PolyGram Music Video

Credits

Compiled by
Dean Stewart Rumsey

Editions by
Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
Dean Stewart Rumsey

Background

PolyGram Music Video was the American music video arm of PolyGram Records and a sub-division of PolyGram Video. It handled video releases of PolyGram artists. The label was retired following a reorganization that saw it releasing more than just music titles, ultimately taking on the name of its parent company.

1st Logo (1983-1986)

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Visuals: On a dark-blue large block letters "PMV" are settled in the bottom left corner of the screen. Then, from the middle out, they start to "freeze" and wipe to light blue, icy versions of the letters, before the area around them wipes away to reveal long 3D trails behind them, filling the whole screen. The wiping also reveals a black gradient at the top of the background.

Variant: A presentation variant has the letters smaller and in the center of the screen, without any trails, and with the Arial text "A" and "PRODUCTION" above and below the logo, colored white with black drop shadows.

Technique: Drawn graphics with wiping effects.

Audio: None.

Availability:

• It can be seen on old Sony Video 45, EP, and LP releases that were produced under license from PolyGram, such as Tears for Fears: The Videosingles and Bon Jovi: Breakout, respectively.
• It can also be seen on Musicvision releases that were produced under license from PolyGram, such as Scorpions: World Wide Live.

2nd Logo (1987-1988)

Visuals: On a maroon/black gradient background, a wall of shadowy "PMV"'s, in an Arial font, zoom in towards the screen as the camera focuses on the upper left corner. After the wall zooms in far enough, a silver "PMV" zooms out from off-screen through the hole of the "P" and settles on the sole shadow left, creating a drop shadow effect.

Technique: 2D CGI.

Audio: Three slow, dramatic synth strings parts play, then two reverbed drum beats, a reversed cymbal crash, and a final synth string note.

Availability:

• It has been seen on such VHS tapes as Bon Jovi: Slippery When Wet - The Videos and Def Leppard: Historia, respectively.
• A DVD copy of Def Leppard: Historia/In The Round In Your Face - Live also preserved it and hidden the opening logos.

3rd Logo (1988?)

Visuals: Over a black background, a row of 29 glowing red stars rise up from the bottom of the screen, zooming back in an arc while leaving a trail. When the stars settle into place, the following text wipes in on a black rectangle as the trails retract back into the stars:

PolyGram Musicvideo

The name is aligned to the left of the stars. Once the trail fully retracts, the stars stop glowing. The stars then cut out after a few seconds, and the text slowly fades out.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation with chyroned text.

Audio: The closing theme of the show or movie.

Availability: Seen on Tina Turner: Rio '88.

4th Logo (1989-May 21, 1991)

Visuals: On a black background, a four-member band, consisting of a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer and a keyboardist, wipes in like paint streaking up and down the screen until the band is fully revealed. The guitarist is standing on a triangle and the bassist on a square. There are also two right triangles on the keyboard stand and a semicircle is on the bass drum of the drum set. The camera cuts to the keyboardist's keyboard, then the bassist's bass, then the bassist's square, then the drummer's bass drum, and then the guitarist's guitar, then the keyboardist, and then the guitarist's triangle until going back to the full band view when they and their instruments fade away, leaving the shapes behind as they fly around on the screen arranging them as the square and the semicircle form a "P", the two right triangles form an "M", and the triangle forms the "V". The letters land on a light green rectangle. Underneath, the words "POLYGRAM MUSIC VIDEO" wipes in underneath it.

Technique: A combination of hand drawn animation and computer graphics.

Audio: An instrumental rock ballad with a crowd cheering at the end.

Availability:

• Seen on such VHS releases as Def Leppard: In The Round In Your Face - Live and Rush: A Show of Hands - Live, respectively.
• It is also seen on Mylène Farmer in Concert.
• It can also be found on the 1989 UK VHS release of Now That's What I Call Music 15, and the 1990 UK VHS release of Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982), following the 1986 Channel 5 Video logo.
• This logo was discontinued after the company was reorganized.

5th Logo (Australian variant) (1980s)

Visuals: The logo starts by cutting in to a burst of blue sparks emerging from a center line in the middle of the screen. After a few seconds, the scene then transitions via an iris out to a zooming space background, where a white drawing zooms in with a hazy glow around it before stopping and flashing orange, clearing up the picture. It consists of an abstract drawing of Australia with a large TV tube in the middle, displaying static lines and a large eighth note inside of it. Behind it, 12 vertical lines are set up with a 5-pointed star on each end. A blue trail comes from the bottom of the screen to the top of the drawing to reveal itself as "PolyGram", flashing into place once the trail reaches its destination, and the same thing happens with "MusicVideo" from the top to bottom of the screen. The stars then ping in a inside out fashion, before turning red in reverse. Then, the logo suddenly glows orange and flies to the upper left corner of the screen, and another blue trail comes from the upper center down to the immediate center, revealing itself as "PRESENTS". 3 pings appear across it briefly.

Technique: 2D computer graphics, possibly Scanimation, and motion controlled animation for the text.

Audio: A droning Moog synthesizer warble plays throughout, with a descending synth whoosh when "MusicVideo" zooms out, twinkles of different pitches for the stars lighting up, an ascending drone when the logo flies away, and 3 dings for the 3 pings on "PRESENTS" .

Availability:

• Most tapes found with this as a print logo usually show the regular PolyGram Video logo instead.
• It is currently unknown where this logo can be found. ^[Examples?]