Video Killed the Radio Star

"Video Killed the Radio Star"
A cartoon version of Trevor Horn (left) and Geoff Downes (right), with the blue text "Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star" on the top
Common variant of the standard artwork
Single by the Buggles
from the album The Age of Plastic
B-side"Kid Dynamo"
Released7 September 1979[1]
Recorded1979
Studio
Genre
Length
  • 4:13 (album version)
  • 3:25 (single version)
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Buggles
The Buggles singles chronology
"Video Killed the Radio Star"
(1979) 		"Living in the Plastic Age"
(1980)
Music video
"Video Killed the Radio Star" on YouTube

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1979. It was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their album English Garden and by British new wave/synth-pop group the Buggles, which consisted of Horn and Downes (and initially Woolley).

The Buggles' version of the track was recorded and mixed in 1979, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979 by Island Records, and included on their first album The Age of Plastic.

The song relates to concerns about, and mixed attitudes toward 20th-century inventions and machines for the media arts. Musically, the song performs like an extended jingle and the composition plays in the key of D-flat major in common time at a tempo of 132 beats per minute. The song has been positively received, with reviewers praising its unusual musical pop elements. Although the song includes several common pop characteristics and six basic chords are used in its structure, Downes and writer Timothy Warner described the piece as musically complicated, due to its use of suspended and minor ninth chords for enhancement that gave the song a "slightly different feel."

On release, the Buggles single topped sixteen international music charts, including those in the UK, Australia, and Japan. It also peaked in the top 10 in Canada, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa, but only reached number 40 in the US. The accompanying music video was written, directed, and edited by Russell Mulcahy. It was the first music video shown on MTV in the US, airing at 12:01 a.m. on 1 August 1981, and the first video shown on MTV Classic in the UK on 1 March 2010. The song has received several critical accolades, such as being ranked number 40 on VH1's "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s".[2]

The song has also been covered by many recording artists.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BPI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ali, Rahsheeda (2 May 2013). "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s: 40. "Video Killed the Radio Star" – The Buggles". VH1. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.