King of Rock - Run DMC

The music video for the song "King of Rock" by the group Run DMC uses many conventions that are common in the music video genre. The video can be seen as being all of the three genres of music videos at the same time. The video has a loose and basic narrative, that the group are not considered "rock" enough to enter a rock history museum. Regardless of the security guard telling them this, the trio break into the museum and, through the song, try to explain and prove that they should be considered the "king of rock". This also links to the concept that black rap artists are usually stereotyped as not liking and not belonging in the traditionally white genre of rock music, and Run DMC believe this is an unfair generalisation and rap artists should be allowed to converge with rock music if they desire. Run DMC created the genre of "rap rock" and this concept conforms with the bands style and image. The video also fits into the performance genre, as the duo lip sync with a band performing at certain points in the video. The video also follows the lyrics at points and fits in with the set of a rock musician. An example of this is the lyric "there's three of us, but we're not the Beatles", at which point the group moves next to a model of the Beatles and put a hat over the model that resembles John Lennon. The song was released in 1985, meaning that John Lennon was shot three years previously so that, when the song was released, there were only three members of the Beatles alive. One scene in the video shows the front duo of the group standing next to a small TV, watching a video performance of Little Richard, a traditional black artist. The small TV connotes that the group think they are bigger and better than previous black artists before them, further shown by the duo shaking their heads at the camera before pulling the plug on the TV, showing their disapproval and that Little Richard does not belong in the museum. The band then plug in another TV with themselves performing on it, turning and nodding at the camera, displaying their approval and belonging in the museum. At the end of the video, it is seen that the band have painted their name and the song title in red on the plain white walls of the museum. This can be seen to mean several things. It symbolises how the band have forever left their mark on, not only the museum, but on the rock genre. The red paint contrasts with the white walls, connoting how the band are changing the rock genre and making it vibrant. Finally, the scene is an example of intertextuality as it references a similar scene from the film "The Shining".

Run DMC's record label won't allow the embedding of the actual music video, but here is the song.