The music video as we know it today is not a new concept, it has evolved and developed over many decades, changing and adapting along with technological development. The first music video arguably is Bessie Smith - St Louis Blues (1929), it was made as part of a two-reel film, it was a 16 minute feature film starring the singer in a lead role and other cast members. The film was shown in theatres (cinemas) in America from 1929 until 1932.
The next big historic moment in the development of music videos was when Walt Disney produced the feature film Fantasia (1940), it was a concept film that told the story of 'The Sorcerers Apprentice' by setting animation to classical music. This was a groundbreaking and truly magical step forward and has set a basis for future artists to use animation in their music videos.
The 1950's saw the introduction of Rock n' Roll to Britain, the establishment of the 'Teenager' as a concept and Black & White television, all of these things led to a rapid development in music video promotion. In 1956, Tony Bennett was filmed walking along The Serpentine in London, Hyde Park, alongside his recording ('Stranger in Paradise') being played, his film was distributed in both the US and UK for television, leading him to claim rights to the first ever music video.
Around the same time, Elvis Presley was now iconic and television had a huge impact on his status, his feature film 'Jailhouse Rock' (96 minutes) was released as a musical worldwide in 1957, the title song of the film hit number one, both sides of the atlantic for seven weeks. It started the idea of the star as the main concept, Elvis shocked parents by his dancing style and glamourising jail but won over a whole generation of teenagers with his good looks and charm.
Cliff Richard in the UK was a sanitised version of Elvis who released 'Summer Holiday' in 1963, another musical but this time in colour, the cast featured not only the star but his backing band The Shadows, developing the concept of the music film.
The Beatles had already established themselves as iconic in the UK but were not big in the US, their first feature film A Hard Days Night (1964) introduced many of the ideas and conventions of the modern music video as we know it. Although it was a feature film with a narrative storyline and many actors, the songs were the main focus for the audience and filmed with closeup with The Beatles themselves singing. A Hard Days Night served to promote The Beatles in America and they became a huge success both sides of the Atlantic because of the film.
The power of video in promoting music became very obvious and has been used ever since. Bob Dylan moved the video to another level in year 1966 with the promotional video for 'Subterranean Homesick Alien'. As a superb lyricist, Bob Dylan literally presented his lyrics in placard form in the video - it was risky, edgy and brilliant. It has become iconic! It paved the way for artists to present themselves and their music creatively onscreen.
The Beatles' promotional videos for their late 60's songs were more avant-garde, like their psychedelic sound. Creativity in the 'hippie' era of the late 60's produced some highly original videos (many showing signs of the influence of drugs, particularly LSD), for example, The Beatles' videos for "Penny Lane", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am The Walrus". These changes have influenced many videos in the years to follow.
Moving into the 70's, televised Top Of The Pops was crucial in the development of the music video. The number of music videos in each show was limited, creating competition between bands and their videos. The program was the weekly focus for all music fans and most teenagers, and a good video could result in sales of a vinyl single that would shoot it up the charts when they were announced on Sunday evening. Live performances were rarely live (Morrisey famously sang into a bunch of flowers in 1983) - the audience wanted more from the experience of watching music. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody video broke new grounds as it was produced specifically so that the band did not have to mime their song on TOTP. Brian May said this would have been impossible for such a complex song. After this video's huge success, this became standard practice for record companies to make a promotional video (known in the UK as promos) to accompany the single, paving the way for MTV.
In 1981, MTV was launched ironically with The Buggle's 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. MTV's original intention was to be "Music Television" playing music videos 24/7, shown by on-air personalities otherwise known as VJ's (Video Jockeys). Artists started using more sophisticated effects in their music videos, some introducing story lines with Michael Jackson taking it to a whole new level with Thriller (1984), which is more like a short film (13 mins 43 seconds).
Creativity however, caused censorship issues, for example: Duran Duran's "Girls On Film (1981)" was deemed to be too racy and had to be edited and censored. Also, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax (1984)" was banned by both MTV and BBC for being too homo-erotic so a second, cleaner version had to be released. However, both of the band's controversies lead to recognition and number one hits on the charts so later artists have also used this approach.
In the IT era, music videos approached the popularity of the songs themselves, being sold on VHS tapes and DVD. The videos are now watched for the aesthetics and not just the music (there are now awards for the best music video).
