Music Video & the roots of music television

We looked and answered questions to get a better understanding of where music videos started from and what makes them memorable.


1.) What were some of the first music videos? Which early music video is held up as a classic?

Bob Dillian's music video was the first of the early music videos, it was simple and effective,and the camera angle never changed and was a creative idea, one person on location with white cardboard with words from the lyrics on them. 

Queens Bohemian Rhapsody was a classic, due to its catchy song and its different style of music video; the lyrics were catchy and clever. 

2.) Who was behind the launch of MTV? Was it the music industry, or the television industry?

TV Industry, they launched music videos on the TV, to promote the song as well as the music video.


3.) Which artist dominated early 80's music videos?

Rock - Bon Jovi - American soft rock

Madonna - Electro

New romantics - Adam and the Ants

4.) What was important in these early videos - the visual appeal or the narrative appeal?

Visual appeal was most important. Artists wanted something different to their music videos so they stood out. Special effects where something that catches the audiences eye. As technology developed more and more artists where opting for something quirky and different.  The performance makes the video less boring, they have narrative and performance to see artist/band doing what they do best and also seeing them in the narrative. Guns n Roses had that within their music video November Rain. It also makes it memorable especially if it's different, which helps the audience remember certain symbols/conventions or scenes, to identify the video and song.
Songs with their videos make better visual and also make the song its self memorable and more popular.

5.) What turned MTV from an narrow-market niche station, into a global, mainstream phenomenon?

Via com pushed MTV to international and Satellite TV Cable came out which made it easier for people to watch music videos along with their songs. This is another alternative to listening to the radio or CD'S/Tapes.
More channels meant more videos/artists could be shown.

6.) Why was the Thriller video so successful?

It was a short film (14 minutes) first longest music video.
Michael Jackson was a popular icon, he danced and acted in his own video The video was choreographed and had a lengthy amount of time for the dancing piece. The special effects used were a contributing factor as well as the costumes and set design. It was the most expensive music video created.