History of Promoted Video and Video Expression Evolution: Dylan's Axis

May 8, 1965. Video director D. A. Pennebaker carried a customized Oricon 16mm camera on his shoulder in an alley in London and pointed the lens at a lean man standing in front of him. The man threw the lyrics scribbled on cardboard onto the cobblestone road. Did D. A. Pennebaker realize at this time that he was making a music video that would be the most influential in history?

In this video, Bob Dylan playfully shows the words that appear in the lyrics of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" at Savoy Step in London W2 (zip code), but the influence of this scene is surprising. It continues to this day. Thus D. A. Pennebaker, Bob Dylan, Allen'Rabbi'Ginsberg, and the night before the shoot, Donovan was overjoyed to help write the words with magic. Bob Dylan's best friend Bob Dylan happened to invent the lyric video that is now in vogue again. But be careful. This film was not a music video. At that time, there were few such techniques and ideas.

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Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues

Throughout the 1960s, film clips called'inserts' were shot in the home movie style, often with movie cameras. The work made in this way was eccentric. When it comes to The Beatles clips, it's quirky, narrow, and long-forgotten English-style production. That's why D. A. Pennebaker shot "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in London at the opening of the documentary film "Don't Look Back" based on Bob Dylan's UK tour in 1965. Can be said to have been natural. Two other clips were shot on the roof of the hotel and at the nearby Victoria Embankment Gardens, but without the same urban impact. The footage shot in this city of London, and the fact that this city of London was the most groovy place in the world, can still be seen in black and white footage.

Until the fluorescent era of the 1960s got darker, for example, the Rolling Stones' Jumpin'Jack Flash video was devilish, good clips are a bit of the world's most advanced capital, London. It heightened the hysterical playground mood. In that sense, the clips that represent the 1960s can be said to be more than just arousing nostalgia. These clips visually record the dazzling and intense times as history. Fancy videos from the 80's, on the other hand, were more relentless and commercial, and were more like advertising than works of art.

In contrast, Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" film made fun of himself rather than honoring himself. His film was charming, witty and tied to the song. This was Bob Dylan's treasure and his interpretation. The film has also been mercilessly imitated and spoofed, but it clearly depicts a man who looks like a wanderer trying to transform into an exciting figure. Also for this film, a man who doesn't seem to have even two bronze coins is staying at one of the finest and best-priced hotels in London, using just as good props to make the film. The production cost of the film was about the taxi fare to return to Warder Street, and the video processing of the film was done in Warder Street.

Let's go back a little further. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is not the first pop film. There were some French-made clips, but the honor of the first pop film will be sent to The Moody Blues. In December 1964, the group's co-manager, Alex Wharton, used silhouette techniques to make a promotional film for the single "Go Now." The technique was later adopted by Queen in "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Moody Blues – Go Now [HD]

The Beatles, who were often filmed during performances for promotional purposes, entered the world of silver screens with the movie "Hard Days Night" directed by Richard Lester. Director Richard Lester updated and used the sequence of his short film The Running Jumping & Standing to create his famous "Can't Buy Me Love" sequence. Also, in the movie, The Beatles are running on Boston Place near Marylebone Station in London in an attempt to escape the enthusiastic masses, and the uplifting feeling of that time is captured in the video.

The Beatles also wrote the movie "Help! , "Day Tripper", "We Can Work It Out", and other easy-to-use, bright, yet influential insert films, "Rain", "Paperback Writer" ("Ready Steady Go!" (Directed by Hogg) also produced a promotional film. In addition, "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane," which are fully psychedelic, pay homage to the then-popular cult film "Desire," directed by Peter Gouldman.

The Beatles – Penny Lane

The strangest film in The Beatles is "A Day In The Life". It was a nightmare composition similar to a bad trip (a horrifying hallucinatory experience). The Beatles' feature-length montage, Magical Mystery Tour, aired in both monochrome and color versions on Christmas 1967, featured a strange trip. At the time, only 200,000 people in the UK could pay £ 250 for a color TV (£ 3,000 today = 460,000 yen), so most people rent a Magical Mystery Tour from a rental shop. I watched it on a monochrome TV borrowed from Radio Rental.

The Beatles – A Day In The Life

Five months earlier, on June 25, 1967, The Beatles appeared on the world's first multi-satellite TV show, Our World. The performance of "All You Need Is Love" was an important turning point not only in the moment when Britain provided the first interesting scene for pop music, but also in the appearance of the band making music. It became. The following is the situation at that time.

