2. The Jazz Singer
The close relationship between music and visual
material can be traced back to sound films, such as
The Jazz Singer (1927)
3. Panoram ‘soundies’
The panorams were popular from 1939-46 and used in
bars. The short films were often sexually daring as they
were far less likely to be checked by the censor.
4. Scopitone
In the 1960s, the Scopitone followed on the Panaroms.
These were in colour, with a choice of up to 36 music
films and had the capacity to rewind. They were still
sexually suggestive, sometimes even bordering on
pornographic.
5. Harman-ee (US company)
Youth tastes became fixed on the new rock music of
the later 60s, so Harman-ee (who made films for the
Scopitone) started making films for bands such as
Procul Harum.
6. Music feature film
The films of Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard also had a
part to play in the development of the music video.
The Beatles’ film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ (1964) used
stylistic devices borrowed from documentary films and
this style started to pave the way for music videos of
the 1980s.
7. Television coverage of
music
The teenage target audience of the 1960s was
targeted by weekly TV shows such as Top of the Pops.
This led to the rise of short promotional films that were
used in place of live performances if the acts were not
available.
8. 1970s
1. ‘Serious rock’ gained slots on TV shows such as The
Old Grey Whistle Test
2. Films were emerging which made use of pop and
rock artists: Saturday Night Fever (Bee Gees)
Quadrophenia (The Who)
3. An increasing number of bands were making
promo clips which played on TV
4. Cable TV was growing
A combination of these factors meant that the time
was right for music television.
9. 1975: Queen
Arguably, the first elaborate music video recording
made, and certainly at the time, the most expensive.
10. Pop Clips: Nickelodeon
Pop Clips was a promo-based programme that was to
be filled with music videos. The concept of round-the-
clock popular music became attractive to advertisers
which potentially, made it very profitable.
Notable successes: Duran Duran
Eurythmics
11. The Rise of Music TV
1980s
American artists soon realised the potential of the
music video and matched British artists with promo
clips of their own.
Michael Jackson Thriller (1983)
12. Madonna
The rise of the music video was being to mean
stardom for some artists, rather than the act of
performing on a stage. Madonna’s videos are
recognised as high- profile, innovative and
controversial.
13. MTV
In 1984, MTV channel established its own version of the
Oscars (Video Music Awards) and some directors
moved from music video into directing films, using
video as a kind of ‘training ground’.
By the mid-1980s, MTV was owned by Viacom and
was diversifying: more channels were being created
for different kinds of music tastes, including rap and
indie.
