates on which countless subsequent music videos were modeled. It was the direct model for the successful US TV series The Monkees
(1966–1968) which similarly consisted of film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs.
Film critic Roger Ebert
credits Lester with constructing "a new grammar":
The Beatles' second feature Help!
(1965) was a much more lavish affair, filmed in colour in London and on international locations. It fitted the all-important musical sequences into a contrived fantasy adventure in which the group is pursued through a series of locales (including Switzerland and The Bahamas) by a band of Indian thuggee
assassins bent on recovering a sacred ring which has come into Ringo
's possession. The title track sequence, filmed in black-and-white, is arguably one of the prime archetypes of the modern performance-style music video, employing rhythmic cross-cutting, contrasting long shots and close-ups, and unusual shots and camera angles, such as the shot near the end of the song, in which George Harrison's left hand and the neck of his guitar are seen in sharp focus in the foreground while the completely out-of-focus figure of John Lennon sings in the background.
In 1965, The Beatles began making promotional clips (then known as "filmed inserts") for distribution and broadcast in other countries—primarily the USA—so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances. On November 23, 1965: At Twickenham Film Studios, The Beatles videotaped 10 black & white promo films, all produced by a British production company Intertel. They were "We Can Work It Out" (3 Versions), "Day Tripper" (3 Versions), "Help!" (1 Version), "Ticket To Ride" (1 Version), and "I Feel Fine" (2 Versions, neither of which were ever aired). One version each of the first two songs were aired on "Hullaballo" in the US on Jan 3 1966. Many clips were aired on "Top of the Pops" in the UK, and two were aired on "Thank Your Lucky Stars." Recent reports indicate the entire reel is circulating among collectors. "Help" and "Ticket To Ride" were re-released to accompany the CD release of the "1962–1966" or "Red" album in 1993. Composite edits of "We Can Work It Out", "Day Tripper", and "Ticket To Ride" are seen in "The Beatles Anthology," DVD set.
At the same time, The Byrds
began using the same strategy to promote their singles in the United Kingdom
, starting with the 1965 single "Set You Free This Time". By the time The Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, their promotional films, like their recordings, had become highly sophisticated. In May 1966 they filmed two sets of colour promotional clips for their current single "Rain
"/"Paperback Writer
" all directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
, who went on to direct The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
and The Beatles final film Let It Be. The studio clips were straightforward performance films shot at Abbey Road Studios on 19 May, especially for broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show
and prefaced by a spoken introduction from Ringo.
The location clips are considerably more elaborate and use vibrant colour footage shot on location in the grounds of Chiswick House
, London. Both clips are notable for their use of hand-held camera work, rhythmic editing, slow motion shots and reversed film. The "Paperback Writer
" clip is more conventional, with Lennon, McCartney and Harrison lip-synching and miming playing their instruments (although Ringo is notably not 'playing'). The "Rain
" clip marked a major advance in stylistic terms; it uses some colour shots common to both clips but is also intercut with monochrome reductions of the Abbey Road studio footage, making it one of the first examples of this device in music video. Most notably, apart from a few brief shots (a close-up of Lennon lip-synching and a shot of the group under a tree miming playing their instruments) the "Rain" clip virtually abandons any pretense of performance and has no obvious narrative structure.
The colour promotional clips for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane
", made in early 1967 and directed by Peter Goldman took the promotional film format to a new level. They used techniques borrowed from underground and avant garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and color filtering added in post-production. Reflecting the fact that these studio masterpieces were impossible for the group to perform live, their psychedelic
mini-films illustrated the songs in an artful, impressionistic manner rather than trying to simulate an idealised performance or depict a narrative or plot.
At the end of 1967 the group released their third film, the one hour, made-for-television project Magical Mystery Tour
; it was written and directed by the group and first broadcast on the BBC
on Boxing Day
1967. Although poorly received at the time for lacking a narrative structure, it showed the group to be accomplished music video makers in their own right. It included elaborate edited sequences for the new songs featured in the film and the clips for "I Am The Walrus" and "Your Mother Should Know" have been screened many times on music TV shows in later years.
's "Subterranean Homesick Blues
" filmed by D. A. Pennebaker
was featured in Pennebaker's Dylan film documentary Dont Look Back
. Eschewing any attempt to simulate performance or present a narrative, the clip shows Dylan standing in a city back alley, silently shuffling a series of large cue cards (bearing key words from the song's lyrics). Many "song films"—often referred to as "filmed inserts" at that time—were produced by UK artists so they could be screened on TV when the bands were not available to appear live. Pink Floyd
were pioneers in producing promotional films for their songs including "San Francisco: Film", directed by Anthony Stern
, "Scarecrow
", "Arnold Layne
" and "Interstellar Overdrive
", the latter directed by Peter Whitehead, who also made several pioneering clips for The Rolling Stones
between 1966 and 1968. In the UK The Kinks
made one of the first "plot" promo clips for a song. For their single "Dead End Street
" (1966) a miniature comic movie was made. The BBC reportedly refused to air the clip because it was considered to be in "poor taste".
The Who
featured in several promotional clips in this period, beginning with their 1965 clip for I Can't Explain
. Their plot clip for Happy Jack
(1966) shows the band acting like a gang of thieves. The promo film to Call Me Lightning (1968) tells a story of how drummer Keith Moon
came to join the group: One fine day, the other three band members are having tea inside what looks like an abandoned hangar when suddenly a "bleeding box" arrives, out of which jumps a fast-running, timelapse, utterly out-of-control Moon that Pete Townshend
, Roger Daltrey
, and John Entwistle
subsequently try to get a hold of in a sped-up slapstick chasing sequence to wind him down.
The Moody Blues
made a promo video for their 1967 single "Nights in White Satin
". Procol Harum
made two promos for their 1967 hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale
". One version shows band members walking among the ruins of Witley Court
, footage of them performing the song onstage and documentary footage of the Vietnam war
. The second version shows the band running towards camera (a device pioneered in A Hard Day's Night), followed by surrealistic sequences. The first (earlier) video included four of the five musicians on the hit single: Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, David Knights and Ray Royer; only the drummer was different, Bobby Harrison miming to Bill Eyden's drumming on the single. The second video included three of the five musicians on the single: substitutes were guitarist Robin Trower instead of Royer and B.J. Wilson instead of Eyden.
The Small Faces
made several promotional clips in 1966–67. The B&W promo for their 1966 single "Hey Girl" shows the band performing and clowning around aboard a tram with a group of female fans. A colour clip for their 1967 single "Get Yourself Together" has band members dressed as police. The Troggs
feature in a monochrome promo clip for their 1967/68 hit "Love Is All Around", showing singer Reg Presley
's love affair with a girl intercut with concert footage and psychedelic elements.
The Doors
had a background in film-making and both lead singer Jim Morrison
and keyboard player Ray Manzarek
were studying film at UCLA when they met. The clip for their debut single "Break on Through (To the Other Side)
" is a filmed performance that uses atmospheric lighting, camera work and editing. It was directed by Elektra Records producer Mark Abramson
. Their 1968 anti-war single "The Unknown Soldier"
, combines specially filmed footage of the group—including the depiction of a mock execution by firing squad—with extensive intercutting of stock footage, including graphic footage of the carnage of the Vietnam War
. It was also directed by Mark Abramson
based on input from Morrison and the Doors.
Although it made little impression internationally, there was a thriving local pop scene in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s and bands there were quick to pick up on British and American trends. By 1967 a number of bands were creating early music videos for their songs. One of the first was the pioneering clip made by The Masters Apprentices
for their 1967 single "Buried And Dead", which used candid stage and studio footage of the band combined with specially filmed fantasy sequences. Another notable Australian clip from this period is the promotional clip for "The Loved One" by The Loved Ones
, directed by Peter L. Lamb as part of his 1967 short film Approximately Panther.
The Rolling Stones
appeared in many promotional clips for their songs in the 1960s. One of the earliest, dating from 1964, showed the band on a beach, miming to their single "Not Fade Away", but this has apparently since been lost. In 1966, Peter Whitehead directed two promo clips for their single "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
"
In 1967, Whitehead directed a plot clip colour promo clip for the Stones single "We Love You", which first aired in August 1967. This clip featured sped-up footage of the group recording in the studio (including several shots of an extremely stoned-looking Brian Jones), intercut with a mock trial that clearly alludes to the drug prosecutions of Mick Jagger
and Keith Richards
underway at that time. Jagger's girlfriend Marianne Faithfull
appears in the trial scenes and presents the "judge" (Richards) with what may be the infamous fur rug that had featured so prominently in the press reports of the drug bust at Richards' house in early 1967. When it is pulled back, it reveals an apparently naked Jagger with chains around his ankles. The clip concludes with scenes of the Stones in the studio intercut with footage that had previously been used in the "concert version" promo clip for "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby". The group also filmed a colour promo clip for the song "2000 Light Years From Home" (from their album Their Satanic Majesties Request
) directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
.
In 1968, Michael Lindsay-Hogg
directed three clips for their single "Jumping Jack Flash" / "Child Of The Moon"—a colour clip for "Child Of The Moon" and two different clips for "Jumpin' Jack Flash
". One was a [monochrome clip] with what appears to be a live performance of the song; the other is the better-known colour clip, featuring the band in heavy makeup, miming to the same live recording used in the B&W clip. In 1968, they collaborated with Jean-Luc Godard
on the film Sympathy for the Devil
, which mixed Godard's political tracts with documentary footage of the song's evolution during the recording sessions at Olympic Studios
in London. At the end of the year Lindsay-Hogg again collaborated with the Stones on their most ambitious project to date, the feature-length performance film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
, which also featured John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton and rising UK band Jethro Tull
, but unfortunately the film was not released until 1996 because the group at the time felt that their own performances had been below par.
So are two videos of Lou Christie
for "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" in 1969. The Carpenters
made a promo clip of their cover of the Beatles hit "Ticket to Ride
". After 1969, the independent music movie clips came out of fashion with psychedelic music and style. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, bands preferred performing in TV shows which themselves became visually more attractive. Some artists were featured in straightforward documentaries such as The Beatles
in "Let It Be" and the Rolling Stones in "Gimme Shelter
".
On The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
, which ran from 1971 to 1974, director Chris Bearde
enlisted animator John David Wilson
to direct animated segments of current hits of the day reinterpreted by the duo. Songs included Coven
's "One Tin Soldier
", Three Dog Night
's "Black and White" and Melanie
's "Brand New Key
". Wilson later went on to self-produce many more animated videos for artists such as Joni Mitchell
, Bob Dylan
and Jim Croce
. The promotional clip continued to grow in importance, with television programs such as The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
mixing concert footage with clips incorporating camera tricks, special effects, and dramatizations of song lyrics. The film of the Woodstock Festival
, and the various concert films that were made during the early 1970s, such as Joe Cocker
's Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Pink Floyd
's Live at Pompeii
concert film used rhythmic cross-cutting.
In 1971, avant-garde group The Residents
began filming what was supposed to be the first feature length music video "Vileness Fats". Due to time constrains and technical problems, the group abandoned the project in 1976. The group would, however, create videos for "The Third Reich 'n Roll" (which used props from Vileness Fats), "One Minute Movies"
, "Hello Skinny", and their cover of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World". Nicolas Roeg
's 1970 cult film Performance
contains a sequence in which star of the film Mick Jagger
did a rendition of "Memo From Turner
" combined with a psychedelic collage.
Many countries with local pop music industries soon copied the trend towards promo film clips. In Australia
, promotional films by Australian pop performers were being made on a regular basis by 1966; in 1968 singer Lynne Randell
featured in one of the first promotional clips for an Australian act that was filmed in colour, but most Australian clips from this period were in black and white, because Australia did not convert to colour TV until early 1975. 1970–71, Australian musician and filmmaker Chris Lofven made (monochrome) promotional films for two of the biggest Australian hits of the period—Daddy Cool
's "Eagle Rock" and Spectrum
's "I'll Be Gone". These were widely screened on Australian TV at the time and played a significant role in the success of the songs, which both became national #1 hits.
The genre-defining surf films of Bruce Brown
, George Greenough
and Alby Falzon
and others are also notable for their innovative combinations of image and music featuring sequences of specially-filmed surfing footage, carefully edited against long music tracks, with no accompanying dialogue. Greenough's landmark 1972 film Crystal Voyager concluded with an extended sequence (filmed and edited by Greenough) that was constructed around the 23-minute Pink Floyd
track "Echoes
". The band was impressed with Greenough's effort and agreed to allow Greenough to use their music in his film in exchange for the right to use his film footage when performing "Echoes" at their concerts.
During late 1972–73 David Bowie
featured in a series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock
, who worked extensively with Bowie in this period. These clips are important landmarks in the development of the music video genre in the 1970s, and they are also notable because they were made by a professional photographer rather than an established film or TV director, and because Rock was given total creative control over the clips. Mick Rock directed and edited four clips, all originally shot on 16 mm colour film, to promote four consecutive David Bowie singles—"John, I'm Only Dancing
" (May 1972), "The Jean Genie
" (Nov. 1972), the December 1972 US re-release of "Space Oddity" and the 1973 release of the single "Life On Mars" (lifted from Bowie's earlier album Hunky Dory
). Mick Rock cites the "Life On Mars" clip as his favorite of the four.
The clip for "John, I'm Only Dancing" was made with a budget of just US$200 and filmed at the afternoon rehearsal for Bowie's Rainbow Theatre concert on 19 August 1972. It shows Bowie and band miming to the record intercut with footage of Bowie's dancers The Astronettes dancing on stage and behind a back-lit screen. The clip was turned down by the BBC, who reportedly found the homosexual overtones of the film distasteful, although Top of the Pops replaced it with footage of bikers and a dancer. The "Jean Genie" clip, produced for just US$350, was shot in one day and edited in less than two days. It intercuts footage of Bowie and band in concert with contrasting footage of the group in a photographic studio, wearing black stage outfits and standing against a white background. It also includes location footage with Bowie and Cyrinda Foxe (a MainMan employee and a friend of David and Angie Bowie) shot in San Francisco outside the famous Mars Hotel, with Fox posing provocatively in the street while Bowie lounges against the wall, smoking.
In 1978 Canadian filmmaker Denis Koufoudakis created EXIT, a Super 8 student film that depicted a youth’s struggles with choices in an information overload era and his nagging thoughts of suicide. EXIT featured Boston’s Foreplay/Long Time for its soundtrack and was one of the first films of its kind to be recognized at an international film festival as it received an Honorable Mention. The rock video style short, having been shot on Super 8 film stock was damaged and is slated to undergo a digitized restoration for its 35th year anniversary.
, both of which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of music video clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts. In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb
launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show which screened on Sydney
's ATN-7
on Saturday mornings; this was renamed Sounds Unlimited in 1975 and later shortened simply to Sounds. In need of material for the show, Webb approached Seven newsroom staffer Russell Mulcahy
and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips (e.g. Harry Nilsson
's "Everybody's Talking
"). Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a full-time director, and he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus
, Marcia Hines
, Hush
and AC/DC
.
After relocating to the UK in the mid-1970s, Mulcahy made successful music videos for several noted British pop acts—his early UK credits included XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" (1979) and his landmark video for The Buggles
' "Video Killed The Radio Star
" (1979) which became the first music video played on MTV
in 1981. Countdown was partly based on the 1960s Australian pop show Kommotion and on the BBC's Top of the Pops but unlike its British counterpart, Countdown was not restricted in its use of music videos. The program was launched in late 1974, a few months after Sounds, and initially screened in a late Saturday afternoon timeslot, but in January 1975, only a few weeks before color TV was officially launched in Australia, it moved to the prime 6 pm Sunday timeslot; thanks to the ABC's nationwide reach, it rapidly became one of the highest-rating shows on Australian TV.
As it gained popularity, Countdown talent coordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum and producer Michael Shrimpton quickly realized that "film clips" were becoming an important new commodity in music marketing. Despite the show's minuscule budget, Countdowns original director Paul Drane
was able to create several memorable music videos especially for the show, including the classic film-clips for the AC/DC hits "It's A Long Way To The Top" and "Jailbreak
". Countdown became successful in Australia and other countries picked up on the format. At its highpoint during most of the 1980s it was to be aired in 22 countries including TV Europe. In 1978, the Dutch TV-broadcasting company Veronica started its own version of Countdown, which during the 1980s featured Adam Curry
as its best known presenter. Although the ABC's facilities and expertise enabled Countdown to present regular studio 'performances' by local and visiting acts, rival shows like Sounds lacked the resources to present such segments, so they at first used music videos almost exclusively.
premièring on TV2 in 1976. Ready to Roll also premièred the same year.
began playing music videos in the late 1970s, although the BBC
placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week. In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet
's eye catching promo for "Ashes to Ashes
". Another act to succeed with this tactic was Madness
, who shot on 16 mm and 35 mm, constructing their clips as "micro-comedic" short films.
