- The Animals: 'House of the Rising Sun' 1964
This music video shows the band playing the song as the camera follows them around for the whole song (or at least pretending to). It is a very simple video as it relies on the viewer just wanting to see the band playing the song. It is one of the first rock videos to be made which would inspire the cool performances of each the band members with their serious expressions.
- The Kinks: 'Dead End Street' 1966
This was one of the first music videos to include a plot/narrative in the video, which we now see and have seen in many music videos since. The BBC did not like the video as they said it was in bad taste as it included the band members playing undertakers and pictures from the Great Depression.
1970s
Queen: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' 1975
This is one of the most iconic music promos ever made. After this video it became common for record companies to make videos for single releases. This meant that the video could be shown on TV shows (for example, Top of the Pops) so that the band would not have to actually perform themselves. This meant that the song would not have to be accompanied by the dancers often seen on the show, Pan's People. It also used a lot of different effects that would not have been seen before.
The Buggles: 'Video Killed the Radio Star' 1979
This video was the first to be shown on the channel MTV. MTV would then become an incredibly successful channel and a way for musicians to be promoted and new music to be heard. Some viewers that saw the video claimed it was too violent because a television exploded in it.
1980s
Talking Heads: 'Once in a Lifetime' 1981
At the time this was released it is was a very unusual video and still is now. The video involves David Byrne (the singer of the band) dancing very strangely, quite similarly to a marionette. Apparently his odd dancing was inspired by clips the choreographer showed him of epilepsy sufferers.
Peter Gabriel: 'Sledgehammer' 1986
This was an influential music promo because of the amount of time that was spent on it to produce such a creative and memorable video. The video involves a great deal of stop motion animation that all takes place around Peter Gabriel's head. All of the animation is linked to the lyrics in the song. This video would inspire many artists to be more imaginative with their videos and make them more impressive.
1990s
Pulp: 'Common People' 1995
This song features the frontman of the band, Jarvis Cocker, dancing in a wacky style which he improvised on the day of filming. The rest of the band can also be seen, in this is an example of a video where we see not only the performance of the band but a narrative too. Pulp are performing at a disco and the narrative takes place in a supermarket with Jarvis Cocker sat in a trolley being pushed by a female character who wants to 'live like common people'.
Daft Punk: 'Around the World' 1997
This is a very quirky and intelligent music video for the pop duo's song. The video shows a dance in which involves robots, synchronised swimmers, skeletons and mummies. There are different groups of dancers that are all on different sections of a platform. They all dance to show certain parts of the song: the repetitive vocals, the bass, the keyboard, the guitar and drum machine.
2000s
Beyoncé: 'Single Ladies' 2008
This is another iconic music promo, especially among dance videos. The video involves Beyoncé and two other dancers performing a fast moving dance routine in black leotards. Many parts of the video are long lasting shots and it is clever as the room does not appear to be logically possible as it seems we see the whole way around but there are no doors or corners in the wall.
Fatboy Slim: 'Weapon of Choice' 2001
This is quite an influential video because of the comedy element to it. In the video, the actor Christopher Walken is sat in a hotel and then begins to dance on his own to the Fatboy Slim song. Also it is notable that the artist himself does not appear in the video which would be common for music promos.
No comments:
Post a Comment