Meta MTV and the Buggles: the most historic music video in history
Every major musical movement is usually driven by the technology available to the public at the time. No matter how many times people say that the songs matter above anything else, it usually helps to have a good marketing team behind it, and that normally means hopping on the latest trend available at the time. Whereas most acts are looking to dominate by their streaming numbers and how many of their songs can go viral on TikTok, The Buggles were the first to usher in the new era of music with their video for ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ debuting on MTV.
Before the idea of the music video, radio was the only way that someone could get their songs out to the public. Long before it became commonplace for someone to spend upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars on a video, most acts made their bread and butter based on how many people were buying their records off radio play and giving them to the people directly by touring relentlessly.
But the Buggles were already at the forefront of a new musical movement before they even made the video. They had come up with their name as a fanciful version of what a mad scientist version of The Beatles would have sounded like, but no one could have predicted how literal that “mad scientist” idea would become.
Once the group had the idea of making a video, it didn’t seem to have legs at first. MTV was still an upstart trying to bring culture to every television screen, and this humble little art project featuring a nerdy dork playing bass with a Poindexter-style voice wasn’t exactly the height of cool in the era of Air Supply.
The minute that it became the first song on MTV, though, it was about more than just the video itself. It had more to do with what it had to say, with lyrics talking about how television rendered many radio shows obsolete when they were first introduced in American homes.
It may have just been a cheeky history lesson set to music, but if Horn had enough foresight to know what the song would do, his brain would need to be removed and studied by scientists after his demise. For all of the dated 1980s kitsch present in the video, the message of changing times and new technology taking over for radio made them look like new-wave Nostradamus when MTV quickly became the hottest thing in the world.
And for a brief period, it felt like the channel was actually pushing more boundaries than what it became known for. Every company has to end up making some corporate version of its product, but before the manufactured hit factory of hair metal started pouring in, hearing everything from The Buggles to Flock of Seagulls to David Byrne cutting a rug in the video for ‘Once in a Lifetime’ felt like genuine art pieces for the next generation of rock bands.
As times started to change, even the smartest artists of the last generation knew they needed to make a transition. While Foghat didn’t have a style that catered to the glamorous side of rock, seeing someone like David Bowie adapt to the world of cameras was almost a no-brainer, considering his history of inventing different characters every time he went onstage.
While the Buggles would split up after just two albums and even join Yes for their album Drama after the fact, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ remains one of the most prophetic songs to hit the airwaves in the 1980s. Rock was already due for a bit of a reset, but in just one music video, the electronic group pointed the way to the future. It wasn’t a future they were a part of, but considering Horn’s later history of working with everyone from Frankie Goes to Hollywood to Robbie Williams, he still seems to operate as one of the puppeteers of pop music.
