michael nesmith wasn't entirely wrong about people eventually consuming music primarily through on demand video, though youtube playlists and all that jazz
Charles Fleischer, one of the hosts from PopClips, also portrayed Terry, the mechanic at Western Auto in the 1989 film, "Back to the Future part II" who fixes Biff's car in 1955, and is seen earlier in the film working for the Hill Valley Preservation Society in 2015, commenting on the Chicago Cubs, who won the World Series in a sweep against the Miami Gators. In a deleted scene, in 2015, Terry confronts old man Biff and reminds him about 60 years ago, when was a mechanic, telling Biff he was "Not some kind of stable boy," in which old man Biff tells Terry to "shut up," the bickering between those two old men in that deleted scene from 2015 is in reference to when Terry repaired Biff's 1946 Ford Super De Luxe in 1955, which was covered from top to bottom in horse manure, which would later be elaborated on a scene in 1955 that did make it in the film...
The origins of music videos is a very long and interesting one, and often very muddled depending on who you want to believe was the granddaddy of them, as it was no doubt a combination of many different people and companies that added a little big here and there roughly over a period of 30-40 years prior to MTV. You had the "Soundies" of the 1940's, played through a jukebox like contraption that played musical shorts by different performers, a later version of that the Scopitone, rose to prominance in Europe in the 60's. You also had certain shows like The Monkees, or even the musical segments from cartoons shows like The Beatles (1965-68) and The Archies (1968-78) that attemped incopororating visual elements and plot to songs played. In Japan, a long-running NHK program "Minna no Uta" (1961-present) has also played with the notion of creating visual accompaniments to diffrent songs used (recent entires in the series probably owe more to the genesis of MTV than to the foundation it layed itself). Pop Clips, and the people behind putting it together, certainly was on the forefront of giving credance to what were probably seen as "Promotional Films" by record companies hoping any show would pick them up.
Don't forget, the role of the 'promotional films' which made it easier for bands to push their new singles without having to perform in countless TV studios around the world. This worked for the Beatles from Paperback Writer (1966) onwards - particularly as they were giving up live performance at the time. Go Now (1964) by the Moody Blues is often credited as one of the first promotional films of this type
Michael Nesmith wasn't interested in being an MTV exec, because he was already set for life as an heir to the "Liquid Paper" fortune-! His mum made sure he was sitting pretty!
In 1981 I led a poplular New Wave-Power Pop band in Los Angeles, called "The Bings". Around this time I watched Mike Nesmith's Elephant Parts", and I saw the future: New Wave music videos that told stories and used vivid imagery, like Mike was doing for the Adult Contemporary market. I approached our music agent, Don Podolor with my ideas for a music video album. Don listened, but wasn't impressed. So, he called his brother, record producer, Richard Podolor, and shared my concept. He got off the phone and said, "Ritchie and I agree. Your idea won't work until everyone has a VHS player in their home - and that won't be for 15 years." Since the Podolors were very big in the music industry, I figured they knew best, so I gave up my vision. We did end up with a video of a TV performance, but they just wanted us to stand on a soundstage and lip-sync to our record. In 1983 The Bings broke up. A year later the local cable company added MTV, and I saw all these music videos that were similar to my idea. I felt sick.
Jack Armstrong was a radio disc jockey when he wasn't presenting PopClips; compared to his radio persona, this is like watching Jack Armstrong on a wide open lithium drip.
I watched Pop Clips too. Discovered quite a few bands the radio here would never play. I've been a Kate Bush , Madness, and Squeeze fan just to name a few artists they played. This was back in 1980 for me. I was 11 years old back then.
Artsy and narrative music videos probably predate Rio at least as early as George Harrison's Crackerbox Palace, and the clips the Beatles made for television in their studio years.
Popclips was the highlight of the early days of cable for me. It made a lasting memory for me as a 9 year old kid. See, if you're able to endure the green vegetables during the day, then you get treated at night to the most delicious dessert on cable--Popclips. It opened up a whole new world to me I never knew existed. Nowhere else on cable could watch cutting edge British Rock acts such as the Specials and Squeeze. It was the one show that was only a half hour long, but had me begging for more (hooray, for MTV coming a year later!). The only disappointment I had about MTV, was they didn't show all the videos Popclips had. I wanted so bad to see the "Cool For Cats" video by Squeeze! MTV never showed that one 🤕
I find it very odd that I watched this video for the first time last night, after not thinking about Mike Nesmith for years, and he passed away today. What a crazy random happenstance!
It's so interesting to hear about ideas, projects, and the netwrok... faltering. I wish other modern media history stuff didn't skip straight to the champagne and limosines.
