Video Killed the Radio Star

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"Video Killed the Radio Star"
Single by The Buggles
from the album The Age of Plastic
B-side	"Kid Dynamo"
Released	7 September 1979
Format	7" single
Recorded	1979
Genre	New Wave, Synthpop
Length	4:13
Label	Island
Writer(s)	Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn, Bruce Woolley
Producer	The Buggles
Certification	Gold (UK) [1]
The Buggles singles chronology
"Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979) "Living in the Plastic Age" (1980)
Music sample "Video Killed the Radio Star"

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released on the 7 September 1979 on Island Records.^[1] It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. The song topped several music charts and has been covered by many recording artists. It was the first music video shown on MTV in North America at 12:01am on August 1, 1981 and has been widely parodied in popular media.

Contents 1 Structure and release 2 Chart Positions 3 Presidents of the United States of America version 3.1 Track listing 3.2 PUSA Chart positions 4 Other noted cover versions 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Structure and release

In an interview, group member Trevor Horn has said that his lyrics were inspired by the J. G. Ballard short story The Sound-Sweep, in which the title character, a mute boy vacuuming up stray music in a world without it, comes upon an opera singer hiding in a sewer.^[2] He also felt "an era was about to pass." The theme of the song is thus nostalgia, which is also echoed in the tone of the music.^[3] The lyrics refer to a period of technological change in the 1960s, the desire to remember the past and the disappointment that children of the current generation would not appreciate the past. In the 1950s and early 1960s, radio was an important medium for many, through which "stars" were created.

The music video for the song, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was the first to be shown on MTV when the music channel debuted on August 1, 1981; at 12:01a.m. On February 27, 2000; it also became the millionth video to be aired on MTV.^[4] At 2:57 in the video, Hans Zimmer can be seen playing a keyboard. Debi Doss and Linda Jardim, who provided the female vocals for the song, can also be seen in the video.^[5]

The song was written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley. According to an interview given by group member Trevor Horn on BBC Radio 2 Drivetime, Woolley was primarily responsible for the musical content, while Horn wrote most of the words.^[6] Woolley was responsible for the addition of the words 'put the blame on VTR'.^[7] The first version was recorded by Woolley & the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for his album English Garden, which was a hit in Canada. The Buggles later recorded the song and it reached number one in the UK charts the week of October 20, 1979, the first-ever number one for label Island Records. It also would top the Australian charts, and made the Billboard Top 40 in the United States, debuting on December 15 1979 at number 40, remaining there for one week.

It appears on the album The Age of Plastic, where it has an additional piano coda. The complicated arrangement and production of the song, which includes a chorus sung by a group of very high-pitched backup singers, foreshadows Horn's later career as a producer.

A rare live performance of the song by Horn and Downes came at a ZTT showcase in 1998.^[8] In 2004, The Buggles re-united again with Bruce Woolley at Wembley Arena to perform "Video Killed the Radio Star" and another song ("Living in the Plastic Age") as part of a tribute event to Trevor Horn to raise money for the Prince's Trust charity. They were joined by Debi Doss and Linda Jardim, who performed the background singing on the original recording. Both Horn and Downes have performed the song live in other acts, including Yes (which Downes and Horn joined for the Drama album and tour in 1980), Downes in the 2006-2009 revival of Asia with John Wetton on lead vocals, and Horn in his band The Producers, also in 2006.

In November 2006, The Producers played at their first gig in Camden Town. A video clip can be seen on the ZTT Records official website of Trevor singing lead vocals and playing bass in a performance of "Video Killed the Radio Star".

Robbie Williams performed the song with Trevor Horn at the BBC Electric Proms on October 20, 2009^[9].

[edit] Chart Positions

Chart	Position[10]
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Dutch Singles Chart	16
New Zealand Singles Chart	2
Swedish Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1

[edit] Presidents of the United States of America version

"Video Killed the Radio Star"
Single by Presidents of the United States of America
from the album The Wedding Singer soundtrack
Released	1998
Format	CD single
Genre	Post-grunge, Hard Rock
Length	3:22
Label	Columbia Records
Producer	Presidents of the United States of America
Presidents of the United States of America singles chronology
"Tiki God" (1997) "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1998) "Jupiter" (2000)

In 1998 the Alternative rock band The Presidents of the United States of America released a version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" for The Wedding Singer soundtrack.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Video Killed the Radio Star" - 3:22

[edit] PUSA Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1998	Official UK Singles Chart	No. 58

[edit] Other noted cover versions

Year	Artist	Album
1997	The Presidents of the United States of America	Rarities
1998	The Presidents of the United States of America	The Wedding Singer soundtrack Pure Frosting
1999	Lolita No.18	ヤリタミン (YALITAMIN)
2000	Ken Laszlo	Ken Laszlo 2000
2000	The Presidents of the United States of America	Lump
2003	Erasure	Other People's Songs
2005	Amber Pacific	Punk Goes 80's
2005	Ben Folds Five	Whatever and Ever Amen (bonus track on 2005 reissue)
2005	Len	The Diary of the Madmen (in hidden track)
2007	The Feeling	Rosé (CD single)
2007	Haruko Momoi	COVER BEST - Cover Densha
2009	VV Brown	Travelling Like the Light

[edit] See also

• The Jazz Singer is a 1927 U.S. film notable for being the first "talking motion picture" to be widely commercially distributed.
• Singing in the Rain is a musical film that explores the transition from silent film to sound film.
• Sunset Boulevard, explores how sound film and television led to the demise of films and silent stars.
• "Radio Ga Ga", a single by Queen, also laments the demise of radio as the primary mass medium.

[edit] References

Preceded by "Message in a Bottle" by The Police	UK number one single 20 October 1979	Succeeded by "One Day at a Time" by Lena Martell
Preceded by "Computer Games" by Mi-Sex	Australian Kent Music Report number-one single 3 December 1979 – 14 January 1980	Succeeded by "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson