Timeline of Music Video History

1950's - Musical Films - The earliest example of music videos were songs from films that were performed (i.e. Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are a Girls' Best Friend which was taken from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953 and Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley which was taken from the film Jailhouse Rock in 1957). Companies then realised the potential and popularity of matching visual images to lyrics. It was also around this post-war era that youth culture had properly been established which mostly began with the introduction of Elvis Prestley to commonly used media. 

1960's - Era of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis Presley and the Beatles has generated such huge fan bases they had created video performances to their audience. The Beatles had utilized music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s. The creative use of music videos within their 1964 debut film A Hard Day's Night, particularly the performance of "Can't Buy Me Love", led MTV decades later to honor the film's director, Richard Lester, with an award for "basically inventing" the music video.

1970's - The 70's saw the development of the music video with the incorporation of television with music. Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart  television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. The show peaked in the mid 70's becoming a main way for bands to perform to their audiences. As well as The Monkees, an American comedy which followed the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. Eventually from the popularity of the television show, the actors decided to for the band and release the tracks  shown in the TV show. Because of the original fan base, the band generated a mass amount of popularity in the 60's to 70's.

1980's - In 1981, MTV was launched with the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys,". 24hr broadcast meant music videos begin to play a central role in music marketing by the mid 1980's. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star", which seems ironic because of the introduction of video on this new platform. The 80's also saw music videos from popular artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper which all featured cutting edge editing techniques of the time and began to introduce the idea of narrative and concept behind the videos. 

1990's - In November 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as David Fincher.

Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive video of all time. In the mid to late 1990s, Walter Stern directed "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.