The Buggles : Video Killed the Radio Star
[Purchase]
Claiming to be devoted to "electronic pop for the Eighties", studio veterans Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes entered the U.K. charts as The Buggles on September 16, 1979 with the eventual chart topping "Video Killed The Radio Star". The pair had worked with everyone from Gary Glitter to jazz guitarist Gary Boyle. (They even produced The Jags '79 hit "Back of My Hand"). The three minute single took three months to produce and has all kinds of obscure touches. First off, the first 20 seconds sound like some England Dan and John Ford Coley crap. There's a glockenspiel in the mix and a Vox AC30 guitar amplifier was used to achieve the telephone effect.
The music video cost $50,000 and was the first to be played when MTV made its debut on August 1, 1981. "Video Killed the Radio Star" gone on to top polls as the favorite one hit wonder of all time. Horn and Downes would soon join the progressive rock powerhouse Yes, contributing to 1980's Drama. Horn would also produce their #1 hit, "Owner of a Lonely Heart".
An obscure note : the song was first recorded by the third of the song's co-writers Bruce Woolley. Woolley would go on to form the Camera Club with Thomas Dolby and write the Grace Jones hit "Slave To The Rhythm".
No comments:
Post a Comment