Pick a Day

Music History Events: Music Videos

July 6, 1988 MTV refuses to play Neil Young's video for "This Note's For You," citing a policy against videos that mention products. The video is a parody of various ad campaigns, with lyrics mentioning Coke, Pepsi, Miller and Bud.More

March 12, 1988 Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" hits #1 in the US. The video, which shows a buttoned-up Astley singing his way around London, does well on VH1, but really takes off two decades later with the Rickrolling trend, as webmasters point links to the song's YouTube video to trick unsuspecting readers into watching it.

September 19, 1987 The Grateful Dead hit #10 on the US Hot 100 with "Touch Of Grey," the only hit song for the band.More

May 9, 1987 The Grateful Dead shoot the video for "Touch Of Grey" after a concert in Monterey, California. After the show, the shoot is set up and the audience brought back in to watch two different performances of the song: one by the band and another by their skeleton likenesses - the "Dead Ringers." It's the first music video by the band, and it goes into rotation on MTV, giving the group their first hit single.

May 3, 1986 Propelled by a memorable video where lookalike models vamp the song, Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love" hits #1 on the Hot 100.More

October 19, 1985 Thanks to an innovative video that takes place in a comic book, "Take On Me" gives the Norwegian group a-ha a #1 hit in America.More

January 28, 1985 With the stars in town for the American Music Awards, "We Are The World" is recorded in Los Angeles, with cameras rolling for the video.More

September 14, 1984 At the very first MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna performs "Like A Virgin" in a white wedding gown accessorized by her famous "Boy Toy" belt.More

June 29, 1984 After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen does it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, he brings a doe-eyed, 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him.More

December 2, 1983 Michael Jackson's 14-minute "Thriller" video debuts on MTV. Directed by John Landis, the short film shows Michael Jackson turning into a werewolf and leading a dance routine with various undead creatures.More

November 14, 1983 Michael Jackson's 14-minute film Thriller debuts at the Metro Crest Theater in Los Angeles. Directed by John Landis, the short film will become the most popular video in MTV history when the network begins airing it in December. Many of Jackson's famous friends show up at the premiere, including Diana Ross, Eddie Murphy and Warren Beatty. The film gets a standing ovation and the crowd demands an encore, which is granted.

May 21, 1983 ZZ Top release their video for "Gimme All Your Lovin'," marking the first appearance of the Eliminator, Billy Gibbons' 1933 Ford Hot Rod. The car appears in three other ZZ Top videos and becomes closely associated with the band. Gibbons has another one built just like it to bring on tour.More

March 26, 1983 Thanks to heavy rotation on MTV, Duran Duran have their first American hit when "Hungry Like The Wolf" hits #3 on the Hot 100.More

August 12, 1982 The "Performance Video" exhibition opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The exhibition, which explores how musicians present their work in "the shallow focal area directly in front of the video camera," includes the music videos for "Mickey" by Toni Basil and "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads.

August 1, 1981 MTV goes on the air, bringing music videos to the masses - at least the ones with cable.More

June 4, 1979 Fleetwood Mac record the USC Trojan Marching Band at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for use in their song "Tusk," the title track to their first album since Rumours. A film crew captures the action (including Stevie Nicks deftly twirling a baton) which is made into the video for the song.More

May 8, 1965 D.A. Pennebaker films Bob Dylan in one of the earliest music videos ever shot, the famous "flashcard" clip for "Subterranean Homesick Blues."More

April 5, 1961 On The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet episode "A Question of Suits and Ties," Ricky Nelson sings "Travelin' Man" in what could be considered the first music video.More

November 3, 2023 Sixty-five years after it was first released, Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" gets an official music video, with Trisha Yearwood, Tanya Tucker and Santa Claus all joining Lee. The video helps send the song to #1 a few weeks later.

May 6, 2014 Sia releases the video for "Chandelier." Being very fame-averse, she isn't in it. Instead, 11-year-old Maddie Ziegler of the reality series Dance Moms does a dance routine while wearing Sia's signature wig. It becomes one of the most popular videos on YouTube, amassing over 2 billion views and pushing Sia's album 1000 Forms Of Fear to #1.

March 26, 2009 Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy hosts the MTV Australia Awards. His band wins Best Rock Video for "I Don't Care," while Pink's "So What" takes Best Video.

September 7, 2008 MTV makes up for trotting out a lethargic Britney Spears to open their previous year's Video Music Awards by giving her three awards for "Piece Of Me." Kanye West also debuts "Love Lockdown" on the show.

May 9, 2005 The music video for Stevie Wonder's "So What The Fuss" is issued with a descriptive audio track by Busta Rhymes for the visually-impaired.

September 29, 2003 "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne is released. The music video stars model/actress Rachel Hunter, who plays Stacy's mom - the obsession of her teenage daughter's friend.

June 4, 2002 George Michael is jeered and heckled by the audience of a CNN news show as he defends the video for his new single "Shoot The Dog," in which US President George Bush is shown in bed with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Michael says it is an attack on Blair and not President Bush.

September 21, 2000 Canadian rock group the Matthew Good Band is the big winner at the MuchMusic Video Awards, Canada's annual music video competition. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based group collects prizes for Best Rock Video and Best Video for its "Load Me Up" single.

October 5, 1998 HBO is the home of the world premiere of Janet Jackson's new music video "Every Time." The premiere takes place just before the 8 p.m. showing of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and serves as a prelude to HBO's premiere of the live concert special from Madison Square Garden, Janet: The Velvet Rope.

September 26, 1998 MTV Russia debuts at midnight with Prodigy Live in Moscow, a concert taped in spring 1997. The first Russian video on the network is Mummy Troll's "Vladivostock 2000."

September 2, 1993 Stone Temple Pilots win Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards for "Plush." Also at the ceremony, Snoop Doggy Dogg is arrested for his role in a shooting a week earlier. He posts bail and is found innocent in 1996.

August 1, 1987 MTV Europe makes its debut. The first video shown is Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing," a song where Sting proclaims, "I want my MTV."