Stephen Carter wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 18 Jan 2000 20:59:22 GMT, R Lapworth
> <rlapworth@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > Thus they invented the pop video back in 1965
> >(that's my contention, and I'm sticking to it.)
> 
> Agreed.
> 
> All this tosh about Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody drives me
> crazy!

Being something of a Fabs fan myself (they occasionally cross
my mind...every seventeen seconds or so), I'd be more pleased
to have the Beatles knighted with the appellation of Supreme
Inventors of the Music Video. But it's hard to do that when
there are other legitimate contenders for the honor.

It's hard to narrow down the category when you realize that
song promotion has been taking place in a visual medium since
the late nineteen-twenties, possibly earlier (I've seen some
experimental early sound short-features from 1923 that
showcase a jazz band and its sound; feature films weren't
filmed with sound until 1927, but there were earlier examples
of synchronized film and sound recording).

If you don't insist too strongly that the music promo must be
on "video" (the Fabs' efforts were on film, of course), and if
you are adamant that the promo should involve popular music,
we can go back to the nineteen-thirties and a decade later for
the Scopitone jukeboxes, popularly known as "soundies", which
showcased a band or singer performing his or her potential hit
of the day. Like an audio jukebox, you could put in your coins
and see (on a small projector) a 16mm short film of big-band
or pop artists performing their works.

One short feature that stands out in my mind was produced by
George Pal (of the Puppetoons), and showcases a song by Duke
Elligton; this would have been shown in theatres prior to
newsreels and the main double-feature, c. 1947. 

Come to think of it, a number of animated features created by
Warner Bros., Paramount, and UPA in the nineteen-thirties were
technically music promos as well, designed specifically to
illustrate and promote a particular song then showcased in a
major movie release. Do those count?

There's even been some compelling theorizing put forth that
the music bits at the end of the fifties-and-sixties American
sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet", showcasing their
son, singer Rick Nelson, constituted the first actual
rock-and-roll music promo (although broadcast on TV, the shows
were filmed, so these aren't on video stock either).

A number of rock-and-roll films of the fifties and sixties
exhibit performances which, taken separately, would easily
slip into the category of standard song promotion (Richard
Lester's 1962 feature "It's Trad, Dad", has a minimal plot and
consists of music sequences strung together, as does 1958's
"Serious Charge", with Cliff Richard; and there are a number
of teen-oriented American films from the era that do the
same).

If you narrow the definition to footage for musical promotion,
created specifically for television broadcast on teen music
shows, that would effectively eliminate Rick Nelson (whose
parents' show was technically family-oriented), but I'm not
sure that would be the best solution. 

However, if any of the popular American or British TV music
shows ("American Bandstand" in the U.S., "6.5 Special" and "Oh
Boy!" in the UK) presented filmed music promos in their early
sixties telecasts...that would eliminate the Beatles as
contenders as well, even their earliest music promos (from
August and November 1963, which predates the fine work done by
Michael Lindsay-Hogg on "Paperback Writer"/"Rain").

I can certainly agree with my esteemed colleagues above, Mr.
Lapworth and Mr. Carter, that Queen were latecomers to the
genre. :-)

-- 
"I've been thinking about the good old days,
decorated in a candy glaze...."
-------------------------------
saki@ucla.edu