Buggles
The Age Of Plastic

THE REVIEW

The year 1979 marks the end of an era in which rock music represented a true cultural mass movement, signifying protests, claims for freedom, and very often the voice of political ideologies. With the New Wave having emerged from the underground and becoming music for everyone's ears, the musical landscape is about to radically change its characteristics; the '80s will bring new sounds, a lot of superficial music, and little substance.

The first to understand that a change was underway were two young English musicians, Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, who, under the name Buggles, created what many consider a true monument to the glossy and smooth sounds of the '80s.
"The Age Of Plastic" is a courageous work, excellent in its electronic tones, a school for all those who will venture into the easiest pop. Driven by the single "Video Killed The Radio Star," the work is actually entirely focused on denouncing a social degradation that a certain type of development, based on the commodification of everything from love, "I Love You (Miss Robot)," to the cult of appearing beautiful always and anyway, "Living In The Plastic Age," can bring.

Musically, the two construct pop textures that range from the airy atmospheres of the title track, the claustrophobic melody with its pulsating bass of "I Love You (Miss Robot)," to the march of "Elstree." Everything is at a high-quality level, the production is excellent, the balance of the instruments with the vocoder-filtered voices convinces even a listener unfamiliar with certain sounds. 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.