All You Need Is Love – 1s Preview

John Lennon seemed careless, but he was restless at the event and chewed gum throughout his vocal performance. Also, George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick were secretly drinking Scotch. Thanks to The Beatles' popularity, some of the friends and acquaintances who sat on the floor and sang the chorus during the fade-out were Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, and Keith Richards. , Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Mike McGear, Pattie Boyd, and Jane Asher, this broadcast further strengthened The Beatles' invincible momentum. Because more than 400 million people have seen this scene in 25 countries around the world.

However, the video that was seen by people all over the world was an exception. The problem with pop film was that it was difficult to determine how many people were watching pop film. The musicians' union's lip-synching ban was difficult to comply with (in fact, many groups were lip-synching), but the TV cameraman union feared that their jobs would be lost on television. I was against the music video being aired on. As a result, these clips were usually either partly excerpted or used as a flowing binder while the DJ was speaking.

The BBC2 staff were more likely to agree with pop film, but the original BBC generally had strict censorship. The Kinks' "Dead End Street" was banned from broadcasting because the band's casket-carrying scene on Little Green Street in Kentish Town was considered an extremely bad taste. The Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon," which was happily shot in the snow-covered forests of northern London, was only shown on Dutch TV.

The playful mod, Small Faces, has also been banned from broadcasting his own films. The stunning clips of "Lazy Sunday Afternoon" and "Itchycoo Park" blended urban roughness with psychedelic splendor, but non-residents of Auckland, New Zealand and Adelaide, Australia missed the opportunity to see the clips. It would have been.

The Small Faces – Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Other notable videos are "Ragamuffin Man" by British band Manfred Mann and "Paper Sun" by Traffic. In the former, Mike Dubbo rides behind a scooter and sings the song around London, while in the latter, Traffic walks around the Horniman Museum in South London, looking at anthropological exhibits. If the above two films are purely strange films, then Manfred Mann's "Fox On The Run" promo film, which cites the album cover of The Byrds' Notorious Byrd Brothers, is also worth mentioning. Let's go. In the film, they rescue a fox from a herd of beast-like hunters.

The most famous clip of The Rolling Stones at the time was "Jumpin'Jack Flash." There are two versions, one is a fastball performance video and the other is a legendary version, with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones giving war paint and gold face. Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed both versions. Fans of The Rolling Stones should also be familiar with the film "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?" Directed by Peter Whitehead. The film features a fierce live video of The Rolling Stones being attacked on stage.

Director Peter Whitehead was happy with the clip for "We Love You." However, the video was banned on the BBC. That's because a trial on drug seizure by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards was imminent (although they won). Peter Whitehead recalls:

"This was the first serious, politically conscious, intellectual and cultural video, and it was also a video selling songs. A video made just before the Stones lawsuit about their predicament. The video featured all members transforming into actors in the drama, recreating the Oscar Wild trial, with Marianne Faithful dressed as [Wild Lover] Bosie (Alfred Douglas). As far as I'm concerned, I've done more with this film than in my previous career. "

Rolling StonesWe Love You

But perhaps no one has portrayed Mick Jagger as well as director Nicolas Roeg in the movie Performance / The Trap of Youth. The character he played in the movie sings the crucial "Memo From Turner". At this point in 1968, Mick Jagger's lyrical skills were at their peak.

"Memo From Turner" and "Jumpin'Jack Flash" are on par with Bob Dylan, but it's Nicolas Roeg's footage that linked the sprint of the 1960s to an anarchy ending. The movie was controversial and wasn't released until 1970. Mick Jagger made an impact by mentioning hemlock (poison hemlock) and cork (not singing about soft drink cola / cocaine). There will be no pop video beyond this scene.

Performance – Theatrical Trailer

"Space Oddity," released by David Bowie in 1969, was the highlight of David Bowie's promotional film "Love You Till Tuesday," directed by Malcolm J. Thompson. Malcolm J. Thompson is a friend of Kenneth Pitt, then the manager of David Bowie.

The song, in which the famous character Major Tom first appeared, is often associated with the Apollo 11 moon landing, but it often overlaps with the Apollo 8 launched on December 8, 1968. Apollo 8 heads for the moon over 3 days and goes around the moon 10 times in 20 hours. In the meantime, the crew appeared on Christmas Eve television and read the first ten verses of Genesis. At that time, the broadcast recorded the highest ratings ever, making it the first space flight that allowed crews and viewers to see the big picture of the Earth (beyond the moon and "Earthrise"). "Space Oddity" was born by adding the influence of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (released in May 1968) to this wonderful experience. The trace remains in David Bowie's final album.