In 1974 the band Sparks
filmed a promo video for their single "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
" from the album Kimono My House
In 1975, The Who released their all-music feature film Tommy
, directed by Ken Russell
, based upon their 1969 rock opera of the same name. Also in 1975, the band Queen
ordered Bruce Gowers
to make a promo video for their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody
" to show it in Top Of The Pops
; this is also notable for being entirely shot and edited on videotape.
The Alan Parker
film adaptation of Pink Floyd The Wall
transformed the group's 1979 concept double-LP of the same title into a confrontational and apocalyptic audio-visual labyrinth of stylized, expressionistic images, sounds, melodies and lyrics.
The long-running British Rock music show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" produced a number of pioneering videos made especially for the program throughout the 70s and early 80s. These included a video of Frank Zappa's "City of Tiny Lights" made using claymation and videos made for performers such as Television, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield. The executive producer of The Old Grey Whistle Test was Mike Appleton.
Derek Burbidge and Kate Humphreys directed and videoed many of the artists. The audio was always of prime importance. Gregg Baily was the recordist for the show on location. Although many assumed the bands were playing live, due to technical issues and the need to ensure performances were controlled, the bands often recorded the performance on the day of shooting prior to taping, and then mimed to this "live" track.
Other directors and camera operators were Martin Pitts in the USA, and for England, John Metcalfe and Tim Pope and many others. Location shoots all over the world were an essential part of the program. Martin Pitts Directed clips for the Bee Gees that aired on the show.
created many self-produced music videos, which were included in the pioneering compilation "The Truth About Devolution", directed by Chuck Statler. Devo's video cassette releases were arguably among the first true long-form video productions. Also, one of their music videos "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise" was the first to use computer and traditional animation. Shock-rocker Alice Cooper
took a video of his Welcome to My Nightmare
concert showcasing the intense visual performance it gave. Alice Cooper himself makes reference to making one of the first music videos on the promotional videos for his album Along Came A Spider
.
Video Concert Hall
, created by Jerry Crowe and Charles Henderson
, launched on November 1, 1979, was the first nationwide video music programming on American television, predating MTV by almost three years. The USA Cable Network
program Night Flight
was one of the first American programs to showcase these videos as an artform. Premiering in June 1981, Night Flight predated MTV's launch by two months.
Two feature-length films released on the cusp of MTV's first appearance on the dial
contributed enormously to the development of the form. The first was 1981's Shock Treatment
, a pseudo-sequel/spinoff of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
principally written and scored by RHPS creator Richard O'Brien
. Although it was a commercial flop, the film broke stylistic ground by being more focused and less visually ambitious – and thus easier to emulate on a tight budget – than either RHPS or Ken Russell
's 1975 adaptation of The Who's music and storyline from the album Tommy, or even a lower-budget affair like The Ramones
' Rock 'n' Roll High School
(1979).
In 1980, New Zealand group Split Enz
had major success with the single "I Got You" and the album True Colours, and later that year they joined Blondie
in becoming one of the first bands in the world to produce a complete set of promo clips for each song on the album (directed by their percussionist, Noel Crombie
) and to market these on video cassette. This was followed a year later by the first American video album, The Completion Backward Principle
by The Tubes
, directed by the group's keyboard player Michael Cotten, which included two videos directed by Russell Mulcahy ("Talk To Ya Later" and "Don't Want To Wait Anymore").
Among the first music videos were clips produced by ex-Monkee
Michael Nesmith
who started making short musical films for Saturday Night Live
. In 1981, he released Elephant Parts
, the first winner of a Grammy for music video, directed by William Dear. A further experiment on NBC
television called Television Parts
was not successful, due to network meddling (notably an intrusive laugh track
and corny gags). Billboard credits the independently-produced Video Concert Hall
as being the first with nationwide video music programming on American television.
video channel MTV
launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star
" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Adam and the Ants
, Duran Duran
and Madonna
, owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.
Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video
recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image compositing
. The advent of high-quality color videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the New Wave
era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film. However, as the genre developed, music video directors increasingly turned to 35 mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video.
During the 1980s, music videos had become de rigueur for most recording artists. The phenomenon that was famously parodied by BBC
television comedy program Not The Nine O'Clock News
who produced a spoof music video "Nice Video, Shame About The Song". The genre was also parodied by Frank Zappa
in his satirical 1984 song "Be In My Video". Its increasing dominance had earlier been critiqued by Joe Jackson
in his 1980 song "Pretty Boys" (which still referred to videos as "promos").
In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to explore and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding a storyline or plot to the music video. Occasionally videos were made in a non-representational form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen
's "Atlantic City
", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet
's video for David Bowie
and Queen
's "Under Pressure
", and Ian Emes
' video for Duran Duran
's "The Chauffeur
". Other notable later examples of the non-representational style include Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince
's "Sign o' the Times" – influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics—the video for George Michael
's "Freedom 90" (1990), in which Michael himself refused to appear, forcing director David Fincher
to substitute top fashion models in his place.
In 1983, the most successful and influential music video of all time was released — the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson
's song "Thriller
". The video set new standards for production, having cost US$500,000 to film. That video, along with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs "Billie Jean
" and "Beat It
", also was instrumental in getting music videos by African American
artists played on MTV. Earlier, such videos had been rare: according to MTV, this was because it initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel, although musician Rick James
was outspoken in his criticism of the cable channel, claiming in 1983 that MTV's refusal to air the music video for his song "Super Freak" and clips by other African-American performers was "blatant racism".
The Canadian
music channel MuchMusic
was launched in 1984. In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards
(later to be known as the VMA's), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry.
In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1
(then known as "VH-1: Video Hits One"), featuring softer music, and meant to cater to an older demographic than MTV. MTV Europe
was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991. Another important development in music videos was the launch of The Chart Show
on the UK's Channel 4
in 1986. This was a program which consisted entirely of music videos (the only outlet many videos had on British TV at the time), without presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics
. The show moved to ITV
in 1989.
The video for the 1985 Dire Straits
song "Money for Nothing
" made pioneering use of computer animation, and helped make the song an international hit. Ironically, the song itself was a wry comment on the music-video phenomenon, sung from the point of view of an appliance deliveryman both drawn to and repelled by the outlandish images and personalities that appeared on MTV. In 1986, Peter Gabriel
's song "Sledgehammer
" used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animation. The video for "Sledgehammer" would go on to be a phenomenal success and win nine MTV Video Music Awards.
In 1988, the MTV show Yo! MTV Raps
debuted; the show helped to bring hip hop music
to a mass audience for the first time.
with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Michel Gondry
, Spike Jonze
, Stéphane Sednaoui
, Mark Romanek
and Hype Williams
all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze and F. Gary Gray
, went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as Lasse Hallström
and David Fincher
.
Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael
and Janet Jackson
's "Scream
", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive video of all time. During this period, MTV launched channels around the world to show music videos produced in each local market: MTV Latin America
in 1993, MTV India
in 1996, and MTV Mandarin
in 1997, among others. MTV2
, originally called "M2" and meant to show more alternative and older music videos, debuted in 1996.
-based groups, who recorded them as they appeared on television, then digitised them, exchanging the .mpg files via IRC channels. The website iFilm
, which hosted short videos, including music videos, launched in 1997. Napster
, a peer-to-peer file sharing
service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos. By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos in favor of reality television
shows, which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself helped to pioneer with the show The Real World
, which premiered in 1992.
2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube
, which made the viewing of online video faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video
, Facebook
and MySpace
's video functionality, which uses similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go
may exemplify this trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways
" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again
" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online. (OK Go repeated the trick with another high-concept video in 2010, for their song "This Too Shall Pass
".) Artists like Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
and Marié Digby
also achieved some level of fame initially through videos released only online.
The 2008 video for Weezer
's "Pork and Beans
" also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google
, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties
through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising
for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself.
In 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars
' music video "Kings and Queens
" was uploaded to popular video-sharing website YouTube on the same day of its release, where it has garnered over one hundred million views. It also received over forty million plays on MySpace. "Kings and Queens" was featured as iTunes Store
video of the week and was one of the most downloaded videos ever to be featured. The video also received four nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards
, making 30 Seconds to Mars the most nominated rock artist in VMA history for a single year.
In 2010, Lady Gaga
's music video "Bad Romance
" made headlines by becoming the most-viewed video on YouTube and whole internet of all time, music-related or otherwise, with 130 million views; it had over 430 million views by later 2011. It in turn was beaten later in the mid-year by the video for Justin Bieber
's song "Baby
", which had over 660 million views by later 2011. In November 2011, Jennifer Lopez
's music video "On The Floor
" becoming the most-viewed female video on YouTube, which had over 430 million views by later 2011.
MTV itself now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL
's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos. The Internet has become the primary growth income market for record company-produced music videos. At its launch, Apple
's iTunes Store
provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via the iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod
with video playback capability.
To further signify the change in direction towards Music Video airplay, MTV officially dropped the Music Television tagline on February 8, 2010 from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-oriented entertainment rising in prominence on their live broadcast.
VEVO
is a music video website launched by several major music publishers in December 2009. The videos on VEVO are syndicated to YouTube, with Google
and VEVO sharing the advertising revenue.
around 2006, some independent filmmakers began recording live sessions to present on the Web. Examples of this new way of creating and presenting a music video include Vincent Moon
's work with The Take-Away Shows; In the Van sessions, a similar platform; and the Dutch VPRO
3VOOR12
, which puts out music videos recorded in elevators and other small, guerrilla filmmaking
type locations in a similar tradition called (Behind) closed doors. All of these swiftly recorded clips are made with minimal budgets and share similar aesthetics with the lo-fi music
movement of the early nineties. Offering freedom from the increasingly burdensome financial requirements of high-production movie-like clips, it began as the only method for little-known indie music artists to present themselves to a wider audience, but increasingly this approach has been taken up by such major mainstream artists as R.E.M.
and Tom Jones
.
, said his show presented "what were, in reality, the first musical videos," while JMI Records made the same claim with Don Williams
' 1973 song, "The Shelter of Your Eyes. In addition, a film of "Galveston
", a crossover
hit for country-pop performer Glen Campbell
in 1969, has appeared on the video sharing service YouTube
.
Country music historian Bob Millard wrote that JMI had pioneered the country music video concept by "producing a 3-minute film" to go along with Williams' song. Lovullo said his videos were conceptualized by having the show's staff go to nearby rural areas and film animals and farmers, before editing the footage to fit the storyline of a particular song. "The video material was a very workable production item for the show," he wrote. "It provided picture stories for songs. However, some of our guests felt the videos took attention away from their live performances, which they hoped would promote record sales. If they had a hit song, they didn't want to play it under comic barnyard footage." The concept's mixed reaction eventually spelled an end to the "video" concept on Hee Haw.
Promotional videos of country music songs, however, continued to be produced. On March 5, 1983, Country Music Television
, or CMT, was launched, created and founded by Glenn D. Daniels and uplinked from the Video World Productions facility in Hendersonville, Tennessee
. CMT's chief competitor, The Nashville Network (TNN)
, premiered two days later. CMT was positioned to play country music videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while TNN was geared toward programming lending itself to a "country lifestyle".
A competitor network to CMT, Great American Country
, or GAC, went on the air in December 1995.
Argumentively the first television version of a Musical Video was conceived in Australia.
They got back to their native town of New York City and went to Home Box Office in Manhattan N.Y. to propose the idea of having a musical filler in-between the HBO movies; this filler was to provide a low cost entertainment for the dead air time between movies aired on the visionary pay TV network.
The first video to be banned by MTV
was Queen
's 1982 hit "Body Language". Due to thinly veiled homoerotic undertones plus lots of skin and lots of sweat (but apparently not enough clothing, save that worn by the fully clothed members of Queen themselves), it was deemed unsuitable for a television audience at the time. However, the channel did air Olivia Newton-John
's 1981 video for the hit song "Physical
", which lavished camera time on male models working out in string bikinis who spurn her advances, ultimately pairing off to walk to the men's locker rooms holding hands, though the network ended the clip before the overt homosexual "reveal" ending in some airings. The video for "Girls on Film
" by Duran Duran
, which featured topless women mud wrestling and other depictions of sexual fetishes, was banned by the BBC
.
MTV did air the video, albeit in a heavily edited form. Laura Branigan
initially protested an MTV request to edit her "Self Control
" video in 1984, but relented when the network refused to air the William Friedkin
-directed clip, featuring the singer lured through an increasingly debauched, if increasingly stylized, series of nightclubs by a masked man who ultimately takes her to bed. In 1989, Cher
's "If I Could Turn Back Time
" video (where the singer performs the song in an extremely revealing body suit surrounded by a ship full of cheering sailors) was restricted to late-night broadcasts on MTV. The Sex Pistols' video for "God Save the Queen
" was banned by the BBC
for calling the United Kingdom
a fascist
regime. Mötley Crüe
's video for "Girls, Girls, Girls" was banned by MTV for having completely nude women dancing around the members of the band in a strip club. Mötley Crüe
did make another version of the video that was accepted by MTV.
In 1983, Entertainment Tonight
ran a segment on censorship and "Rock Video Violence." The episode explored the impact of MTV
rock video violence on the youth of the early 1980s. Excerpts from the music videos of Michael Jackson
, Duran Duran
, Kiss
, Kansas
, Billy Idol
, Def Leppard
, Pat Benatar
and The Rolling Stones
were shown. Dr. Thomas Radecki of the National Coalition on TV Violence was interviewed accusing the fledgling rock video business of excessive violence. Night Tracks'
producer Tom Lynch weighed in on the effects of the video violence controversy. Recording artists John Cougar Mellencamp
, Gene Simmons
and Paul Stanley
of Kiss, along with directors Dominic Orlando and Julien Temple
, provided a defense of their work. The episode's conclusion was that the controversy will continue to grow. Some artists have used censorship as a publicity tool. In the 1980s, the show Top of the Pops was censorious in its approach to video content, so some acts made videos that they knew would be censored, using the resulting public controversy to promote their release. Examples of this tactic were Duran Duran
's aforementioned "Girls on Film" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood
with "Relax", directed by Bernard Rose.
's "Black or White
" was cut because it showed Michael Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't Care About Us
" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged anti-Semitic message in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video. Also in 1991, emerging country music superstar Garth Brooks
found himself at the center of controversy when his video for "The Thunder Rolls" was banned by both The Nashville Network
(TNN) and Country Music Television
(CMT). The video dealt with the issue of domestic violence in stark visual terms, and featured a heavily-costumed Brooks portraying an abusive husband. Although both Brooks and director Bud Schaetzle publicly denied that the video was crafted specifically to foster debate, its banning shed light on Nashville's conservative programming practices and brought attention to Brooks' developing sense of showmanship. In the wake of the video's critical acclamation, and with public support generated by nationwide "viewing parties" organized by supportive radio stations, TNN and CMT reluctantly began airing it. "The Thunder Rolls" went on to win the Video of the Year Award from the Country Music Association
, and was named by both MTV
and CMT as one of the "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made."
Madonna
is the artist most associated with music video censorship. The controversy surrounding her marketing of sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin
". Outcry occurred over the subject matter discussed in "Papa Don't Preach
". "Like a Prayer
" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery. In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love
" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality
, cross-dressing
, and group sex
which generated a media firestorm. The debate over the banning of "Justify My Love" by the Canadian music video network MuchMusic
led to the launching in 1991 of Too Much 4 Much
, a series of occasional, late-night specials (still being aired in the early 2000s) in which videos officially banned by MuchMusic were broadcast, followed by panel discussion regarding why they were removed.
In 1992, The Shamen
's video for the song "Ebeneezer Goode
" was banned by the BBC
due to its perceived subliminal endorsement of the recreational drug Ecstasy. Prodigy
's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up
" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter
" was banned by the BBC
because of its references to arson.
In 1993, Australian rock band INXS
' song The Gift
was banned by MTV because of its use of Holocaust and Gulf War footage, among images of famine, pollution, war and terrorism. As well as this, metal band Tool
's music video for prison sex
was banned from MTV, as the video and lyrics touch on the sensitive matter of child abuse.
" by Robbie Williams
caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which featured Robbie Williams appearing naked and peeling off his skin to reveal bloody flesh, then ripping off his muscles and organs until he is nothing but a blood-soaked skeleton. The video was censored in the UK during the day, and was broadcast unedited after 10pm. The video was banned in Dominican Republic
due to allegations of satanism
. Björk
's 2001 song, "Pagan Poetry
", was banned from MTV for depictions of sexual intercourse, fellatio, and body piercings. Her next single, "Cocoon", was also banned by MTV as it featured a nude Björk. Madonna's video for "Erotica
" was aired only three times (each time after midnight) due to its sexual depictions of sadomasochism. More recently, Madonna's "What It Feels Like for a Girl
" was banned in 2001 due to its graphic depiction of violence. She also pulled her "American Life
" video because of its controversial military imagery that seemed inappropriate once the War in Iraq
began; subsequently, a new video was made for the song.
In 2002, the video for "All the Things She Said
" by Russian duo t.A.T.u.
caused controversy as it featured the young girls, Lena Katina
and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. UK TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. Top of the Pops aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".
In 2004, Maroon 5
's video for "This Love" generated controversy due to intimate scenes between frontman Adam Levine
and his then-girlfriend. Despite those particular scenes being shot at strategic angles, a censored version was released with a stream of computer-generated
flowers added in to cover up more. The following year, Eminem
's video for "Just Lose It
" caused controversy over its parody of Michael Jackson
's 2005 child molestation trial
, plastic surgery
, and hair catching fire during the filming of a Pepsi
commercial. The video was banned from BET
, and Jackson spoke out against the video, calling it "inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large."
As of 2005, the Egyptian state censorship committee has banned at least 20 music videos which featured sexual connotations due to Muslim moral viewpoints. In 2004, many family groups and politicians lobbied for the banning of the Eric Prydz
video "Call on Me
" for containing women dancing in a sexually suggestive way, however, the video was not banned. At some point in the past, the video for "(s)AINT" by Marilyn Manson
was banned by that artist's label due to its violence and sexual content. In 2008, Justice
's video for their song "Stress" was boycotted by several major music television channels due to allegations of racism and violence; the video depicts several youths committing various crimes throughout the streets of Paris
, with the youths mainly being of North African descent.
In 2006, Australian rock band Eskimo Joe
's Black Fingernails Red Wine
's original video was not shown on music video channels during the day, given an MA15+ classification and restricted to night-time airplay due to its criminal themes. As a result, a completely new video was substituted. The original video shows the band members kidnapping people at night and in the end, the kidnapped people are Eskimo Joe themselves. The edited video shows the band playing in an old building.
video "Hurricane
" was censored because of its elements of violence, nudity and sex. The short film was later released with a clean version that can air on television. The explicit version is available on the band's official website with a viewing certificate of 18+.
In 2010, a rumour circulated that Lady Gaga
's video "Telephone" was banned by MTV, a rumour which reached some press outlets. The rumour claimed that MTV had banned the video because the content could not be shown within their programming. MTV denied the ban and showed the video frequently on European MTV programming. Lady Gaga's previous videos have also attracted criticism for their sexually suggestive content; the video for "LoveGame
" was refused play on the Australian video music program Video Hits
, however, other Australian programs aired the video uncensored.
Ciara
's video for "Ride
" was banned by BET
, with the network citing that the video was too sexually charged. The video was also subsequently banned by all UK television channels.
Rihanna
's video "S&M", which features the singer whipping a tied-up man, taking hostages and indulging in a lesbian kiss, was banned in 11 countries and was flagged as inappropriate for viewers that are under 18 on YouTube.
, was created by Kandy Fong in 1975 using still images from Star Trek loaded into a slide carousel and played in conjunction with a song. Fan videos made using videocassette recorder
s soon followed. With the advent of easy distribution over the internet and cheap video-editing software, fan-created videos began to gain wider notice in the late 1990s.
Such videos are sometimes known as OPV, Original Promotional Videos (or sometimes Other People's Videos). In the case of anime music video
s, the source material is drawn from Japanese anime
or from American animation series. Since neither the music nor the film footage is typically licensed, distributing these videos is usually copyright infringement
on both counts. A well-known example of an unofficial video include one made for Danger Mouse
's illegal mash-up
of the Jay-Z
track "Encore" with music sampled from The Beatles' White Album, in which concert footage of The Beatles is remixed with footage of Jay-Z and rap dancers. In 2007, a new form of lip sync
-based music video called lip dub
became popular in which a group of people are filmed lip singing in a seemingly random spot then dubbing over it in post editing with the original audio of the song. These videos have the feeling of being spontaneous and authentic and are spread virally through mass participatory video sites like YouTube
.
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
and imagery, produced for promotional
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
based their format around the medium. Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip" or "film clip".
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
filming, documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film
Abstract film
Abstract film is a subgenre of experimental film. Its history often overlaps with the concerns and history of visual music. Some of the earliest abstract motion pictures known to survive are those produced by a group of German artists working in the early 1920s, a movement referred to as Absolute...
. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.
History and development
In 1894, sheet musicSheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song "The Little Lost Child
The Little Lost Child
The Little Lost Child is a popular song of 1894 by Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern which sold more than two million copies of its sheet music following its promotion as the first ever illustrated song, an early precursor to the music video...
". Using a magic lantern
Magic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the first step toward music video.
In 1926, with the arrival of "talkies
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
" many musical short films
Musical short
The musical short can be traced back to the earliest days of sound films.Performers in the Lee De Forest Phonofilms of 1923-24 included Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Abbie Mitchell and comic singer-dancer Molly Picon, plus the team of Noble Sissel and Eubie Blake...
were produced. Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
shorts (produced by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
) featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. Spooney Melodies
Spooney Melodies
Spooney Melodies was a series of live action musical shorts produced Warner Brothers aimed to showcase popular tunes of the day.Only five are believed to have been made in 1930 and 1931. The only one short is known to have survived, each short is thought to be ca. six minutes long and features art...
in 1930 was the first true musical video series. Shorts were typically six minutes in duration, and featured Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
-style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing.
Animation artist Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios...
introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs
Screen Songs
Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. They were revived by Famous Studios in 1945 starting with the Noveltoon Old MacDonald Had a Farm....
, which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball", which is similar to a modern karaoke machine. The sing along concept is still used today, especially with younger audiences such as High School Musical
High School Musical
High School Musical is a 2006 American television film, first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful film that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and...
. Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s. The early animated films by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
, which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music. The Warner Brothers
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
and Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
s. Warner Brothers also produced the cartoon "Three Pigs in a Polka", set to Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
' Hungarian Dances. This film actually included many elements to the Walt Disney version of the Three Little Pigs, such as the pigs playing a violin and a piccolo. Live action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, were also distributed to theaters.
Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
appeared in a two-reel short film called St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Blues (1929 film)
St. Louis Blues is a two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues"...
(1929) featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period. Later, in the mid-1940s, musician Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
made short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into a feature film Lookout Sister. These films were, according to music historian Donald Clarke, the "ancestors" of music video.
Another early form of music video were one-song films called "promotional clips" made in the 1940s for the Panoram
Panoram
Panoram was the trademark name of a visual jukebox that played music accompanied by a synched, filmed image popular within the United States during the 1940s...
visual jukebox
Jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
. These were short films of musical selections, usually just a band on a movie-set bandstand, made for playing. Thousands of "soundies
Soundies
Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946, often including short dance sequences. The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was...
" were made, mostly of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians, but also of torch singer
Torch Singer
Torch Singer is a 1933 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes, and starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners and Lyda Roberti.The screenplay was written by Lenore J...
s, comedians, and dancers. Before the soundie, even dramatic movies typically had a musical interval, but the soundie put the music in the forefront; virtually all known jazz performers appeared in soundie shorts. The Panoram jukebox with eight three-minute soundies were popular in taverns and night spots, but the fad faded during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
s were another important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for "Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
" (directed by Mary Lambert) which was closely modelled on Jack Cole
Jack Cole (choreographer)
Jack Cole was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as the father of theatrical jazz dance.-Early life:...
's staging of "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , which was written by Jule Styne and Leo Robin...
" from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Several of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's videos show the unmistakable influence of the dance sequences in classic Hollywood musicals, including the landmark "Thriller
Thriller (music video)
Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson....
" and the Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
-directed "Bad" which was influenced by the stylised dance "fights" in the film version of West Side Story
West Side Story (film)
West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,...
.
In 1956, Petrushka, directed by John David Wilson
John David Wilson
John David Wilson is an English artist, animator and producer. He owns his own production studio, Fine Arts Films.-Early years:...
for Fine Arts Films
Fine Arts Films
Fine Arts Films is a production studio based in Northern England and Hollywood. It was founded in 1955 by animator John David Wilson as a means to preserve the notion of animation as an art form.-History:...
aired as a segment of the Sol Hurok Music Hour on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
conducted a live orchestra for the recording of the event. In 1957, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
was filmed walking along The Serpentine
Serpentine (lake)
The Serpentine is a 28-acre recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, strictly the name refers only to the eastern half of the lake...
in Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
as his recording of "Stranger in Paradise
Stranger in Paradise (song)
"Stranger in Paradise" is a popular song from the 1953 musical Kismet and is credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like all the music in that show, the melody was based on music composed by Alexander Borodin, in this case, the "Gliding Dance of the Maidens," from the Polovtsian...
" played; this film was distributed to and played by UK and US television stations. According to the Internet Accuracy Project, disk jockey-singer J. P. "The Big Bopper
The Big Bopper
Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. also commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star...
" Richardson was the first to coin the phrase "music video", in 1959. It is no coincidence that the rise of popular music was tied with the rise of television, as the format allowed for many new stars to be exposed that previously would have been passed over by Hollywood, which normally required proven acts in order to attract an audience to the box office.
1960–1967: Visual innovation
In the late 1950s the ScopitoneScopitone
Scopitone is a type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. Scopitone films were a forerunner of music videos. The Italian Cinebox/Colorama and Color-Sonics were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time....
, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
, Françoise Hardy
Françoise Hardy
Françoise Madeleine Hardy is a French singer, actress and astrologer. Hardy is an iconic figure in fashion, music and style. She is married to the singer and movie actor Jacques Dutronc.-Biography:...
, Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
, and Jacques Dutronc
Jacques Dutronc
Jacques Dutronc is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. He has been married to singer Françoise Hardy since 30 March 1981 and the two have a son . He also has been a longtime songwriting collaborator with Jacques Lanzmann...
to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented. In 1961 Ozzie Nelson
Ozzie Nelson
Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson was an American entertainer and band leader who originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons.-Early life:...
directed and edited the video of "Travelin' Man
Travelin' Man
"Travelin' Man" is a single by Ricky Nelson, an American singer. It was written by songwriter Jerry Fuller. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; its b-side, "Hello Mary Lou", reached number nine on the same chart.-Plot:...
" by his son Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
. It featured images of various parts of the world mentioned in the Jerry Fuller song along with Nelson's vocals. In 1964, Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
's experimental
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
short film, Scorpio Rising
Scorpio Rising (film)
Scorpio Rising is a 1964 experimental film by Kenneth Anger, starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio. Themes central to the film include the occult, biker subculture, Catholicism and Nazism; the film also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, namely James Dean and Marlon Brando...
used popular songs instead of dialog.
In 1961, for Canadian show Singalong Jubilee
Singalong Jubilee
Singalong Jubilee was a CBC Television program produced between 1961 and 1974. It featured musical performances by local talent, playing folk, country and gospel music, in studio on stage, and on location...
, Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-syncing, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and the location shoot "videos" were to add variety. In 1963, singer Kyu Sakamoto
Kyu Sakamoto
was a Japanese singer and actor, best known outside of Japan for his international hit song "Sukiyaki", which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies...
is featured on the Japanese television program Shall We Meet At Seven? singing eight of his best-known songs, including his international hit Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki (song)
The cover version by A Taste of Honey reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also went to number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and Soul chart)....
. Sakamoto is shown singing the latter as he walks through an alley past barrels.
One of the earliest Videos of a Top 40 hit, was Jan & Dean's "Surf City", produced in Summer 1963, contemporaneous with the single release reaching Number One nationally in July 1963 (ref: Wikipedia). Filmed on location on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, it's a period-piece, capturing much of the atmosphere and vibe of the Southern California early 60's beach scene. This video is readily available for download and viewing on YouTube.com.
Another early performance clip was The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
's 1964 hit "House Of The Rising Sun". This high-quality color clip was filmed in a studio on a specially-built set; with the group lip-synching.
The Beatles
In 1964, The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
starred in their first feature film A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
, directed by Richard Lester
Richard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...
. Shot in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
and presented as a mock documentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
, it was a loosely structured musical fantasia interspersing comedic and dialogue sequences with musical ones. The musical sequences furnished basic templates on which countless subsequent music videos were modeled. It was the direct model for the successful US TV series The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
(1966–1968) which similarly consisted of film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs.
Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
credits Lester with constructing "a new grammar":
- " ... he influenced many other films. Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of A Hard Day's Night".
The Beatles' second feature Help!
Help! (film)
Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. Help! was the second feature film made by the Beatles and is a...
(1965) was a much more lavish affair, filmed in colour in London and on international locations. It fitted the all-important musical sequences into a contrived fantasy adventure in which the group is pursued through a series of locales (including Switzerland and The Bahamas) by a band of Indian thuggee
Thuggee
Thuggee is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in South Asia and particularly in India.They are sometimes called Phansigar i.e...
assassins bent on recovering a sacred ring which has come into Ringo
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
's possession. The title track sequence, filmed in black-and-white, is arguably one of the prime archetypes of the modern performance-style music video, employing rhythmic cross-cutting, contrasting long shots and close-ups, and unusual shots and camera angles, such as the shot near the end of the song, in which George Harrison's left hand and the neck of his guitar are seen in sharp focus in the foreground while the completely out-of-focus figure of John Lennon sings in the background.
In 1965, The Beatles began making promotional clips (then known as "filmed inserts") for distribution and broadcast in other countries—primarily the USA—so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances. On November 23, 1965: At Twickenham Film Studios, The Beatles videotaped 10 black & white promo films, all produced by a British production company Intertel. They were "We Can Work It Out" (3 Versions), "Day Tripper" (3 Versions), "Help!" (1 Version), "Ticket To Ride" (1 Version), and "I Feel Fine" (2 Versions, neither of which were ever aired). One version each of the first two songs were aired on "Hullaballo" in the US on Jan 3 1966. Many clips were aired on "Top of the Pops" in the UK, and two were aired on "Thank Your Lucky Stars." Recent reports indicate the entire reel is circulating among collectors. "Help" and "Ticket To Ride" were re-released to accompany the CD release of the "1962–1966" or "Red" album in 1993. Composite edits of "We Can Work It Out", "Day Tripper", and "Ticket To Ride" are seen in "The Beatles Anthology," DVD set.
At the same time, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
began using the same strategy to promote their singles in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, starting with the 1965 single "Set You Free This Time". By the time The Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, their promotional films, like their recordings, had become highly sophisticated. In May 1966 they filmed two sets of colour promotional clips for their current single "Rain
Rain (The Beatles song)
"Rain" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released in June 1966 as the B-side of the "Paperback Writer" single...
"/"Paperback Writer
Paperback Writer
"Paperback Writer" is a 1966 song recorded and released by The Beatles. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single...
" all directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet is a British television and stage director and an occasional writer and actor.-Background and early work:...
, who went on to direct The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a film released in 1996 of an 11 December 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull...
and The Beatles final film Let It Be. The studio clips were straightforward performance films shot at Abbey Road Studios on 19 May, especially for broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and prefaced by a spoken introduction from Ringo.
The location clips are considerably more elaborate and use vibrant colour footage shot on location in the grounds of Chiswick House
Chiswick House
Chiswick House is a Palladian villa in Burlington Lane, Chiswick, in the London Borough of Hounslow in England. Set in , the house was completed in 1729 during the reign of George II and designed by Lord Burlington. William Kent , who took a leading role in designing the gardens, created one of the...
, London. Both clips are notable for their use of hand-held camera work, rhythmic editing, slow motion shots and reversed film. The "Paperback Writer
Paperback Writer
"Paperback Writer" is a 1966 song recorded and released by The Beatles. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single...
" clip is more conventional, with Lennon, McCartney and Harrison lip-synching and miming playing their instruments (although Ringo is notably not 'playing'). The "Rain
Rain (The Beatles song)
"Rain" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released in June 1966 as the B-side of the "Paperback Writer" single...
" clip marked a major advance in stylistic terms; it uses some colour shots common to both clips but is also intercut with monochrome reductions of the Abbey Road studio footage, making it one of the first examples of this device in music video. Most notably, apart from a few brief shots (a close-up of Lennon lip-synching and a shot of the group under a tree miming playing their instruments) the "Rain" clip virtually abandons any pretense of performance and has no obvious narrative structure.
The colour promotional clips for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane
Penny Lane
"Penny Lane" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney. It was credited to Lennon–McCartney.Recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, "Penny Lane" was released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever". Both songs were later included...
", made in early 1967 and directed by Peter Goldman took the promotional film format to a new level. They used techniques borrowed from underground and avant garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and color filtering added in post-production. Reflecting the fact that these studio masterpieces were impossible for the group to perform live, their psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
mini-films illustrated the songs in an artful, impressionistic manner rather than trying to simulate an idealised performance or depict a narrative or plot.
At the end of 1967 the group released their third film, the one hour, made-for-television project Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour (film)
Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long British television film starring The Beatles that originally aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967...
; it was written and directed by the group and first broadcast on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
1967. Although poorly received at the time for lacking a narrative structure, it showed the group to be accomplished music video makers in their own right. It included elaborate edited sequences for the new songs featured in the film and the clips for "I Am The Walrus" and "Your Mother Should Know" have been screened many times on music TV shows in later years.
1967–1973: Promotional clips grow in importance
The monochrome 1966 clip for Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Subterranean Homesick Blues
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...
" filmed by D. A. Pennebaker
D. A. Pennebaker
Donn Alan Pennebaker is an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema/Cinéma vérité. Performing arts and politics are his primary subjects.-Biography:...
was featured in Pennebaker's Dylan film documentary Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom.In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...
. Eschewing any attempt to simulate performance or present a narrative, the clip shows Dylan standing in a city back alley, silently shuffling a series of large cue cards (bearing key words from the song's lyrics). Many "song films"—often referred to as "filmed inserts" at that time—were produced by UK artists so they could be screened on TV when the bands were not available to appear live. Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
were pioneers in producing promotional films for their songs including "San Francisco: Film", directed by Anthony Stern
Anthony Stern
Anthony Stern was born in Cambridge, England in 1944 and first started making films while at Cambridge University, working as assistant to the avant-garde documentary film maker Peter Whitehead....
, "Scarecrow
The Scarecrow (Pink Floyd song)
"The Scarecrow" is a song on Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn , though it first appeared as the B-side of their second single "See Emily Play" two months before...
", "Arnold Layne
Arnold Layne
David Gilmour, during his solo tour promoting On an Island, unexpectedly added the song to the setlist near the end of the American tour on the 17 April 2006 show at the Oakland Paramount Theatre...
" and "Interstellar Overdrive
Interstellar Overdrive
"Interstellar Overdrive" is a psychedelic composition written by Pink Floyd in 1966, which appears on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at almost ten minutes in length. An earlier, longer recording, 16:52, can be heard on the soundtrack to the film Tonite Let's All Make Love in...
", the latter directed by Peter Whitehead, who also made several pioneering clips for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
between 1966 and 1968. In the UK The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
made one of the first "plot" promo clips for a song. For their single "Dead End Street
Dead End Street (song)
"Dead End Street" is a song by the British band The Kinks from 1966, written by main songwriter Ray Davies. Like many other songs written by Davies, it is slightly influenced by British Music Hall. It was originally released as a non-album single, but has since been included as one of several bonus...
" (1966) a miniature comic movie was made. The BBC reportedly refused to air the clip because it was considered to be in "poor taste".
The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
featured in several promotional clips in this period, beginning with their 1965 clip for I Can't Explain
I Can't Explain
"I Can't Explain" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend, and produced by Shel Talmy. The song was issued as a single in December 1964 in the United States and on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom.-Background:...
. Their plot clip for Happy Jack
Happy Jack (song)
"Happy Jack" is a rock song from British rock band, The Who, released in December 1966 in the UK and peaking at #3. It was their first top forty hit in the USA, released in March 1967 and peaking at #24. It was included on the USA version of their second album...
(1966) shows the band acting like a gang of thieves. The promo film to Call Me Lightning (1968) tells a story of how drummer Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
came to join the group: One fine day, the other three band members are having tea inside what looks like an abandoned hangar when suddenly a "bleeding box" arrives, out of which jumps a fast-running, timelapse, utterly out-of-control Moon that Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, and John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
subsequently try to get a hold of in a sped-up slapstick chasing sequence to wind him down.
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
made a promo video for their 1967 single "Nights in White Satin
Nights in White Satin
"Nights in White Satin" is a 1967 single by The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward and first featured on the album Days of Future Passed.It is in the key of E minor Aeolian.-Single releases:...
". Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
made two promos for their 1967 hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale
A Whiter Shade of Pale
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well...
". One version shows band members walking among the ruins of Witley Court
Witley Court
Witley Court in Worcestershire, England is a Grade 1 listed building and was once one of the great houses of the Midlands, but today it is a spectacular ruin after being devastated by fire in 1937. It was built by Thomas Foley in 1655 on the site of a former manor house near Great Witley...
, footage of them performing the song onstage and documentary footage of the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The second version shows the band running towards camera (a device pioneered in A Hard Day's Night), followed by surrealistic sequences. The first (earlier) video included four of the five musicians on the hit single: Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, David Knights and Ray Royer; only the drummer was different, Bobby Harrison miming to Bill Eyden's drumming on the single. The second video included three of the five musicians on the single: substitutes were guitarist Robin Trower instead of Royer and B.J. Wilson instead of Eyden.
The Small Faces
The Small Faces
The Small Faces were an English rock and roll band from East London, heavily influenced by American rhythm and blues. The group was founded in 1965 by members Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston, although by 1966 Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan as the band's...
made several promotional clips in 1966–67. The B&W promo for their 1966 single "Hey Girl" shows the band performing and clowning around aboard a tram with a group of female fans. A colour clip for their 1967 single "Get Yourself Together" has band members dressed as police. The Troggs
The Troggs
The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...
feature in a monochrome promo clip for their 1967/68 hit "Love Is All Around", showing singer Reg Presley
Reg Presley
Reg Presley is an English singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer with prominent 1960s rock and roll band The Troggs, whose best known hit was "Wild Thing", though their only UK number one single was "With A Girl Like You"...
's love affair with a girl intercut with concert footage and psychedelic elements.
The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
had a background in film-making and both lead singer Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
and keyboard player Ray Manzarek
Ray Manzarek
Raymond Daniel Manzarek, Jr., better known as Ray Manzarek , is an American musician, singer, producer, film director, writer, co-founder and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, Nite City from 1977–1978 and Manzarek-Krieger since 2001.Manzarek is listed #4 on Digital Dreamdoor's "100...
were studying film at UCLA when they met. The clip for their debut single "Break on Through (To the Other Side)
Break on Through (To the Other Side)
"Break on Through " is a song by The Doors from their debut album, The Doors. It was the first single released by the band and was unsuccessful compared to later hits, reaching only #126 in the United States...
" is a filmed performance that uses atmospheric lighting, camera work and editing. It was directed by Elektra Records producer Mark Abramson
Mark Abramson
Mark Abramson was an American record producer and artist. He produced recordings of Judy Collins, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Gibson, Love, Phil Ochs, Tom Rush, Josh White and many other artists. He produced and directed "Shoot The Actor" and early music videos of The Doors and Love. His...
. Their 1968 anti-war single "The Unknown Soldier"
The Unknown Soldier (song)
"The Unknown Soldier" was the first single from The Doors' 1968 album Waiting for the Sun, and was also the subject of one of the band's few music videos.-Lyrics:...
, combines specially filmed footage of the group—including the depiction of a mock execution by firing squad—with extensive intercutting of stock footage, including graphic footage of the carnage of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. It was also directed by Mark Abramson
Mark Abramson
Mark Abramson was an American record producer and artist. He produced recordings of Judy Collins, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Gibson, Love, Phil Ochs, Tom Rush, Josh White and many other artists. He produced and directed "Shoot The Actor" and early music videos of The Doors and Love. His...
based on input from Morrison and the Doors.
Although it made little impression internationally, there was a thriving local pop scene in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s and bands there were quick to pick up on British and American trends. By 1967 a number of bands were creating early music videos for their songs. One of the first was the pioneering clip made by The Masters Apprentices
The Masters Apprentices
The Masters Apprentices were an Australian rock band fronted by mainstay Jim Keays on lead vocals, which formed in 1965 in Adelaide, South Australia, relocated to Melbourne in February 1967 and attempted to break into the United Kingdom market from 1970, before disbanding in 1972...
for their 1967 single "Buried And Dead", which used candid stage and studio footage of the band combined with specially filmed fantasy sequences. Another notable Australian clip from this period is the promotional clip for "The Loved One" by The Loved Ones
The Loved Ones
The Loved Ones were an Australian rock band formed in 1965 in Melbourne following the British Invasion. The line-up of Gavin Anderson on drums, Ian Clyne on organ and piano, Gerry Humphrys on vocals and harmonica, Rob Lovett on guitar, and Kim Lynch on bass guitar recorded their early hits...
, directed by Peter L. Lamb as part of his 1967 short film Approximately Panther.
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
appeared in many promotional clips for their songs in the 1960s. One of the earliest, dating from 1964, showed the band on a beach, miming to their single "Not Fade Away", but this has apparently since been lost. In 1966, Peter Whitehead directed two promo clips for their single "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" is a song by the English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones. It first appeared as a single in September 1966 and was included as the opening track on the British version of their 1966 compilation album Big Hits .Written by Mick Jagger...
"
In 1967, Whitehead directed a plot clip colour promo clip for the Stones single "We Love You", which first aired in August 1967. This clip featured sped-up footage of the group recording in the studio (including several shots of an extremely stoned-looking Brian Jones), intercut with a mock trial that clearly alludes to the drug prosecutions of Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
underway at that time. Jagger's girlfriend Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
appears in the trial scenes and presents the "judge" (Richards) with what may be the infamous fur rug that had featured so prominently in the press reports of the drug bust at Richards' house in early 1967. When it is pulled back, it reveals an apparently naked Jagger with chains around his ankles. The clip concludes with scenes of the Stones in the studio intercut with footage that had previously been used in the "concert version" promo clip for "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby". The group also filmed a colour promo clip for the song "2000 Light Years From Home" (from their album Their Satanic Majesties Request
Their Satanic Majesties Request
Their Satanic Majesties Request is the sixth British and eighth American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released on 8 December 1967 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States by London Records...
) directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet is a British television and stage director and an occasional writer and actor.-Background and early work:...
.
In 1968, Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet is a British television and stage director and an occasional writer and actor.-Background and early work:...
directed three clips for their single "Jumping Jack Flash" / "Child Of The Moon"—a colour clip for "Child Of The Moon" and two different clips for "Jumpin' Jack Flash
Jumpin' Jack Flash
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released as a single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone, the song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the psychedelia of their preceding...
". One was a [monochrome clip] with what appears to be a live performance of the song; the other is the better-known colour clip, featuring the band in heavy makeup, miming to the same live recording used in the B&W clip. In 1968, they collaborated with Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
on the film Sympathy for the Devil
Sympathy for the Devil (film)
Sympathy for the Devil is a 1968 film shot mostly in color by director Jean-Luc Godard.- Plot summary :...
, which mixed Godard's political tracts with documentary footage of the song's evolution during the recording sessions at Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned independent commercial recording studio located at 117 Church Road, Barnes, South West London, England. The studio is best known for the huge number of famous rock and pop recordings made there from the late 1960s onward....
in London. At the end of the year Lindsay-Hogg again collaborated with the Stones on their most ambitious project to date, the feature-length performance film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a film released in 1996 of an 11 December 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull...
, which also featured John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton and rising UK band Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, but unfortunately the film was not released until 1996 because the group at the time felt that their own performances had been below par.
So are two videos of Lou Christie
Lou Christie
Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco , known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s , including his 1966 smash, "Lightnin' Strikes" and his incredible 3 octave vocal range.-Biography:Sacco was born in Glenwillard,...
for "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" in 1969. The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
made a promo clip of their cover of the Beatles hit "Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride
"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. -Composition:...
". After 1969, the independent music movie clips came out of fashion with psychedelic music and style. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, bands preferred performing in TV shows which themselves became visually more attractive. Some artists were featured in straightforward documentaries such as The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
in "Let It Be" and the Rolling Stones in "Gimme Shelter
Gimme Shelter
"Gimme Shelter" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones. It first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1969 album Let It Bleed. Although the first word was spelled "Gimmie" on that album, subsequent recordings by the band and other musicians have made "Gimme" the customary spelling...
".
On The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour is an American variety show based on the married couple of American pop-singer Cher and her husband, Sonny Bono. The show ran on CBS in the United States, when it premiered in August 1971...
, which ran from 1971 to 1974, director Chris Bearde
Chris Bearde
Chris Bearde is a comedy writer, producer and director best known for his work as a writer on the '60s zeitgeist hit Laugh In and for co-writing and producing TV specials for Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Sonny and Cher, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Andy Williams, The Jackson Five, The...
enlisted animator John David Wilson
John David Wilson
John David Wilson is an English artist, animator and producer. He owns his own production studio, Fine Arts Films.-Early years:...
to direct animated segments of current hits of the day reinterpreted by the duo. Songs included Coven
Coven (band)
Coven is an American rock band formed in the late 1960s, composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Oz Osborne , Chris Neilsen on guitar, Rick Durrett and later John Hobbs on keyboards, and drummer Steve Ross...
's "One Tin Soldier
One Tin Soldier
"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. The Canadian pop group Original Caste first recorded the song in 1969. The track went to No. 6 on the RPM Magazine charts and hit the No.1 position on Canada's most influential radio chain, CHUM-AM, in Canada...
", Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
's "Black and White" and Melanie
Melanie Safka
Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
's "Brand New Key
Brand New Key
"Brand New Key" is a pop song written by folk singer Melanie, which became a novelty hit in 1971-72. Taken from Melanie's album Gather Me, it was also known as "The Rollerskate Song" due to its chorus. It was her biggest hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in December 1971 and...
". Wilson later went on to self-produce many more animated videos for artists such as Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Jim Croce
Jim Croce
James Joseph "Jim" Croce January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973 was an American singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums and 11 singles...
. The promotional clip continued to grow in importance, with television programs such as The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert is a television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations...
mixing concert footage with clips incorporating camera tricks, special effects, and dramatizations of song lyrics. The film of the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
, and the various concert films that were made during the early 1970s, such as Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
's Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's Live at Pompeii
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii is a 1972 film featuring Pink Floyd performing six songs in the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy. It was directed by Adrian Maben and recorded in the month of October using studio-quality 24-track recorders without a live audience.The performances of...
concert film used rhythmic cross-cutting.
In 1971, avant-garde group The Residents
The Residents
The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....
began filming what was supposed to be the first feature length music video "Vileness Fats". Due to time constrains and technical problems, the group abandoned the project in 1976. The group would, however, create videos for "The Third Reich 'n Roll" (which used props from Vileness Fats), "One Minute Movies"
The Commercial Album
Commercial Album is an album released by The Residents in 1980. It is commonly considered a follow-up of Duck Stab/Buster & Glen. The album pares down the concept and structure of the average commercial pop song and reduces it to a one-minute redux. It contains a compilation of 40 such sixty-second...
, "Hello Skinny", and their cover of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World". Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...
's 1970 cult film Performance
Performance (film)
Performance is a 1968 British crime drama film; the film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, Performance stars James Fox and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones in his film acting debut.-Plot:...
contains a sequence in which star of the film Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
did a rendition of "Memo From Turner
Memo from Turner
"Memo from Turner" is a solo record by Mick Jagger, featuring a guitar solo by Ry Cooder, from the soundtrack of Performance, where Jagger played a major part. It was re-released in October 2007 on a seventeen-song retrospective compilation album The Very Best of Mick Jagger, making a re-appearance...
" combined with a psychedelic collage.
Many countries with local pop music industries soon copied the trend towards promo film clips. In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, promotional films by Australian pop performers were being made on a regular basis by 1966; in 1968 singer Lynne Randell
Lynne Randell
Lynne Randell was an Australian pop singer. For three years in the mid-1960s she was Australia's most popular female performer and had hits with "Heart" and "Goin' Out of My Head" in 1966, and "Ciao Baby" in 1967. In 1967, Randell toured the United States with The Monkees and performed on-stage...
featured in one of the first promotional clips for an Australian act that was filmed in colour, but most Australian clips from this period were in black and white, because Australia did not convert to colour TV until early 1975. 1970–71, Australian musician and filmmaker Chris Lofven made (monochrome) promotional films for two of the biggest Australian hits of the period—Daddy Cool
Daddy Cool (band)
Daddy Cool is an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1970 with the original line-up of Wayne Duncan , Ross Hannaford , Ross Wilson and Gary Young . Their debut single "Eagle Rock" was released in May 1971 and stayed at number 1 on the Australian singles chart for ten weeks...
