Whatever you were doing right now, forget it for now and take a cleverly stirring, emotive trip through a 100 years of music.

Don’t worry, it’ll only take a minute-and-a-half.

Titled ‘Music Remains’, this 90 second video was shot at London’s infamous Abbey Road studios and employs the technical wizardry of a Rube Goldberg machine for a chain reaction of gadgets that travels through music history and formats; from a gramophone crackling to the sounds of Benny Goodman to a current day iPad sampling Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’.

Thew howl things is impressively delivered in a single take, as up-and-coming British MC Pepstar delivers rhymes about what recorded music has meant to him personally throughout the ages, concluding with the simple, touching message: “you’re the one thing that always remains – music.”

The film was commissioned by the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), creatively produced by Steve Milbourne, and show over two days inside Abbey Road’s famous Studio No. 2 in association with director Martin Stirling of Unit 9 Films.

“The idea was to convey the message that, while technology may be continuously changing, recorded music is always at the centre of people’s lives”, says Milbourne. “At the same time, we wanted to it to be a very personal story. Pepstar’s lyrics are about key experiences – from the meeting of our parents to childhood memories, first girlfriends and family tragedy.”

The finished product, the 48th take according to the making-of mini-documentary (watch here), is well worth 90 seconds of your day. And maybe quite a bit more if you’re going to catch all the neat evolutionary visual cues and Pepstar’s lyrics.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine