Some new toys hitting the UK charts this week in 1981

 

Lene Lovich : New Toy

In the week of March 8, 1981 Lene Lovich's "New Toy" entered the UK charts at #72. The song, written by Thomas Dolby about his new Fairlight CMI synthesize, would peak at UK#53. A defining song in the new wave playbook,  I thought it would have been a bigger hit, but David Hepworth apparently had reservations about the song in his Smash Hits review.

Visage : Mind of a Toy

Visage entered the UK charts this same week at #32 with their follow-up to the Top 10 hit  "Fade To Grey".  "Mind Of A Toy" peaked at UK#13, with a great deal of help from the visionary Godley& Creme, whose music video aired on Top of The Pops on March 19th. Keep in mind, we are still five months away from the launch of MTV. 

 

Pictures Came and Broke Your Heart

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".