Influential music videos that had an impact on society

Michael Jackson; Thriller







"John Landis was in London in 1983 when Michael Jackson called to ask if he was interested in making a video for Thriller, the title track of the album he'd released a little under a year before. The Thriller video was set to be so expensive – $900,000, to pay for not just the filming and effects but 10 days of dance rehearsals. It was so influential because no-one had seen anything like it before in the 80s, it was a 13 minute short film used as a music video. It was ground-breaking and changed the music video industry."



The Beatles; Strawberry Fields Forever







"When the Fab Four could no longer tour, the visual identity of the band became ever more important. The Swedish TV director Peter Goldman took them to Knole Park in Kent to film this psychedelic landmark, using trippy techniques such as stop motion, reverse, slow motion and cross-fades."



Britney Spears; Baby One More Time







"Shot at Venice High School, Los Angeles, the memorable video for Baby One More Time was a triumph of marketing. The insidiously catchy, borderline suggestive track was matched with a video which captured a 16-year-old Britney in perfectly choreographed flow among the lockers and gym halls – while dressed in school uniform. A pop superstar was born."




Queen; Bohemian Rhapsody







"Some consider the Bohemian Rhapsody video to be the first music video in history, and credit it with pioneering the format that would later be broadcast on MTV. The six-minute promotional video, as it was called, was shot over only a few hours by director Bruce Gowers - at a budget of either £3,500 or £4,500. Decades later, Queen received its first and only MTV Music Video Award in the Best Video From a Film category."





Peter Gabriel; Sledgehammer







"Peter Gabriel's workaday funk-rock number was brought to life by a hugely popular stop-motion, clay-animated video, some of which was animated by Wallace and Gromit's Plasticine maestro Nick Park."