Cool stuff, MK! Ian Bairnson, former Pilot (Parsons produced their first coupla albums....first, anyway)! Bairnson passed away just last April at 69. I was trying to remember the reason for music videos from the late '70s. Promo, obviously, but there were precious few places to play them for promotional purposes. They were certainly produced to show label staffers, especially the promo guys'n'gals to better understand the product, and to help decide which radio stations they'd push a single to. They'd also get played at regional and national label meetings and conventions.
Bowie made videos for "D.J." and "Boys Keep Swinging" in the late '70s, and my Houston record store happened to have a video playback system (with a hanging monitor for customer viewing), and we'd play both those frequently. The same had to be true for the Parsons, for the large market record stores (Tower, Sam Goody, etc) who had the set-up necessary.
Hall and Oates did the controversial one for She's Gone, and of course there's the famous one for Bohemian Rhapsody. They were both done to be aired on a tv show in place of a live lip synch and the latter proved so popular that it set the stage for videos to become standard.
That's a good point. I had forgotten that a TV drop-in was a popular (and productive) use for promo vids pre-'80s! I'm working on an "Inside Tracks" (dropping later this week) that actually includes a "staged" B&W music vid of a lip-synched performance (with acting elements and staging)....shot in 1967!! Watching it, you're likely to forget (I did!) how long before MTV it was shot!
I had no idea about the connection between Asimov and the album; that's pretty neat. I've always adored this song.
I didn't either. It's amazing what you find when you go down the rabbit hole!
Cool stuff, MK! Ian Bairnson, former Pilot (Parsons produced their first coupla albums....first, anyway)! Bairnson passed away just last April at 69. I was trying to remember the reason for music videos from the late '70s. Promo, obviously, but there were precious few places to play them for promotional purposes. They were certainly produced to show label staffers, especially the promo guys'n'gals to better understand the product, and to help decide which radio stations they'd push a single to. They'd also get played at regional and national label meetings and conventions.
Bowie made videos for "D.J." and "Boys Keep Swinging" in the late '70s, and my Houston record store happened to have a video playback system (with a hanging monitor for customer viewing), and we'd play both those frequently. The same had to be true for the Parsons, for the large market record stores (Tower, Sam Goody, etc) who had the set-up necessary.
Hall and Oates did the controversial one for She's Gone, and of course there's the famous one for Bohemian Rhapsody. They were both done to be aired on a tv show in place of a live lip synch and the latter proved so popular that it set the stage for videos to become standard.
That's a good point. I had forgotten that a TV drop-in was a popular (and productive) use for promo vids pre-'80s! I'm working on an "Inside Tracks" (dropping later this week) that actually includes a "staged" B&W music vid of a lip-synched performance (with acting elements and staging)....shot in 1967!! Watching it, you're likely to forget (I did!) how long before MTV it was shot!