What are the origins of the pop video

A. In 1976 the kaleidoscopic images of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' burst on to our screens and the birth of the 'pop video' was announced. But was it art Certainly it was not entirely new. Promotional films for musical acts - often shorts shown as part of a cinema programme - go back as early as the 1930s. But this was something different. The mass ownership of television and ease of video duplication and distribution meant that a new single could achieve instant worldwide exposure, reaching a much greater audience and at much less expense than touring could. And of course, instead of touring, your band could be in the studio turning out more 'product'.

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Q. So this was the commercial motivation behind the video
A. This is without doubt the reasoning that brought the music video into being, but there is also no doubt that artisic ambition followed close behind. Young film-makers and young musicians who thought of themselves as artists would sooner or later get together and attempt to make something more than a marketing tool. The fact that a simple profit motive was the organ grinder never stopped the monkey from performing.

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Q. Has there been any real success in this regard
A. It is only recently that such collaborations have borne fruit. In the 1980s� - in many ways the heyday of the music video - it was size, not what you did with it, that mattered. Michael Jackson's Thriller and Duran Duran's Wild Boys were landmarks in a craze for spectacle and excess. Pastiches of famous film moments were also popular, but the overriding tendency was to shoot 'lip-synch' performances by the artist, often in a faux live setting.

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Q. Who were the key players in this explosion
A. Directors were drawn from the world of adverts, and they inevitably brought a commercial sensibility to their work. And if they needed encouragement, there were always the record company executives behind the scenes chanting the mantra 'make them look good, make them accessible, make them sexy, make them sell!' One week a director would shoot a soap-powder commercial; the next they would shoot a pop band. There was little difference. The pop video was no more than a commercial�that contained the product. There was no doubt that a great deal of craft and artistry went into these productions, but few would claim them as art.

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Q. What about the less commercial end of the market
A. At the same time there was a counter-movement on the fringes of what was now a multi-million-dollar industry. The videos of the 80s reflected the music and thus tended towards commercial entertainment at a time when popular music was being increasingly commodified. But this was also the time of the 'indie' band. Small labels bucked the trend. Being small they also had smaller budgets. As a result they had to rely more on ingenuity and creativity to make videos that stood up against the blockbusters and they turned to young film-makers with a similar independent spirit. These directors tended to look like the bands they worked with, more art-house than club-house.

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Q. So, were these more left-field videos more arty
A. Inevitably, and a more artistic sensibility began to trickle in to the world of commercial music videos.

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Q. Who was involved
A. Directors�such as Anton Corbijn made striking pieces in super-8 for small labels�such as Mute Records and artists such as Depeche Mode. Phil Ridley and Nick Brandt employed fantasy and symbolism in narrative. Other film-makers�such as John Maybury and Marco Cecere embraced the growing possibilities of video post-production for special effects. Directors such as Gerard Du Thame sought inspiration in the art of photography. When Tarsem directed Losing My Religion for R.E.M. indie music became mainstream, the arty video came of age and everybody wanted one. Independent music had side-stepped the design-by-committee of the major labels and fostered genuine collaborations between musicians and film-makers.

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It is these collaborations that produced the works of greatest artistic merit, and the major labels took note. Just as independent labels were absorbed by the majors during the nineties, so were their techniques, and the music video entered a new age of creativity. Michel Gondry's work with Bj�rk and Massive Attack, Chris Cunningham's videos for Madonna, Jonathan Glazier's films for Radiohead and Wiz's work with Manic Street Preachers all stand out.

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At the same time, of course, we have been treated to the ubiquitous trashy dance video, the return of pomp with the rap video and the return of commercialism with the boy/girl band. Whatever the twists and turns of popular music, the potential of music video has been seen.

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Q. In conclusion
A. One thing is certain. It would be wrong to discount the artistic merits of music videos merely on the grounds that they are really only promotional tools to sell records. One might think of the theatre posters of Toulouse-Lautrec or Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for the Yellow Book for example. Promotional intentions they certainly had, but time has released them of that purpose and most would certainly now think of them as art. Perhaps the same will happen for some music videos, even if the vast majority will have no real lasting value.

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By Simon Smith