Many people believe the song Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggies was the first ever music video. It was the first that ever premiered on MTV but it was not the first.
As far back as 1894 there was the use of a lantern to project images on a screen the accompanied a live performance. "This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the first step toward music video." As time moved on, technology developed and movies began to take off. Picture shows my have told a story but soon there were "talkies" musical short films. Walt Disney among others had shorts built around music such as Fantasia. "Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called St. Louis Blues featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song." From there we developed "soundies" these were film for jukeboxes that included instructions on how mat the dance that accompanied the song. From there more and more movies also had musical elements and focus. Each time a video was made to match a song the style changed. In the early 80s just like the video listed above, the main part of the video was the band or artist performing. Some features described the movie but the main focus was essentially filming the band play. As MatheusSiqueria states "Michael Jackson and John Landis bring back the idea of blending films with music video.""Directors like David Fincher focus on directing feature films while a whole new breed of young and talented directors take the scene to express their unique vision." Music videos might have started to show the band performing their music but overtime became an expression in itself. Some songs have lyrics that aren't always clear and having a medium to show exactly what you are trying to convey helps the audience connect deeper with the work as well as the artists. I feel that music videos have always been almost a film in itself. How many times have you heard a song and remembered exactly what movie that it's from? Those songs were picked for these perfect moments in these movies. Music videos help convey messages that words cannot. On the other side it also sometimes has no connection to the song itself. The artist is just trying to be fun and be themselves. I can't think of no better example then Sabotage by Beastie Boys.
Personally I am glad we changed from the standard style of only seeing the artist perform. The videos that accompany some of my favorite songs either explain the song better or have nothing to do with the song itself. There are even some songs that I don't enjoy as much but the video is fantastic. Moving forward I hope there is more expression in these music videos and even create a connected theme from the album. Recently the artist Lil Dicky dropped his new album on Youtube for Penith. This album was released on Youtube a few months ago and multiple songs have videos that pick up where the other left off, creating a central theme.
Sources
Matheus Siqueira. “A Brief History of Music Video - from Early 1900s to Today.” Matheus Siqueira, 7 Sept. 2018, matheussiqueira.com/a-brief-history-of-music-video/.
“The Music Video, before Music Television.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/news/the-music-video-before-music-television. Accessed 1 Mar. 2024.
“Music Video.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video.
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ReplyDeleteI think you picked a great topic to discuss the evolution of. Music videos don’t seem to be talked about enough when discussing musical performances. I remember seeing the “Thriller” music video for the first time and was completely blown away. The story, choreography, and even the costumes made a great song even more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI love the topic you picked on, the evolution of music videos. I love it when the music video tells a story, but I also can relate to I Know a Certain Song because of the movie. For example, the song It's Tricky I only know because of the movie white chicks and there dance battle scene. I do wish that more music videos showed more than just the singer dancing now a days and wish that they would go back to involving more people and telling a story to relate to it so we can watch the song in a way.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the origin of music videos can be traced to the 19th century. The process of replaying a music video has become a lot easier since the days of talkies where the video was on a separate medium. With the current music video making technology there is a lot of potential to make a really creative / experimental music videos as apposed to just recording the band play. Great job on the post!
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