History of the music video

During the 1940s, singer Bing Crosby became one of the western world's first major stars within the tv, film and music industry. One of his most famous songs to date is "White Christmas". He wrote this song in 1945 and later performed it in the film White Christmas in 1954. He also starred in many tv specials. Compared to today's celebrities, Crosby was pretty old. When he first found fame during the 1940's he was in his late 30's and early 40's. His age meant that , he never fully reached them as he wasn't what the younger generation of females found attractive. Although Crosby appeared on tv and film he rarely ever did shows which meant his fans never got the chance to see him live.

In the 1950's the "Bing Crosby era" came to an end and he was replaced with a young Frank Sinatra. Frank Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and filmmaker. He began his musical career in the swing era as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. He first found success as a solo artist in the 1940' s after being signed by Columbia Records but it wasn't till the early 1950's, when he signed to Capitol records that he became world famous. He was very similar to Bing Crosby in the way he sang and appeared in film and television. However because Sinatra was younger and better looking he was able to connect with the female audience.Unlike Crosby, Sinatra used to perform live. However this wasn't a frequent occasion which meant fans had to rely on tv and film to see him.

During the late 50's Elvis Presley burst onto the scene and became one of the worlds biggest stars. Compared to the usual style of music people were listening to in the 50's Elvis was a breath of fresh air as his rock and roll style had never been seen before. Because of this Elvis had a massive influence on the way young people acted and dressed. He really changed the way young people were in general. Before Elvis, young people used to dress and act like their elders did. But after Elvis came on to the music scene the younger generation started to dress like him, many would even grease their hair just to look like him. When Elvis first appeared on tv they only showed him from just above the waist upwards as his dancing was deemed as to sexually inappropriate as he would thrust his hips. Elvis was the first artist who girls would scream over. Similarly to Crosby and Sinatra he starred in many films (such as the jailhouse rock), tv and he even did concerts. However, these concerts were only in the USA.


During the 60's the Beatles took the world by storm. They had a massive influence worldwide. After conquering the UK music scene they decided to take on America.  They first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. This appearance had a record number of viewers and their fame rocketed. As a result of this they had a #1 hit in the US, which showed that they had done what many artists, even today struggle to do; appeal to the american audience. The Beetles had many onscreen appearances and were regularly seen on "Top of the Pops". Top of the Pops played a major role in the Beetles early successes as it allowed them to play their music on live television and gain exposure similarly to Elvis, many fans would copy the Beetles style by getting the same haircut and dressing the same. The Beetles were the first band to have such a large dedicated female audience. Whenever the band would  return to the country the airport would be televised and hundreds of fans would gather and wait just to get a glimpse of the band. They were also the first artist ever to play a major stadium.

First Music Video

However, eventually the screams of the fans got too loud and started to prevent them from performing to the best of their ability as the screams were so loud they struggled to hear themselves play. This lead to creation of the first ever music video.The Beetles decided to record a short film of them performing the song "paperback Writer" and sent it all over the world for fans to see. Although this music video was created many years ago, it formed the basis for all music videos and many of the concepts used are still seen in music videos today!