How Music Videos Killed the Radio Star

In 1986 In 1986 music was forever changed with the debut of MTV. In the twenty years since, music videos have become a way for the artists to express themselves visually. When music videos first came out, it was mostly just the musician or band playing the song–today music videos are more akin to mini movies featuring famous actors and actresses. The very first music video played on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles, and in a sense it was true. Most bands have a music video before the ink has even dried on the recording contract. MTV may have been the first music videos channel, but definitely not the last. There are now several channels that show music videos like MTV, VH1, GAC and Fuse TV just to name a few.

MTV now offers 4 different music video channels–MTV, MTV2, MTV hits, and MTVu. MTV also has its own awards show just for music videos. VH1 caters to adult contemporary music videos, GAC is the MTV for country music videos. Fuse TV and The Tube are relatively new channels and focuses more on classic rock, indie rock and metal music videos.

One of the most notorious musicians known for her controversial music videos is Madonna. Madonna’s video for “Like a Prayer” in the late 80’s caused an uproar with the Christian community over the depiction of an African-American Jesus who kisses Madonna and featured Madonna dancing in front of a field of burning crosses. Her music video of “Justify my Love” in the early 90’s was so controversial that MTV banned the music video from the lineup. Perhaps the most controversial genre of music videos currently are the rap and hip-hop music videos, which typically feature scantily clad women, sexual situations, violence, and drugs. It seems as though musicians are constantly competing for the most extreme of music videos, whether it is sexual content, special effects, obscurity or violence there are always music videos who push the envelope just a little bit further.

John Fair is a noted producer and author.