Timeline of the Modern Music Video
"Help!", The Beatles
1965
The Beatles were always eager to provide their fans with the fullest audio-visual experience they could, thus being among the first to release promotional video of their music, in addition to feature-length films with a coinciding album.
"Bohemian Rhapsody", Queen
1975
Perhaps one of the most influential songs and videos of all time, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is credited for 'inventing' the music video as we know it. The video, packed with special effects that were revolutionary for the time, was created for the purpose of being played when the band wasn't available to perform at television appearances.
"Thriller", Michael Jackson
1983
Another massively influential video, "Thriller" marks the beginning of videos with high production values and Hollywood directors. This 14-minute short film cost a ludicrous $500,000 to make when most videos at the time cost in the tens of thousands.
"Sledgehammer", Peter Gabriel
1986
This video garnered massive attention because of its avant-garde style, that combines claymation, stop-motion animation, and pixelation effects. One of the two animation companies went on to animate Wallace & Gromit.
Self-titled, Beyoncé
2013
Not only was Beyoncé's self-titled album dropped without warning, but each song had an accompanying video, thus described as a 'visual album'. The PR release for the album notes "while not a concept album, the record is designed to be consumed as a comprehensive audio/visual piece from top to bottom."
"Happy", Pharrell Williams
2014
While the initial video for "Happy" is nothing out of the ordinary, another version was released, lasting a whopping 24 hours. The video features different people dancing along to the hit four minutes at a time, with each scene shot in one take, giving it a lovingly spontaneous result, and Williams performing the song on the top of the hour every hour.
"Stonemilker", Björk
2015
360-degree videos can be viewed both right in YouTube and with virtual-reality headsets.
"Chains", Usher ft. Nas and Bibi Bourelly
2016
Many artists began creating interactive music videos to better engage the viewer. Arguably the most powerful use of the interactive music video is "Chains", which uses facial recognition to gauge when the viewer is looking at the screen showing victims of police violence and stops with music with the statement "don't look away" when the viewer looks elsewhere.
ABOUT
This project was created by Briar Anderson for DTC 375, Language, Texts, & Technology.
This project was created for educational purposes. Copyright infringement not intended, and all credit for music videos goes to the artists.