IDEAS & TRENDS; After Music Videos, All the World Has Become a Screen
MTV probably didn't know its own strength when the cable channel started broadcasting music video clips day and night on Aug. 1, 1981. But as the end of the decade draws near, the fast pace and kaleidoscopic style of music video has ricocheted across popular culture, changing the way people listen to music and leaving its frenetic mark on movies, television, fashion, advertising and even television news.
By packaging unruly rock music for television, music video has brought rock and some of its energy to a wider, mainstream audience. Some musicians, their presence amplified by television, have marshalled listeners to support causes like saving the rain forests or fighting world hunger. At the same time, rock's new visibility has brought attacks from people who hadn't paid attention when the music was just noise on the radio.
MTV, or Music Television, didn't invent music video. The song-length juxtaposition of music and pictures has roots in Walt Disney's ''Fantasia'' and song-and-dance numbers in movie musicals. Rock's visual side was fitfully exploited in movies, from Elvis Presley in ''Jailhouse Rock'' to the Beatles in ''A Hard Day's Night.'' By the late 1970's record companies regularly produced promotional films or videotapes to give musicians exposure beyond their usual touring circuit.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/10/weekinreview/ideas-trends-after-music-videos-all-the-world-has-become-a-screen.html
I thought this article was really interesting! Its also interesting that today many fans of the amazing power MTV gave to music videos are disappointed that MTV doesn't show music videos really anymore. The only time to really see a music video on MTV is early in the morning, late at night, or during one of their countdown shows. I'd like to see a new focus brought back to the music video.
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