Music videos are just incredibly dumb. They only exist as a way to sneak music on to TV. Just show a blank screen or a picture of the artist. I've never understood the idea of the music video.

A music video can be an improvement on the song alone. That doesn't mean the typical music video is.

If only there was still a channel on Television that would show Music....

If only there was still a channel on Television that would show Music....

In my day we had a channel called music television, and it played music on television, and we liked it.

Yes, I'm so old I really do remember when MTV played music videos.

Counterpoint, though, I remember being disappointed when the girls in the videos were not as hot as I had imagined the girls sung about in the songs.

They're pointless because they haven't been applied very well in the last 10 years, and MTV no longer airs them.

Music videos are a great way for aspiring filmmakers to familiarize themselves with the gear and to learn how to tell a story efficiently and creatively. They can be a natural, zesty enterprise, and like any other art form, the truly good directors fidn a way to balance art and commerce.

ZAZ: Yes, I'm so old I really do remember when MTV played music videos.

"Tell your cable company, 'I want my MTV!'"

/I also remember HBO's "Video Jukebox" segments

Mock me all you will, but (to offer an example if I may) I would have no interest in the music from this Kate Perry person, and yet the 'I kissed a girl and by jove what a blast' video did appeal to me in a manner that the song alone would not have been able to convey.

No one can make a video that's this good ever again.

ZAZ: Yes, I'm so old I really do remember when MTV played music videos.

BKITU: "Tell your cable company, 'I want my MTV!'"

So I can watch cutting edge videos like this. (Daily Motion link)

I remember when MTV had only ONE video... it was "Video Killed The Radio Star"... and they played over-and-over... 24-hours a day... 7-days a week... AND WE LIKED IT!!!


/still has the hots for MQ

Dancin_In_Anson

ZAZ: Yes, I'm so old I really do remember when MTV played music videos.

BKITU: "Tell your cable company, 'I want my MTV!'"

So I can watch cutting edge videos like this.

Is it wrong that I like that song?

Dancin_In_Anson

I like the song, was indifferent to the video, and hated the bad lip sync job.

The English Major: Is it wrong that I like that song?

The...interpretive dance (?) has always cracked me up.

Remember Fuse? Fuse was supposed to bring music back to TV. It took them less than two years to gut themselves like a fish, turning into just another MTV clone.

Dancin_In_Anson

The English Major: Is it wrong that I like that song?

The...interpretive dance (?) has always cracked me up.

It was easily one of the most bizarre videos of the 80s. Part of me wondered what would happen if you played "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" over the video.

Asa Phelps: They're pointless because they haven't been applied very well in the last 10 years, and MTV no longer airs them.

THIS

Also, music videos were around before there was MTV. There are music videos dating back to the 60s. And in the 70s they got to be fairly common.

Dancin_In_Anson: So I can watch cutting edge videos like this. (Daily Motion link)

Cheesy video, though not bad for the day, and a nice song by one of the best singers around.

Certain songs wouldn't have become as popular as they were without an incredible music video to generate buzz.

Uakronkid: Certain songs wouldn't have become as popular as they were without an incredible music video to generate buzz.

Duran Duran specifically. They (and a bunch of other acts) would be hasbeens that very few people had ever heard of. In all honesty, the music video wasn't so much about it being "art", they were ads for records packaged in something to appeal to the kids.

Dancin_In_Anson: ZAZ: Yes, I'm so old I really do remember when MTV played music videos.

BKITU: "Tell your cable company, 'I want my MTV!'"

So I can watch cutting edge videos like this. (Daily Motion link)

Patty Freaking Smyth! You magnificent bastard.

Ditigal Age?

I've been Diti-gals in every age (over 18, of course).

RocketRod: I remember when MTV had only ONE video... it was "Video Killed The Radio Star"... and they played over-and-over... 24-hours a day... 7-days a week... AND WE LIKED IT!!!


/still has the hots for MQ

Reminded me of Stuffin' Martha's Muffin.
Couldn't find a clip for that, so you'll just have to enjoy Burn Down the Malls. Link (new window)

The English Major: No one can make a video that's this good ever again.

Sure they can, they can even make it better: Link (new window)

If a certain TV channel continued to show them, they'd no longer be pointless.

Subby's tagline is to the article as Hilary Clinton is to penis.

