History of MTV: Music Videos Development Essay

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Updated: Mar 25th, 2024

Introduction

The series “2001 Documentary on 80s Pop and Birth of MTV Music Videos” explores the history of MTV and the shift from radio towards video-based music consumption. After cable television became available to people, and MTV started playing first music videos, the world of pop music was changed forever. This essay discusses three topics from the documentary – the influence of foreign musicians, the role of dancing in music videos, and the exploration of gender by popular artists.

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Main body

One of the significant events that affected charts in the United States was the entrance of British and European bands. Before the 1980s, few foreign musicians were famous in the US, and their records were not sold at the same rate as American ones. However, as they were accustomed to music videos, their popularity soon exploded with the help of MTV, and pop music was influenced by such genres as art pop, punk, and new wave.

The visual nature of music videos demanded the presentation of each composition to be exciting and memorable. Thus, many artists began using dance as a means of attracting an audience. One of the artists who redefined the quality of dance-based videos was Michael Jackson. His video for “Thriller” was a hit that made it clear that to succeed, musicians had to dance. Thus, later music videos started featuring dance routines with intricate moves and multiple performers.

The medium of video was also a chance for artists to explore such topics as gender and sexuality. While many popular songs in the previous decades did not challenge listeners in any way, the music of the 1980s put the musicians’ faces and fashion in the foreground. Performers such as Boy George and Annie Lennox of Eurythmics introduced the concept of androgyny to the public, questioning the limits of femininity and masculinity. Arguably, these and other artists started a discussion of beauty standards and gender roles among listeners and the music industry as a whole.

Conclusion

To sum up, the introduction of a new medium changed the music industry in the span of a decade. In the 1980s, the shift towards visuals influenced how people listened to and thought about music. Cable television allowed European performers to seek popularity abroad. Dancing became inseparable from music, and audiences wanted to be entertained by musicians. Finally, such topics as gender and sexuality entered the minds of the public.

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IvyPanda. (2024, March 25). History of MTV: Music Videos Development. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-mtv-music-videos-development/

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"History of MTV: Music Videos Development." IvyPanda, 25 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-mtv-music-videos-development/.

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IvyPanda. (2024) 'History of MTV: Music Videos Development'. 25 March.

References

IvyPanda. 2024. "History of MTV: Music Videos Development." March 25, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-mtv-music-videos-development/.

1. IvyPanda. "History of MTV: Music Videos Development." March 25, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-mtv-music-videos-development/.


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IvyPanda. "History of MTV: Music Videos Development." March 25, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-mtv-music-videos-development/.

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