The History Of Music videos

When did music videos start?

...as soon as cinema was developed, there came with it the opportunity to put songs to music.
...as early as the 1920s, jazz musicians began to make short films to accompany popular songs.


What do people consider to be the first music video?

...in 1965, Bob Dylan made a "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as a segment of the film "Don't Look Back"

Music TV - Promos

...in the 1970s, producers of music television recognised an opportunity to make short promotional films to promote their artists
...they began to make "promos" - early music videos. These often replaced live performances which had previously been the most common way to promote releases on TV.

Bohemian rhapsody

In 1975 Queen released "Bohemian rhapsody" with a groundbreaking video which marked the beginning of the music video era and set the language for the modern music video.
The video is considered one of the first to use advanced visual effects.




Soon artists realised the power of the music video and how it could affect their image.
In his 1988 book Moonwalk, Jackson expressed interest in having director John Landis direct the music video for "Thriller". Having seen Landis' previous work on a horror film. Jackson based himself on a character Landis's film. In 1983  MJ released Thriller, a 14 minute music video. It was shown in many cinemas during its release. This led to acting roles in films including 1990 when he starred in Arachnophobia.