Pick a Day

Music History Events: Music Videos

May 23, 1996 The video for Metallica's "Until It Sleeps" debuts, showing the band with short hair for the first time.More

September 8, 1994 Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil accept the Best Metal/Hard Rock Video Award at the MTV Video Music Awards for Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" clip, beating out Aerosmith ("Cryin'"), Anthrax ("Black Lodge"), and Rollins Band ("Liar").

November 13, 1993 Kate Bush debuts her musical short film The Line, The Cross & The Curve at the London Film Festival. The short, starring actress Miranda Richardson as a ballet dancer cursed by magic slippers, is an extended music video featuring songs from Bush's album The Red Shoes.

October 2, 1992 Madonna's racy "Erotica" video, featuring footage from the making of her Sex book, debuts on MTV. The clip, which features the sultry singer guiding viewers through increasingly sexual scenarios, airs just three times before being banned.

August 22, 1992 Madonna begins filming her "Erotica" video at The Kitchen in New York City.

August 15, 1991 Nirvana play a concert at The Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, where they invite fans to attend the shoot for their first video, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Hundreds of fans show up at the shoot, which takes place two days later; many are turned away.More

September 2, 1989 Thanks to a saucy Flashdance-inspired video directed by David Fincher, Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted" goes to #1 in America.More

June 6, 1989 Metallica issue their second home video, 2 Of One, which is comprised of two versions of their first music video, "One."

April 22, 1989 Public Enemy make the video for "Fight The Power," directed by Spike Lee, in Brooklyn. The shoot doubles as a rally, with locals joining in to serve as extras. The song later debuts on the soundtrack to Lee's film Do The Right Thing.

September 7, 1988 INXS, the new sensation from Australia, are the big winners at the MTV Video Music Awards, taking five trophies, including Video Of The Year, for "Need You Tonight/Mediate." The songs are separate tracks on the album but combined for the video; the "Mediate" part is an homage to Bob Dylan's 1965 "Subterranean Homesick Blues" film.

November 17, 1987 Metallica issue their first home video, Cliff 'Em All, which is comprised of both fan-filmed and pro-shot live performances prior to bass player Cliff Burton's death in a tour bus accident.

August 1, 1987 Guns N' Roses head to Park Plaza and 450 South La Brea in Hollywood and shoot their first video, for "Welcome To The Jungle."

October 9, 1985 With Steve Barron as their director, a-ha begin filming their music video for "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." at Saint Alban the Martyr Church and Udney Hall Gardens in Teddington, Middlesex, England.

October 3, 1981 Two months after MTV's debut, Blue Öyster Cult's "Burnin' For You" reaches its peak of #40 in the US - their first Top 40 since "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - thanks to a video shot in a Los Angeles culvert. Few American acts are making videos, so established rockers like BÖC and REO Speedwagon can get airtime. This changes a few years later when more photogenic artists make videos on a regular basis.

August 22, 1981 "Girls On Film" hits #5 in the UK, giving Duran Duran their breakthrough hit in Britain. It does not chart on its US release, but surges in popularity after its music video goes into heavy rotation on MTV. The clip, directed by Godley and Creme, has to be heavily edited for TV as it was only intended to be played in nightclubs and features adult themes and nudity.

January 25, 1980 The BET network goes on the air, providing a showcase for music videos by Black artists.

October 23, 1979 The Police shoot the video for "Walking On The Moon" in front of a Saturn V rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

November 10, 1975 Queen shoot the video for "Bohemian Rhapsody," which according to director Bruce Gowers, takes about four hours. It airs repeatedly on the British show Top Of The Pops and helps the song become one of the most popular in UK history.

October 12, 1972 Joseph Kahn is born Ahn Jun-hee in Busan, South Korea, but will be raised in the Jersey Village suburb of Houston, Texas. Kahn grows up to be the go-to director for pop videos of the late-'90s into the new millennium, helming clips for everyone from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Taylor Swift to Chris Brown and Eminem.More

October 15, 1970 Music video director Chris Cunningham is born in Reading, Berkshire, England. Before working with artists like Björk ("All Is Full Of Love"), Madonna ("Frozen"), and Aphex Twin ("Windowlicker"), Cunningham starts his film career in model-making and prosthetic make-up. Hand-picked by renowned director Stanley Kubrick, he does animatronic work on what becomes the Stephen Spielberg film AI: Artificial Intelligence.More

February 17, 1965 Samuel Bayer, who directs the videos for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Blind Melon's "No Rain," is born in Syracuse, New York.

January 31, 1964 Prolific music video director Sophie Muller is born in St Pancras, London, England. She'll get her start in the music biz directing several promos for the Eurythmics and their lead singer Annie Lennox before bringing her talent to a wide array of acts, including Sade, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Sarah McLachlan, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Birdy, Garbage, Radiohead, Kings of Leon, and many more.More

May 8, 1963 Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is born in Versailles, France. The imaginative director is also known for his surreal music videos for artists like Bjork, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, and others.More