's "Eagle Rock" and Spectrum
Spectrum (band)
Spectrum is an Australian progressive rock band that formed in Melbourne in 1969 and, in its original period, remained in existence until 1973. Its members also performed under the alter-ego Indelible Murtceps...
's "I'll Be Gone". These were widely screened on Australian TV at the time and played a significant role in the success of the songs, which both became national #1 hits.
The genre-defining surf films of Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown is an American documentary film director, known as an early pioneer of the surf film...
, George Greenough
George Greenough
George Greenough is an innovative surfer and cinematographer from Santa Barbara, California who now resides in Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia. He was born to a wealthy family but despised its trappings and spent most of his time in the ocean. Greenough is best known for creating the modern...
and Alby Falzon
Alby Falzon
Albert "Alby" Falzon is an Australian surf filmmaker, photographer and publisher.He grew up in the beachside suburb Maroubra in Sydney. He did not begin surfing until age 14, when the family moved to the New South Wales Central Coast....
and others are also notable for their innovative combinations of image and music featuring sequences of specially-filmed surfing footage, carefully edited against long music tracks, with no accompanying dialogue. Greenough's landmark 1972 film Crystal Voyager concluded with an extended sequence (filmed and edited by Greenough) that was constructed around the 23-minute Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
track "Echoes
Echoes (Pink Floyd song)
"Echoes" is a song by Pink Floyd including lengthy instrumental passages, sound effects, and musical improvisation. Written in 1970 by all four members of the group , "Echoes" provides the extended finale to Pink Floyd's album Meddle...
". The band was impressed with Greenough's effort and agreed to allow Greenough to use their music in his film in exchange for the right to use his film footage when performing "Echoes" at their concerts.
During late 1972–73 David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
featured in a series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock
Mick Rock
Mick Rock is a British photographer best known for his iconic shots of rock and roll legends such as Queen, David Bowie, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Joan Jett, Talking Heads, Roxy Music, Crossfade, Thin Lizzy, Motley Crue, and Blondie...
, who worked extensively with Bowie in this period. These clips are important landmarks in the development of the music video genre in the 1970s, and they are also notable because they were made by a professional photographer rather than an established film or TV director, and because Rock was given total creative control over the clips. Mick Rock directed and edited four clips, all originally shot on 16 mm colour film, to promote four consecutive David Bowie singles—"John, I'm Only Dancing
John, I'm Only Dancing
"John, I’m Only Dancing" is a single by David Bowie, released in September 1972.-Recording and release:The song was widely believed to be concerned with a homosexual relationship, the narrator informing his boyfriend not to worry about the girl he's with because he's "only dancing" with her...
" (May 1972), "The Jean Genie
The Jean Genie
"The Jean Genie" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in November 1972. According to Bowie, it was "a smorgasbord of imagined Americana", with a protagonist inspired by Iggy Pop, and the title being a pun on author Jean Genet. One of Bowie’s most famous tracks, it was the lead...
" (Nov. 1972), the December 1972 US re-release of "Space Oddity" and the 1973 release of the single "Life On Mars" (lifted from Bowie's earlier album Hunky Dory
Hunky Dory
Hunky Dory is the fourth album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released by RCA Records in 1971. It was Bowie's first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade...
). Mick Rock cites the "Life On Mars" clip as his favorite of the four.
The clip for "John, I'm Only Dancing" was made with a budget of just US$200 and filmed at the afternoon rehearsal for Bowie's Rainbow Theatre concert on 19 August 1972. It shows Bowie and band miming to the record intercut with footage of Bowie's dancers The Astronettes dancing on stage and behind a back-lit screen. The clip was turned down by the BBC, who reportedly found the homosexual overtones of the film distasteful, although Top of the Pops replaced it with footage of bikers and a dancer. The "Jean Genie" clip, produced for just US$350, was shot in one day and edited in less than two days. It intercuts footage of Bowie and band in concert with contrasting footage of the group in a photographic studio, wearing black stage outfits and standing against a white background. It also includes location footage with Bowie and Cyrinda Foxe (a MainMan employee and a friend of David and Angie Bowie) shot in San Francisco outside the famous Mars Hotel, with Fox posing provocatively in the street while Bowie lounges against the wall, smoking.
In 1978 Canadian filmmaker Denis Koufoudakis created EXIT, a Super 8 student film that depicted a youth’s struggles with choices in an information overload era and his nagging thoughts of suicide. EXIT featured Boston’s Foreplay/Long Time for its soundtrack and was one of the first films of its kind to be recognized at an international film festival as it received an Honorable Mention. The rock video style short, having been shot on Super 8 film stock was damaged and is slated to undergo a digitized restoration for its 35th year anniversary.
Australia
The Australian TV shows Countdown and SoundsSounds (TV show)
Sounds was a popular Australian television series featuring pop and rock music. It was broadcast on Saturday mornings on the Seven Network from the late 1970s to the late 1980s....
, both of which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of music video clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts. In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb
Graham Webb (Australian broadcaster)
-Biography:Webb began his career in radio in Australia and hosted the first Top 40 radio show on Sydney radio in the late 1950s. After moving to the UK in the mid-1960s he became one of several Australian DJs who were prominent in the pirate radio scene that flourished at that time.He joined Radio...
launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show which screened on Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
's ATN-7
ATN-7
ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax, was one of the first four licences to be issued for commercial television stations in Australia...
on Saturday mornings; this was renamed Sounds Unlimited in 1975 and later shortened simply to Sounds. In need of material for the show, Webb approached Seven newsroom staffer Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy is an Australian film director. His work is easily recognized by his use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights.- Music videos :...
and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips (e.g. Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
's "Everybody's Talking
Everybody's Talking
Everybody's Talking was a game show which aired on ABC from February 6 to December 29, 1967. Former dance-party host Lloyd Thaxton was the host; Wink Martindale and Charlie O'Donnell were the announcers...
"). Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a full-time director, and he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus
Stylus (band)
Stylus Australian soul-pop group. The band is notable for being the only Australian act ever released by Motown Records in the USA. Stylus toured with George Benson, Average White Band, Ike & Tina Turner, and Australia's "Little River Band"....
, Marcia Hines
Marcia Hines
Marcia Elaine Hines, AM is a vocalist, actress and TV personality who achieved success in her adopted homeland of Australia. Hines made her debut, at the age of sixteen, in the Australian version of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar...
, Hush
Hush (band)
Hush was a 1970s Australian glam rock pop group and became famous during frequent appearances on the ABC show Countdown for live concerts and teenagers, and they would not have come into existence without the superb John Koutts on drums....
and AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
.
After relocating to the UK in the mid-1970s, Mulcahy made successful music videos for several noted British pop acts—his early UK credits included XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" (1979) and his landmark video for The Buggles
The Buggles
The Buggles were an English New Wave band consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes . They are remembered chiefly for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was #1 on the singles chart in 16 countries. Its music video was the first to be shown on MTV in the U.S...
' "Video Killed The Radio Star
Video Killed the Radio Star
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...
" (1979) which became the first music video played on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in 1981. Countdown was partly based on the 1960s Australian pop show Kommotion and on the BBC's Top of the Pops but unlike its British counterpart, Countdown was not restricted in its use of music videos. The program was launched in late 1974, a few months after Sounds, and initially screened in a late Saturday afternoon timeslot, but in January 1975, only a few weeks before color TV was officially launched in Australia, it moved to the prime 6 pm Sunday timeslot; thanks to the ABC's nationwide reach, it rapidly became one of the highest-rating shows on Australian TV.
As it gained popularity, Countdown talent coordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum and producer Michael Shrimpton quickly realized that "film clips" were becoming an important new commodity in music marketing. Despite the show's minuscule budget, Countdowns original director Paul Drane
Paul Drane
Paul "Ace" Drane is an Australian television director. He is best known as the original studio director of the Australian TV pop show Countdown from 1974 to 1976...
was able to create several memorable music videos especially for the show, including the classic film-clips for the AC/DC hits "It's A Long Way To The Top" and "Jailbreak
Jailbreak (AC/DC song)
"Jailbreak" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the ninth and final track of their third Australian album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, released in September 1976...
". Countdown became successful in Australia and other countries picked up on the format. At its highpoint during most of the 1980s it was to be aired in 22 countries including TV Europe. In 1978, the Dutch TV-broadcasting company Veronica started its own version of Countdown, which during the 1980s featured Adam Curry
Adam Curry
Adam Clark Curry is a broadcasting and Internet personality well known for his stint from 1987 to 1994 as a video jockey on the music video channel MTV. In the mid-1990s, Curry was a World Wide Web entrepreneur and one of the first celebrities to personally create and administer a Web site...
as its best known presenter. Although the ABC's facilities and expertise enabled Countdown to present regular studio 'performances' by local and visiting acts, rival shows like Sounds lacked the resources to present such segments, so they at first used music videos almost exclusively.
New Zealand
Like Australia, New Zealand was an early adopter of the music video format, with the seminal music TV show Radio With PicturesRadio with Pictures
Radio with Pictures was an early music video program, airing on New Zealand broadcaster TV2 from 1976 to 1986...
premièring on TV2 in 1976. Ready to Roll also premièred the same year.
United Kingdom
The long-running British TV show Top of the PopsTop of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
began playing music videos in the late 1970s, although the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week. In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet
David Mallet (director)
David Mallet is a British director particularly noted for his work on music videos, including David Bowie's innovative "Ashes to Ashes", Rush's "Distant Early Warning, and Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free" videos. He has also served as a producer on television programmes including...
's eye catching promo for "Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song)
"Ashes to Ashes" is a single by David Bowie, released in 1980. It made #1 in the UK and was the first cut from the Scary Monsters album, also a #1 hit. As well as its musical qualities, it is noted for its innovative video, directed by Bowie and David Mallet...
". Another act to succeed with this tactic was Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
, who shot on 16 mm and 35 mm, constructing their clips as "micro-comedic" short films.
In 1974 the band Sparks
Sparks (band)
Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
filmed a promo video for their single "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
"This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" is a song written by Ron Mael of the American pop group Sparks. It is the opening track on their 1974 album Kimono My House, and was the lead single from the album, reaching number two in the UK singles chart....
" from the album Kimono My House
Kimono My House
-21st Century Edition:-Personnel:*Russell Mael, vocals*Ron Mael, keyboards*Martin Gordon, bass*Adrian Fisher, guitar*Norman "Dinky" Diamond, drums-Other credits:*Recording engineers - Richard Digby-Smith, Tony Platt*Mixdown engineer - Bill Price...
In 1975, The Who released their all-music feature film Tommy
Tommy (film)
Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...
, directed by Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
, based upon their 1969 rock opera of the same name. Also in 1975, the band Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
ordered Bruce Gowers
Bruce Gowers
Bruce Gowers is an English television director and producer, best known for work on large-scale live music and event productions. He started his career in his native England where his landmark music video for Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" brought him international recognition leading to his...
to make a promo video for their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
" to show it in Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
; this is also notable for being entirely shot and edited on videotape.
The Alan Parker
Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker, CBE is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema and was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.-Life and career:...
film adaptation of Pink Floyd The Wall
Pink Floyd The Wall (film)
Pink Floyd—The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated musical film directed by Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The film is highly metaphorical and is rich in symbolic imagery and sound...
transformed the group's 1979 concept double-LP of the same title into a confrontational and apocalyptic audio-visual labyrinth of stylized, expressionistic images, sounds, melodies and lyrics.
The long-running British Rock music show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" produced a number of pioneering videos made especially for the program throughout the 70s and early 80s. These included a video of Frank Zappa's "City of Tiny Lights" made using claymation and videos made for performers such as Television, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield. The executive producer of The Old Grey Whistle Test was Mike Appleton.
Derek Burbidge and Kate Humphreys directed and videoed many of the artists. The audio was always of prime importance. Gregg Baily was the recordist for the show on location. Although many assumed the bands were playing live, due to technical issues and the need to ensure performances were controlled, the bands often recorded the performance on the day of shooting prior to taping, and then mimed to this "live" track.
Other directors and camera operators were Martin Pitts in the USA, and for England, John Metcalfe and Tim Pope and many others. Location shoots all over the world were an essential part of the program. Martin Pitts Directed clips for the Bee Gees that aired on the show.
United States
American alternative punk rock group DevoDevo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
created many self-produced music videos, which were included in the pioneering compilation "The Truth About Devolution", directed by Chuck Statler. Devo's video cassette releases were arguably among the first true long-form video productions. Also, one of their music videos "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise" was the first to use computer and traditional animation. Shock-rocker Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
took a video of his Welcome to My Nightmare
Welcome to My Nightmare
Welcome to My Nightmare is the eighth album by Alice Cooper, released in 1975. This was Alice Cooper's first solo album . The cover artwork was created by Drew Struzan for Pacific Eye & Ear. Rolling Stone would later rank it as one of the "Top 100 Album Covers Of All Time".Welcome to My Nightmare...
concert showcasing the intense visual performance it gave. Alice Cooper himself makes reference to making one of the first music videos on the promotional videos for his album Along Came A Spider
Along Came a Spider
Along Came A Spider is the first novel in a series of books written by James Patterson, about forensic psychologist Alex Cross. It was adapted into a movie of the same name in 2001, starring Morgan Freeman as Cross.-Plot Summary:...
.
Video Concert Hall
Video Concert Hall
Video Concert Hall was an early U.S. television network launched on November 1, 1979, on the USA Network and on Showtime, featuring an unhosted rotation of music videos. Often credited as being the precursor to MTV, Video Concert Hall was reportedly the most popular programming on QUBE, a cable...
, created by Jerry Crowe and Charles Henderson
C.W. Henderson
C.W. Henderson is an American media executive and journalist. He is president of media companies NewsRx LLC and ScholarlyMedia LLC. He was co-founder of Video Concert Hall the first nationwide music video TV network...
, launched on November 1, 1979, was the first nationwide video music programming on American television, predating MTV by almost three years. The USA Cable Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
program Night Flight
Night Flight (TV series)
Night Flight is a variety show that originated on the USA Network. An eclectic mix of short films, cartoons, B movies, stand up comedy, documentaries, music videos and more, Night Flight was broadcast, in various incarnations, from 1981 to 1996....
was one of the first American programs to showcase these videos as an artform. Premiering in June 1981, Night Flight predated MTV's launch by two months.
Two feature-length films released on the cusp of MTV's first appearance on the dial
First music videos aired on MTV
This is a list of the first music videos broadcast on MTV's first day, August 1, 1981. Video of the launch of MTV was uploaded onto YouTube in 2009.-List:#"Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles#"You Better Run" by Pat Benatar...
contributed enormously to the development of the form. The first was 1981's Shock Treatment
Shock Treatment
Shock Treatment is a 1981 musical-black comedy film and a follow-up to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While not an outright sequel, the movie does feature several characters from the movie portrayed by different actors and several Rocky Horror actors portraying new characters...
, a pseudo-sequel/spinoff of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
principally written and scored by RHPS creator Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...
. Although it was a commercial flop, the film broke stylistic ground by being more focused and less visually ambitious – and thus easier to emulate on a tight budget – than either RHPS or Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's 1975 adaptation of The Who's music and storyline from the album Tommy, or even a lower-budget affair like The Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
' Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 musical comedy film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Allan Arkush, and featuring the Ramones.The film starred P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, and Clint Howard...
(1979).
In 1980, New Zealand group Split Enz
Split Enz
Split Enz were a New Zealand band of the 1970s and early 1980s featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. They achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada during the early 1980s ‒ most notably with the single "I Got You", and built a cult following elsewhere...
had major success with the single "I Got You" and the album True Colours, and later that year they joined Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
in becoming one of the first bands in the world to produce a complete set of promo clips for each song on the album (directed by their percussionist, Noel Crombie
Noel Crombie
Noel Crombie is a New Zealand singer and former member of the band Split Enz. He fulfilled multiple roles including costume and hair designer, percussionist, album cover designer, and music video director...
