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The Big Bopper
According to some music historians, Jiles Perry Richardson, who went by The Big Bopper, was the first person to use the phrase “music video” in an interview with a British magazine. He is also credited with making some of the earliest known rock videos in 1958. -
Televised music videos
Top Of The Pops was the only way to publicise music, however this was a life performance.
The Beetles harnessed the power of film to market their records and express themselves as artists, by making music videos and broadcasting them on television programs. -
1960's
A time where music videos consisted of the artists singing into a camera, The Beatles are a good example of this; in front of a camera, singing, playing guitar and swaying side to side. Take 'Hello Goodbye' 1967 for example, the most exciting it gets is the band sitting down waving into the camera every now and then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblYSKz_VnI -
1970's
It wasn't until Queen released the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, that music videos were changed forever; this was the first video that became recognized as a 'music video'. It included cuts from the band performing to shots of their heads singing 'let him go'. Since then there were similar videos released for songs like Y.M.C.A and Night Fever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ -
1980's
The 80's was a time of experiments. Looking at Talking Heads Once in a Lifetime music video, this is clear; the various techniques used and the crazy moves makes it hard, even for a watcher in this day in age, to stop watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU -
The release of MTV!
MTV was the first television program dedicated to music videos, allowing artists to easily televise their music, and for the audience to easily consume. -
Lets talk Micheal Jackson.
THRILLER. This was and is the MOST iconic music video of all time. Jackson made the first, of many, music videos that lasted 15+ minutes, making it into a short film. This video changed music videos forever, including a narrative and story to the video; in turn making people stop and watch. Thriller was not the last music video of its kind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA -
VH1
4 years later marks the release of VH1, another channel dedicated to music videos. -
We're still in the 80's
Like I said before the 80's was the age of experimenting, and Peter Gabriel showed this in his Sledgehammer video. He included animation in his video, in an almost timelapse, showing the progress of techniques included in a music video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q -
1990's
The cheesest era EVER. 90's music took narrative to a whole other level, especially Boys II Men with their release of End of the Road and I'll Make Love to You with their signature suits, rosy lighting and diagonal angles, not to mention Spice Girls 2 Become 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA5jsa1lR9c -
2000's
As the music became increasingly provocative, as did the videos that came with it. The 2000's was the end of Astleys Never Gonna Give You Up and Whitney's I Will Always Love You, as artists like Britney Spears, Shakira and Justin Timberlake took a rise in the music industry. These videos having less of a narrative and more of a dance routine, or a mixture of both, including various shots in a studio ( Rock Your Body ) or on mars ( Oops I Did It Again )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSVHoHyErBQ -
2000's
Apart from the provocative side of the decade, the 2000's also proved to add the comedic side to the music videos like Emimems Without Me, a parody of super heroes, and Weatus parody of American Pie: Teenage Dirtbag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVkUvmDQ3HY -
YOUTUBE!!
Youtube is one of the most iconic things to come out of the internet: a place were ANYONE can upload and watch videos, the perfect place for artists to publicise their music videos. -
VEVO
Owned by Universal music group, Warner music group and Sony music entertainment, Vevo is the biggest multinational video hosting service. Artists on Youtube are even named including Vevo; i.e. Justinbiebervevo. -
Watch out MTV.
Vevo released Vevo Tv!! MTV's first competition in years??? -
2010's and the present day.
In the 2010's music videos hold a lot of meaning, like Someone That I Used To Know and Sias faultless videos; most iconic of all Chandelier which took pride in the dance routine. Songs like Taylor Swifts Blank Space and Airplanes by B.O.B highlight the narrative in the videos. The 2010's is the height of narrative music videos, and also dance routines that tell a narrative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM -
2010's and the present day.
Although, the 2010's is also the era that the videos of the singers just singing has made its come back. One Directions One Thing is a good example and DJ Khaleds I'm The One also mainly just show the artists singing or rapping, is this an era of the retro comeback??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1xs_xPb46M
