What is a music video? (Timeline)

What is a music video?
 

Jump to the 50s/60s and Elvis Presley and Beatles films that would promote their songs and films simultaneously. One example is Elvis Presley, he shot a video for his song Jailhouse rock in 1957 for his film "Jailhouse rock".

70s Abba, Queen, David Bowie Devo - most were videos of performances for example Elton Johns "Your song" was just a video of one of his performances. The videos in the 70's were very basic and not very creative.  

80s MTV US first airing - The top stars then were Elton John, Duran Duran, David Bowie and Prince. The 80s was when music videos became a big thing and we played on MTV. You can see the contrast between the Elton john video in the 70s compared to the 80s video. Special effects were more available which means artists could be more creative with their videos.

 Some groundbreaking videos at that time were Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, AHA's Take on Me, MJ's Thriller - Michael Jackson thriller was ground breaking because he was the first person to make a short film out of their song. MJs song is now always played at Halloween because of it.  

90s..... Gangsters paradise was a really good video because it showed how hard life is when you are a gangster and showed that its not as fun as it is portrayed. The mise en scene in this video is amazing because it shows the background or set as dark and grungy and all the gangsters are hiding in the shadows.

Today - any big songs that make it into the chart usually make a video to go with the song. The reason they do this is because its a form of advertisement to get the star know to the world and to make the song memorable. Teens usually watch music videos on YouTube if on social media if they are trending. 

Some music videos are becoming so sexual or drug related that music videos are starting to have age restriction. This is due to the content being unsuitable for younger kids. But in a way this is bad for the artist because they have less exposure to audiences. In the video shown below Lil dicky "Lemme Freak" has been age restricted due to nudity, sex and drug references. This is completely different to the first video which is Elvis Presley which was suitable for all ages.