) and to market these on video cassette. This was followed a year later by the first American video album, The Completion Backward Principle
The Completion Backward Principle
The Completion Backward Principle is the sixth studio album from the rock group The Tubes.-Side one:#"Talk to Ya Later" #"Sushi Girl"#"Amnesia"#"Mr...
by The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
, directed by the group's keyboard player Michael Cotten, which included two videos directed by Russell Mulcahy ("Talk To Ya Later" and "Don't Want To Wait Anymore").
Among the first music videos were clips produced by ex-Monkee
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
who started making short musical films for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. In 1981, he released Elephant Parts
Elephant Parts
Elephant Parts is a collection of comedy and music videos made in 1981 by Michael Nesmith, former member of the Monkees. Nesmith produced the video through his company Pacific Arts, using money he inherited from his mother, the inventor of Liquid Paper...
, the first winner of a Grammy for music video, directed by William Dear. A further experiment on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television called Television Parts
Television Parts
Michael Nesmith in Television Parts was a summer TV series run by NBC in 1985. It was a 30-minute comedy-variety series created by Michael Nesmith as a sort of continuation of his Grammy Award-winning video production Elephant Parts, and earlier series PopClips. The first episode was a stand-alone...
was not successful, due to network meddling (notably an intrusive laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
and corny gags). Billboard credits the independently-produced Video Concert Hall
Video Concert Hall
Video Concert Hall was an early U.S. television network launched on November 1, 1979, on the USA Network and on Showtime, featuring an unhosted rotation of music videos. Often credited as being the precursor to MTV, Video Concert Hall was reportedly the most popular programming on QUBE, a cable...
as being the first with nationwide video music programming on American television.
1981–1991: Music videos go mainstream
In 1981, the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
video channel MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star
Video Killed the Radio Star
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...
" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.
Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image compositing
Compositing
Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously called "chroma key", "blue screen", "green screen" and other names. Today,...
. The advent of high-quality color videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film. However, as the genre developed, music video directors increasingly turned to 35 mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video.
During the 1980s, music videos had become de rigueur for most recording artists. The phenomenon that was famously parodied by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television comedy program Not The Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a television comedy sketch show which was broadcast on BBC 2 from 1979 to 1982.Originally shown as a comedy "alternative" to the BBC Nine O'Clock News on BBC 1, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy...
who produced a spoof music video "Nice Video, Shame About The Song". The genre was also parodied by Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
in his satirical 1984 song "Be In My Video". Its increasing dominance had earlier been critiqued by Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
in his 1980 song "Pretty Boys" (which still referred to videos as "promos").
In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to explore and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding a storyline or plot to the music video. Occasionally videos were made in a non-representational form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's "Atlantic City
Atlantic City (song)
"Atlantic City" is a song written and recorded by rock musician Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska, considered to be one of Springsteen's most dour albums in tone...
", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet
David Mallet (director)
David Mallet is a British director particularly noted for his work on music videos, including David Bowie's innovative "Ashes to Ashes", Rush's "Distant Early Warning, and Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free" videos. He has also served as a producer on television programmes including...
's video for David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's "Under Pressure
Under Pressure
"Under Pressure" is a 1981 song recorded by Queen and David Bowie. It marked Bowie's first released collaboration with another recording artist as a performer, and is featured on Queen's 1982 album Hot Space. The song reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest...
", and Ian Emes
Ian Emes
Ian Ronald Emes is a British animator and film director, from Handsworth, Birmingham, England, known for his work with Pink Floyd, who have used his animated films as back-projections in concert and released them as extras on their DVDs...
' video for Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
's "The Chauffeur
The Chauffeur
"The Chauffeur" is a Duran Duran song from their second album Rio. The song was written by Simon Le Bon as poetry, several years before Rio was even begun. Two different versions of the song were originally recorded by Duran Duran, and the song has been covered by three mainstream artists. Two...
". Other notable later examples of the non-representational style include Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
's "Sign o' the Times" – influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics—the video for George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
's "Freedom 90" (1990), in which Michael himself refused to appear, forcing director David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
to substitute top fashion models in his place.
In 1983, the most successful and influential music video of all time was released — the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's song "Thriller
Thriller (music video)
Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson....
". The video set new standards for production, having cost US$500,000 to film. That video, along with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs "Billie Jean
Billie Jean
"Billie Jean" is a dance-pop/R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written, composed, and co-produced by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones from the singer's sixth album, Thriller . Originally disliked by Jones, the track was almost removed from the album after he and...
" and "Beat It
Beat It
"Beat It" is a song written and performed by American recording artist Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones . It is the third single from the singer's sixth solo album, Thriller . Eddie Van Halen was hired to add the song's distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but was prevented by his...
", also was instrumental in getting music videos by African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
artists played on MTV. Earlier, such videos had been rare: according to MTV, this was because it initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel, although musician Rick James
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B...
was outspoken in his criticism of the cable channel, claiming in 1983 that MTV's refusal to air the music video for his song "Super Freak" and clips by other African-American performers was "blatant racism".
The Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
music channel MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
was launched in 1984. In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
(later to be known as the VMA's), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry.
In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
(then known as "VH-1: Video Hits One"), featuring softer music, and meant to cater to an older demographic than MTV. MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...
was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991. Another important development in music videos was the launch of The Chart Show
The Chart Show
The Chart Show is a music video programme which ran in the UK on Channel 4 between 1986 and 1988, then on ITV between 1989 and 1998. The production company was Video Visuals, and was credited as "A Yorkshire Television Presentation" from 1993 and 1998...
on the UK's Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in 1986. This was a program which consisted entirely of music videos (the only outlet many videos had on British TV at the time), without presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
. The show moved to ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 1989.
The video for the 1985 Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
song "Money for Nothing
Money for Nothing (song)
"Money for Nothing" is a single by British rock band Dire Straits, taken from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. It was one of Dire Straits' most successful singles, peaking at number one for three weeks in the United States, and it also reached number one for three weeks on the U.S. Mainstream...
" made pioneering use of computer animation, and helped make the song an international hit. Ironically, the song itself was a wry comment on the music-video phenomenon, sung from the point of view of an appliance deliveryman both drawn to and repelled by the outlandish images and personalities that appeared on MTV. In 1986, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's song "Sledgehammer
Sledgehammer (song)
"Sledgehammer" is a song by British musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album So. It hit number one in Canada on 21 July 1986 where it spent four weeks; number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States on 26 July 1986; and number four in the UK singles chart, thanks in part to a...
" used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animation. The video for "Sledgehammer" would go on to be a phenomenal success and win nine MTV Video Music Awards.
In 1988, the MTV show Yo! MTV Raps
Yo! MTV Raps
Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour American television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995 through its original Yo! MTV Raps name and later by Yo! . The program was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier. The U.S...
debuted; the show helped to bring hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
to a mass audience for the first time.
1992–2004: Rise of the directors
In December 1992, MTV began listing directorsMusic video director
A music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...
with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
, Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
, Stéphane Sednaoui
Stéphane Sednaoui
Stéphane Sednaoui is a French-American photographer, director and producer whose work includes music videos, art projects, photographic essays, portrait photography, fashion photography and photojournalism....
, Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek is an American filmmaker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and commercials.He wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 2002 film One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams...
and Hype Williams
Hype Williams
Harold "Hype" Williams , previously known as HYPE, is an American music video and film director of African-American and Honduran descent. His nickname "Hype" comes from his hyperactive nature as a child....
all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze and F. Gary Gray
F. Gary Gray
Felix Gary Gray is an American music video and film director.-Life and career:Gray began his career in 1992 with his music video for Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day." The video, a literal adaptation of the lyrics, was critically well received. He would go on to direct subsequent videos for Ice Cube,...
, went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as Lasse Hallström
Lasse Hallström
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for My Life as a Dog and later for The Cider House Rules .-Life and career:...
and David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
.
Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
and Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
's "Scream
Scream/Childhood
"Scream"/"Childhood" is the lead single from Michael Jackson's ninth studio album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I where "Scream" is the first song and "Childhood" is the tenth song on the second disc of the album HIStory Continues. The A-side, "Scream", is a duet with his younger sister...
", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive video of all time. During this period, MTV launched channels around the world to show music videos produced in each local market: MTV Latin America
MTV Latin America
MTV Latin America is a cable television specialty service aimed at residents in Hispanic American countries. It was launched on October 1, 1993 as MTV en Español. The channel is a Hispanic American version from MTV...
in 1993, MTV India
MTV India
MTV India is the Indian version of MTV , a channel specialising in music and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 and is now part of the Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd based in Mumbai. . "MTV India" is one of the oldest Music Television Networks in Asia...
in 1996, and MTV Mandarin
MTV Mandarin
MTV Mandarin is a 24 hour music channel combined mandarin and international music programs owned by MTV Networks Asia Pacific. One of the first three MTV Asia channels along with MTV Southeast Asia and MTV India. MTV Mandarin has two different feed...
in 1997, among others. MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
, originally called "M2" and meant to show more alternative and older music videos, debuted in 1996.
2005–present: The Internet becomes video-friendly
The earliest purveyors of music videos on the internet were members of IRCInternet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
-based groups, who recorded them as they appeared on television, then digitised them, exchanging the .mpg files via IRC channels. The website iFilm
IFilm
ifilm.com was an online archive of short films, movie trailers, and other video clips of interest. Ifilm.com was originally founded by independent filmmaker Raphael Raphael in 1997 as an independent film and media collective...
, which hosted short videos, including music videos, launched in 1997. Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
, a peer-to-peer file sharing
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...
service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos. By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos in favor of reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
shows, which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself helped to pioneer with the show The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
, which premiered in 1992.
2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, which made the viewing of online video faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video
Yahoo! Video
Yahoo! Video is a video sharing website on which users could upload and share videos. The service is owned and created by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Video began as an internet-wide video search engine and added the ability to upload and share video clips in June 2006...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
's video functionality, which uses similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go
OK Go
OK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
may exemplify this trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways
A Million Ways
"A Million Ways" is a song by rock band OK Go from their album Oh No. It was the first song from the album to be released as a single and became the band's breakthrough song thanks to the internet sensation that was the accompanying music video....
" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again
Here It Goes Again
"Here It Goes Again" is an alternative rock/power pop song by OK Go, and is the third released single from the album Oh No. It also appears on the compilation album Now 23. It remains the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it entered the Top 40 at #38, mostly due to the...
" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online. (OK Go repeated the trick with another high-concept video in 2010, for their song "This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass (song)
"This Too Shall Pass" is an alternative rock song by OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The single was released in January 2010. The band took the unorthodox route of creating two official music videos for the song, both of which premiered on YouTube. The first features a live...
".) Artists like Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
DeAndre Cortez Way , better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, entrepreneur, and internet personality....
and Marié Digby
Marié Digby
Marié Christina Digby is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actress. She is known for her acoustic cover version of Rihanna's "Umbrella", which attracted attention on YouTube in 2007...
also achieved some level of fame initially through videos released only online.
The 2008 video for Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
's "Pork and Beans
Pork and Beans (song)
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on its 2008 album Weezer. It was released in digital form on April 24, 2008. The track debuted at number 19 on Billboards Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. Critics generally liked the song,...
" also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself.
In 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...
' music video "Kings and Queens
Kings and Queens (30 Seconds to Mars song)
"Kings and Queens" is a song by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, featured on their third studio album This Is War. Written by lead vocalist Jared Leto, the song was released as the lead single from the album to American radio on October 6, 2009, and the physical single was released on October...
" was uploaded to popular video-sharing website YouTube on the same day of its release, where it has garnered over one hundred million views. It also received over forty million plays on MySpace. "Kings and Queens" was featured as iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
video of the week and was one of the most downloaded videos ever to be featured. The video also received four nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards
2010 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 12, 2010 at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year...
, making 30 Seconds to Mars the most nominated rock artist in VMA history for a single year.
In 2010, Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
's music video "Bad Romance
Bad Romance
"Bad Romance" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the lead single from her third extended play , and second major release The Fame Monster . Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne, the track was inspired by Gaga's fear of negative love relationships and the...
" made headlines by becoming the most-viewed video on YouTube and whole internet of all time, music-related or otherwise, with 130 million views; it had over 430 million views by later 2011. It in turn was beaten later in the mid-year by the video for Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
's song "Baby
Baby (Justin Bieber song)
"Baby" is a song by Canadian recording artist Justin Bieber. It was released as the lead single from the latter half of Bieber's debut album, My World 2.0. The track was written by Bieber with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash, both of whom worked with Bieber on "One Time",...
", which had over 660 million views by later 2011. In November 2011, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
's music video "On The Floor
On the Floor
"On the Floor" is a song by American recording artist and actress Jennifer Lopez, featuring Latin American rapper Pitbull. It was released by Island Records on February 11, 2011, as the lead single from Lopez's seventh studio album, Love?...
" becoming the most-viewed female video on YouTube, which had over 430 million views by later 2011.
MTV itself now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos. The Internet has become the primary growth income market for record company-produced music videos. At its launch, Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
's iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via the iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
with video playback capability.
To further signify the change in direction towards Music Video airplay, MTV officially dropped the Music Television tagline on February 8, 2010 from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-oriented entertainment rising in prominence on their live broadcast.
VEVO
Vevo
Vevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
is a music video website launched by several major music publishers in December 2009. The videos on VEVO are syndicated to YouTube, with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and VEVO sharing the advertising revenue.
Official Lo-fi Internet music clips
Following the shift toward internet broadcasting and the rising popularity of user-generated video sites such as YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
around 2006, some independent filmmakers began recording live sessions to present on the Web. Examples of this new way of creating and presenting a music video include Vincent Moon
Vincent Moon
Vincent Moon is an independent filmmaker from Paris mainly known for his field work music videos of indie rock related musicians as well as some notable mainstream artists like Tom Jones, R.E.M. or Arcade Fire. Besides making music videos he also makes experimental films and documentaries...
's work with The Take-Away Shows; In the Van sessions, a similar platform; and the Dutch VPRO
VPRO
The VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current...
3VOOR12
3VOOR12
3VOOR12 is a multimedia platform of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting VPRO for alternative pop.3VOOR12 has 2 digital television channels , different radio channels ranging from punk, Roots and Alternative rock to metal), radioprograms on 3FM, a website and a weekly live event...
, which puts out music videos recorded in elevators and other small, guerrilla filmmaking
Guerrilla filmmaking
Guerrilla filmmaking refers to a form of independent filmmaking characterized by low budgets, skeleton crews, and simple props using whatever is available...
type locations in a similar tradition called (Behind) closed doors. All of these swiftly recorded clips are made with minimal budgets and share similar aesthetics with the lo-fi music
Lo-fi music
Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...
movement of the early nineties. Offering freedom from the increasingly burdensome financial requirements of high-production movie-like clips, it began as the only method for little-known indie music artists to present themselves to a wider audience, but increasingly this approach has been taken up by such major mainstream artists as R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
and Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
.
Country music
When the first country music videos were made is disputed. Sam Lovullo, the producer of the television series Hee HawHee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
, said his show presented "what were, in reality, the first musical videos," while JMI Records made the same claim with Don Williams
Don Williams
Don Williams , is an American country singer, songwriter and a 2010 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He grew up in Portland, Texas, and graduated in 1958 from Gregory-Portland High School. After seven years with the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers, he began his solo career in 1971,...
' 1973 song, "The Shelter of Your Eyes. In addition, a film of "Galveston
Galveston (song)
"Galveston" is the title of a song written by Jimmy Webb and popularized by American country music singer Glen Campbell. In 2003, this song ranked #8 in CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music. Glen Campbell's version of the song also made #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the country music...
", a crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
hit for country-pop performer Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
in 1969, has appeared on the video sharing service YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
Country music historian Bob Millard wrote that JMI had pioneered the country music video concept by "producing a 3-minute film" to go along with Williams' song. Lovullo said his videos were conceptualized by having the show's staff go to nearby rural areas and film animals and farmers, before editing the footage to fit the storyline of a particular song. "The video material was a very workable production item for the show," he wrote. "It provided picture stories for songs. However, some of our guests felt the videos took attention away from their live performances, which they hoped would promote record sales. If they had a hit song, they didn't want to play it under comic barnyard footage." The concept's mixed reaction eventually spelled an end to the "video" concept on Hee Haw.
Promotional videos of country music songs, however, continued to be produced. On March 5, 1983, Country Music Television
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
, or CMT, was launched, created and founded by Glenn D. Daniels and uplinked from the Video World Productions facility in Hendersonville, Tennessee
Hendersonville, Tennessee
Hendersonville is a city in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, on Old Hickory Lake. The population was 51,372 at the 2010 census. Hendersonville is part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located 18 miles northeast of downtown Nashville. The city was settled around 1784 by...
