History of Music Videos

The first Music Video?

• The first music video came from a film where 'Bessie Smith' sang along to her song in the film 'St Louis Blues'. This was considered the first ever music video and was shown in theatres until 1932.
• The earliest music videos, filmed with a camera to specifically accompany a song, were filmed in the 1950s however before this dating back to the 1920s videos were put to music e.g. Bessie Smith in St Louis Blues.
• Walt Disney released fantasia which included the Disney characters on screen but written to famous classical pieces of music.
• The term visual music came about when film animators such as Oskar Fischinger, accompanied their cartoons with classical music.
• Warner Brothers also released short films to music which were released to theatres, these were among Loony Tunes, Merry Melodies and Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies.

Music Video Development

• In 1956 Tony Bennett released his song 'Stranger In Paradise' accompanied by a film of him walking along The Serpentine in Hyde Park in London. Television stations in the UK and US distributed and played this song and music video. This was arguably the first music video including film that was made for the purpose of running alongside a song/music.
• A Visual Jukebox called the Scopitone came around in the 60s which was invented by a French Artist. This played songs as well as showing a range of short films produced by many French artists. This then became popular in other countries.
• Between 1964 and 1968 there were a series of music videos created that lead the way for future music videos and their development for example The Beatles' A Hard Days Night' in 1964 directed by Richard Lester. The Monkees influenced the music video genre as well with their popular American TV series where each episode featured film to accompany their songs. The Beatles took thinks further with 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' which were made in 1967. The influence of the psychedelic music era was reflected in their music videos.

The Beatles' A Hard Days Night:

Music Videos in the 70s

• Top of The Pops became very important with regards to promoting artists and showing music videos to a wide audience on mainstream. The music videos were shown on top of the pops then leading to an increase in sales of the song/album.
• Another milestone for the Music Video industry was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which was arguable the first music video that was filmed separately on film to accompany a song for promotional purposes. Before this entertainment had been the focus on Music Videos.

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody:

1980s and Modern Music Videos

• MTV was launched in 1981 which became a platform for a range of music videos. Quite fittingly, the first music video to be aired on MTV was 'Video Killed The Radio Star'.
• During the 80s it became more popular, in music videos, to use more sophisticated effects.
• Michael Jackson was the first artist to create a short film which was a music video with a narrative, Billie Jean was seen to do this but it was in 1984 when Thriller was released which really raised the standards if music videos.
• Michael Jackson was responsible for the most expensive music video with 'Scream' that he sang with his sister Janet Jackson which was recently topped by Taylor Swift's Music Video for 'Bad Blood'.

The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star:

Michael Jackson's Billie Jean:

• Music Videos today are very important for the promotion of the artist, their songs and their albums as well as entertaining the audience of their music and possibly drawing in a wider audience for their videos.

Taylor Swift's Bad Blood: