I think they showed videos on early episodes of Saturday Night Live. I remember seeing a film of Foreigner’s Cold as Ice and waiting for the funny…which never came. Very confusing to my seven-year-old-brain.
Pash
Oh thank you so much. As I was posting about Midnight Special, my brain sent up a mental snapshot of a guy with a bad combover standing in what appeared to be a recording booth. Since I was certain that wasn’t Wolfman, I shook my head and dispelled the image, but a couple times last night I caught myself thinking that guy was someone I should have recognized in association with music videos.
I too remember video clips on Saturday Night Live, but I THINK Midnight Special, Rock Concert and their ilk preceded that. I also think the video clips shown on cable networks between movies came about around the same time as MTV.
Oh come on you guys, music videos pre-date televsion. They were used as movie shorts (not just “performance” videos, but songs that had a setting and storyline as illustration.) In fact, many musicals (look at many Busby Berkeley movies, “Broadway Melody” from Singing in the Rain or the Jailhouse Rock performance by Elvis) had stagings so elaborate and out of context that the number could easily be clipped out of the movie and stand by itself.
As far as television goes, when Rick Nelson was being pushed as a rock and roller, he had performances tacked on to many episodes of Ozzie and Harriet and at least one, “Travelin’ Man” could be classed as a true video.
A decade later, the Monkees sometimes staged elaborate, storylined productions of their songs for their series. One of the most tedious parts of watching a Monkees marathon was seeing the same performance on several episodes in a row – something we didn’t think about when we had to wait a week between each episode.
And yes, American Bandstand and its numerous local imitators aired videos, both the performance variety and the “true video.”
As a Tori Amos fan, I find this statement highly offensive. 
I think you meant Toni Basil.
Now THAT is a video I want to see. Cheerleader Tori Amos. Mmmm…
Oh. Right. I think you mean Toni Basil.
http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/where_are_they_now/tonibasil.html
I’ve seen a video of a young Dylan flipping cards with key words from Subterranean Homesick Blues and wondered where that originally aired. I can’t imagine Bandstand picking that up.
That Dylan video is the opening sequence from a full length film called “Don’t Look Back.” This is a documentary of Dylan’s 1966 tour of Europe, and also includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.
Oh, and in the Subterrenean Homesick Blues video, that’s Allen Ginsberg wandering around in the background!
Have you ever seen the video for “The Big Picture” by Tori’s ill-fated group, Y Kant Tori Read?
Actually, no. 
The “Nightmare TV Special” that you’re thinking of (err, I think) was the one done up as an actual hour long show, right? Lotsa dancers in weird outfits, 70’s video production values, Vincent Price as the Curator, that whole bit.
After a bit o’ research, it seems the Midnight Special show was actually
[sub]From The Alice Cooper Trivia File[/sub]
I was talking about his first Midnight Special appearance, but I misremembered it as being a lot longer than ten minutes. “The Nightmare” did first run on TV in '75, but it wasn’t on MS, it was a one time special. Mea culpa. Chalk it up to brain cells lost in a misspent youth.
There was another video show in the early1980’s called “Friday Night Videos”. It came along about the same time MTV did, and was part of the video craze that MTV subsequently sewed up for itself.
In Canada, we had a show called “The New Music”, which aired stuff like the videos for Rush’s 2112 and Moving Pictures.
Thanks for the Dylan info, Jerrybear. I’ve long wondered the origin of that video.
I’ve seen the short films based on “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields,” but not for years and years and years. I’ve never seen “Paperback Writer” or “Rain.” Have these ever made it to DVD? Or video?
The 1956 film " The Girl Can’t Help It " ,with Jane Mansfield ,is basically plotless but with many music shorts. On here you can see the likes of The Platters, Little Richard , Gene Vincent and Julie London. I think I have seen some of these clips pop up on VH1
Skeezix just brought me back. I remember the HBO show distinctly but I couldn’t remember the name of it. My first recollection of a video was from that show in the last 70’s and the song was “I Want Candy”. It was a bunch of people playing on the beach. But I was like 7 at the time so the memories are very vague.
And, Friday Night Videos (on ABC at 11:30 IIRC) was right around the start of MTV as another poster said.
So, to the OP, I’d say people were producing videos just for these limited outlets, but it wasn’t nearly as widespread as it is today.
Skeezix was “hardware wars” the one where all the film wreaked havoc around the room or was that something different?
“I Want Candy” was by Bowowow. Released back in the early 80’s. 81? 83? Something like that.
Incidentally, right around the time Lucas was releasing the “special editions” of the original Star Wars trilogy, the creators of Hardwar Wars released their own “digitally enhanced” special edition. I have a copy on VHS. Very silly movie.
This is splitting hairs, but… That wasn’t so much a Foreigner video as a “Film by Gary Weis” (featuring the guest host, Sissy Spacek, twirling a baton) that happened to use “Cold as Ice” as its soundtrack. SNL did, however, run “This Song” and “Crackerbox Palace”, both by George Harrison, which are by some narrow technical definition the first two modern music videos.
[QUOTE=TrunkAnd, Friday Night Videos (on ABC at 11:30 IIRC) was right around the start of MTV as another poster said. QUOTE]
Not sure of the exact dates, but MTV definitely preceeded Friday Night Videos. Friday Night Videos’ first offering was “Money for Nothing”, which mentions MTV by name.
Absolutely right, [Skeezix**, I was thinking of the hour-long special.
Hey, out of the “Now ain’t THAT a coincedence” file, just before Kid, the Elder, got off the computer to give me a turn, he went over to his music file and handed me the headphones. Guess what he’d found?
Yep, 'ol Alice. “Welcome to me Nightmare”!! Without having the faintest idea about this thread. Then I went into my email and the first and only Straight Dope notice was…wait for it…
This thread!! Do do do do (Twilight Zone theme)
Another thing I just remembered , getting back more or less to the OP.
I saw a show sometime in the last couple of years that showed a few clips from “Video Jukeboxes”. These things were made, I think, in the Forties and Fifties, maybe earlier, and showed a filmed clip of a band or singer in a sort of peepshow like machine. Anyone ever see one?
Thanks, Walloon, and curse me for a lazy dog!
You have indeed found exactly the things I meant. “Soundies”, :smack:
Of course!