So the Music Video thing was mostly for shows like top of the pops and old grey whistle test right? I know bbc 2 did a video with dionne warrick for walk which was more singing in a fancy location than being framed on stage.
I really enjoy this series, your research is incomparable. That being said, I feel like sometimes you kind of get caught up in explaining the history of a certain topic and the pace kind of drags. I feel like the intro of this video could have been condensed a bit, like, I think even the average viewer is aware of the impact MTV had and at least some of what came before it. It's a minor nitpick, but I do enjoy your content and wanna see it evolve and grow.
I loved this show. It is how I found Pearl Harbor and The Explosions. I think Mike had the right idea. Video may have killed the radio star, but Mtv killed the music.
Yes I remember watching this way before mtv existed, my sister's and I would stay up all night long watching videos. I was only around 12 or 13 at the time, one of my favorite videos was from Madness the song One Step Beyond.....🤔
Loved it. Caught every show. First time seeing some of the coolest stuff from 1979 that we weren’t otherwise getting. TalkShow format LiveWire had cool musical guests, too.
Sounds like Warner was exploiting interviewers, farming their ideas, and telling them "yeah... we'll call you", before calling it an original creation because they mashed them together. A common story in the formation of corporate monopolies. LaserDisc is quite a bit older than Video Cassette. They're pretty influential to the formation of the Home Video format which initially not the market of tapes, which were made for recording and time shifting primarily. Home Video was a costly afterthought to tapes because they had to each be dubbed, taking the running length's worth of time to do, vs LD which could be pressed instantly.
Both MTV and Nickelodeon should have been the inventors of "marathon television". First, Nickelodeon back then already had 5 hours of Pinwheel nonstop to say the least (as of 1984, they were on 35 hours a week) and MTV had music videos 24/7.
wow had no idea nick had what was basically the template for MTV! I guess michael nesmith was on to something with that 'on demand' video thing, even if laserdiscs wouldn't last that long (and shout-out to don 'mr. wizard' herbert in the promo there, looking foward to getting to THAT episode of nick knacks!!
The Nez was way ahead of his time musically (Eagles took the pop-country crown not long after the National Band folded) and in music-videos and the concept of a show to present them. John Lack may have birthed MTV, but Nez produced all the instructional videos to teach him how to “conceive” MTV. You get my point.
In both today's and yesterday's uploads some of the clips have the audio only on the left or right channel. Could you try to convert those to mono in the future? They're really annoying to listen to on headphones. That aside I'm really enjoying this series, thanks for making it. I love how they have a row of DiscoVision/LaserDisc players and a Commodore PET in the background of the PopClips set. (Incidentally, the UA-cam channel Technology Connections is doing a series of videos on the history of LaserDisc right now that I can highly recommend.)
MrRadar It often can't be helped if some footage were purposely captured this way with the audio being on on side. Too many people who capture these videos don't know how to do it exact for a mono source to go through both channels.
Christopher Sobieniak I understand that, but poparena should still be able to edit the audio to convert it to mono when he's putting these videos together.
This came after what is to be said the first v j show fm TV 1978 79 80 it was successd by pop clips and m tv when it started but all the m tv vjs grew up with the Monkees
...but there were music videos across the ponds for years. I mean nesmith did basically kickstarted the American music video but he literally made it for European audiences...
RIP to Michael Nesmith and thanks for you contributions to the music industry.
michael nesmith wasn't entirely wrong about people eventually consuming music primarily through on demand video, though
youtube playlists and all that jazz
There's that (at least through places like VEVO).
I am very old, and I am having so many emotions right now.
Very.
Three years later, music returns to Nickelodeon as "Nick Rocks: Video To Go".
And in 1991, they tried to do it again with "The Nick Hit List".
Charles Fleischer, one of the hosts from PopClips, also portrayed Terry, the mechanic at Western Auto in the 1989 film, "Back to the Future part II" who fixes Biff's car in 1955, and is seen earlier in the film working for the Hill Valley Preservation Society in 2015, commenting on the Chicago Cubs, who won the World Series in a sweep against the Miami Gators.
In a deleted scene, in 2015, Terry confronts old man Biff and reminds him about 60 years ago, when was a mechanic, telling Biff he was "Not some kind of stable boy," in which old man Biff tells Terry to "shut up," the bickering between those two old men in that deleted scene from 2015 is in reference to when Terry repaired Biff's 1946 Ford Super De Luxe in 1955, which was covered from top to bottom in horse manure, which would later be elaborated on a scene in 1955 that did make it in the film...
