PolyGram Music Video

Background
PolyGram Music Video was the American music video arm of PolyGram Records and a sub-division of PolyGram Video.

1st Logo (1983-1986)
Nicknames: "PMV Ice Cubes", "2-D/3-D PMV", "PMV in the North Pole"

Logo: On a blue background are the white letters "PMV" in a blocky font. Starting in the center of the "M", the logo starts freezing and becoming 3-dimensional icy block letters. When the 2-D letters go to 3-D, the blue background wipes to becoming blue/black gradient background.

Technique: The PMV freezing, becoming 3-dimensional and the background wiping.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Can be seen on old Sony Video 45, EP, and LP releases that are also by PMV such as Tears for Fears: The Videosingles and Bon Jovi: Breakout. Can also be seen on Musicvision releases that are also by PMV such as Scorpions: World Wide Live.

2nd Logo (1987-1988)
Nicknames: "The Shadow", "The PMV Wall"

Logo: On a maroon/black gradient background are several dark "PMV"s all lined up. We zoom into the maroon wall to one of the "PMV"s. Through the hole in the "P" on a silver "PMV" that zooms outward, it plasters adjacent to the black "PMV" that is behind the silver one.

Technique: The zooming into the PMV wall, the Silver PMV zooming against a black PMV.

Music/Sounds: 3 slow, dramatic synth strings parts play, then 2 reverbed drum beats, a reversed cymbal crash, and a final synth string note.

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

3rd Logo (1988?)


Logo: Same as the 1981 PolyGram Pictures logo, but "PolyGram Musicvideo" is plastered over the original company name, then the stars disappear.

Technique: Same as the 1981 PolyGram Pictures logo.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show or movie.

Availability: Near extinction. Seen on Tina Turner: Rio '88.

4th Logo (1989-May 21, 1991)


Nicknames: "The Band", "PMV Blocks"

Logo: On a black background, we see a 4-member band wipe in like paint streaking up and down the screen until the band is fully revealed. The guitarist is standing on a triangle, the bassist on the square, the 2 right triangles on the keyboard stand and the semicircle on the bass drum of the drum set. We see 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 2 right triangles form an "M", and the triangle forms the "V". Underneath, the words "POLYGRAM MUSIC VIDEO" wipes in underneath it.

Technique: The band playing, the block shapes flying around, the text wiping. A very good combination of hand drawn animation and computer graphics.

Music/Sounds: A really nice instrumental rock ballad with a crowd cheering at the end.

Availability: Seen on such VHS tapes as Def Leppard: In The Round In Your Face - Live and Rush: A Show of Hands - Live. Also seen on Mylène Farmer in Concert. This logo was discontinued following a reorganization that saw it releasing more than just music titles, ultimately taking on the name of its parent company.

5th Logo (Australian variant) (1980s)
Logo: We see purple neon sparks fly from the middle of the screen to the top and bottom. This fades away through a circle iris effect to reveal a starfield and a rectangle containing the map of Australia with a TV displaying a music note within it. The map of Australia shines, then the word 'PolyGram' in its corporate font trails in backwards and settle on top of the map of Australia. The same thing happens with the phrase 'MusicVideo' except it settles below the map of Australia. Little stars that border the rectangle of the logo shine from the middle outwards and turn them red. The whole logo then shines and flies away to the top left corner of the screen. Almost instantly the word "PRESENTS" light trails in and sparkles.

Technique: Typical 80s effects, shining, the star background and the neon lights at the beginning

Music/Sounds: A theme comprising mostly of a Moog synthesizer warble.

Availability: Rare. 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.