1derful: Subby's tagline is to the article as Hilary Clinton is to penis.

So it describes the article perfectly?

BKITU: ZAZ: Yes, I'm so old I really do remember when MTV played music videos.

"Tell your cable company, 'I want my MTV!'"

/I also remember HBO's "Video Jukebox" segments

Anyone else remember NBC's Friday Night Videos? Plus, considering just most songs out there someone has made a video of it... see what I mean:
Spaceman (new window)
Soar (new window)

I used to love to jack off to them when I was a teenager, especially the ones on late at night on BET.

I'm sorry, but music videos are not pointless. Done right they can be incredible and make a song that much more enjoyable. The reason that they seem retarded now is because theres nothing creative going on in them. I remember when a music video had something resembling a plot. Yes, a plot. Maybe not a good plot but a plot none the less. Any music video anymore is more or less whatever artist it is mugging for the camera and trying (vainly) to look hot/sexy/badass.

HereComesTheScience: I used to love to jack off to them when I was a teenager, especially the ones on late at night on BET.

300+lb females shaking their asses in ways that gravity shouldn't allow...

The old-school Michael Jackson / Madonna music video is dead.

The live ustream / recorded-the-day-before Youtube videos will become bigger and bigger for new bands with no budget.

/predictions'r'us

My company shoots 2-3 music videos a month, so this article can go to hell.

The last few music videos I remember being any good were some toons by Gorillaz and the video for Paranoid Android.

And way back even then, MTV was only showing videos at 3am.

I kinda liked the video from Gorillaz when they are on the big hotwheel track. That was groovin'.

Pointless? Hell no.
Not exposed enough anymore? Hell yeah. Damn you MTV and your network decay!

This is my favorite video from the past year. It's really entertaining if you're a logo geek.

/DRTFA

Videos can be fun! I'm sad they're going away. Here's a couple favorites:

Muse - Knights Of Cydonia (new window)

QOTSA - Go With The Flow (new window)

Music videos were a novelty that took off into something much more, and by the time MTV came around to exploit that they were already an oddity. I mean, most of us grew up with them to some extent or another, so they seem natural, but when you stop to consider that it is commonplace for an artist make a short film to go along with their single it just seems hokey. Sure, there's been some videos that redefine a song or even usher in a new fad in film-making - I myself have wasted hours of my allegedly adult life sitting in front of the computer looking at this one or that - but at heart it's a pretty stupid idea that we've all just become accustomed to.

DamnYankees: Music videos are just incredibly dumb. They only exist as a way to sneak music on to TV. Just show a blank screen or a picture of the artist. I've never understood the idea of the music video.

Get off my lawn.

emilyek_1: DamnYankees: Music videos are just incredibly dumb. They only exist as a way to sneak music on to TV. Just show a blank screen or a picture of the artist. I've never understood the idea of the music video.

Get off my lawn.

Your lawn is dead it just hasn't completely rotted away yet.

I used to think it was a completely pointless waste on the part of underground acts to make a video no one would, or even could, possibly see. When MTV went tits-up in the mid-90s, that further cemented that thought. Youtube, however, changed that.

That Take Me On video has gotten really creepy over the years :/

music videos were a must to get air time on mtv and in turn gaining popularity
Rammstein's Du Hast is a shining example of that working

falcon176: music videos were a must to get air time on mtv and in turn gaining popularity
Rammstein's Du Hast is a shining example of that working

Amerika was a better video I think.

MTV figured that out a decade ago.


/ironic?

DBrandisNC: My company shoots 2-3 music videos a month, so this article can go to hell.

Porn doesn't count.

Oh hold it - that would be 2-3 videos a day. My bad.

bravian: MTV figured that out a decade ago.


/ironic?

No, if it was ironic, MTV would bring back all videos all the time and make brazillions of dollars off of the hipsters who freebase what they think is irony.

the 'Mats knew this ALMOST 25 YEARS ago. (take it it's yours)

Speaking of A-Ha (new window)

.MP3 killed the video star

If you want to a see a video that bad you can pull it up instantly on the internet. All my life I have heard people complain that MTV doesn't play videos. No shiat they don't, nobody watches videos and if they do they only stay on the station for a few minutes. It makes no sense to program music videos and that is why not a single station bothers to.

How a music video makes a song better. (new window) Not this song needed it.