The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1075: The Rise and Fall and Future of the Music Video

This may seem like a silly thing to say, but once upon a time, the only way to get music was to listen for it. You turned on a radio or you bought a record.

If it sounded good, there was a chance the song might become a hit. That’s what mattered: the sound of the record.

That all began to change in the 1970s, and in less than ten years, sound began to matter less. How the song looked became the thing.

Critics laughed at the notion of a “music video” in the early days. But then came MTV, the world’s first 24-hour music video channel. They called it “illustrated radio”—and it worked.

After that we got MuchMusic, VH1, M2, Edge-TV, MuchMoreMusic, MuchLoud, The Box, and dozens of others around the world. And for years and years, if you wanted a chance to make it big, you had to make a music video. Yes, it was expensive, but too bad—it was all part of the game.

During the heyday, some videos cost millions and millions of dollars. Remember the video for “Scream” by Michael and Janet Jackson back in 1995? In today’s money, that video, which runs four minutes and 47 seconds, cost just under $15 million. Madonna made three videos with budgets of more than $10 million. You can make a feature-length movie with that kind of cash.

Pretty singers with mediocre songs often became stars, while less-attractive performers with good songs had a real chance of being passed over.

The art of the video affected the art of moviemaking. It influenced the way we look at television, not to mention fashion, language, politics, gender fluidity, LGBTQ issues, and so much more. Videos may have altered our attention spans—which kind of concerns me, because this program is an hour long and I need you to hang in there with me.

Music videos exported soft power from the West—especially the United States—to the rest of the world. At one point, MTV was one of the most influential creators and disseminators of culture—and by “culture” I mean America.

That was then. Music videos are still an art form and still necessary (well, mostly necessary) for promoting music, but things just aren’t what they used to be.

How did we get to this point? This is the rise, fall, and future of the music video.

Songs heard on this show:

• Captain Beefheart, Lick My Decals Off, Baby
• David Bowie, Ashes to Ashes
• The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star
• Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer
• Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit

Eric Wilhite has a playlist.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations.

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
• Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
• Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
• FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
• Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
• 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
• The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 9am and 9pm
• The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
• The Goat Network/Interior BC
• Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

Don’t forget there’s a  podcast version (along with hundreds of others) available, in case you miss an episode. Get them for free wherever you get your podcasts.

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