Grammy Award for Video of the Year

Grammy Award for
Video of the Year
Awarded forQuality music videos
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded1982
Last awarded1983
Websitegrammy.com

The Grammy Award for Video of the Year was an honor presented to recording artists at the 24th Grammy Awards in 1982 and the 25th Grammy Awards in 1983 for music videos. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,[1] are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".[2]

First presented in 1982 to Michael Nesmith for Elephant Parts, the award was reserved for quality "video cassettes or discs in any format created specifically for the home video market".[3] In 1983, Olivia Newton-John was presented the award for Olivia Physical. Beginning with the 1984 Grammy Awards, the Video of the Year award category was replaced with the categories Best Video, Short Form and Best Video Album (now known as Best Music Video and Best Music Film, respectively).

Recipients

Year Video Artist(s)
1982
Elephant Parts Michael Nesmith
Eat to the Beat Blondie; John Diaz, producer; Andy Morahan, director
The First National Kidisc Bruce Seth Green
One Night Stand: A Keyboard Event Eubie Blake
1983
Olivia Physical Olivia Newton-John
Fun and Games Various Artists; Margaret Murphy, producer
The Tales of Hoffmann The Royal Opera; Georges Prêtre, Plácido Domingo, conductors
The Tubes Video The Tubes; Russell Mulcahy, director
Visions: Elton John Elton John; Russell Mulcahy, director
Michael Nesmith performing in 2012

Nominees for the 24th Grammy Awards (1982), Video of the Year included: Eubie Blake for One Night Stand: A Keyboard Event,[4] the band Blondie for Eat to the Beat, Bruce Seth Green for the participative video collection of puzzles and games known as The First National Kidisc,[5][6] and Michael Nesmith, former member of The Monkees, for the hour-long video Elephant Parts (also known as Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts).[7][8][9] One Night Stand was a recording of a jazz program billed as "an evening of all-stars" at Carnegie Hall, with appearances by Kenny Barron, Arthur Blythe, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Roland Hanna, Bobby Hutcherson and ten other musicians.[10] Blondie's video cassette Eat to the Beat accompanied their 1979 album of the same title.[11] The First National Kidisc, one of the first interactive and educational videodiscs, contained activities designed for children.[12][13] Without "fancy digital effects", Green's Kidisc provided five to ten hours of interactive capability within a 30-minute video through the use of dual audio tracks, freeze framing, slow motion, and other techniques. Features included plane flying, jokes, paper plane construction, music performance, and other games.[14]

The award went to Nesmith, who is known for creating one of the first companies to distribute television programs and films on home video, and for establishing the television music video format that eventually became MTV.[8][15] In 1976, Nesmith produced a video for his song "Rio", and later incorporated it into the "montage of music and gags" called Elephant Parts after starting the company Pacific Arts Video Records. In 1985, Elephant Parts was adapted into a seven-episode summer series on NBC titled Michael Nesmith in Television Parts.[16]

A woman with blond hair in black clothing, holding a microphone
1983 award winner Olivia Newton-John performing in Sydney in 2008

Nominees for the 25th Grammy Awards included: Elton John for Visions: Elton John, Olivia Newton-John for Olivia Physical, the rock band The Tubes for The Tubes Video, a recording of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann by the Royal Opera conducted by Georges Prêtre with Plácido Domingo, and the interactive disc for children Fun and Games by various artists (produced by Margaret Murphy).[17][18] Both Visions and The Tubes Video were directed by Russell Mulcahy.[19][20] Visions consisted of "artistic" videos for all of the songs on John's 1981 album The Fox.[21] According to The Tubes' official site, the now out of print video collection contained music videos primarily for tracks that appeared on their 1981 album The Completion Backward Principle.[22] The award was presented to Newton-John (then her fourth Grammy Award) in February 1983 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.[23] Released a few years following her role in the 1978 film Grease, the aerobics video contained songs from her 1981 album Physical as well as enough sexual innuendo and provocation to generate controversy.[24][25]

Category retirement

The Video of the Year category was discontinued with the establishment of the MTV Video Music Awards in 1984,[7] whose top award is also presented for Video of the Year.[26] The Academy replaced the category with awards for Best Video, Short Form and Best Video Album beginning with the 26th Grammy Awards. For the awards held in 1988 and 1989, the criteria changed and honors were presented for the categories Best Concept Music Video and Best Performance Music Video. The Academy returned to the previous format in 1990,[7] though the two categories were renamed Best Long Form Music Video (changed to Best Music Film in 2014) and Best Short Form Music Video (shortened to Best Music Video in 2014) respectively.

