Music videos used to be the lifeblood of MTV and pop culture. While videos on YouTube are still wildly popular, the art form has suffered over the past decade as MTV and VH1 have moved away from showing them. Frankly, I miss when music videos were important.

"Life on Mars" by David Bowie (1973)


33. "Let's Fall in Love for the Night" by FINNEAS
Subscriber Account active since. Plenty of artists use music videos to simply generate buzz or rack up streaming numbers. But on rarer occasions, a music video can revitalize a fledgling single , introduce a new aesthetic era, or act as a vehicle for deeper self-expression.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen (1975)
Subscriber Account active since. From Michael Jackson's zombie dance in "Thriller" to Miley Cyrus' naked wrecking ball ride, certain visuals stay with the viewer long after the video has ended. The "Life on Mars" music video was filmed for the song's release as a single. It's incredibly simple, with David Bowie just standing in front of a white background for most of it, but with his orange hair, powder blue suit, and blue eye shadow, the visuals are vibrant and mesmerizing. Watch the video here.
A music video is a short film that integrates a song with imagery, and is produced for promotional or artistic purposes. There are also cases where songs are used in tie-in marketing campaigns that allow them to become more than just a song. Tie-ins and merchandising can be used for toys or for food or other products. Although the origins of the music video date back to musical short films that first appeared in the s, they again came into prominence in the s when the channel MTV originally "Music Television" based its format around the medium. Prior to the s, these kinds of videos were described by various terms including " illustrated song ", "filmed insert", "promotional promo film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip". Music videos use a wide range of styles and contemporary video-making techniques, including animation , live action , documentary , and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film.