The First Music Video Ever Made

What was the first music video ever to be made?

For years we have watched music videos, with people my age growing up with them at our fingertips. Yet when did music being represented by visuals become a trend? And why did artists feel the need to accompany their music?

It could, for some artists, simply be because music videos have been made for years so is tradition. However, I would like to think that this isn't the reason why artists release a video yet rather because they wish to direct their audience in terms of expressing a meaning to their music. For instance, everyone interprets songs slightly differently, so for an artist, it can be useful to put out their your own interpretation of our own song. Music videos are also created for creative purposes as many artists write a song with a story in mind and they can instantly visualise a video. A music video also helps promote an artist by being able to reach a larger audience. 

The 'first music video ever made' is something which can not be easily answered, because there is confusion to whether the first video was in fact 'the first video'. This is because the first one ever produced depends on the definition you give a music video. 

For example, 'The Little Lost Child' by Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern in 1894 is labelled the first ever 'illustrated song' and consisted of a series of images joined together, often played at cinemas before the screening of films. This would have looked very different to music videos now, 

The video cannot be traced now yet here is one demonstrating what it may have been like: 

Obviously this video seems very dated due to the slow pace and black and white default before colour was introduced. It also doesn't look like a music video as we known them because the images a still with no action happening in them. However it is obvious that the images help widen our understanding of the song and its lyrics; planting images in our heads that relate to the feeling the writers/composers. So we can see from this that from the beginning of the concept of visuals in music, it has been intuitive for artists to present their work with their idea of what the song represents. 

Many argue that the first music video was Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' describing it as a 'promotional clip' for their new song. It is believed that Queen began the trend as their video was the first to really 'kick off' and become popular, made originally to play on 'Top of the Pops'. The video became a viewing sensation, and the song stayed at the top of the charts for 9 weeks. From watching the video, it is definitely more of a rounded concept than simply a collection of images. There are effects, cuts and lip syncing which is why many believe it to be labelled the first video because of a video requiring certain features such as these. 



Surprisingly the video inspires me because making it was such a risk for the band as they did not know how successful it would later become. Also, the band made it in the intention of providing some form of visual concept to the song, instead of making a music video for the sake of it because 'music videos' were a trend. I can take this information to keep as the sole focus of my video and adopt the mindset of making the video not because I have to as part of my coursework, yet because I am so passionate about standing up for something, for example, the LGBT+ community. 

Others believe that the first music video was The Buggle's, 'Video Killed The Radio Star' because it was the first video broadcast on MTV:

In conclusion, I have learnt that the way in which video was introduced into the music industry is important and possibly something I should acknowledge in my own video, because without the risks taken by artists such as Queen, music videos may not exist today, and this is how artists earn most of their money. Also, a lot of ideas branched from the earlier music videos such as introducing storylines, and lip-syncing. However I do think that music videos have become more about promoting the artist instead of the music, such as their looks and money. From this I have learnt that for my music video I will focus on the music and the message behind the lyrics which will be supported by the visuals, instead of having amazing visuals with no meaning or depth to it (this is called 'form without substance').