2. Gramophone.
In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the
gramophone.
For the first time, this allowed people to
play music at home, and people didn’t have
to go to the theatre to hear music.
3. The Gold-diggers.
In 1993, an elaborate production was made, involving
choreography, and was recorded onto a film.
This allowed people to see a big production on the cinema
screen.
It also idealised glamour in the depression era.
4. Alexander Nevsky.
In 1938, a score was composed by Sergei
Prokofiev, for Sergei Eisenstein, a Soviet
Russia, propaganda film-maker.
This was the first time a soundtrack had
been specially commissioned.
It was the first video that set action to
music.
5. Fantasia.
In 1940, Disney released what is
arguably the first music video.
The cartoon was made specifically to
go with the music.
At the time, Walt Disney was trying to
get his audience interested classical
music. However, it wasn’t very
successful when it was originally
released, and was later seen as a
‘forgotten classic’.
6. Ready Steady Go!
From August 1963, until December 1966, Ready Steady
Go! was broadcast on ITV.
Up until 1964, artists mimed to records. However, in
late 1964, some artists were performing live, until in
April 1965, all the artists performed live.
Artists went on the show in order to sell themselves
and their music.
The miming gave the illusion of a performance.
Eventually, record companies began to see the
potential in the commodification of a band’s image for
TV.
7. A Hard Day’s Night
In 1963, the director
Richard Lester made a
promo film for The Beatles.
The Beatles play themselves
in a spoof, with a mixture
of narrative and
performance.
There was a light hearted
comedic approach to it.
8. Top Of The Pops.
It was made by the BBC, and was originally broadcast
weekly between 1st January and 30th July 2006.
It was originally where people could find out what
was number 1.
It was a way of record companies selling their artists
as they would try and get their artists on there.
If it wasn’t possible to get an artist on the show, a
recording of the artist performing elsewhere would be
shown, or the song would be played and Pans People
would be filmed dancing around the studio.
In order to get the band on commercial programmes,
more and more music videos were being made.
9. MTV.
In 1981, MTV began, and it was the first and only
TV station which was dedicated to music. The
music was guided by VJs.
Popular culture was impacted massively, along
with the music industry.
MTV helped contribute to the importance of the
music video.
As increasingly more music video channels and the
internet became available, it impacted massively
upon MTV, and their content was diversified.
10. Thriller: Michael Jackson.
In 1983, Thriller was released and was the landmark of merging
filmmaking and music videos.
It is often seen as the most commercially successful music video of all
time.
It lasted for 14 minutes long and therefore broke the stereotypical 3.5
minutes long music videos.
It was screened after the watershed.
It featured famous horror actor Vincent Price.
11. Sledgehammer: Peter Gabriel
This music video was a big
experiment with stop-motion and
animation.
Gabriel lied under a glass sheet for
16 hours, due to the video being shot
frame by frame.
An advance in technology was shown
through this video.
12. Beyoncé.
Beyoncé released her 5th album in 2014.
However, she released it entirely through
music videos.
There was no promotion, no teasers or
press releases before hand.
The music videos were released before
the physical CD copy.
However, this limited her audience only
to people who had access to the
internet.
