Music Videos in History - Iconic Imagery and Artistic Vision

Thriller - Michael Jackson 
In 1983 Michael Jackson released a thirteen minute music video, directed by John Landis, for his song 'Thriller'.
The video has been voted the most influential music video of all time and was named "A watershed moment for the music industry".
Costing almost $1m dollars to make, it took the idea behind the music videos to a whole new level. Thriller had Hollywood movie narrative conventions, more specifically into the horror genre. It made the video more of a short film and a chance for new directors to get into the business. It had become more of a form of entertainment making it more of a promotional weapon when it came to selling the tracks.
Along with making this music video Michael Jackson created iconic imagery. The red jacket, the zombies and the dance routine have become world famous and can be instantly recognised.



Vogue - Madonna
Along with 'Thriller' creating iconic imagery, Madonna created her own with the music video for her song 'Vogue'.  The music video then became more important than song. The music video created reference to values of 1940's upper class civilisation and especially the fashion magazine under the same name as the song.
'Vogue' also now started to look more into the performance of an artist, with the music and the dance becoming very iconic in clubs around the world. The famous line 'Strike a pose' is a worldwide phenomenon the hand actions are easily recognisable.

The two music videos have become very influential in modern performance based videos.




Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
With the music video for Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel created a groundbreaking product. No video had ever been made like it before and he is pushing the boundaries on what can actually be done. He creates an artistic vision using techniques such as stop frame animation. This then in turn creates a whole new meaning for the future of music videos, they can be done to show the true identity of the artist, like in this music video Gabriel is saying that he is 'artistic and groundbreaking'.
Again with this music video it reiterates the fact that a music video was there to be enjoyed by the audience and became more important than the song itself;people where not only talking about the artiste but about the music video as well creating a whole new era for music.
These three music videos paved the way for the future of the medium.