Growing up with MTV and George Michael

For me, among the most treasured “gifts” that people brought from abroad were the now rendered obsolete VHS recordings of U.S. cable channel Music Television, more popularly known as MTV, which was launched on August 1, 1981. The first music video shown on MTV was appropriately The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star.

Some credit The Beatles for the creative usage of music videos within their 1964 film, A Hard Day’s Night, particularly the performance of Can’t Buy Me Love,  which led MTV, on June 26, 1999, to honour film director Richard Lester with an award for “basically inventing the music video”. Coincidentally, also in 1964, Moody Blues producer Alex Murray — also known as Alex Wharton — promoted the progressive rock band’s version of Go Now by using a short film clip that he produced and directed to promote the single. It has a striking visual style that predates Queen’s similar Bohemian Rhapsody video by a full decade, leading to Go Now entering the U.S. ‘Top 10’ and topping the U.K. chart at no.1.

But, in reality, the progenitors of today’s music video are the movies based on musicals that deserve that credit. They were almost like one extended music video or, alternatively, could be considered as several music videos stitched together with intervals of dialogue. Take many familiar musical theatre works that have been the basis for popular musical films as examples: Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King And I, The Sound Of Music, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady. In case there was validation required for musical films being a precursor to music videos, as an example, take  a look at Madonna’s 1985 video for Material Girl (directed by Mary Lambert), which had more than a close resemblance to choreographer Jack Cole staging Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a movie featuring Marilyn Monroe.

According to the Internet Accuracy Project, a website that “works to improve the accuracy of the reference sources (that) we all rely on”, disc jockey–singer J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, best known for his 1958 recording of Chantilly Lace, coined the phrase “music video” in 1959, the same year in which he died in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, U.S., along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens; the incident famously eulogised as The Day The Music Died in Don McLean’s 1971 song, American Pie.

Nevertheless, with the introduction of the Grammy Awards in India, both the pre-Grammies, and a recording of the actual event (first in 1984, if I remember correctly) — sponsored by the company behind the ‘Only Vimal’ brand – it truly changed viewing habits for music forever, much like MTV, which promoted itself thus: “You’ll never look at music the same way again!”

One of the videos featured during the pre-Grammies then was Wham’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go — a song that has brought poignancy now due to the news of co-founder, singer, songwriter, and producer George Michael’s demise on Christmas Day.

I vividly recall the video for the song that showcases the band performing for an audience of mostly teenagers. The band wore Tees that said “CHOOSE LIFE”, but the most distinctive aspect of the video, for me, was George seen in luminous gloves. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, released in May 1984, became a massive hit, their first U.S. and U.K. no.1. It was written and produced by George Michael.

Born as Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in north London, George Michael went on to sell more than 100 million albums in a career spanning almost four decades, initially as one half of duo Wham!, before going on to release solo albums, including the multi-million selling Faith, my favourite, in 1987. Although the follow-up, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 outsold Faith in the U.K., it led to George losing a court case with record label Sony over his frustration on how the album had been marketed.

Nevertheless, his talents as a singer, songwriter, and music producer made George Michael one of the world’s biggest-selling artists. Blessed with good looks and a fine singing voice, his stage presence made him a favourite on the live concert circuit as he matured from teen idol to long term stardom.

George Michael passed away at his home aged 53, yet another irreparable musical loss. One hopes that unfortunate events of 2016 are now history, and it is with much Faith that I hope the new year brings better tidings for the music world.

The writer has been part of the media and entertainment business for over 23 years. He still continues to pursue his hobby, and earns an income out of it.