. CMT's chief competitor, The Nashville Network (TNN)
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
, premiered two days later. CMT was positioned to play country music videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while TNN was geared toward programming lending itself to a "country lifestyle".
A competitor network to CMT, Great American Country
Great American Country
Great American Country , is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.-History:The station launched December 31, 1995 and Garth Brooks' video "The Thunder Rolls" was the first video to air on GAC....
, or GAC, went on the air in December 1995.
Censorship
As the concept and medium of a music video is a form of artistic expression, artists have been on many occasions censored if their content is deemed offensive. What may be considered offensive will differ in countries due to censorship laws and local customs and ethics. In most cases, the record label will provide and distribute videos edited or provide both censored and uncensored videos for an artist. In some cases, it has been known for music videos to be banned in their entirety as they have been deemed far too offensive to be broadcast.1980s
In the late 1970s and into the early 80s Jon Small Was touring with Billy Joel in Australia where they saw within their hotel rooms rudimentary videos of local musical talent on the Australian TV Channels.Argumentively the first television version of a Musical Video was conceived in Australia.
They got back to their native town of New York City and went to Home Box Office in Manhattan N.Y. to propose the idea of having a musical filler in-between the HBO movies; this filler was to provide a low cost entertainment for the dead air time between movies aired on the visionary pay TV network.
The first video to be banned by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
was Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's 1982 hit "Body Language". Due to thinly veiled homoerotic undertones plus lots of skin and lots of sweat (but apparently not enough clothing, save that worn by the fully clothed members of Queen themselves), it was deemed unsuitable for a television audience at the time. However, the channel did air Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
's 1981 video for the hit song "Physical
Physical (Olivia Newton-John song)
"Physical" is a song by Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, released in September 1981. The song was an immediate success, shipping 2 million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum, and spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately becoming Newton-John's...
", which lavished camera time on male models working out in string bikinis who spurn her advances, ultimately pairing off to walk to the men's locker rooms holding hands, though the network ended the clip before the overt homosexual "reveal" ending in some airings. The video for "Girls on Film
Girls on Film
"Girls on Film" is the third single by Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981.The single became Duran Duran's Top 10 breakthrough in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at Number 5 in August 1981...
" by Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, which featured topless women mud wrestling and other depictions of sexual fetishes, was banned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
MTV did air the video, albeit in a heavily edited form. Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan
Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
initially protested an MTV request to edit her "Self Control
Self Control (song)
"Self Control" is the name of an international hit song recorded in 1984 by Laura Branigan, as well as the album on which it appears. The song was recorded that same year with the same English lyrics by Italian singer Raf, who co-wrote the song with Giancarlo Bigazzi and Steve Piccolo. Branigan's...
" video in 1984, but relented when the network refused to air the William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
-directed clip, featuring the singer lured through an increasingly debauched, if increasingly stylized, series of nightclubs by a masked man who ultimately takes her to bed. In 1989, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
's "If I Could Turn Back Time
If I Could Turn Back Time
"If I Could Turn Back Time" is a song written by Diane Warren and was released on June 1, 1989 as the second North American and first European single release from American singer/actress Cher's twentieth album Heart of Stone by Geffen Records....
" video (where the singer performs the song in an extremely revealing body suit surrounded by a ship full of cheering sailors) was restricted to late-night broadcasts on MTV. The Sex Pistols' video for "God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977...
" was banned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
for calling the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
a fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
regime. Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
's video for "Girls, Girls, Girls" was banned by MTV for having completely nude women dancing around the members of the band in a strip club. Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
did make another version of the video that was accepted by MTV.
In 1983, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
ran a segment on censorship and "Rock Video Violence." The episode explored the impact of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
rock video violence on the youth of the early 1980s. Excerpts from the music videos of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, Kansas
Kansas (band)
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...
, Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
, Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
, Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
were shown. Dr. Thomas Radecki of the National Coalition on TV Violence was interviewed accusing the fledgling rock video business of excessive violence. Night Tracks'
Night Tracks
Night Tracks was an American television series which ran from 1983 to 1992 on SuperStation WTBS on late night weekends...
producer Tom Lynch weighed in on the effects of the video violence controversy. Recording artists John Cougar Mellencamp
John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
, Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, actor, and rock bassist. Known as "The Demon", he is the bassist/vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s.-Early life:...
and Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley
Stanley Harvey Eisen , better known by his stage name Paul Stanley, is an American hard rock guitarist, singer, musician, painter and songwriter best known for being the rhythm guitarist and primary lead vocalist of the rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's...
of Kiss, along with directors Dominic Orlando and Julien Temple
Julien Temple
Julien Temple is an English film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, Absolute Beginners and a documentary film about Glastonbury.-Temple...
, provided a defense of their work. The episode's conclusion was that the controversy will continue to grow. Some artists have used censorship as a publicity tool. In the 1980s, the show Top of the Pops was censorious in its approach to video content, so some acts made videos that they knew would be censored, using the resulting public controversy to promote their release. Examples of this tactic were Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
's aforementioned "Girls on Film" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...
with "Relax", directed by Bernard Rose.
1990s
In 1991, the dance segment of Michael JacksonMichael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Black or White
Black or White (song)
"Black or White" is a single by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. The song was released by Epic Records on November 11, 1991 as the first single from Jackson's eighth studio album, Dangerous...
" was cut because it showed Michael Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't Care About Us
They Don't Care About Us
"They Don't Care About Us" is the fourth single from Michael Jackson's album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, released on April 1, 1996. The song remains one of the most controversial pieces Jackson ever composed...
" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged anti-Semitic message in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video. Also in 1991, emerging country music superstar Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
found himself at the center of controversy when his video for "The Thunder Rolls" was banned by both The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows...
(TNN) and Country Music Television
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
(CMT). The video dealt with the issue of domestic violence in stark visual terms, and featured a heavily-costumed Brooks portraying an abusive husband. Although both Brooks and director Bud Schaetzle publicly denied that the video was crafted specifically to foster debate, its banning shed light on Nashville's conservative programming practices and brought attention to Brooks' developing sense of showmanship. In the wake of the video's critical acclamation, and with public support generated by nationwide "viewing parties" organized by supportive radio stations, TNN and CMT reluctantly began airing it. "The Thunder Rolls" went on to win the Video of the Year Award from the Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
, and was named by both MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and CMT as one of the "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made."
Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
is the artist most associated with music video censorship. The controversy surrounding her marketing of sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 12, 1984 by Sire Records. It was re-released worldwide in 1985, with the inclusion of the bonus track "Into the Groove". In 2001, Warner Bros. Records released a remastered version with two bonus...
". Outcry occurred over the subject matter discussed in "Papa Don't Preach
Papa Don't Preach
"Papa Don't Preach" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The song was written by Brian Elliot with additional lyrics by Madonna, and produced by Stephen Bray and Madonna for her third studio album True Blue, released in June 1986...
". "Like a Prayer
Like a Prayer
Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989 by Sire Records, three years after her previous studio album. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and fellow icon Prince on the album while co-writing and co-producing all the...
" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery. In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love
Justify My Love
"Justify My Love" is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection and was released on November 6, 1990, by Sire Records. It caused international controversy due to the accompanying music video which was sexually explicit...
" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, cross-dressing
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
, and group sex
Group sex
Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Group sex can occur amongst people of all sexual orientations and genders...
which generated a media firestorm. The debate over the banning of "Justify My Love" by the Canadian music video network MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
led to the launching in 1991 of Too Much 4 Much
Too Much 4 Much
Too Much 4 Much was a Canadian television series, which aired on MuchMusic. The series, which aired after midnight Eastern time, played controversial videos which had, for one reason or another, been banned from regular rotation on the network, and featured panel discussions on the issues raised by...
, a series of occasional, late-night specials (still being aired in the early 2000s) in which videos officially banned by MuchMusic were broadcast, followed by panel discussion regarding why they were removed.
In 1992, The Shamen
The Shamen
The Shamen were an experimental electronic music band, from 1985–1999, initially formed in Aberdeen, Scotland, as a psychedelic-influenced indie rock act. The founding members are Colin Angus , Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie...
's video for the song "Ebeneezer Goode
Ebeneezer Goode
"Ebeneezer Goode" is a song by Scottish electronic music group The Shamen, which, after being heavily remixed by The Beatmasters, became their biggest hit when released as a single in September 1992. The band's original version also featured on the vinyl edition of their album Boss Drum...
" was banned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
due to its perceived subliminal endorsement of the recreational drug Ecstasy. Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up
Smack My Bitch Up
"Smack My Bitch Up" is a song by The Prodigy, released as the band's twelfth single on 17 November 1997. It was the third and final single from the album The Fat of the Land....
" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter
Firestarter (song)
"Firestarter" is a song by the English band The Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single. It was also the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks...
" was banned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
because of its references to arson.
In 1993, Australian rock band INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
' song The Gift
The Gift (INXS song)
"The Gift" is the first single from the 1993 album Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, by Australian rock band INXS. The song was written by Jon Farriss and Michael Hutchence....
was banned by MTV because of its use of Holocaust and Gulf War footage, among images of famine, pollution, war and terrorism. As well as this, metal band Tool
Tool
A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...
's music video for prison sex
Prison sex
Prison sex may refer to:* Prison Sex , song by American progressive rock/metal band Tool* Prison sexuality...
was banned from MTV, as the video and lyrics touch on the sensitive matter of child abuse.
2000s
In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJRock DJ (song)
"Rock DJ" is a song by English pop singer Robbie Williams from his fourth album, Sing When You're Winning released in the summer of 2000. The song heavily musically samples Barry White's 1977 song "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" and also contains a sample of "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe...
" by Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which featured Robbie Williams appearing naked and peeling off his skin to reveal bloody flesh, then ripping off his muscles and organs until he is nothing but a blood-soaked skeleton. The video was censored in the UK during the day, and was broadcast unedited after 10pm. The video was banned in Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
due to allegations of satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
. Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
's 2001 song, "Pagan Poetry
Pagan Poetry
"Pagan Poetry" was the second single from singer Björk's album Vespertine. The single peaked at number 38 in the UK and number 12 in Canada. It was written and produced by Björk with additional production by Marius De Vries and mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent...
", was banned from MTV for depictions of sexual intercourse, fellatio, and body piercings. Her next single, "Cocoon", was also banned by MTV as it featured a nude Björk. Madonna's video for "Erotica
Erotica (song)
"Erotica" is the lead single from American singer-songwriter Madonna's fifth studio album, Erotica . The single was released in October 1992 by Maverick Records, and later included on her greatest hits albums GHV2 and Celebration...
" was aired only three times (each time after midnight) due to its sexual depictions of sadomasochism. More recently, Madonna's "What It Feels Like for a Girl
What It Feels Like for a Girl
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was the third and final single released from her eighth studio album Music on April 17, 2001 by Maverick Records. The video mix of the song is a trance song, while the album version is a more demure pop and...
" was banned in 2001 due to its graphic depiction of violence. She also pulled her "American Life
American Life (song)
"American Life" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was the first single from her 2003 studio album American Life...
" video because of its controversial military imagery that seemed inappropriate once the War in Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
began; subsequently, a new video was made for the song.
In 2002, the video for "All the Things She Said
All the Things She Said
"All the Things She Said" is a song by Russian recording duo t.A.T.u., which was for their first English-language studio album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane . The song was written by Sergio Galoyan, Trevor Horn, Martin Kierszenbaum, Elena Kiper and Valeriy Polienko, while produced by Horn...
" by Russian duo t.A.T.u.
T.A.T.u.
t.A.T.u. was a duo formed in Moscow, Russia in 1999 by Ivan Shapovalov. The group consisted of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova.Their debut single "Ya Soshla S Uma" was released in December 2000. The single had a huge success in Russia and Eastern Europe...
caused controversy as it featured the young girls, Lena Katina
Lena Katina
Elena Sergeevna Katina , born October 4, 1984, better known as Lena Katina, is a Russian singer and songwriter who is best known for her work with Russian duo t.A.T.u. She started her career at the age of eight, joining the Russian children's act Avenue, then not long after Neposedi...
and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. UK TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. Top of the Pops aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".
In 2004, Maroon 5
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...
's video for "This Love" generated controversy due to intimate scenes between frontman Adam Levine
Adam Levine
Adam Noah Levine is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front man and guitarist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. He is also a coach on the American talent show The Voice.-Early life:...
and his then-girlfriend. Despite those particular scenes being shot at strategic angles, a censored version was released with a stream of computer-generated
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
flowers added in to cover up more. The following year, Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's video for "Just Lose It
Just Lose It
"Just Lose It" is the first single from Eminem's fifth studio album Encore and was later included on his 2005 compilation album, Curtain Call: The Hits. The song caused controversy as its lyrics and music video parodies Michael Jackson, who was being accused of child molestation at the time. The...
" caused controversy over its parody of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's 2005 child molestation trial
People v. Jackson
People vs. Jackson was a 2005 trial involving recording artist Michael Jackson. The accuser was a boy, Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged crimes...
, plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
, and hair catching fire during the filming of a Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
commercial. The video was banned from BET
Bet
Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...
, and Jackson spoke out against the video, calling it "inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large."
As of 2005, the Egyptian state censorship committee has banned at least 20 music videos which featured sexual connotations due to Muslim moral viewpoints. In 2004, many family groups and politicians lobbied for the banning of the Eric Prydz
Eric Prydz
Eric Sheridan Prydz is a Swedish DJ and producer based in London, United Kingdom. The pronunciation of his surname is often questioned; it is pronounced "prids", but when under his alias, Pryda, it is pronounced "pride-ah"...
video "Call on Me
Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
"Call on Me" is a song performed by Swedish DJ, producer Eric Prydz. The single received huge sales success and topped several record charts. "Call on Me" is known for its music video, which features several women and a man performing aerobics in a sexually suggestive manner.-Background:"Call on...
" for containing women dancing in a sexually suggestive way, however, the video was not banned. At some point in the past, the video for "(s)AINT" by Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
was banned by that artist's label due to its violence and sexual content. In 2008, Justice
Justice (French band)
Justice is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay . The duo is one of the most successful groups on Ed Banger Records and is managed by the label's head, Pedro Winter...
's video for their song "Stress" was boycotted by several major music television channels due to allegations of racism and violence; the video depicts several youths committing various crimes throughout the streets of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, with the youths mainly being of North African descent.
In 2006, Australian rock band Eskimo Joe
Eskimo Joe
Eskimo Joe is an Australian alternative rock band formed by Stuart MacLeod on guitars, Joel Quartermain on drums and guitar and Kavyen Temperley on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia in 1997....
's Black Fingernails Red Wine
Black Fingernails, Red Wine (song)
"Black Fingernails, Red Wine" is the first single by Australian alternative rock band Eskimo Joe, taken from their third studio album of the same name. It has been their most successful single to date: their first song to chart in the top ten of the ARIA Singles Chart ; spent 19 weeks in the top...
's original video was not shown on music video channels during the day, given an MA15+ classification and restricted to night-time airplay due to its criminal themes. As a result, a completely new video was substituted. The original video shows the band members kidnapping people at night and in the end, the kidnapped people are Eskimo Joe themselves. The edited video shows the band playing in an old building.
2010s
In 2010, 30 Seconds to Mars30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...
video "Hurricane
Hurricane (30 Seconds to Mars song)
"Hurricane" is a song written by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars which is featured on their third studio album, This Is War. The song was written by lead vocalist and songwriter Jared Leto and was released in January 2011 as the fourth single from the album...
" was censored because of its elements of violence, nudity and sex. The short film was later released with a clean version that can air on television. The explicit version is available on the band's official website with a viewing certificate of 18+.
In 2010, a rumour circulated that Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
's video "Telephone" was banned by MTV, a rumour which reached some press outlets. The rumour claimed that MTV had banned the video because the content could not be shown within their programming. MTV denied the ban and showed the video frequently on European MTV programming. Lady Gaga's previous videos have also attracted criticism for their sexually suggestive content; the video for "LoveGame
LoveGame
"LoveGame" is an electropop song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame . Produced by RedOne, the track was released as the album's third single in North America and Europe and the fourth single in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden after "Eh, Eh "...
" was refused play on the Australian video music program Video Hits
Video Hits (Australian TV series)
Video Hits was an Australian music video program that first aired on 15 February 1987. From 7 May 2011 it broadcasted on Network Ten for two hours each Saturday and Sunday morning: 10am – 12pm on Saturdays and 8am – 10am on Sundays. Video Hits was the world's second longest running music show...
