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The Beatles - We Can Work it Out
Considered to be the first music video to broadcast on television. The Beatles were already making some very popular full feature movies and were looking for a way to promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances (primarily the USA). The concept is fairly straight forward and was meant to blend in with the television shows that were being made at the time. -
David Bowie - Space Oddity
David Bowie was ahead of his time and there’s no greater example of this than the fact that he was making music videos a full decade before MTV existed, before there was really any kind of outlet for music videos. Bowie’s first iconic single was 1969’s “Space Oddity” and it was also his first music video. The song and the video are an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, featuring a hippie-ish looking Bowie as an astronaut, lost in space. -
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
One of the most significant music video of this era was Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody." When “Bohemian Rhapsody” rocketed to the top of the charts in Britain, the band were on tour and couldn’t perform on the British music show, Top of the Pops. They recorded this, for the time, special-effects-packed video to play in their absence. On the video’s 40th anniversary, Rolling Stone noted “Its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air.” -
MTV
The music video giant launched at 12.01AM Eastern Time on 1 August 1981 with The Buggles’ video, which had first aired two years previously on Top of the Pops in lieu of a live performance. The message of The Buggles’ hit — that advances in technology could pre-empt a cultural shift — proved prescient when the pop artists who created the most talked-about videos (Madonna, Michael Jackson) began to dominate the musical landscape. -
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Thriller acts as the origin story for what we recognise as music videos for major artists today: high production values, Hollywood directors (“Thriller”’s director John Landis was also behind movies like An American Werewolf In London) and a clear narrative. It was also ludicrously expensive to make in comparison to the other videos of the time — it cost over $500,000 to make at a time when most videos cost in the tens of thousands to produce, however the music video is recognised worldwide. -
Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Beastie Boys didn’t feel like going through a major production and opted instead for Spike Jonze and his low budget idea of going around LA in a van shooting a music video without any license. The result is one of the most iconic music videos from the 90s in a throwback to the traditional cop American television series. -
Aphex Twin - Come to Dady
The music video, courtesy of director Chris Cunningham, took the song itself and transformed it into pure nightmare fuel. An old lady walks her dog through a dilapidated housing estate when she comes upon a discarded TV broadcasting a terrifying, distorted face. Immediately after, she is set upon by a gang of children, each sorting the unmistakable, beaming visage of Richard D James – and just when she thinks she’s escaped, there’s something more hideous lurking in the depths of the estate… -
iTunes
In 2005 iTunes launched which allows for music videos (and songs) to be downloaded from the internet. Television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts and movies can also be downloaded.This has also increased the popularity of music videos because people are able to purchase and view the videos on their own devices without the need for internet connection. -
VEVO - (YouTube)
Vevo makes it easy to find music videos - in 2015 it overtook Google for the first time to take the world’s second most visited website ranking (Facebook is at the #1 spot). Arguably this could be the reason for the rise in exciting, innovative and experimental music videos in the past few years: if YouTube remains at the top of the pile in terms of visits, record companies will focus on videos since it has become one of the most valuable promotional tools an artist has at their disposal. -
Virtual Reality
In 2015, The Weeknd, Björk and U2 all gave us music videos that harnessed elements of virtual reality, with Björk holding her video release in an art gallery and handing out Oculus Rift headsets to watch the 360-degree YouTube video on. This new modern technology allows for an interactive experience that adds a whole new level of excitement to music videos.
