History of the music video

1930s

One of the earliest examples of a music video was developed in 1929 with the creation of Bessie Smith's 'St. Louis Blues.' 

The video was available for viewing in cinemas in 1932. It diverged from the conventional promotional videos that tended to feature only artists and backing singers or musicians in a studio. The setting being a restaurant/bar, was unusual yet is a defining moment in the history of the music video. The style of music videos presented in 'St. Louis Blues.' didn't develop wholly from this style shown in cinemas until the 1950s some 20 years later.


1950s

Tony Benett's 'Stranger in Paradise'  music video was filmed in Hyde Park in front of a live audience in 1956. The performance was broadcast in the US and UK to televisions marking what is considered the birth of televised music videos that are the basis of channels suck as MTV and Kerrang.

Being an early example of broadcasting as a whole, there is no currently accessible video of the Hyde Park performance.


1960s

The Beatles were formed in the 60s and an era of popular music, international re-noun for the genre and arguably the start of the celebrity persona obsession began. The Beatles song, 'A hard day's night' introduced many conventions of the music video that are still in use in modern music video production. 



The introduction of side characters other than the artists themselves along with the on location settings and inclusion of credits other than the artists, made the single a milestone in the music industry.

Furthermore, later in the 60s (1967) with 'Penny Lane,' The Beatles employed more unusual camera angles and fast paced editing often found in cinema productions.



1970s

The 1970s saw the arrival of the Jackson 5 and the start of pop icon, Micheal Jackson's career. This new era also saw the introduction of widespread colour televisions that had become widely available. This new colour commodity, encouraged music video directors and live performance choreographers to take full advantage of this by introducing a wider range of vibrant colours on screen.



Also, events that took place during the 50s ('Strangers in Paradise live) that were live broadcasts became more common and available which brought music promo videos to a much wider audience around the world.



1980s

Music video 'movies' were created in this era with the first and most historically recognizable being Micheal Jackson's 'Thriller.' These music videos would tell a story and use typical conventions that a film would possess. The length of these short film style music videos would be around 5 minutes and this is a style that continues to exist in today's media. 



The style of story telling carried on through the 1990s with predominant artists such as Micheal Jackson and Madonna. It was in this decade, however, that music videos became much more provocative compared to the likes of previous styles that were typically conservative. 



2000s

In the new millennium, came a mixture of influences from a range of music videos predominantly from the 60s to 80s. They feature modern CGI effects often created in a studio along with on location filming with an underline story or message. 

These messages and stories that were often a heavy focus of 80s music videos are now, often much more abstract and subtle depending on the artist themselves, the message as a whole, or the direction of the music video which may follow a certain theme due to the genre. Genre in fact, plays a massive part in modern and previous music videos as they address the theme and tone.