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The Buggles are an English new wave band formed in London in 1977. Their best known line-up was as a duo of singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which topped the UK singles chart and reached number one in 15 other countries and was chosen as the song to launch MTV in 1981.
They released their first album, The Age of Plastic, in November 1979. On 7 September 1979, "Video Killed the Radio Star" was released, being the lead single of the album. Soon after the album's release, Horn and Downes joined the progressive rock band Yes, recording and releasing Drama in the process. Following a tour to promote the album, Yes disbanded in 1981. That same year, on 1 August, the music video for "Video Killed the Radio Star" became the first ever shown on MTV in the United States. The following year, the Buggles released a second album, Adventures in Modern Recording. Its lack of commercial success led to the breakup of the group.
Since 1998, Horn and Downes have occasionally performed the Buggles' songs. The band had its debut tour in 2023 in a lineup with Horn, but without Downes.
Horn began his career producing jingles and punk rock groups.Whitehouse, K.M. Trevor Horn, C.B.E. . The Art of Noise Online. Accessed on 23 July 2013. Downes was a keyboardist in She's French and graduated from Leeds College of Music in 1975, after which he moved to London looking for keyboard work. The two first met in 1976 at auditions for Tina Charles' backing band and worked with her producer, Biddu, whose backing tracks had an influence on their early work as the Buggles.Warner, Timothy (2003). p. 155. Horn met musician Bruce Woolley while playing the bass guitar in the house band at the Hammersmith Odeon.Buskin, Richard (December 2011). The Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star' . Sound on Sound. Accessed on 23 July 2013. Both expressed an interest in Kraftwerk and Daniel Miller, leading them to read Crash by J. G. Ballard. Said Horn, "We had this idea that at some future point there'd be a record label that didn't really have any artists—just a computer in the basement and some mad Vincent Price-like figure making the records ... One of the groups this computer would make would be the Buggles, which was obviously a corruption of the Beatles, who would just be this inconsequential bunch of people with a hit song that the computer had written ... and would never be seen."Price, Simon (2 February 2012). Interview: Trevor Horn . The Stool Pigeon. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
In 1977, Horn, Downes and Woolley got together and began recording a selection of demos in a small room above a stonemason shop in Wimbledon, southwest London, including "Video Killed the Radio Star", "Clean, Clean" and "On TV". Though unsure about what they wished to do with the demos, Downes remembered that "we knew even then ... there was some distant goal that had to be reached", and proceeded to re-record the songs at a 16-track recording studio in north London. Initial searches for the right record label to record and release an album failed,"'The Buggles' by Geoffrey Downes" (liner notes). The Age of Plastic 1999 reissue. but Horn, having begun a relationship with Jill Sinclair, a co-founder of Sarm East Studios, managed to secure plans for a potential deal. However, the demo version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" caught the attention of producer Chris Blackwell of Island Records and, on the day on which Horn and Downes were due to sign with Sarm East, Blackwell offered them a more lucrative deal, which they accepted. Downes claimed Island rejected them three times before a final deal was agreed upon. Alan Thompson meets 'Buggles' star Geoff Downes . BBC Radio Wales. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
"Video Killed the Radio Star", the album's lead single, was released first in September 1979 to considerable commercial success, topping the chart in 16 countries. Its music video, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was the first video aired on MTV in the United States on 1 August 1981. Film composer Hans Zimmer makes a brief appearance in the video. The Age of Plastic was released in January 1980 and reached No. 27 on the UK Albums Chart. Three subsequent singles were released: "Living in the Plastic Age", "Clean, Clean" and "Elstree", all of which charted in the United Kingdom. "The Buggles: UK Chart history" . Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 April 2017
The absorption of the Buggles into Yes met with mixed reactions; the band was sometimes booed in the United Kingdom despite its chart position, but not in the United States. Horn admitted that he did not have Anderson's vocal range or style, which many fans missed, but most were still willing to give the new incarnation of Yes a chance. However, some press critics and fans were far less forgiving, especially in the United Kingdom. The US tour was much less financially successful than expected, and Yes disbanded in December 1980 after the Drama tour ended.Welch, Chris (2008).
Released in November 1981, Adventures in Modern Recording involved Horn's experimentation with numerous production techniques, especially with the heavy use of sampling with the Fairlight CMI, with instruments from the computer such as the drums on "Inner City" and the big band jazz sounds on "Vermillion Sands". These same sampling techniques would later be used in records that he produced, such as Slave to the Rhythm by Grace Jones, 90125 by Yes, The Seduction of Claude Debussy by Art of Noise, and Welcome to the Pleasuredome by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. While the album garnered little attention in the United Kingdom, Horn recalled in 2010 that it was a commercial success in France, and in the United States the album peaked at number 161 on the American Billboard 200. By the time of the album's release, when Horn was also producing the album The Lexicon of Love by ABC, he decided to take Sinclair's advice that he was always meant to be a producer rather than a performer or songwriter; thus the performance of "Lenny" on a Dutch television show, with ABC as the backing band, marked the end of the Buggles. As Horn recalled when he was interviewed after the show:
On 11 November 2004, the Buggles reunited with Doss, Jardim-Allan and Woolley at Wembley Arena to perform "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "The Plastic Age" as part of a The Prince's Trust charity concert celebrating Horn's career as a producer. A concert for The Prince’s Trust . trevorhorn.com. 16 July 2004. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
On 28 September 2010, the Buggles performed their first actual concert, billed as "The Lost Gig", at Supperclub in Notting Hill, west London, as a fundraiser for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability. Following an opening performance by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Buggles' set included The Age of Plastic performed in its entirety, including Woolley singing with Horn on "Clean, Clean". Also featured were Lol Creme, Chris Braide, Alison Moyet, Gary Barlow, Richard O'Brien and Claudia Brücken.
