On 01-Jan-09 17:40, nemesis wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> Just as I am not able to really understand why
>> Beethoven's fifth was so shocking at the time.
> 
> Shocking or not, that's not why I listen to good music.  If it can't sustain
> itself without lyrics, videos, shock, dancing performances and all the showbiz
> flash, it's not worth it.

It is slightly more complicated than that. IIRC: They made this piece 
and wanted to bring it out as a single. Which was more or less 
impossible because it was too long and these tempo changes were 
considered out of the question for a pop song (strange because this is 
by definition later than the Beatles, but let's not get sidetracked). 
They decided to use a trick: add a video to it with a theatrical ending. 
Then on TV they would not be able to cut it after a few minutes. That 
worked because everyone was in awe of the video and that meant that the 
single was also played in full on the radio. It also meant that my whole 
generation has listened to it often and very focussed, so it has stuck 
in our collective memory. Incidently I think it is still a good song 
also, and it would not have worked otherwise.

Basically they created the whole concept of a music video in its own 
right just to get their song played. You have been brought up with the 
concept of music videos as a given and probably have not realized that 
when you were born the idea did not even exist yet. BTW I know that 
there were videos made before BR but they were just performances of the 
song or sometimes artistic illustrations. Yet they were there to point 
to the song, which was the important thing. Starting with BR the video 
would be a (and often *the*) key factor in the success of a song.

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