History of the music video

Early popular music stars before the birth of the music video..

In the early 1940s the biggest music star in the world was Bing Crosby. By the late 40s he was joined by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was the first star to have girls screaming at him in concert. Sinatra's fan were know as bobbysoxes. By the 1950s Rock and Roll was popular and Elvis Presley  was the biggest star in the world.
The only way fans could see these starts were: in concert, in films or in TV Specials.

Bing Crosby singing in the film "White Christmas"

The Beatles and  the birth of the Music Video.

 The Beatles became huge world wide stars in the 1960s. Inthe early days fans could see them in concert, on television and in the films "A Hard Days Night" and "Help".

 When The Beatles would perform at concerts, the screams from the audience would be so loud you couldn't even hear them sing. Eventually, The Beatles got tired of singing in concerts due to the screaming, They decided to come up with a completely new way for their fans to see them perform - through a music video.

The Beatles went to Hampstead Heath in London for the afternoon and made two short films to promote their new double "A" sided single "Paperback Writer" and "Rain".

These short promotional films became the first music video. Interesting many of the genre characteristics were present in these two films: lip syncing, pretending to play instruments and close ups of the singers.

"Paperback Writer"

"Rain"

Queen  "Bohemian Rhapsody"

 "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the first significant music video. Queen had released the song and it was a moderate hit. However, when they released the music video it generated a lot of interest in the single. The song went to the top of the charts where it stayed for a number of weeks.

This was the first music video to directly influence record sales. In addition it was the first music video that was artistic and imaginative. In a sense "Bohemnian Rhapsody" raised the bar for other music videos. The music video was now an important tool in the promotion of a song.

Micheal Jackson's "Thriller"

Perhaps the most famous music video was "Thriller". It was certainly the most expensive to make. Indeed a twenty minute extended version of the video was released in cinemas. This was the first time the music video was as important if not more important than the song it was promoting.