''PopClips'' is a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

television program, the direct predecessor of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. Former Monkee Mike Nesmith conceived the first music-video program as a promotional device for Warner Communications' record division. Production began in the spring of 1979 at SamFilm, a sound-stage built and operated in Sand City, California by Sam Harrison, a Monterey Peninsula College instructor with a motion picture background. The series was produced by

Jac Holzman Jac Holzman (born September 15, 1931) is an American record executive. He is the founder of the record labels Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records. Holzman helped commercially launch the CD and home video formats, as well as the pilot program wh ...

. With an infinity cyclorama as the background, set flats were made from the

Styrofoam Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...

packing used to ship laserdisc players and 3/4" video decks. The first " VeeJay" was Jeff Michalski. The director was

William Dear William Dear (born November 30, 1943) is a Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films ''Harry and the Hendersons'', ''If Looks Could Kill (film), If Looks Could Kill'', ''Angels in the Outfield (1994 ...

. Besides Harrison, the production team was made up of Bruce "Buz" Clarke, Keith Cornell, Marybeth Harris, and Leslie Chacon. The program was broadcast weekly on the youth-oriented

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

channel

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

in late 1980 and early 1981. The channel's owners at the time, Warner Cable, wanted to buy the name and idea, but instead, according to Dear, "they just watered down the idea and came up with

." ''PopClips'' was preceded by the video ''

Elephant Parts ''Elephant Parts'' is a collection of comedy sketches and music videos made in 1981 by Michael Nesmith, formerly of the Monkees. Nesmith produced the video through his company Pacific Arts. ''Elephant Parts'' is one-hour-long with parody comme ...

'' (which won the first ever

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for

Music Video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

),The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (1995) and followed by a second series titled ''

Television Parts ''Michael Nesmith in Television Parts'' is a television series aired by NBC in 1985. It was a 30-minute comedy-variety series created by Michael Nesmith as a continuation of his Grammy Award-winning video production ''Elephant Parts'', and earli ...

'', both of which Nesmith hosted and produced.

References

External links

Mike Nesmith of the Monkees
Ian Watson, first published in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' {{Michael Nesmith 1980s American music television series 1980 American television series debuts 1981 American television series endings 1980s Nickelodeon original programming Television series created by Michael Nesmith