Has anyone ever been listening to an old song and wondered what the video-makers would have done with it? I was listening to the Stone’s “Satisfaction” the other day and imagining a video where Mick was going from situation to situation, trying to get lucky in various ways, and not having any luck at all. My imaginary video was pretty funny, and I thought I’d start a thread and see what you guys could come up with.
IIRC, Devo did the very video you’re trying to imagine.
Who’s Devo? Was his video done to a cover of that tune? I’m not looking for history, I just thought it might be fun for peole to imagine how they might have made videos to songs way back when there were no videos. I do it all the time.
Well, that’s it. I’m officially old.
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What makes you think there were no videos? Once The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, they frequently made promotional films for their songs. They had them shown on shows like Ed Sullivan, “American Bandstand,” and “Ready, Steady Go!” Just because there was no MTV doesn’t mean bands weren’t taking advantage of various media.
No, pldennison, I think I’m old. I know who Devo is, I think, and I know videos have been made using old concert and documentary footage, but that’s different from taking the story of the sing, or its theme, and making a video out of it. What I was hoping to see was how you might make a video of, say, Jim Croce’s “Operator” or Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”. Songs like those, when I hear them, create visual images in my mind of the actions that are being described, and I imagine videos, using modern actors and video techniques. That’s what I was getting at.
Didn’t the Bee Gees do a video for “Staying Alive”? I know I’ve seen bits of it quite a number of times on VH1, or was that footage just something they did for a Bee Gees TV special or something to that effect?
There used to be jukeboxes that would play films to the music, I saw a special once on these ancestors of the music video, they go back to the early '60s I think…
I’ve seen that ‘Stayin’ Alive’ video too. Pretty cheesey. 8^)
I remember watching a proto-MTV back in the late 1960s called “Music Connnection,” which showed actual music videos for pop songs.
Plus, you can count as “music videos” such moments as “Lullabye of Broadway,” “The Continental,” etc., from any Hollywood musical.
Even earlier. IIRC, those “video jukeboxes” date to the early 50’s, or maybe even the 40’s. Nat King Cole was a big star of those machines, and there are still a lot of clips of his video performances. In fact, I think Natalie Cole’s video of “Unforgettable” used splices of one of her father’s old juke box videos.
Most of the old juke box videos seem to be R&B acts. Dunno why.
Eve, there was a similar late 60’s show produced in Atlanta. In fact, it may even be the one you’re talking about, as I believe the show was carried in New York as well. There was an article in the Atlanta Journal on this show not to long ago. I’ll see if I can dig it up.