History of Dance Music Videos

In the 1960's few artists created videos to go alongside their songs. Instead artists such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys created promo films after their songs were released to promote them. These were all obviously filmed on film cameras rather than digital and editing was very minimal meaning that any effects needed to be done by camera or set, such as by using different camera angles, filters or different speeds with different types of camera. In the 70's promotional videos were still being used to promote artists songs however when Queen's song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hit the number one spot in 1975, they created a special video for the occasion which featured their performance at Top Of The Pops. During the 80's music videos became much more popular which artists increasingly making them, all of which were released onto MTV as YouTube didn't exist then. In the 80's Micheal Jackson released the music video for 'Thriller' which has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the"most successful music video" and is the first music video added to the National Film Registry. In the 90's dance music videos became highly famous and successful such as Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time' music video. The music video is what made the former Disney star rise to fame and also due to it being filmed in the same school as the cultural behemoth film 'Grease'. YouTube was then created in 2005 which is where all artists upload their music videos to now as it is easier and the current cultural trend. Dance music videos also took the parody approach such as in Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way'. Now directors also have a whole world of opportunity with all the editing abilities and digital cameras which allow more freedom and special effects for the music videos.