Video Killed the Radio Star

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"Video Killed the Radio Star"
Image:Video Killed the Radio Star single cover.jpg
Single by Buggles
from the album The Age of Plastic
Released September, 1979
Format 7" single
Recorded 1979
Genre New Wave
Length 4:13
Label Island
Writer Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn and Bruce Woolley
Producer Trevor Horn
Buggles singles chronology
Video Killed The Radio Star
(1979) 		The Plastic Age
(1980)

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a New Wave song released in 1979 by the British group Buggles that celebrates the golden days of radio. It tells of a singer whose career is cut short by television. The song topped several music charts and has been covered by numerous recording artists. It has also been widely parodied and utilized in popular media.

Contents

[edit] Structure and release

Group member Trevor Horn has said[citation needed] that his lyrics were inspired by the J.G. Ballard short story The Sound-Sweep, in which the title character, a deaf boy vacuuming up stray music in a world without it, comes upon an opera singer hiding in a sewer. 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[1]. 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 12:10 A.M. On February 27, 2000 it also became the millionth video to be aired on MTV.[2]

The song was written by Trevor Horn and Courtney Courson, Geoffrey Downes, and Bruce Woolley. The first version was recorded by Woolley & the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby as a guest artist) for his album English Garden, which was a hit in Canada. 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. 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, but only barely made the Billboard Top 40 in the United States. It appears on the album The Age of Plastic, where it has an additional piano coda.

The first live performance of the song by Horn and Downes came at a ZTT showcase in 1998.[1] 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 Downes in the 2006 revival of Asia 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.

The song also became part of a popular internet meme sung by The Wrong Trousers.

[edit] Presidents of the United States of America version

"Video Killed the Radio Star"
Image:Video Killed the Radio Star PUSA.jpg
Single by Presidents of the United States of America
from the album 'The Wedding Singer Soundtrack
Released 1998
Format CD Single
Genre Post-grunge
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 post-grunge band The Presidents of the United States of America released a version of Video Killed the Radio Star for The Wedding Singer soundtrack.


[edit] Other notable cover versions

YearArtistAlbum
1997The Presidents of the United States of AmericaRarities
1998The Presidents of the United States of AmericaThe Wedding Singer soundtrack, Pure Frosting (See Above)
1999Lolita No.18ヤリタミン (YALITAMIN)
2000The Presidents of the United States of AmericaLump
2003ErasureOther People's Songs
2005Amber PacificPunk Goes 80's
2005Ben Folds FiveWhatever and Ever Amen (Digitally Remastered)
2005LenDiary of the Madmen (in hidden track)
2007The FeelingRosé
2007Haruko MomoiCOVER BEST - Cover Densha

[edit] Video games

[edit] Parodies

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The vocals are initially limited in bandwidth, giving a "telephone" effect typical of early broadcasts
  2. ^ Dehnart, A. "Who really killed the video star?". Salon.com, 2000

[edit] External links


Preceded by
"Message in a Bottle" by The Police 		UK number one single
October 20 1979 		Succeeded by
"One Day at a Time" by Lena Martell
es:Video Killed the Radio Star

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