David Bowie-Space Oddity Original Video (1969)

In the early '70s, when drugs were all the rage, surprisingly, there aren't many impressive promotional clips. I won't elaborate on this point, but videotapes have not yet been widely used by music groups. However, the directors of pornographic films made great use of it, and by using overdubbed lines, they overcame the problem of synchronization with the video. Naturally, David Bowie knew the medium of pornography. At a gig in Cleveland, he said he would sit on a stool and play "Drive-In Saturday" on an acoustic guitar.

"This is a song about the future where people forget how to exchange love and go back to 20th century porn videos. This is after some catastrophe, including those living on the streets. For example, some people live in the dome, and people are helping each other to get rid of difficult situations. "

The lyrics of the song also hint at Mick Jagger in the movie "Performance / Youth Trap".

The promotional material that David Bowie made with Mick Rock was generally video. David Bowie and Mick Rock solidified David Bowie's position in pop history by showing a pin-up of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust / Aladdin Sane" and David Bowie with orange hair. Rock's other David Bowie works are "John, I'm Only Dancing" (second "Space Oddity") and "Life On Mars?", Both of which feature flashy and colorful video qualities. I'm making the most of it.

David Bowie – Life On Mars (2016 Mix)

The "John, I'm Only Dancing" video shows David Bowie rehearsing his performance at The Spiders from Mars and the Rainbow Theater on August 19, 1972. The production cost is £ 200. In the video, David Bowie wears a black leather jacket and has an anchor tattoo on one of his cheeks. The band and David Bowie's performance scene alternates with Astronets, dressed in fishnet-like costumes, dancing behind a backlit silhouette screen.

David Bowie – John, I'm Only Dancing (Official Video)

Mick Rock also shot a promo video of "The Jean Genie" in San Francisco during David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" national tour. The video shows David Bowie and Cylinder Fox frolicking at the Mars Hotel, a cheap hotel on Fourth Avenue with a connection to the Grateful Dead. Grace Slick's ex-husband, Jerry Slick, was the cameraman.

David Bowie – The Jean Genie (Official Video)

In "Life On Mars?", David Bowie wears a light blue suit and dark eyeshadow, but Mick Rock's experiment with saturation causes the eyeshadow to change from blue to purple. And add an element of pop art to the promo video. And David Bowie's milky skin is paired with his fiery red mallet hair. In the commercial market, these films are believed to have given birth to modern video.

Still, many groups refused to get involved in the video process. Not surprisingly, Led Zeppelin disagreed with the filming and wasn't happy with the film when it was filmed in The Song Remains the Frenzy. So what about Roxy Music? They left "Re-Make / Re-Model" to the students' free interpretation, but otherwise stuck to live performances and appearances in "The Old Gray Whistle Test".

Roxy Music – Re-Make / Re-Model

But Queen took advantage of the video. "Bohemian Rhapsody" broke the convention by introducing new technical effects, recreating and skillfully using a cover shot of "Queen II" shot by Mick Rock. The video was shot by Bruce Goise. The visual impact of the footage shot at Elstree the day before the band's third UK headline tour was tremendous, after which all major artists began to take the medium of video more seriously.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Video Remastered)

The most outstanding fashion in the 70's is included in ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me". The video shows a divine pop group from Scandinavia as of 1977 in a straightforward manner (as many as 40 million people, including erasures paying homage to them).

Abba – Take A Chance On Me (Official Video)

The Rolling Stones also wore beautiful costumes in the 70's and dressed in a sailor suit for "It's Only Rock'n'Roll (But I Like It)". It's not a very intimidating outfit, but they still seemed to like it, and even in "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," they wore sailor pantaloons.

The Rolling Stones – It's Only Rock'N'Roll (But I Like It) – OFFICIAL PROMO

Grace Jones has always been a big performer. So is the video of "Do Or Die" with candles and capes. In contrast, Hall & Oats simply sings the blue-eyed soul masterpiece "She She She's Gone" outside the lonely snack bar.

Grace Jones – Do or Die

A bit different is the clip of "The Robots," which Kraftwerk released in 1978 and pioneered electronic music. In the clip, a human becomes a machine, and the audience is stunned to see it.

Kraftwerk – The Robots HQ Audio

Three years later, on August 1, 1981, MTV started. As if NASA had begun exploring space, a voice-over was heard saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Rock'n'Roll." At that time, MTV was AOR-like and was a flat-rate distribution service, but it will soon become popular in many homes.