The origins of music videos is a very long and interesting one, and often very muddled depending on who you want to believe was the granddaddy of them, as it was no doubt a combination of many different people and companies that added a little big here and there roughly over a period of 30-40 years prior to MTV. You had the "Soundies" of the 1940's, played through a jukebox like contraption that played musical shorts by different performers, a later version of that the Scopitone, rose to prominance in Europe in the 60's. You also had certain shows like The Monkees, or even the musical segments from cartoons shows like The Beatles (1965-68) and The Archies (1968-78) that attemped incopororating visual elements and plot to songs played. In Japan, a long-running NHK program "Minna no Uta" (1961-present) has also played with the notion of creating visual accompaniments to diffrent songs used (recent entires in the series probably owe more to the genesis of MTV than to the foundation it layed itself). Pop Clips, and the people behind putting it together, certainly was on the forefront of giving credance to what were probably seen as "Promotional Films" by record companies hoping any show would pick them up.
Don't forget, the role of the 'promotional films' which made it easier for bands to push their new singles without having to perform in countless TV studios around the world. This worked for the Beatles from Paperback Writer (1966) onwards - particularly as they were giving up live performance at the time.
Go Now (1964) by the Moody Blues is often credited as one of the first promotional films of this type
@@jpmaytum Thank you for the info!
Ironic since MTV gave the Monkees the cold shoulder in 87, after being the channel’s favorite band in 86.
Michael Nesmith wasn't interested in being an MTV exec, because he was already set for life as an heir to the "Liquid Paper" fortune-! His mum made sure he was sitting pretty!
In 1981 I led a poplular New Wave-Power Pop band in Los Angeles, called "The Bings". Around this time I watched Mike Nesmith's Elephant Parts", and I saw the future: New Wave music videos that told stories and used vivid imagery, like Mike was doing for the Adult Contemporary market. I approached our music agent, Don Podolor with my ideas for a music video album. Don listened, but wasn't impressed. So, he called his brother, record producer, Richard Podolor, and shared my concept.
He got off the phone and said, "Ritchie and I agree. Your idea won't work until everyone has a VHS player in their home - and that won't be for 15 years." Since the Podolors were very big in the music industry, I figured they knew best, so I gave up my vision. We did end up with a video of a TV performance, but they just wanted us to stand on a soundstage and lip-sync to our record. In 1983 The Bings broke up. A year later the local cable company added MTV, and I saw all these music videos that were similar to my idea. I felt sick.
Jack Armstrong was a radio disc jockey when he wasn't presenting PopClips; compared to his radio persona, this is like watching Jack Armstrong on a wide open lithium drip.
Of some niche interest, Michael Nesmith wrote a long called "Joanne", which my deceased mother loved as that was her name.
I love that song. I still have my copy on 45!
What's her name now?
@@claymitchell5007 She passed away 15 years ago.
I watched Pop Clips too. Discovered quite a few bands the radio here would never play. I've been a Kate Bush , Madness, and Squeeze fan just to name a few artists they played. This was back in 1980 for me. I was 11 years old back then.
Artsy and narrative music videos probably predate Rio at least as early as George Harrison's Crackerbox Palace, and the clips the Beatles made for television in their studio years.
I loved watching Pop clips. What a great show
RIP Mike Nesmith
The first music video show on Nickelodeon.
Popclips was the highlight of the early days of cable for me. It made a lasting memory for me as a 9 year old kid. See, if you're able to endure the green vegetables during the day, then you get treated at night to the most delicious dessert on cable--Popclips. It opened up a whole new world to me I never knew existed. Nowhere else on cable could watch cutting edge British Rock acts such as the Specials and Squeeze. It was the one show that was only a half hour long, but had me begging for more (hooray, for MTV coming a year later!). The only disappointment I had about MTV, was they didn't show all the videos Popclips had. I wanted so bad to see the "Cool For Cats" video by Squeeze! MTV never showed that one 🤕
Of course you close on Video Killed the Radio Star. XD Perfect end to a fascinating video!
I like the song but I prefer the version from The Wedding Singer more. In my opinion the cover used in the movie sounds way better.
Its always a pleasure to see this notification
Really fantastic work on a topic I didn't think I would care about. Keep up the great work, man.
Rio is a really good song
The girl in the red overalls in the Video Killed The Radio Star video is probably in her late 40's or early to mid 50's.
I find it very odd that I watched this video for the first time last night, after not thinking about Mike Nesmith for years, and he passed away today. What a crazy random happenstance!
Yup. I was just watching video of his last tour with dolenz and thought he was looking pretty frail. 😟
It's so interesting to hear about ideas, projects, and the netwrok... faltering. I wish other modern media history stuff didn't skip straight to the champagne and limosines.
