Do you remember the first music video that you saw?

[arlum]

The Early '70s. Really. St. Louis's first UHF station, KDNL, was starting up and they were trying to attract a young audience willing to go through the rear channel dial search on the TV's of that time period. At that time TV sets had a large channel knob with click stops at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. These were all VHF stations as used but CBS, NBC and ABC. UHF stations could only be acquired by slowly rolling a dial behind the big VHF knob until a station came in. Like old short wave radios. Most adults tut tutted this and so ignored it. KDNL chose to advertise their coming channel broadcast on local FM Rock stations. "Starting on this night at midnight. Be there". So, like many of my friends, I stayed up that night and played with the dial behind the big channel knob a little before midnight until I could pull in a pretty good picture with the KDNL logo displayed and then waited. At midnight a dark picture of a stage followed by the lights being brought up to the opening riff of The Alice Cooper Bands, "I'm Eighteen" began. The video was a little grainy but it was the first time video experience for myself and my friends. I also remember the following video was from the early line up of The Steve Miller Band performing two songs. "Gangster of Love" and "Space Cowboy". The idea worked. KDNL is still a staple in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

[Alex W]

Video Concert Hall

videoconcerthall.blogspot.com

When we had primitive cable TV with like 12 channels, there was a show called "Video Concert Hall" and they had a fairly small number of videos that they played over and over. IIRC these included:
The Who "Bab O'Riley" (from The Kids Are Alright film)
The Police "Message in a Bottle"
Tom Petty "Refugee"
Barnes and Barnes "Fish Heads"
Split Enz "I Got You"
Squeeze "Another Nail In My Heart"

 

[Peegoo]

It was years before MTV. It may have been Ram Jam's tune Black Betty.

 

[Jim622]

Mine was Foreigner - As Cold as Ice on MTV. Apparently, it is now blocked in this country for content. I remember it had a hot woman in white with a white background getting shot and lots of red after that. Blocked for content.

 

[tlsmack]

[/QUOTE]

The boys pulled out some crazy boutique looking guitars for this one.
Anyone know what they are playing?

 

[tlsmack]

 

[scottser]

Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody. The faces all swirling around made an impression on 5 year old scottser for sure

 

[fleezinator]

might have been at the neighbor's house since they had cable tv or it was on Friday Night Videos. Either way, this video freaked the young me out to paranoia:

 

[Willie Johnson]

For me it was this, not on MTV we didn’t have the money for cable.

It was on Friday Night Videos that played late nights on NBC:

Friday Night Videos, and Night Flight on USA Network too. I vividly remember seeing this for the first time on Night Flight:

 

[RodeoTex]

They weren't even called videos back then.
Once in a while if you stayed up long enough you might see a "promo" or a "featurette" from the Stones or Faces.

 

[sloppychops]

It was years before MTV. It may have been Ram Jam's tune Black Betty.

You may actually know this, but Black Betty wasn't a Ram Jam tune. It's an old prison camp field holler from the 1920s.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

This was recently posted on another Forum too.
My answers ( not counting Amdrican Bandstand, Ed Sullivan, Top of the Pops kind of clips) on MTV are maybe:

"Refugee" Tom.Petty
" Love Stinks" J. Geils
" Hey Mickey" Toni Basil

 

[sloppychops]

If it wasn't Buggles "Video killed the radio star", that was one of the first vids I ever saw. It wasn't until decades later that I found out the song was actually a Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club song.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

It was years before MTV. It may have been Ram Jam's tune Black Betty.

2 quick 'get a life' observations:

- this is definitely an edited for radio version, as I've heard the same track with a pretty cool 'Allman Brothers'- style breakdown in the solo section ( kind of like "Elizabeth Reed" funky part) which must be on the album cut.

- the headstock on the lead singer's guitar looks like it is NOT a Les Paul, maybe? ( ornate inlay and different headstock shape?) Hard to tell.

But a *** *** song!

 

[Peegoo]

2 quick 'get a life' observations:

- this is definitely an edited for radio version, as I've heard the same track with a pretty cool 'Allman Brothers'- style breakdown in the solo section ( kind of like "Elizabeth Reed" funky part) which must be on the album cut.

- the headstock on the lead singer's guitar looks like it is NOT a Les Paul, maybe? ( ornate inlay and different headstock shape?) Hard to tell.

But a *** *** song!

The song, attributed to Leadbelly, was actually recorded by a group called Starstruck. Singer and guitarist Bill Bartlett worked up the arrangement and recorded it with the band. Several versions were released for radio, singles, and the album track. When the song gained traction, the group was shuffled and reformed as Ram Jam.

Even more interesting...remember the song My Green Tambourine, by The Lemonpipers? That was Bill Bartlett and his group before a few of them formed the band Starstruck.

He's the hippie freak with the Telecaster:



Regarding the headstock on that Gibson: Bartlett would fit in well here with us because he is a guitar freak and fearless modifier of his own guitars. He knew Semie Moseley and was permitted to use the Mosrite shop to do his own guitar work. He also owns some very sweet vintage Mosrites.

 

[Peegoo]

And similarly...remember Strawberry Alarm Clock?



Does that guy in the gold suit with the SG look familiar?

He should, because that's Ed King.

He wrote the licks for Sweet Home Alabama as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd. RIP Ed. You were a beast!

 

[Blackmore Fan]

For videos that presented a short film linked to a song and weren't necessarily a part of a larger TV show, it was probably this video George Harrison did in 1976 and was shown on SNL that year.

I watched that show and remember that video! It was amazing! If I recall correctly, Paul Simon and George played a live version of "Here Comes The Sun" that same night!

 

[Blackmore Fan]

I did not see that very very first video, but I was dead center in MTV's original target demographic, so I saw every single video they played for a few years. I had it on every chance possible. If I had to take a guess at the very earliest videos, it would include the Greg Kihn Band (remember him? Kihnspiracy! Kihntinued! Next of Kihn!), Rick Springfield, and Phil Collins. What I remember most about those early days is how terrible and cheesy the videos were. Eventually when the market exploded they got more slick. Too slick, even. But before MTV, you rarely got to see rock bands on TV, so as a teenager you were grateful for every glimpse.

Absolutely! The Greg Kihn Band's "Our Loves in Jeopardy" was epic! So was Peter Gabriel's "Shock The Monkey". My fascination with Ritchie Blackmore began with MTV playing a few Rainbow videos--I knew immediately "That guy is cool!".

 

[ping-ping-clicka]

my first go was Video Killed the Radio Star, I loved it's campy yet swinging melodies and harmonies.

 

[Blackmore Fan]

my first go was Video Killed the Radio Star, I loved it's campy yet swinging melodies and harmonies.

I didn't watch it when it premiered, but I wasn't far behind. Its a well-written song, and the band was tight. Geoff Downes was a first class musician.