ABSTRACT
The analysis of music video has been one of the major growth areas in both television studies and the study of popular music. There are now several books, a few special journal issues, and a multitude of articles on music video. Indeed, even writing five years ago, Frith could suggest, with considerable justification, that ‘Pop video is now more heavily theorized than pop music, and has generated more scholarly nonsense than anything since punk’ (Frith, 1988a: 205). This view, which I share, reflects the emphases and preoccupations evident in much of this literature. The majority of commentators have concentrated on the visual aspect of rock videos, their perceived violence and sexuality/sexism, and their significance as a central postmodern cultural artefact. Situating themselves in film studies rather than music studies, these analyses accordingly focus on music videos (henceforth: MV) as discrete, self-contained, essentially visual texts. They thereby largely ignore considerations such as MV’s industrial and commercial dimensions, their placement in the flow of TV programming, and the links between MVs and rock stardom. There has also been an emphasis on the American MTV channel, and its clones, and a relative neglect of other formats for the presentation of MVs-MV shows within ‘mainstream’ television, and ‘long form’ MVs which are now widely sold and hired.
