Inspirational Music

Inspirational music through the ages

70s

Bohemian rhapsody

The first video of it’s kind queen’s bohemian rhapsody was a sensation then and now as the first music video used explicitly to show performance and music rather than trying to be overly artistic or have a clear message. The video is still artistic and experimental but it is all used for good reasons to mirror the song for instance when the band is sing in unison or a certain note or pitch is needed for instance at the magnifico when the shot is edited to place a row of singing faces alongside the original singer representing how he holds the note.

It is also one of the first videos to incorporate a pre existing image of the band as one of it’s key features, the parts where the group stand in a diamond with freddy mercury at the base and Brian may at the top were based on the album cover for queen II. The video is most notable however for using the actual sounds, pitches of notes and tune to form the basis of the video rather than trying to construct the lyrics into a narrative.

80s

Thriller

This video is always worth mentioning not just because of it’s cult like following and level of prestige but the incredible amount of work put into it by all involved. Originally titled starlight the song was planned to have a video made by Michael in coalition with director john landis who had the idea of retitling the song thriller and changing both the hook and the theme to something resembling a classic horror film such as the wolf man or night of the living dead. The budget for the video rivalled that of both films at $500,000 this created massive buzz prior to release and helped create the timeless classic we all know.

The video is notable for being mostly cinematic and breaking up the song around the action most notably the beginning of the video which takes a movie within a movie approach with a homage to an American werewolf in London. This video prizes spectacle and narrative over all else and is truly a cinematic and musical extravaganza. What is truly inspirational is the work put in by every single member of the cast and production crew. Michael Jackson spent weeks practicing in full makeup and costume in order to move perfectly under the suit. Vincent price insisted on appearing at the end in full make up and the makeup crews were called upon over many weeks administering make up for costume rehearsals .

90s

Blue da ba dee

This video was among the first in the music video to utilize animation in order to create an effect on the audience. It is also worthwhile mentionaing that although the video has an incredibly strong narrative bent it bears absolutely no connection to the actual lyrics. This is straying from convention for a music video but this did not matter as it was mostly made as a performance piece of the lead singer given that as a techno band this is the most important role.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ugkg9RePc

Bad romance by lady gaga

As one of the most interesting and imaginative new artists of the 2000s there was a lot of pressure on lady gaga for innovative new ideas this was taken to it’s peak in bad romance. The video does very well to evoke gaga’s public persona that is it’s crazier than a barrel of monkeys on nitrous oxide. The video has a strong narrative interlaced with classic gaga-esque weirdness. It is an excellent example of distracting the audience from the song with something slightly more interesting thus raising the song’s profile.

It is inspiring to me personally as it was one of the few original videos I’d seen at the time flanked on all sides by singer’s overusing sex appeal to try and flog their records. Of course it would be incorrect to say the video does not also use sex to sell but it is all done in an artistic and clever way so you don’t find yourself dwelling on it. It was inspiring to me but unfortunately it was also inspiring to some of the artists to come later who prefer to try and imitate lady gaga in this video rather than being cosmically weird in their own way.