50 Fun Facts About Music Video

Which Buggles song was the first clip ever played on MTV when the channel launched in 1981?

The Buggles clip aired at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981. The song was written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley, and Woolley recorded his own version the same year.

Who directed Michael Jackson's 1983 'Thriller' video?

Jackson called Landis after seeing An American Werewolf in London. Ola Ray, a former Playboy Playmate, was cast as his date because, Landis said, she was 'crazy for Michael.'

In 2009, 'Thriller' became the first music video added to which American archive?

The Library of Congress called it the most famous music video of all time. Its $900,000 budget was far larger than any video before it.

The pencil-sketch animation in a-ha's 'Take On Me' video was created using which technique?

Director Steve Barron shot live action that animators then drew over frame by frame, a process that took six months. In 2024 it became the first 1980s video to hit two billion YouTube views.

Which video holds the record for most MTV Video Music Awards won by a single clip, with nine in 1987?

Peter Gabriel's clip used claymation, pixilation and stop motion by Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay. Time magazine has called it the most-played video in MTV history.

Which animation studio, later famous for Wallace and Gromit, worked on Peter Gabriel's most famous video?

Aardman and the Brothers Quay animated the fruit, fish and dancing chickens around Gabriel's face, frame by frame.

Queen's 1975 'Bohemian Rhapsody' promo video let the band appear on which TV show without playing live?

Bruce Gowers directed it, and it is widely credited with pushing forward the music video as a medium. Freddie Mercury played a Bechstein concert grand in the clip.

Which video was the first on YouTube to reach one billion views, in December 2012?

Psy's clip had drawn about 500,000 views on its first day. YouTube marked the milestone with a cartoon dancing Psy next to the view counter.

Which video overtook 'Despacito' in November 2020 to become the most-viewed on YouTube?

Pinkfong, a South Korean company, released its version in June 2016. The clip is also the third most-liked video on the platform.

The 'Despacito' video was filmed in the La Perla neighborhood of which city?

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee also shot at the bar La Factoría, and tour operators credit the video with a surge of interest in both locations.

Which Guns N' Roses video was the first pre-YouTube video to pass a billion views?

Axl Rose's then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour played the bride. It hit two billion views in 2023, the oldest song to do so.

Guinness World Records listed which 1995 video, costing $7 million, as the most expensive ever made?

Director Mark Romanek disputes the title and says two other videos of the era cost millions more. It won the Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form.

Which director made Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' video, winner of a record seven VMAs in 2010?

Lawrence, later director of The Hunger Games sequels, set it in a surreal white bathhouse. It received ten VMA nominations, also a record at the time.

Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies' choreography was inspired by a 1969 routine by which choreographer?

The routine, 'Mexican Breakfast,' featured Fosse's wife Gwen Verdon on The Ed Sullivan Show. Jake Nava shot the video in black and white in New York.

Whose 2009 VMAs acceptance speech did Kanye West interrupt to praise 'Single Ladies'?

He grabbed the microphone, shrugged and walked off. Swift has since won more VMAs than any other artist.

Which actor dances through an empty hotel lobby in Fatboy Slim's 'Weapon of Choice' video?

Walken trained as a dancer in musical theatre before he became an actor. Spike Jonze directed the clip.

OK Go's 'Here It Goes Again' video, which won a Grammy in 2007, features the band dancing on what?

The single-take clip also won the 2006 YouTube award for Most Creative Video and became one of the site's first viral hits.

Johnny Cash's acclaimed 2002 video 'Hurt' was a cover of a song originally by which band?

Mark Romanek's video, mixing footage from Cash's life with shots of the aging singer, was named best video of the year by the Grammys and CMA Awards and best of all time by NME in 2011.

Which poet helped write the cue cards Dylan flips in the 1965 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' clip?

Donovan and Bob Neuwirth also lettered cards. The clip opens D. A. Pennebaker's documentary Dont Look Back and was later parodied by 'Weird Al' Yankovic in 'Bob.'

The MTV Video Music Award statuette depicts what?

Long nicknamed the 'moonman,' MTV has officially called it a 'moon person' since 2017. The first ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in 1984.

At the first VMAs in 1984, Madonna performed 'Like a Virgin' wearing what?

Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera recreated the look on the same wedding-cake set at the 2003 ceremony, 19 years later.

Weezer's 'Buddy Holly' video splices the band into footage from which sitcom?

Al Molinaro appears as Al Delvecchio to introduce 'Kenosha, Wisconsin's own Weezer.' The Spike Jonze clip shipped as a bonus file on the Windows 95 CD-ROM.

Who directed Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' video?

Murai, Donald Glover's frequent collaborator on Atlanta, won the Grammy for Best Music Video, one of the song's four wins that night.

Which Dire Straits video, an early use of computer-animated humans, was MTV Europe's first in 1987?

Sting sings the falsetto 'I want my MTV' hook to the tune of the Police's 'Don't Stand So Close to Me.' Steve Barron, who also made 'Take On Me,' directed it.

