Video Killed the Radio Star
Categories: Pop songs | New wave songs
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song recorded by the Buggles. Its music video, directed by Russell Mulcahy, is noteworthy because it was the first video shown on MTV, when the channel debuted on August 1, 1981 (at 12:00 AM). The reason for this selection is clear. Both the lyrics of the song itself and imagery in the video (which includes exploding radios) explore themes of a popular recording artist losing popularity in the video age. In addition the song was very popular and had been a substantial hit, and the video itself was inventive and enjoyable.
Written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley, the song reached number one in the UK charts in 1979. It appears on the album The Age of Plastic. A different version was recorded by Woolley (with Thomas Dolby) for his album Bruce Woolley And The Camera Club.
The phrase came to light again in 1983, when Duran Duran caused a minor uproar by releasing the "Union of the Snake" video (the first single from the Seven and the Ragged Tiger album) to MTV a week before releasing the single to radio. Radio stations feared this might become the wave of the future, with fans tuning into MTV for new music and ignoring radio. Coincidentally, this video was also directed by Mulcahy.
The song was covered by The Presidents of the United States of America in 1998 for the soundtrack to The Wedding Singer, by the Japanese all girl band Lolita No.18 in 1999, by Erasure in 2003, by another Japanese rock band, the pillows, and by Ben Folds Five for the extended issue of their album Whatever and Ever Amen released in 2005. The Offspring also recorded a cover of this.
It also appears in the GTA Vice City soundtrack on Flash FM radio station.
Trivia
- Due to the existance of a similar sounding band The Bangles existing around the same decade as the The Buggles, this song is commonly misattributed to The Bangles.
See also
- The Jazz Singer is a 1927 U.S. movie notable for being the first "talking motion picture" to be widely commercially distributed.
- Singing in the Rain is a musical film that explores the transition from silent film to sound film
- Radio stars are also a concept of astronomy.
External links
The song was also coverd by amber pacific (Punk) and featured on the konami version of Dance Dance revolution.