Ongoing History of New Music The Rise and Fall and Future of the Music Video - Part 1
Feb 25, 2026
A deep dive into how music videos became central to pop culture and reshaped visual storytelling. Traces early experiments from film-backed soundies to the first modern promos. Charts MTV's creation, its global influence, and how videos drove fashion, politics, and racial conversations. Looks at landmark high-budget clips and who funded the music video boom.
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Music Videos Exported Western Soft Power
- Music videos exported Western soft power globally, with MTV becoming one of the most influential cultural exporters.
- Cross emphasizes MTV's reach to hundreds of millions of homes as cultural dissemination rather than mere entertainment.
Early Visual Music Experiments Preceded MTV
- Early pioneers like Oscar Fischinger made abstract films syncing visuals to music in the 1920s and Warner Bros produced Spoonie Melodies in the 1930s.
- Cross traces a lineage from experimental shorts to Disney's Fantasia as precursors to modern music videos.
Video Jukeboxes Prefigured Music TV
- Video jukeboxes like the Scopatone in the 1960s played 16mm promotional films in bars and clubs, featuring tracks like Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made for Walking.
- Cross notes machine costs and limited installs, showing early commercial attempts to pair film with pop music.