See also

References

General
  • "Past Winners Search". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 4, 2010. Note: User must select the "Music Video" category as the genre under the search feature.
Specific
  1. ^ "Grammy Awards at a Glance". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  2. ^ "Overview". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  3. ^ Arar, Yardena (January 13, 1982). "Jones, Ritchie Get Most Nominations". The Blade. Toledo, Ohio: Block Communications. p. P-2. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  4. ^ Brooks, Tim; Spottswood, Richard Keith (2004). Lost sounds: Blacks and the birth of the recording industry, 1890–1919. University of Illinois Press. p. 393. ISBN 9780252028502. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  5. ^ "Thanks Grammy, For Praising Our Kids". Billboard. Vol. 94. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. February 20, 1982. p. 49. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2011. Note: Advertisement.
  6. ^ "Don't Buy a Magnavision Just Because It Plays Movies". Popular Science. 220. Bonnier Corporation: 53. April 1982. Retrieved January 12, 2011. Note: Advertisement.
  7. ^ a b c "Have the Grammys ever celebrated music videos?". Vibe. Vibe Media Group: 58. March 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Steinhardt, Simon. "Michael Nesmith". Swindle. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  9. ^ Robbins, Wayne (February 24, 1982). "Grammy gains a little more viewer respectability". The Beaver County Times. Beaver, Pennsylvania. p. C10. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  10. ^ Palmer, Robert (January 22, 1981). "Jazz: 16 Musicians Play for a 'One Night Stand'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  11. ^ Pollock, Bruce (March 8, 1981). "Rock's Blondie: From Punk to Citified Chic". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The New York Times Company. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  12. ^ Reynolds, Cecil R.; Fletcher-Janzen, Elaine (2007). Encyclopedia of Special Education: P–Z. John Wiley & Sons. p. 1979. ISBN 9780471678014. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  13. ^ Interactive Video. Educational Technology. 1989. p. 185. ISBN 9780877782117. Retrieved January 22, 2011. Note: Book cites J. Blizek's 1982 article from the magazine Creative Computing titled "The First National Kidisc"–TV becomes a plaything".
  14. ^ Forrest, Rock (December 19, 1981). "Video New Wave: Music Greets Image Manipulation". Billboard. Vol. 93, no. 50. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 56, 60. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  15. ^ Wilonsky, Robert (December 22, 2009). "Finally, Thomas Jefferson High's Mike Nesmith Makes It Into Texas Film Hall of Fame". Dallas Observer. Dallas, Texas: Village Voice Media. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  16. ^ Dougan, Michael (June 14, 1985). "'Television Parts' debuts tonight at 8". The Vindicator. Youngstown, Ohio: The Vindicator Printing Co. p. 30. Retrieved January 23, 2011.
  17. ^ "25th Annual Grammy Awards Final Nominations". Billboard. Vol. 95. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. January 22, 1983. p. 67. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  18. ^ "Grace Paley: Collected Shorts (About the Producers)". Lilly Rivlin Productions. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  19. ^ "Visions (Long Video): Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  20. ^ "The Tubes Video: Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  21. ^ Bernardin, Claude; Stanton, Tom (1996). Rocket Man: Elton John from A–Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 109. ISBN 9780275956981. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  22. ^ "The Tubes FAQ". TheTubes.com. 2009. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2011.
  23. ^ Arar, Yardena (February 25, 1983). "Toto takes home 7 Grammy awards". Anchorage Daily News. Anchorage, Alaska: The McClatchy Company. p. C-10. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  24. ^ Taylor, Chuck. "The Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Year (1980–1989)". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on January 4, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  25. ^ Arrington, Carl (February 15, 1982). "Olivia Gets Physical". People. 16 (6). Time Inc. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  26. ^ Pareles, Jon (September 8, 2008). "At the MTV Video Music Awards, a Big Draw, a Punch Line and, Now, a Winner". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2011.