Which future Hollywood director shot Madonna's black-and-white 'Vogue' video in just 16 hours?

Fincher had already directed 'Express Yourself' and 'Oh Father' for her. She was rehearsing the Blond Ambition tour at the time.

Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video is set at what kind of event?

It was the first video by director Samuel Bayer. Kurt Cobain had most of the teacher and principal footage cut, keeping the janitor dancing with a broom.

Vevo, launched in December 2009, began as a joint venture among Universal, Sony and which other label?

Warner was expected to join but instead allied with MTV Networks. Vevo premieres became the standard launch for big-budget videos in the 2010s.

Which photographer directed Miley Cyrus's record-setting 'Wrecking Ball' video in 2013?

It drew more than 19 million views in its first day. The song was Cyrus's first number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Which comedian appears in the 'Old Town Road' video alongside Diplo, Vince Staples and Rico Nasty?

Calmatic directed the clip, which follows Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus from 1889 into the present day. The remix won the Grammy for Best Music Video.

Beyoncé's 'Formation' video, directed by Melina Matsoukas, is set in which city?

She performed the song the day after its release during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show headlined by Coldplay.

The '...Baby One More Time' video was set in a high school at whose insistence?

The label's original concept was an animated Power Rangers-style clip. Spears argued the video should reflect her fans' lives, and the schoolgirl outfit became a defining late-90s look.

In Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' video, Beyoncé and Gaga drive off in a truck borrowed from which film?

Jonas Åkerlund shot the whole thing in two days, including diner scenes at the Four Aces Motel in Palmdale, California.

Kanye West's 'Runaway' is the centerpiece of a short film about his romance with what mythical creature?

Model Selita Ebanks played the creature in the 35-minute film, which showcased most of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Which Oscar-winning director made the 18-minute short film for Michael Jackson's 'Bad'?

Novelist Richard Price wrote it and a young Wesley Snipes co-starred as gang leader Mini Max. The dance sequence was shot at Brooklyn's Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station.

Which child star appears in the opening scene of Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' video?

George Wendt and Tess Harper play his parents. The face-morphing finale by Pacific Data Images was a landmark, and the premiere reportedly reached 500 million viewers.

Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation' video was shot in black and white to reflect what theme?

The militaristic choreography and unisex uniforms became her signature look and were spoofed for years afterward.

Radiohead's 'Just' video ends without revealing what?

Passers-by beg him to explain in subtitled dialogue; when he finally does, the subtitles stop and everyone lies down too. Mark Ronson later parodied it.

In Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' video, Spike Jonze leads an amateur troupe under what pseudonym?

The fictional Torrance Community Dance Group performs outside a Los Angeles cinema, and the guerrilla shoot won Breakthrough Video and Best Direction at the 1999 VMAs.

Björk's 'All Is Full of Love' video, directed by Chris Cunningham, depicts her as what?

Two real robot arms were used on set and two more were added digitally. The clip has been shown at MoMA PS1 and the Venice Biennale.

Which band member designed the stop-motion figures in Tool's 'Sober' video?

Jones had worked in Hollywood special effects before Tool. Kurt Cobain called the video a 'shameless ripoff' of the Brothers Quay.

Which director shot Daft Punk's 'Around the World' video, with its dancing skeletons?

Blanca Li choreographed it so each group of dancers represented one instrument. Gondry later directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Which future filmmaker directed Jamiroquai's sliding-floor 'Virtual Insanity' video?

It won four VMAs including Video of the Year in 1997. Glazer went on to direct Sexy Beast, Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest.

The Genesis video for 'Land of Confusion' used puppets from which British satirical TV show?

Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and the band members themselves all appear as grotesque latex caricatures.

The Spice Girls' 'Wannabe' video was shot in one continuous take at which London location?

Permission for the original venue fell through days before the April 1996 shoot, so director Johan Camitz moved to the then-derelict Gothic hotel by the station.

Adele's 'Hello' video, directed by Xavier Dolan, was the first music video shot partly in what format?

The pond finale and the opening eye shot used IMAX cameras. Her retro flip phone in the clip drew almost as much comment as the song.

Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda' heavily samples which 1992 hit?

Sir Mix-a-Lot's vocals appear in the chorus, and the video set a Vevo record with 19.6 million views in its first 24 hours.

"Soundies", short musical films that preceded the music video, were made for which coin-operated machine?

Produced from 1939 to 1947, they often featured dance sequences. France's Scopitone visual jukebox followed in the late 1950s with clips by Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy.

Which two 1966 singles did the Beatles promote with early standalone film clips?

The films let the band appear on TV worldwide without touring. Their 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry Fields' clips a year later pushed the form further.

How much did the 'Thriller' short film cost, a figure far above any music video before it?

Landis and Jackson shot it on 35mm with feature-film production values, and sold a making-of documentary to television to help pay for it.

Which 1980 David Bowie video was the first to cost more than $500,000 to produce?

Its $582,000 budget made it the most expensive video yet; it mixed solarized colour with stark black-and-white scenes.