REO Speedwagon - Keep on Loving You (Video Version)

What this video is

Produced in 1980 at the precise inflection point when the music video format was transitioning from occasional 'promo clip' to industry standard, 'Keep on Loving You' exemplifies the utilitarian first-generation rock music video. Shot before MTV's August 1981 launch, it was nevertheless selected as the 17th video played on the network's first day of broadcast, making it a literal founding artifact of the MTV era.…

Why it matters

This video documents the earliest phase of power ballad visual codification — the subgenre that would come to dominate MTV's soft-rock rotation through the mid-1980s. As one of the first rock ballads to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (March 1981) and simultaneously become an MTV staple, 'Keep…

The director

Bruce Gowers (21 Dec 1940 – 15 Jan 2023) was a Scottish-born British television director and producer. He began his career at the BBC as a cable puller and cameraman before moving into directing. His landmark 1975 video for Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'…