Music videos have been around for a while. Many bands and musicians try to come up with music videos simply as an advertising tool. Any way that their music can reach the public is a quality tool for any act.
The music video in and of itself was invented, created, and conceived by the Beatles. Toward the end of their careers, the Beatles were getting tired of touring. John Lennon asked the band what they thought about making a video of themselves singing their new songs. The band agreed, and with "Paperback Writer", the music video was born in 1966. Shortly thereafter, Bob Dylan premiered his own video, "Subterranean Homesick Blues." This historical music video featured the use of cards with words and phrases written on them. This was the first music video to directly incorporate the use of props.
As time began to pass, many acts created videos. The majority of these videos consisted almost primarily of concert footage though. MTV would be born in 1981. MTV stands for Music Television (couldn't tell now) and was almost exclusively a vehicle for artists to show the videos that were created from their songs. The first video to ever premiere was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.
It was Michael Jackson that would revolutionize the the idea of the music video. He hired John Landis, director of
Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and An American Werewolf in London to make his music video for "Thriller" into a short film complete with character development and plot line. The result was a thirteen minute music video masterpiece. Many videos since then have also garnered a lot of controversy, and this is evident with the new video by Gnarls Barkley.
Interestingly enough, the controversy doesn't center around material. In fact, the lyrics include nothing objectionable. The controversy behind the song centers around the fact that when the video aired, it caused many viewers to convulse in the floor and have seizures. Subsequently, MTV banned the video. The clip is available online at any video website.
