If you want to understand the history of music videos, you have to consider a lot of things that are obviously not music videos. The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the first selection on MTV’s premiere, definitely counts as a music video. But it was created several years ago for a completely different context: a British chart program. top of the popsvery similar to Queen’s 1975’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” proto music video. but, “Performance” that drops the card of “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, which has many parodies of Bob Dylan Photographed 10 years ago for the Pennebaker DA’s Office don’t look backmusic video? What do you think? hard days nightthe Beatles’ vibrant, narrative-driven film from the previous year?
All of these will appear A new history of music videos From the above YouTube channel Polyphonic. All this adds up to a viewing experience of over 3 hours. All episodes of the series on that theme. From a long-term historical perspective, music videos didn’t start with the Fab Four, nor did they start with their groundbreaking appearance. ed sullivan show.
It can be traced back even further to the Scopitone movie jukebox (included in Susan Sontag’s famous essay “The Canon of Camp”). past disney fantasia (Basically 8 animated classic music videos spliced ​​together). past even number jazz singerthe first full-length musical “talkie” that definitively ended the silent film era in 1927.
Perhaps the earliest known predecessor of the music video is “little lost child,‘ was published as ‘Illustrated Song’ in 1894. The production, which tells the story through still images projected to the accompaniment of a live piano, is unlike anything the audience has ever experienced before, creating an emotional impact greater than the visual and musical parts combined. It had power. This is an entirely new technology, and in fact, like all cultural history, music videos are a history of technology, advanced by film, broadcast television, cable television, and, in modern times, Internet streaming; The format continued to stick. The possibility of pop culture becoming irrelevant. In the 2020s, we must ask ourselves: When TikTok users dance themselves, zoom in on pancakes, or post photos; Skateboarding while drinking ocean sprayis it a music video?
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Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages ​​and cultures. His projects include the Substack newsletter books about cities and a book Stateless City: A Stroll Through Los Angeles in the 21st Century. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
