Music Video 60s 70s 80s and 90s

Music Video History

Although the origins of music videos began with “musical short films” that first appeared in the 1920s, they really came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV created their channel around the medium and it changed how we received our music, but I'm going to take us back a few decades back now... back to the 60s.

1960s

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 14, 1965, with its influence on music, the song was used in one of the first "modern" promotional film clips. 

The forerunner of what was later known as the music video.

The original clip was the opening segment of D. A Pennebaker's film "Don't Look Back", a documentary on Dylan's 1965 tour of England. In the film, Dylan holds up cue cards with selected words and phrases from the lyrics.

1970s

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 

November 10th, 1975, the members of Queen took a few minutes of rehearsal and a few thousand pounds to knock out a promotional clip for their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody."

They unwittingly helped usher in the video era in the bargain. It's all part of the songs exceedingly unlikely path to success, which only started after the band won a war with label executives who feared 'Rhapsody' was far too long and strange to find a foothold at pop video, once it started, its rapid ascent to the top of the charts in the fall of 1975 assured that it wasn't a mistake.

1980s

Michael Jackson - Thriller

As Jackson moonwalked his way into music history, "Thriller" set a new benchmark for blockbusters that changed how the music business promoted and marketed superstar releases. It also changed MTV, breaking down the cable network's racial barriers and raising the bar for video quality. This boosted MTV's reputation to a new level.

1990s

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity 

This music video has Jamiroquai doing bops, struts, strikes poses, and lip-synchs, the walls close in, the furniture moves in odd directions, and the laws of time and space seem to dissolve before our eyes. An acid casualty’s worst nightmare, the video has started a head-scratching epidemic among puzzled viewers who can’t help but mutter, ”How’d they do that?”

Director Jonathan Glazer reveals that there was nothing ”virtual” about his methods. ”No computer trickery was used,” he says. ”What we did was put the whole set on wheels and attach the camera to one wall. The furniture also had little wheels, and we had guys moving the set and the furniture [outside of the frame]. The floor never moved. It was like a magician’s trick.”