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Prince's "Little Red Corvette" were heavily rotated-not surprisingly. Not only were they in the news, but they were in the news themselves. But again, MTV promoted the Second British Invasion in the United States. The Buggles' immortal masterpiece "Video Killed The Radio Star" was the first video to air on MTV, but is this message a threat? Or is it a promise?

The Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star (Official Music Video)

The song didn't give back to the radio, but Dire Straits in "Money For Nothing" (with Sting's help) seemed undecided. In the video, they ironically sing about a normal man who sweats and carries a fridge, a microwave, and a system kitchen while a wealthy rock star makes a fortune. ..

Dire Straits – Money For Nothing

Ten years later, REM released an overwhelming album "Out Of Time" in all respects, setting the example for a multi-million seller in the 90's. The album includes "Losing My Religion" (the video of the song won a Grammy Award) and "Shiny Happy People". By this time, video was an absolute requirement, and record companies were always asking for video as an artist. It was thought that even while the band was performing in Japan, they should not leave their own market. Punk group pioneers such as Damned, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash were frowning on the video, while anarchists like the KLF were "Justified And Ancient," country superstar Tammy Wynette. While co-starring with the net, I made an exciting video.

The KLF – Justified & Ancient (Official Video)

Humor was also important in the video. Weezer dominated the era by making viewers laugh at the video of "Buddy Holly," a parody of the TV drama "Happy Days." Blink 182 ran around Los Angeles when she was naked in the "What's My Age Again?" Video. And David Byrne, who wore a Dabo Dabo suit in "Girlfriend Is Better" sung in Jonathan Demme's movie "Stop Making Sense," exploded her head in "She's Mad." , Was even more weird.

blink-182 – What's My Age Again? (Official Music Video)

Richard Ashcroft of The Verve is also the type of person who shouldn't interfere badly. In "Bitter Sweet Symphony," he roams the Hoxton district of London with long shots, which he says was created to frustrate viewers.

The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony (Official Music Video)

It was Beck who truly understood the potential of promotional videos. All his videos are worth watching, but first watch "Where It's At," which first aired on MTV2 on August 1, 1996.

Beck – Where It's At (Official Video)

However, it was Greg Alexander of New Radicals who could not win even with such Beck. He sprinkled a funny poison with his masterpiece, "You Get What You Give," and opened the door to pop culture. In the video, he and his members messed up Staten Island's mall and criticized Marilyn Manson, the pop trio Hanson, Courtney Love, and Beck as metaphors. This is an important moment in the history of pop dance.

New Radicals – You Get What You Give (Official Music Video)

Following NWA's "Strait Outta Compton," Eminem entered a new century with "Lose Yourself," rebelling against Cinema Verite's method. This is how the rise of filmmakers took place. Michel Gondry has become a favorite collaborator for Björk, The White Stripes and The Vines.

Director Michel Gondry made influential clips such as Massive Attack's "Protection" and Stardust's hallucinatory "Music Sounds Better With You", but made for Donald Fagen's "Snowbound". The epoch-making and gloomy clip is his masterpiece.

Michel Gondry – Snowbound – Donald Fagen (Partizan Classics 1993)

Spike Jonze is also a person with a brilliant career. He started his music video director career with clips from Sonic Youth and Chainsaw Kittens, but is better known for his work as a director of Fatboy Slim's "Weapon Of Choice" and for Weezer and Girl Skateboards. There is.

The popularity of guerrilla-like film makers, who create images for music from where nothing exists, led to the artist's own production of video. This is how the rise of lyric video began. Prince used to make lyric videos on "Sign" O "The Times", but now all artists from Avicii to Maroon 5, Adele and Ariana Grande are posting lyric videos. Even Queen has posted a lyric video with lyrics on a live recording from "On Air".

Queen–My Fairy King (Official Lyric Video) [Queen On Air]

David Bowie once spent the highest production costs on Ashes To Ashes, but when he started the movement, which emphasized budget over quality, he turned the video of "Love Is Lost" into a home-use movie camera. I used it and made it for only 8 pounds. Other than the time, it only cost $ 12.99 for a USB stick to store the finished video.

David Bowie – Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA – Edit)

Now anyone can make a video. Bob Dylan made a lyric video of the quote from his super-brain, which is now in a multi-million dollar format. When Bob Dylan said in 1995, "Anyone can make a video" (his son Jesse is a video of a wide variety of artists such as will.i.am, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits.を作っている）、辛辣な主張をしていたのかもしれない。しかし、既に精霊は瓶から飛び出した――手頃な家庭用機材を持ったYouTubeの「スター」が多数輩出されていることが、その証拠である。

Written By Max Bell

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