Personal Opinions. The Prodigy - Firestarter. Keane - Bedshaped. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy. Michael Jackson - Thriller. Most iconic music videos of the past 25 years. Iconic Videos of 2011-1997. The 30 Best Music Videos Ever: Poll Results. Three weeks ago, in anticipation of MTV's 30th birthday today (Aug. 1), we asked our readers to celebrate three decades of music television by voting on the best videos of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, each week in a separate poll.
Now, we are proud to present the top ten of each decade, as voted by you, the Billboard.com readers. With the launch of MTV thirty years ago, video took on a new role in the music world -- and as the first song played on the cable network (The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star") declared, video did, indeed, kill the radio star. At the time of its launch, the cable channel's reach was minimal, initially airing a small collection of music videos in selected New Jersey markets. Within a few years, however, music videos became standard practice for artists both big and small. Iconic Videos of the 1980s, 1990s and 200s. Early Evidence of Music Videos. Thirty years ago today, the television network MTV launched, marking the dawn of what many consider the music video’s heyday. But it may come as a surprise that the genre itself has a much longer timeline that stretches as far back as the late 19th century. Find out more about key moments in music video history that paved the way for MTV’s debut on August 1, 1981, when the pioneering channel fittingly and famously aired The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” 1895: The “first” music video is filmed at Thomas Edison’s studio The oldest known film with music was made for the Kinetophone, a device developed by Thomas Edison’s lab that showed moving pictures and was also fitted out with a phonograph.
In the film, its inventor, William Dickson, plays music from a popular operetta on a violin as two men dance beside him. 1974: Australia paves the way with “Countdown” and “Sounds” Two weekly teen-oriented music programs premiered in Australia in 1974. The First Real Music Videos? MTV's First 10 Music Videos Aired.