This guys voice narrating sounds like the guy from the abandoned videos🤔
oh shoot, thats a commodore pet in the background of popclips. so swag
So the Music Video thing was mostly for shows like top of the pops and old grey whistle test right? I know bbc 2 did a video with dionne warrick for walk which was more singing in a fancy location than being framed on stage.
I really enjoy this series, your research is incomparable. That being said, I feel like sometimes you kind of get caught up in explaining the history of a certain topic and the pace kind of drags. I feel like the intro of this video could have been condensed a bit, like, I think even the average viewer is aware of the impact MTV had and at least some of what came before it. It's a minor nitpick, but I do enjoy your content and wanna see it evolve and grow.
History is written by the victors, but what happens when many different people win at once?
I loved this show. It is how I found Pearl Harbor and The Explosions. I think Mike had the right idea. Video may have killed the radio star, but Mtv killed the music.
Yes I remember watching this way before mtv existed, my sister's and I would stay up all night long watching videos. I was only around 12 or 13 at the time, one of my favorite videos was from Madness the song One Step Beyond.....🤔
Loved it. Caught every show. First time seeing some of the coolest stuff from 1979 that we weren’t otherwise getting.
TalkShow format LiveWire had cool musical guests, too.
Sounds like Warner was exploiting interviewers, farming their ideas, and telling them "yeah... we'll call you", before calling it an original creation because they mashed them together. A common story in the formation of corporate monopolies.
LaserDisc is quite a bit older than Video Cassette. They're pretty influential to the formation of the Home Video format which initially not the market of tapes, which were made for recording and time shifting primarily. Home Video was a costly afterthought to tapes because they had to each be dubbed, taking the running length's worth of time to do, vs LD which could be pressed instantly.
You mentioned the listening to televisions and treating them as radios i sometimes just listen to these as podcasts lol
Both MTV and Nickelodeon should have been the inventors of "marathon television". First, Nickelodeon back then already had 5 hours of Pinwheel nonstop to say the least (as of 1984, they were on 35 hours a week) and MTV had music videos 24/7.
"like if someone had converted a TARDIS into a trendy Japanese cafe" is a yiffing brilliant line
Awesome video interesting info🙂
Fascinating video, Greg! I really appreciate how much research you put into all of your videos, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this one!
wow had no idea nick had what was basically the template for MTV! I guess michael nesmith was on to something with that 'on demand' video thing, even if laserdiscs wouldn't last that long (and shout-out to don 'mr. wizard' herbert in the promo there, looking foward to getting to THAT episode of nick knacks!!
The Nez was way ahead of his time musically (Eagles took the pop-country crown not long after the National Band folded) and in music-videos and the concept of a show to present them. John Lack may have birthed MTV, but Nez produced all the instructional videos to teach him how to “conceive” MTV. You get my point.
I was born during the VJ era and was a teen during some of the TRL era
what is the name of the song at 2; 37
In both today's and yesterday's uploads some of the clips have the audio only on the left or right channel. Could you try to convert those to mono in the future? They're really annoying to listen to on headphones.
That aside I'm really enjoying this series, thanks for making it. I love how they have a row of DiscoVision/LaserDisc players and a Commodore PET in the background of the PopClips set. (Incidentally, the UA-cam channel Technology Connections is doing a series of videos on the history of LaserDisc right now that I can highly recommend.)
MrRadar It often can't be helped if some footage were purposely captured this way with the audio being on on side. Too many people who capture these videos don't know how to do it exact for a mono source to go through both channels.
Christopher Sobieniak I understand that, but poparena should still be able to edit the audio to convert it to mono when he's putting these videos together.
Heh, I was just going to said something about the audio.
Ok! That makes sense why they got to have Kenan and Kel some years ago.
Such a Byzantine web history and creation credits can be. I think Nesmith's claims have some merit he could at least be labeled as an influence.
Except MTV no longer plays videos.
The lack of upspeak in the narration is very refreshing. However, Michael Nesmith was a great songwriter.
Next time, a puppet show with 8 emmys. WOW!
This came after what is to be said the first v j show fm TV 1978 79 80 it was successd by pop clips and m tv when it started but all the m tv vjs grew up with the Monkees
Oh, I thought this was an episode of the show, not the entire history of everything and everyone.
nick music 2002
Wrong!!!....Nesmith DID invent the music video and MTV would never come about without Michael Nesmith’s brilliant idea! PERIOD!!
I'm sure plenty of us do think this way!
On the other hand, Nilsson's weird film for "Coconut" was from 1971. Is that an invalid candidate?
What about David Bowie's original video for"Space Oddity". It is from 1969.
Amen!!
...but there were music videos across the ponds for years. I mean nesmith did basically kickstarted the American music video but he literally made it for European audiences...