, however, other Australian programs aired the video uncensored.
Ciara
Ciara
Ciara Princess Harris , known mononymously as Ciara, is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress and fashion model. Born in Austin, Texas, she traveled around the world during her childhood, only to land in Atlanta, Georgia where she met music producer, Jazze Pha...
's video for "Ride
Ride (Ciara song)
"Ride" is a song performed by American recording artist Ciara. The song features American rapper Ludacris. It was co-written by Ciara, Ludacris, Tricky Stewart, and The-Dream, and produced by the latter two. The song serves as the lead single from her fourth studio album, Basic Instinct. The song...
" was banned by BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
, with the network citing that the video was too sexually charged. The video was also subsequently banned by all UK television channels.
Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
's video "S&M", which features the singer whipping a tied-up man, taking hostages and indulging in a lesbian kiss, was banned in 11 countries and was flagged as inappropriate for viewers that are under 18 on YouTube.
Unofficial music videos
Unofficial, fan-made music videos ("bootleg" tapes) are typically made by synchronizing existing footage from other sources, such as television series or movies, with the song. The first known fan video, or songvidSongvid
Vidding is the fan labor practice in media fandom of creating music videos from the footage of one or more visual media sources, thereby exploring the source itself in a new way...
, was created by Kandy Fong in 1975 using still images from Star Trek loaded into a slide carousel and played in conjunction with a song. Fan videos made using videocassette recorder
Videocassette recorder
The videocassette recorder , is a type of electro-mechanical device that uses removable videocassettes that contain magnetic tape for recording analog audio and analog video from broadcast television so that the images and sound can be played back at a more convenient time...
s soon followed. With the advent of easy distribution over the internet and cheap video-editing software, fan-created videos began to gain wider notice in the late 1990s.
Such videos are sometimes known as OPV, Original Promotional Videos (or sometimes Other People's Videos). In the case of anime music video
Anime music video
An anime music video is a music video consisting of clips from one or more animations set to an audio track ; the term usually refers to fan-made unofficial videos. An AMV can also be a set of video game footage put together with music which is known as a GMV...
s, the source material is drawn from Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
or from American animation series. Since neither the music nor the film footage is typically licensed, distributing these videos is usually copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
on both counts. A well-known example of an unofficial video include one made for Danger Mouse
Danger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
's illegal mash-up
Mashup (music)
A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
of the Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
track "Encore" with music sampled from The Beatles' White Album, in which concert footage of The Beatles is remixed with footage of Jay-Z and rap dancers. In 2007, a new form of lip sync
Lip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
-based music video called lip dub
Lip dub
A lip dub is a type of video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video. It is made by filming individuals or a group of people lip synching while listening to a song or any recorded audio then dubbing over it in post editing with the original audio of the song. There is...
became popular in which a group of people are filmed lip singing in a seemingly random spot then dubbing over it in post editing with the original audio of the song. These videos have the feeling of being spontaneous and authentic and are spread virally through mass participatory video sites like YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
Music video stations
Here are some music video stations from around the world:- 4 Music
- 40 TV40 TV40 TV is a television channel in Spain. The channel specialises in music and broadcasts music videos throughout the day. The channel is available 24 hours a day through Digital+ and some cable providers.-External links:**...
- Alt TVAlt TVALT TV was a New Zealand broadcast, privately owned and operated 24 hour live-to-air music TV, which aired from 2006 to 2009 and was seen on SKY Digital channel 065...
- Audiotube
- AUX.tv
- BETBlack Entertainment TelevisionBlack Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
- bpm:tvBpm:tvbpm:tv is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Stornoway Communications. bpm:tv's programming is devoted to dance, club lifestyle, and dance music- electronica, house, techno, eurodance, trance, and other similar genres.-History:In November 2000, a partnership between...
- C4
- Channel OChannel OChannel O is a South African-based music channel which first started transmission in the early nineties. Its main concept is African music in Africa and the diaspora. Over the years, this music channel has made household names of its presenters such as Mimi, Nonhle, KB, Miss Candy.Channel O can be...
- Channel [VChannel VChannel [V] is the brand name for multiple international music television networks owned by STAR TV and Fox International Channels, fully owned subsidiaries of News Corporation.-Channel [V] International:...
] - Channel [UChannel U TVChannel AKA is a British digital satellite TV channel, owned by Mushroom TV Ltd, available through Sky within the UK and Ireland on channel 370...
] - CMC-TV
- CMCCroatian Music ChannelCroatian Music Channel, most commonly referred to only as CMC is a Croatian television channel broadcasting Croatian music and music of Croatian production.It is available in cable television, DVB-T and satellite television....
- CMTCountry Music TelevisionCountry Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
- CMT Pure CountryCMT Pure CountryCMT Pure Country is a digital cable and satellite television channel, it is the sister network to CMT. It showcases country music videos all day from the 1980s to the current day, using the same 8-hour programming wheel schedule repeated three times daily as sister networks MTV Hits and MTV Jams...
- Fly MusicFly MusicFly Music was a television channel broadcast in Spain. The channel broadcast a range of music videos and profiles of alternative artists , throughout the day during named strands. Examples of these strands included Fly Box, Fly Top and D-Club...
- Fuse TVFuse TVFuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
- Gospel Music ChannelGospel Music Channelgmc is an American satellite and cable television channel, known from its 2004 launch until February 1, 2010 as Gospel Music Channel. It is also available in high-definition as a separate channel called gmcHD ....
- GACGreat American CountryGreat American Country , is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.-History:The station launched December 31, 1995 and Garth Brooks' video "The Thunder Rolls" was the first video to air on GAC....
- IMFInternational Music FeedThe International Music Feed was a music channel launched in 2005 broadcasting in the United States. IMF had a broad music policy focusing on music from around the world. The channel ceased operating in March, 2008.It was the only channel in the US that focused on combining music from American...
- Indy's Music Channel
- Juice TVJuice TVJuice TV is a 24 hour music television channel operating from the Auckland suburb of Parnell in New Zealand. It is the only music channel that is New Zealand based.-History:...
- Kerrang! TVKerrang! TVKerrang! TV is a digital television station owned by Box Television, which is loosely connected to the magazine, Kerrang!. As of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist....
(rock) - ScuzzScuzzScuzz is a British music television channel owned and operated by CSC Media Group . It launched on 17 April 2003 and has gone on to be the highest-rated rock TV station on UK satellite. The channel plays a broad range of rock and all its subgenres...
- MAD (Music All Day)MAD TV (music TV)MAD TV is a television network in Greece that broadcasts music related programming including video clips, music news & interviews as well as concert footage. It was the first music station in Greece, launched on June 6, 1996 and is run by Andreas Kouris.MAD TV’s target group ranges from 15 to 24...
- MCMMCM (French TV)MCM is a French music video TV channel owned by Groupe MCM. It was started in 1989 by Groupe Europe following the MTV model. MCM broadcasts 3 encrypted music TV channels "MCM France", "MCM Pop" and "MCM Top" as part of the "CanalSat France" subscription TV package from the Astra 19.2°E cluster of...
- MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
- MTV2MTV2MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
- MTV JamsMTV JamsMTV Jams is a Viacom-owned American hip-hop/urban music video channel that debuted on 1998 as MTVX, then was relaunched in 2002 under its current name...
- MTV HitsMTV HitsMTV Hits is an American music video channel that debuted on May 1, 2002. The format of the network resembles that of the classic MTV before the additional of other programming to that network in the 1990s and their slow decline of music video programming...
- MTV Tr3́s
- mtvUMtvUmtvU is a division of Viacom's MTV Networks which produces a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages...
- MuchMore
- MuchMusicMuchMusicMuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
- MusimaxMusiMaxMusiMax is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel owned by Astral Media operating out of Montreal, Quebec.MusiMax is devoted to music and music related programming focusing more on adult contemporary, soft-rock, classic rock and lighter music than its sister station, MusiquePlus...
- MusiquePlusMusiquePlusMusiquePlus is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel owned by Astral Media operating from Montreal, Quebec.MusiquePlus is devoted to music and music related programming from various genres including pop, rock, RnB and focuses on a younger demographic than its sister station, MusiMax...
- Music 24Music 24Music 24 is an Israeli popular music channel which was launched on July 20, 2003 and broadcasts music videos by Israeli musicians. Apart from music videos, the channel has different music-related shows, including interviews with musicians, live performances, music-oriented talk shows and programs...
- MyxMyxmyx or MYX is the music channel of ABS-CBN brand and the #1 music channel in the Philippines. It is also a part of Studio 23's program line-up. In 2007, MYX North America was launched in the United States....
- NME TVNME TVNME TV is a British music television channel owned and operated by CSC Media Group . This is a similar arrnagement to its radio station, NME Radio, which is operated by DX Media. The channel replaced Minx on 22 November 2007...
- Palladia
- PMCPersian Music ChannelPMC is a free-to-air satellite TV network owned by Persian Media Corporation and headquartered in Dubai Media City. Launched in 2003, the network is devoted to Persian music videos from ex-pat Iranian singers and also Iranian singers in Iran. Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish hit songs are also shown on...
- Q TVQ TVQ is a UK music channel based on Q Magazine, launched on 2 October 2000. It is operated by Box Television, and specialises in indie, rock and alternative....
- SpiritSpirit televisionSpirit Television is a non-profit Christian music station which airs in a stream on the Internet and on the Sky Angel satellite network it is owned by Spirit Communications, which also owns TVU and RadioU. Spirit Television plays adult contemporary music and has little to no programming, other...
- TMFThe Music FactoryThe Music Factory is a pop music television channel that operates in Belgium .TMF previously operated channels in the Netherlands , the UK with TMF UK and Australia with . The brand is owned by MTV Networks International...
- Tempo TV
- The Box
- The Tube
- theCoolTVTheCoolTVTHECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...
- TVU
- VevoVevoVevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
- VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
- VH1 ClassicVH1 ClassicVH1 Classic is a television network, launched on May 8, 2000. It is operated as part of MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom and primarily features music videos and concert footage from the 1970s through the mid-1990s, though it formerly included a wider range of genres and time periods...
- VH1 SoulVH1 SoulVH1 Soul is a digital cable and satellite television channel and is the sister network to VH1. It showcases R&B, funk, soul, and Motown music from various periods....
- VIVA
- WorshipThe Worship NetworkThe Worship Network, or Worship, is a broadcast television service that provides alternative Christian worship-themed programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week...
Music video shows
- ABC RocksABC RocksABC Rocks is an American music video show broadcast on ABC from June 22, 1984 to August 2, 1985. The thirty-minute show aired on Friday nights at midnight and featured popular rock videos by artists such as Prince, Billy Idol and David Bowie. It is notable as ABC's attempt to produce a show...
(ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
) - 106 & Park106 & Park106 & Park is a Top Ten Hip-Hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that airs weekdays at 6:00 PM on BET . Since its inception, it was the network's #1 rated show...
(BET) - CD:UK Hotshots (ITV1ITV1ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
1998–2007) - Top Of The PopsTop of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
(BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
1964–2006) - The Click List: Top 10 VideosThe Click List: Top 10 VideosThe Click List: Top 10 Videos is an hour length music video show that airs on the television channel Logo. Viewers vote for their top ten favorite videos at and each week the winners are counted down in a new episode. An episode usually includes Indie and big label LGBT artists such as Rufus...
(LogoLogo (TV channel)Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
) - Countdown (Australian ABCAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
) - Friday Night VideosFriday Night VideosFriday Night Videos is an American music video show broadcast on the NBC television network from July 29, 1983 to December 30, 2000, and was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularity of music videos as seen on MTV...
(NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
) - Good Rockin' ToniteGood Rockin' ToniteGood Rockin' Tonite was a Canadian television series, which aired on CBC Television from the early 1980s to 1993. The program, similar to the American Friday Night Videos, played popular music videos...
(CBC TelevisionCBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
) - Headbanger's Ball (MTV2MTV2MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
) - KidsongsKidsongsKidsongs is an American award-winning children's media franchise which includes Kidsongs Music Video Stories on DVD and video, The Kidsongs TV Show, CDs of favorite children’s songs, song books, sheet music, toys and an ecommerce website...
- LoadedLoaded (Fuse TV series)Loaded is a half-hour long series on the public TV station Fuse TV. During the show, videos from one specific artist play. Usually there is a mix of old and new videos for each artist...
(FuseFuse TVFuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
) - Los 10+ PedidosLos 10+ PedidosLos 10+ Pedidos is a television show broadcast on MTV in Latin America. It has the same concept as the U.S. MTV show Total Request Live in that it airs the ten most requested videos , and between the voted videos it shows other videos...
(MTV Latin AmericaMTV Latin AmericaMTV Latin America is a cable television specialty service aimed at residents in Hispanic American countries. It was launched on October 1, 1993 as MTV en Español. The channel is a Hispanic American version from MTV...
) - Night TracksNight TracksNight Tracks was an American television series which ran from 1983 to 1992 on SuperStation WTBS on late night weekends...
(TBS) - Pop 4 (TG4TG4TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
) - RageRage (TV program)Rage is a popular all-night Australian music video program broadcast on ABC1 on Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Saturday nights. It was first screened on the weekend of Friday, 17 April 1987. With Soul Train no longer being produced, it is the oldest music television program currently still...
(Australian ABCAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
)
- Schoolhouse Rock (ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
) - Sidewalks: Video NiteSidewalks: Video NiteSidewalks: Video Nite is an American television show featuring music videos. The show is a spin-off from Sidewalks Entertainment.Sidewalks: Video Nites music format is primarily POP and R&B...
(syndicationTelevision syndicationIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
) - Soundwaves (Syndicated)
- Video Hits AustraliaVideo Hits (Australian TV series)Video Hits was an Australian music video program that first aired on 15 February 1987. From 7 May 2011 it broadcasted on Network Ten for two hours each Saturday and Sunday morning: 10am – 12pm on Saturdays and 8am – 10am on Sundays. Video Hits was the world's second longest running music show...
(Network TenNetwork TenNetwork Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
) - Video Hits CanadaVideo Hits (Canadian TV series)Video Hits was a Canadian music video program that was broadcast on CBC Television from 1984 to 1993, the longest running video series in Canada. Created by producer Sandra Faire, it featured music videos of current songs and interviews with artists...
(CBC TelevisionCBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
) - TRLTotal Request LiveTotal Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...
(MTV) - Power Fuse (FuseFuse TVFuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
) - MuchOnDemandMuchOnDemandMuchOnDemand was an hour-long per broadcast viewer interactive television program aired on MuchMusic, Monday through Friday at 5pm ET. It was broadcast live from the Much broadcasting studio on 299 Queen Street West in Toronto. The Best of MuchOnDemand, aired Sundays at 10am ET, highlighting the...
(MuchMusic) - MusiquePlusMusiquePlusMusiquePlus is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel owned by Astral Media operating from Montreal, Quebec.MusiquePlus is devoted to music and music related programming from various genres including pop, rock, RnB and focuses on a younger demographic than its sister station, MusiMax...
- Music StationMusic Stationis a Japanese music television program. It began broadcasting on October 24, 1986 and continues to be broadcast weekly in High-definition from 8PM-9PM on tv asahi...
(TV AsahiTV Asahi, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....
) - New York Hot TracksNew York Hot TracksNew York Hot Tracks is a syndicated music television series which aired from 1983 to 1989, and achieved the number one music variety show spot in the United States. Hot Tracks was Executive Produced and Syndicated by M.K. Thomas & Company of Chicago in association with WABC-TV, New York. The...
(syndicated) - UVTV – Underground Video Television (UVTV – Underground Video Television)
- Worlds Best Videos (IMF – International Music Feed)
- VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown (VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
)
See also
- List of most expensive music videos
- Music video directorMusic video directorA music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...
- MTV Video Music AwardsMTV Video Music AwardsAn MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
- Concert video design
- One shot (music video)One shot (music video)A "one-shot" is any music video which consists of action, continuous in time and space, from the perspective of a single camera — a single long take. In order to be able to make one shot videos several special techniques are used. Most commonly the stage props which are not currently caught on...
- Hitz MusicHitz MusicHitz Music is an internet TV channel specializing in music video entertainment. Shortly after its launch in October 2008, it has aired evening specials every Friday at 8pm Eastern. This tradition has been long gone since December 2008 and no weekly specials are aired.-Sister Channels:Hitz Music has...
- Video artVideo artVideo art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
- Video clipVideo clipVideo clips are short clips of video, usually part of a longer recording. The term is also more loosely used to mean any short video less than the length of a traditional television program.- On the Internet :...