10 Music Video Milestones That Predated MTV - Deepstash
Ways to Move Forward When You're Feeling Stuck

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

Practicing empathy in relationships and communication

Understanding the importance of balance in personal and professional life

Defining your path in life

Ways to Move Forward When You're Feeling Stuck

Discover 64 similar ideas in

It takes just

10 mins to read

Before MTV: Video milestones

Before MTV: Video milestones

In the years that followed MTV, hit songs and their accompanying music videos would become linked in the minds of music fans.

But the format of music videos precedes MTV. There is an evolutionary chart that dates back nearly a century.

10

122 reads

1894: "The little lost child"

1894: "The little lost child"

In 1894, two clothing salesmen, that also had a side business as songwriters, came up with a novel way to sell the sheet music to "The Little Lost Child."

They hired an electrician to create a series of "magic lantern" slide projections of photos to accompany performances of the song. They sold two million copies of the sheet music.

11

83 reads

1929-1938: "Screen songs"

1929-1938: "Screen songs"

Fleischer Studios produced a series of "Screen Songs" from 1929 - 1938. It was the first short films created to illustrate popular songs.

The animated shorts featured the frolics of funny animals and other cartoon archetypes set to songs. Many included a bouncing ball above the lyrics that encouraged theatre-goers to sing along.

10

57 reads

1929: "St. Louis Blues"

1929: "St. Louis Blues"

With the advent of "the talkies" in the late 1920s, musical numbers became part of cinema.

"St. Louis Blues" was one of the first short films made to showcase a preexisting song, starring Bessie Smith. While "Screen Songs" introduced the idea of pairing a song with a visual sequence, "St. Louis Blues" pushed the idea along that a singer's aura can be encased in a short, music-driven film.

9

46 reads

1956: "Stranger in Paradise"

1956: "Stranger in Paradise"

In 1956, Tony Bennett's record label filmed the first music video of the golden-voiced vocalist walking through Hyde Park in London.

He set the footage to the hit version of "Stranger in Paradise" and distributed the clip to TV stations in the U.K. and U.S.

9

63 reads

1959: The video jukebox

1959: The video jukebox

The video jukebox that played Technicolor films were installed in bars across the world.

Two rival companies began selling similar "video jukebox" devices at the same time. The one was a Cinebox in Italy - the other the Scopitone in France. Both had three-minute films of famous musicians that guaranteed to get people's attention in a bar.

9

41 reads

The Beatles' promotional videos 1965

The Beatles' promotional videos 1965

The Beatles started producing promotional videos in 1965 for their singles to fulfil the demands of every Top of the Pops or American Bandstand-style show across the world that wanted to book them.

They started with "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" but improved over time, with "Penny Lane" using horses across a grand city scene.

10

46 reads

1970: The Now Explosion

1970: The Now Explosion

In the 1970s, The Now Explosion was a 28-hour, free-wheeling TV program in Atlanta that seemed to pioneer MTV and the YouTube mashup edit.

The idea was to try and replicate Top 40 radio on a UHF station. For a brief period, The Now Explosion was very successful, but later the idea proved to be financially unsustainable.

9

35 reads

1974-1987: Countdown

1974-1987: Countdown

In Australia, the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) introduced Countdown, a weekly showcase of lip-synched performances and music videos.

Countdown could promptly make a song a hit. The show lasted until 1987 when competitors like the imported MTV, overwhelmed it in the marketplace.

9

44 reads

1975: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

1975: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

The promotional video that accompanied Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' single was probably the start of the music video. Previous promo clips were mostly about the band, but "Bohemian Rhapsody" was about the song.

The video spared the band from trying to recreate the complex composition live on TV. The band controlled how their song was presented on TV, something an MTV-era musician would take for granted.

9

41 reads

1978: "Video Concert Hall"

1978: "Video Concert Hall"

USA Network, one of the first cable channels, began using the library of music material from record labels to fill its programming hours. The network started a segment called "Video Concert Hall" in 1978 where they simply played promotional videos and concert clips.

Another early cable network, Nickelodeon, tried a music video show called PopClips.

9

102 reads

CURATED BY

phammond

Time is precious, waste it wisely.

More like this

The Beatles - Wikipedia

1 idea

The Beatles - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Madonna - Wikipedia

1 idea

Madonna - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

stash-superman-illustration

Explore the World’s

Best Ideas

200,000+ ideas on pretty much any topic. Created by the smartest people around & well-organized so you can explore at will.

An Idea for Everything

Explore the biggest library of insights. And we've infused it with powerful filtering tools so you can easily find what you need.

Knowledge Library

Powerful Saving & Organizational Tools

Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.

# Personal Growth

Take Your Ideas

Anywhere

Organize your ideas & listen on the go. And with Pro, there are no limits.

Listen on the go

Just press play and we take care of the words.

Never worry about spotty connections

No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.

Get Organized with Stashes

Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.

Join

2 Million Stashers

4.8

5,740 Reviews

App Store

4.7

72,690 Reviews

Google Play

Shankul Varada

Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.

Ashley Anthony

This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!

Sean Green

Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.

samz905

Don’t look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.

Ghazala Begum

Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.

Giovanna Scalzone

Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.

Laetitia Berton

I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!

Jamyson Haug

Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates