Since its widely recognised birth on 31st October 1975 with Bohemian Rhapsody the Music Video has come a long way. There have been a handful of groundbreaking videos that have really pushed the boundaries and have made Music videos what they are today. An example of a ground breaking music video is Madonna’s Like A Prayer
Although the song is generally considered a good song, the song is highlighted more and has a higher level of popularity because of the controversy surrounding it. In the video Madonna depicts Jesus as a black male, uses a black gospel choir and even shows a St. Peter as a black female in heaven. When the song was released in 1989, racial divides were more prominent in the media industry. This caused widespread controversy as the general idea of Jesus is a white male. The video was described as “Blasphemous” by The Vatican and as such is a ground breaking video.
Another example of a ground breaking video is OK Go’s – Here it goes again Although neither the song, nor the band are typically mainstream, it gained major mainstream success due to the nature of the video. As you can see from the video, it involves a very elaborate choreographed dance routine that appears to have been meticulously planned. This kind of complex music video had not been seen before and is a factor in the reason why it enjoyed so much worldwide success.
My final example of a ground-breaking music video a classic: a-ha’s Take On Me This song has achieved it’s groundbreaking status from it’s content. The video features a high level of interaction between real life and animation. When this video was released this strategy had not been produced before.
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