Rod Stewart - She Won't Dance With Me

What this video is

Produced in 1980 during the transitional period between the album-oriented rock dominance of the late 1970s and the nascent music video era that MTV would crystallize in 1981. Rod Stewart had recently pivoted from his rock roots toward a more commercially polished pop-rock sound with the Foolish Behaviour album (Warner Bros./Riva). The video's selection as the third clip ever broadcast on MTV (August 1, 1981) gives…

Why it matters

Exemplifies the proto-music-video form dominant in UK pop from 1975–1981: a studio performance clip produced primarily for television promotion rather than as a standalone artistic statement. Its place in the MTV launch sequence makes it a primary document in the history of the music video as a…

The director

British director and producer born 1940. Created and hosted the ITV music series Supersonic (LWT, 1975–1977), one of the UK's most influential pop TV programmes. Prolific music video director whose credits span ELO, Adam and the Ants, Kim Wilde, Ozzy…