On 25 October 2011, the Buggles reunited to play at the British Music Experience at the O2 Arena. The gig included the first live performance of "I Am a Camera" and covers of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie and "Check It Out" by Nicki Minaj and will.i.am, which utilised samples from "Video Killed the Radio Star". Kirsten Joy, Holly Petrie and Kate Westall provided backing vocals. "The Buggles to play surprise London gig on Tuesday" . NME. Retrieved 14 April 2017
In 2013, Downes spoke of the chance of another reunion: "It's always a challenge working on new stuff, and I'd love to collaborate with Trevor again ... it's not impossibility, just a matter of making the planets align so that one day we can hopefully make it happen." "Ask YES – Friday 14th June 2013 – Geoff Downes" . yesworld.com. 14 June 2013. Accessed on 24 July 2013. In March 2015, Downes joined the Trevor Horn Band on stage at the Shepherd's Bush Empire to play "The Plastic Age" and "Video Killed the Radio Star". Horn and Downes reunited in the studio in early 2016 for more Buggles activity. "Geoff Downs from YES + X Factor winner Ben Haenow" . BBC Radio Oxford. Retrieved 14 April 2017
During April–June 2023, the Buggles were the support act for Seal during his 30th anniversary tour, on which Horn was the musical director and bassist. This marked the group's first tour. The line up was the same as Seal's backing band, led by Horn. Geoff Downes was not involved. The set list included songs from both the band's albums and material by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Yes.
Downes claims to have used George Shearing's "technique of doubling melody lines in block chords (using the 5th note)... quite extensively on some of the Buggles' recordings". #askYes Geoff Downes' Keyboard Inspirations . yesworld.com. Accessed on 23 July 2013.
Both of the Buggles' albums have received positive reception from music critics. The Trouser Press called both albums "technically stunning, reasonably catchy and crashingly hollow," Buggles . Trouser Press. Accessed on 23 July 2013. while AllMusic's Jeri Montesano said that, compared to 1990s pop music, they "still sound fresh".Montesano, Jeri. Adventures in Modern Recording . AllMusic. Accessed on 22 May 2013.
Horn embarked on a highly successful career as a record producer, achieving success with the bands ABC, Dollar, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Art of Noise, and even the albums 90125 and Big Generator from a re-formed Yes, with Jon Anderson back on vocals. In 1985, Horn won the Best Producer BRIT Award. More than twenty years on, he is still active, producing with Seal, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Cher, Simple Minds, Belle and Sebastian, t.A.T.u., Charlotte Church, Captain, Pet Shop Boys and Robbie Williams among his many credits. He is currently working with his new band, the Producers, who released the album Made in Basing Street (2012).
Both Asia and Producers have played "Video Killed the Radio Star" as part of their live set in tribute to their members' origins in the Buggles.
In 2009, Horn produced the album Reality Killed the Video Star for British singer Robbie Williams. The album title pays homage to the trademark Buggles song, and Horn performed the song with Williams (Horn on bass and Williams on vocals) at the BBC Electric Proms on 20 October 2009. Electric Proms – Robbie Williams . BBC. 2009. Retrieved October 2009
Following 2010 discussions with Chris Squire, Horn produced the Yes album Fly from Here (2011), the bulk of whose forty-seven-minute duration comprises unused or incomplete Buggles material from the early 1980s (particularly "We Can Fly from Here"), reminiscent of the use of the Buggles' I am a Camera for "Into the Lens" on Drama during their first stint in 1980. Horn brought in Downes to play keyboards on the album (replacing Oliver Wakeman, son of Rick Wakeman) and Horn himself also performed some parts and sang backing vocals on the album. The album's group photograph prominently features Horn standing centre, signifying that to all intents he was considered the sixth band member for the recording. The Fly From Here tour did not feature Horn. At the suggestion of Yes drummer Alan White, the band subsequently released a new version of the album entitled Fly from Here – Return Trip, with Horn recording new lead vocals (replacing Benoit David).
In February 2017, Bruce Woolley and his band the Radio Science Orchestra, released a new, dark ambient version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" with singer Polly Scattergood on vocals. The single was released on Gramophone Records, along with a music video featuring musician and producer Thomas Dolby and Wolfgang Wild of Retronaut fame.
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