History Of Music Videos

The arrival of sound films and talkies in 1926 meant that many musical short films were produced. Warner Brothers produced the first musical series called Spooney Melodies and this featured art deco style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing the song. This series is arguably considered to be the earliest music videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g4hnwt8jdU - a Spooney Melodies film.

In the early 1930's animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs which invited audiences to sing along with popular songs by 'following the bouncing ball.' The cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on camera in live-action segments during the cartoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7HSvqqCt28 - a screen song from 1932.

Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called st. Louis blues which featured a dramatized performance of the hit song. It was shown in theatres from 1929 until 1932. This set a trend and many other artists continued with this trend. These films were, according to Donald Clarke ( Music Historian ) were the ancestors of music videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVCqXRlXx4 - St. Louis Blues.

Another early form of music videos were promotional clips, made in the 1940's for the Panoram visual jukebox. However, this trend ended during the 2nd world war.

Musical films were another important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for 'Material girl' which was closely modelled on Jack Cole's staging of 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' from the film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' Micheal Jackson used influence of dance in musicals in his music videos, including the John Landis clip for thriller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3IY_Tp4Izs - Maddonna's Material Girl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8 - Micheal Jackson's Thriller.

The first time someone coined the phrase 'Music video' was J.P. Richardson in 1959. The format of the music videos then carried on throughout the years to enable new stars to be exposed and to also promote artists.

In the modern age, MTV began by giving music videos such power over the industry.