It was shortly after midnight when a man in a shiny silver suit and oversized sunglasses sang into a microphone, his voice muffled and peculiar.
The sight and sound of Trevor Horn, a member of The Buggles, was mesmerising and historic. On August 1st 1981, a music video of the British new wave act’s Video Killed The Radio Star kickstarted a television revolution.
It’s been 43 years since the cheery piano chords and Horn’s opening lyrics aired on MTV –the first TV channel dedicated entirely to music videos and music content.
To mark the anniversary, here’s a look back on that historic TV moment, why the video almost wasn’t chosen and where The Buggles are today.
Watch the video above.
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It was 1979 when the duo of Horn and Geoff Downes – two “northern boys trying to break into the music scene” first released the track.
The pair had met while Horn, a music producer, was auditioning musicians for a touring band for his then girlfriend, singer Tina Charles.
They had met a third friend, Bruce Woolley, a guitarist, and they all clicked.
“I’d written a lyric and Bruce came up with a tune to it. Two songs later we wrote Video Killed the Radio Star“, Horn told The Guardian in 2018.
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Then Woolley scored a solo deal and left.
Horn and Downes, a keyboardist with a talent for creating jingles, formed The Buggles. Their name is a play on the iconic band, The Beatles.
Together, Horn and Downes worked on their music, putting everything they’d learned in the studios into their recording.
“I once worked out it would take 26 people to recreate the single live,” Horn said.
As part of their experimenting, Downes suggested Horn put his voice through a radio speaker. The effect delivered a muffled and peculiar to Horn’s vocals.
Charles sang on the original demo of the song, which was made in Downes’ apartment in Wimbledon Park in London.
Yet, when they secured a record deal, the duo had to re-record the track and change the arrangement.
Then, he recalled, Woolley attempted to change the song’s direction. Woolley wanted to release a straightforward version before The Buggles. It wasn’t a hit.
“We were probably the first techno duo, ahead of the Pet Shop Boys and everybody. The idea was to make the instruments sound fake,” Downes told The Guardian.
“When we did a re recorded version for Top of the Pops, the Musicians’ Union bloke said, “If I think you’re making strings sounds out of a synthesiser, I’m going to have you. Video Killed the Radio Star is putting musicians out of business.”
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The single went number one in 16 different countries, including Australia.
In fact, it held the record in Australia of best-selling single for 27 years.
Fast forward to 1981. The executives behind MTV in America were seeking out a music video for their first broadcast. The Buggles were not top of mind.
“Nobody wanted to launch with Video Killed the Radio Star,” MTV program director Steve Casey explained in the book I Want My MTV.
“They thought we had to play a hit. I said, ‘Nobody’s going to be watching. It’s symbolic.'”
Those known to be watching were most of MTV’s staff. They had all gathered at a bar in New Jersey. The network’s New York City headquarters.
“When that Buggles video played, we started screaming like maniacs,” Carolyn Baker, one of MTV’s early executives, said.
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“We were all drunker than skunks.”
Horn and Downes would miss the first-hand excitement felt in the bar that night.
By the time MTV aired the video, they had moved on to other projects.
In 1980 Horn and Downes had joined British rock band Yes, replacing Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson. The band lasted a year before disbanding. They would reunite years later.
Incredibly, Horn and Downes never toured together as The Buggles.
They did perform as a duo in 2010 for a charity gig and Horn supported Seal in 2023 under The Buggles name. Downes couldn’t join the tour due to his commitments to Yes.
Since The Buggles, Horn continued to produce music.
In 1983 he co-founded the ZTT label with his late wife, Jill Sinclair and journalist Paul Morley. Sinclair died in 2014 of cancer. She was 61.
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Their artist roster included, to name but a few, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Seal, Lady Gaga, Take That, t.A.T.u, LeAnn Rimes, Belle and Sebastian and Robbie Williams.
Downes also has had an impressive career in the music industry.
He has remained the keyboardist for Yes, went out solo and joined supergroup, Asia.
“The band that wouldn’t die, eh? Well, we’ve had some good and bad times, but hopefully the legend lives on,” he said.
“Certainly, I want to keep the thing going because the concept of Asia – playing music that is panoramic, symphonic and rock at the same time – is something a lot of British rock bands have given up doing. It’s good that we haven’t let the band lie down because there are a lot of people who like what we’ve done.”
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