Buggles: reviews, quotes and essential works

The Profile

Buggles are a British synth-pop duo formed by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes. They broke through with 1979’s Video Killed the Radio Star and released two albums: The Age of Plastic (1980) and Adventures in Modern Recording (1981). Horn and Downes also joined Yes for Drama before the duo disbanded; Horn became a noted producer and Downes co-founded Asia.

British synth-pop duo (Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes); hit single Video Killed the Radio Star (first video aired on MTV in 1981); albums The Age of Plastic (1980) and Adventures in Modern Recording (1981); collaborated with Yes on Drama (1980); later, Horn a successful producer and Downes formed Asia.

Three positive reviews trace The Buggles from the prophetic synth-pop of The Age of Plastic to the sleeker Adventures in Modern Recording. Their seminal single Video Killed the Radio Star anchors the discussion, including its MTV-first status. Themes of media, technology and glossy 80s surfaces recur. Links to Yes (Drama) and the members’ later careers are highlighted.

Notable Quotes

❝ Top-notch Synth-Pop produced by a band that, unjustly, will always be remembered for one single and solitary song: the notorious Video Killed The Radio Star.

❝ The video did not completely kill the radio, but the message that the Buggles launched was very prophetic; today music is a commodity like many others, and the spirit of good old rock, which the two Englishmen loved, is still alive, a bit tarnished by time, but at least still capable of making its voice heard.

❝ In fact, the video is from 1980, the year MTV was born in the USA, the first TV station that aired only music videos, and this one by the Buggles was the first to be broadcast.