History of the Music Video

Here is a timeline to show the evolution of the pop video, I will be exploring a myriad of media artists used to display their music to the world throughout the decades.

1920s: Bessie Smith

Arguably the earliest example of the music video is Bessie Smith's 1925 "St Louis Blues". Bessie starred in a short film called "St Louis Blues" which featured a dramatised performance of the song. This was shown in cinemas for around 4 years




1940s: Bing Crosby

In the 1940s, Bing Crosby was the biggest star in the world. Fans saw him in films and TV specials which include:











"White Christmas" (Film, 1954)




Bing Crosby had his own comedy television show, "The Bing Crosby Show" which aired from 1964-5.



1950s: Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra replaced Bing Cosby as the world's biggest star. A wave of female fans grew and were labelled "bobby soxers" as they would come to Sinatra's concerts and scream as if they were maniacs throughout the show.











1950s-1960s: Elvis Presley



Presley was famous all over the USA and only did his concerts there. He was the first artst to really set a trend in regards to hair and fashion. He is also regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King".

"Hound Dog" - 1956


1960s: The Beatles

When The Beatles came along so did the creation of the pop video. With performances all over the globe including performances on TV, Top Of The Pops, concerts and film, The Beatles then created their first music video. Top of the Pops created innovation and competition amongst bands and record labels. Producers were limited to the number of videos they could show so a good video would up the sales of music, as people would want to see that video next week.

For The Beatles, their first music video ever was "Paperback Writer" and not too long after they made a music video for hit song "Rain". In these videos they use the music video conventions such as lip-syncing and close ups.

"Paperback Writer" - Unfortunately due to copyright reasons I am unable to obtain a full version of the video, but here is a 35 second shortened version.



"Rain"