Peak
40
Weeks
10
Score
772
Chart Year
1979
///
Trevor Horn wrote this after reading a science fiction story about an opera singer in a world without sound (she was rendered obsolete). Said Horn: "Before I started Buggles I was a sort of loser record producer, I spent four years producing records for various people without ever making any money out of it or having any success at all. Mainly I just produced unsuccessful records because I couldn't seem to lay my hands on a good song. Eventually I got so fed up doing things that weren't successful I decided that if I couldn't find a good artist and a good song then I'd write it myself and become the artist, so I wrote this song called 'Video Killed The Radio Star' with Bruce Wooley. I know the name's awful, but at the time it was the era of the great punk thing. I'd got fed up of producing people who were generally idiots but called themselves all sorts of clever names like The Unwanted, The Unwashed, The Unheard... when it came to choosing our name I thought I'd pick the most disgusting name possible. In retrospect I have frequently regretted calling myself Buggles, but in those days I never really thought much about packaging or selling myself, all that really concerned me was the record." (quote from discog.info) Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes of the Buggles replaced Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson in Yes in 1980. The Buggles did record a second album in 1981. While recording the album, Downes was invited to join the band Asia; Horn decided to finish the album with musicians from both Yes and The Camera Club. This was the first video to air on MTV. The network launched August 1, 1981, and this provided the first evidence that MTV was going to make it. The song was a big hit in England in 1979, but pretty much unknown in America, where it peaked at #40 in December 1979. When MTV went on the air, it was on only a few cable systems, but record stores in those areas started selling lots of Buggles albums. Radio stations weren't playing the song and almost no one in the US had heard of the Buggles, so it was clear that MTV was selling records - an early indication of the network's influence. Billboard ran a story quoting a record store owner in Tulsa as saying he had 15 copies of the album sitting in a bin for eight months, but weeks after MTV launched, they were all gone. Russell Mulcahy directed the video, which had more production value than most others MTV had to choose from. At the time, if artists did make videos, they were usually just scenes of the band performing a song. Mulcahy used a lot of theatrics in his work, and went on to make videos for Duran Duran - including "Wild Boys," "Rio" and "Is There Something I Should Know?" - before directing the 1986 film Highlander. Trevor Horn's wife agreed with his assessment that he was "dumb-looking" in the video. After his stint with Yes, she persuaded him to leave performing and go full-time as a producer. The Buggles were predicated on the idea that everything in life is artificial, including music. That's why Trevor Horn sings in a robotic voice and why the instruments are all processed for a computerized feel. It was a commentary on the intrusion of technology into every aspect of our lives. Report this ad Trevor Horn said of this song in the book I Want My MTV: "It came from this idea that technology was on the verge of changing everything. Video recorders had just come along, which changed people's lives. We'd seem people starting to make videos as well, and we were excited by that. It felt like radio was the past and video was the future. The was a shift coming." After Trevor Horn and Bruce Woolley fleshed out the song's lyric and musical theme, Geoff Downes took over. "I came in and did all the orchestrations and the intro, the bridge section," he told Songfacts. "Once we got it into that shape, we felt it had some potential, and that was it. It just came about like that." The female singers on the record are Debi Doss and Linda Jardim (later Linda Allan). Doss had toured with The Kinks as a backup singer; Jardim had sung on a single for The Northampton Development Corporation that was released nationally by EMI, entitled "60 Miles by Road or Rail," in an attempt to generate publicity for the growing town. The video was shot in south London in a day. The girl who plays the Stargirl-like character was a friend of director Russell Mulcahy who was trying to become an actress. For the scene where she is lowered into the test tube, about 30 takes were shot, and the wrong take was used - you can see the tube falling over, which wasn't supposed to happen. Artists to cover this song include The Violent Femmes, Pixies, The Offspring, Radiohead, the Japanese indie rock band Rocket K, and The Presidents of the United States of America, whose cover was included on the soundtrack for The Wedding Singer. When MTV went on the air and started playing this video, Trevor Horn was on tour with Yes. It took him a while to figure out why kids were recognizing him. "Video Killed The Radio Star" was #1 in 16 different countries and was Australia's best-selling record for 27 years. (It was usurped by Elton John's "Candle In The Wind '97"). There is an error in the recording, at least according to Trevor Horn's ears. Though Horn was unhappy with the mistake, it was too late to change. He recalled: "I was actually worried because we'd made one mistake in the mix - at the end where the girl comes in singing, 'You aaarreee a radio star' in the distance. Initially when she comes in she's just coming from the reverb plate, but the problem was we had a tape delay running and it meant she was basically out of time. I only heard it when we were doing the cut, when it was too late, so I was kind of dreading that bit. But the funny thing was the fact that she was a bit delayed sounded better. So I was relieved." (Source of quote Mojo magazine) The second Buggles single was "Living In The Plastic Age," which spelled out the concept of an artificial existence. Like "Video Killed The Radio Star," it came with a bonkers video directed by Russell Mulcahy, but MTV ignored it, so few Americans have heard it. The song reached #16 in the UK. The group released an album the following year, then called it quits. The Buggles, along with the song's backup singers, Debi Doss and Linda Jardim, all appear in the music video, but for lip-synched TV performances the lineup varied a bit. When they did Top Of The Pops, Jardim was joined by an Australian model/actress named Virginia Hey. The Buggles made many TV appearances performing this song and did a few one-off concerts, but they didn't tour until 2023 when Seal brought them along as his opening act. Trevor Horn, who was Seal's main producer in the '90s, was still a Buggle and joined the tour.
I heard you on the wireless back in fifty two Lying awake intent at tuning in on you If I was young it didn't stop you coming through Oh, a, oh They took the credit for your second symphony Rewritten by machine on new technology And now I understand the problems you can see Oh, a, oh I met your children Oh a oh What did you tell them? Video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star Pictures came and broke your heart Oh, a, a, a, oh And now we meet in an abandoned studio (ohh) We hear the playback and it seems so long ago And you remember the jingles used to go (ahh) Oh, a, oh You were the first one Oh, a, oh You were the last one Video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star In my mind and in my car We can't rewind we've gone too far Oh, a, a, a, oh Oh, a, a, a, oh Video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star In my mind and in my car We can't rewind we've gone too far Pictures came and broke your heart Put the blame on VCR You are a radio star You are a radio star Video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star (You are a radio star) video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star (You are a radio star) video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star (You are a radio star) video killed the radio star Video killed the radio star
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 10, 1979 | 86 | 40 |
| 2 | Nov 17, 1979 | 74 | 52 |
| 3 | Nov 24, 1979 | 65 | 61 |
| 4 | Dec 1, 1979 | 44 | 82 |
| 5 | Dec 8, 1979 | 41 | 85 |
| 6 | Dec 15, 1979 | 40 | 86 |
| 7 | Dec 22, 1979 | 46 | 80 |
| 8 | Dec 29, 1979 | 46 | 80 |
| 9 | Jan 5, 1980 | 84 | 42 |
| 10 | Jan 12, 1980 | 83 | 43 |