History of the Music Video

The first sound movie ever made is said to be "The Jazz Singer" which is an American musical that was made in 1927. In the 50's Elvis Presley was a massive success and as music video weren't around he would instead promote his music and himself through films, for example "Blue Hawaii". He would play himself and sing his own songs in a way to advertise his music. Elvis would also rarely appear on television and perform his music where he would move his hips so much that they had to show him from only the waist up which consequently gave him the infamous nickname "Elvis the Pelvis."
The 60's was a very revolutionary era, with the rise of the 'teenager' a lot drastically changed. Teenagers stopped dressing like their parents and going along with the rules of society they started to rebel. The Beatles were a huge phenomenon in the 60's. Their 1964 mockumentary entitled 'A Hard Day's Night' directed by Richard Lester is essentially one big advertisement for The Beatles. Richard Lester is known for working in television and advertising which would mean he has a lot of experience and knowledge to be able to represent the band the way they needed to be at the time. The only music used in 'A Hard Day's Night' is by The Beatles. Whenever their music is played the scene is basically a music video for it, for example 'Can't Buy Me Love' is a very respected scene as it is said to have been the first modern music video which lead the way for others. In this scene the band run a round a huge field having fun which has no relevance to the song or film at all. It is cut to the beat which is very effective and used a lot in music videos today. One of the most important parts of it is that it featured innovative cinematography. Crane/Ariel shots of the band were used and were very new at the time.
In the 1970's music videos changed slightly, a lot more were live performances, some from festivals. These concert films from open air rock festivals were a lot cheaper than having a huge production. They would also give unrestricted access and band promotion. In 1975, one of the most recognized and iconic music videos was realized by the legendary band, Queen with "Bohemian Rhapsody." It was a risky video as it was a whole 6 minutes, about twice the usual length and had live performance in it. Because of the video, the song was top of the charts for 9 weeks running and still a 'classic.'
In the 80's music changed when MTV was introduced. MTV (launched in 1981) was a regular television network that showed the newest and hottest music at the time. The first music video to be shown on MTV is "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. By 1985, MTV has 18 million viewers worldwide and because of it it had record sales soaring. Another music video of the time which was very influential was "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. The whole video is around the 13 minute mark which is very long but it has a narrative and similar to a short or a film. It subverts the 'norm' as other music videos before hadn't been as long or even been in the horror genre. People say that the video even influenced horror films let alone other music videos. The success of this music video is shown through it's insane 35 million copies sold worldwide and still selling and very iconic.
Music videos became essential in the 1990's and many had huge productions that became very expensive such as the video for "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses. "November Rain" was a very ambitious and cinematic/dramatic video with many different sets, huge orchestras, etc. The music video has now become a media tool/product in it's own right. Nowadays there has been a decline in the profile of music videos. With the rise of digital technology, anyone can make a video or viral video with makes the music videos less special and important. On a more positive note, this means that up and coming musicians and directors can use it as a platform as it is so accessible.