Music Video Timeline

Music Videos are a form of promotion for [a] musicians' new single or album. Music videos can be made on smaller budgets for artists that are less popular/up and coming, or they can have an incredibly large budget for widely recognised and popular who want a more impressive and expensive looking video. This is a timeline documenting the most significant events in music video history:



1967: The Beatles released their music video television promos for two new songs, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever



1969:  David Bowie released his music video for Space Oddity. However, no official music videos had been released prior to this, so this was still only made using live footage



1970: Top of Pops aired on british TV, an increasingly large line up of artists varying in genre performed live (or supposedly live) as a way of promoting their soon to be released single or album



1975: Queen released their iconic music video for Bohemian Rhapsody (directed by Bruce Gowers)


1977: Buggles: Video Killed The Radio Star music video was released



1980: David Bowie released a music video for Ashes to Ashes



1981: MTV launches, being the first music-only channel to televise music videos



1983: Micheal Jackson released his music video for Thriller, being presented more like a short film than a music video. Thus setting a new standard for high budget music videos



1985: Vh1 started, becoming another way for artists to distribute their music videos and promote their new singles/albums



1987: MTV Europe launched, reaching a larger audience by appealing to other countries and areas.