Line #33 Music/TheBuggles


1	[[quoteright:287:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buggles78-2_3009.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:287:Geoff Downes (left) and Music/TrevorHorn (right)]]
3	->''"I heard you on my wireless back in '52,\
4	Lyin' awake intent on tuning in on you,\
5	If I was young it didn't stop you coming through,\
6	Oh-a oh-a"''
7	-->-- "Music/VideoKilledTheRadioStar"
8
9	The Buggles were a band from 1977 to 1982, recognized for the first video played on Creator/{{MTV}}, 1979's "Music/VideoKilledTheRadioStar". Its members include Music/TrevorHorn and Geoff Downes. Band friend and songwriter Bruce Woolley was also integral early on, co-writing "Video" and "Clean Clean". They released only two albums, ''The Age of Plastic'' in 1980 and ''Adventures in Modern Recording'' in 1981.
10
11	Riding high on the success of ''The Age of Plastic'', the band were asked by their management to write for the band Music/{{Yes}}, which culminated in Yes' 1980 album ''Music/{{Drama\|YesAlbum}}'' including Horn and Downes as members. After Yes broke up in 1981, Horn released ''Adventures'' as a glorified solo act while Downes went on to form the ProgressiveRock band Music/{{Asia}}. Horn would become one of the music industry's most in-demand producers and helped shaped the characteristic sound of 1980s pop music as the mastermind behind ZTT Records and its signees, Music/FrankieGoesToHollywood, {{Music/Propaganda}}, The Art of Noise and more, including Yes' 1983 comeback album, ''Music/NineOhOneTwoFive''.
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13	Trevor Horn would produce major hits for decades afterward, influencing such diverse acts as Music/PetShopBoys, Music/{{Seal}}, Music/{{Tatu}}, Music/LeAnnRimes, and Music/RobbieWilliams. He won three BRIT Awards as a producer, and also won a Grammy.
14	----
15	!!Discography:
16	* ''The Age of Plastic'' (1980)
17	** "Music/VideoKilledTheRadioStar" (1979)
18	* ''Adventures in Modern Recording'' (1981)
19	----
20	!!Adventures in Modern Troping:
21	* AllThereInTheManual: The instrumental coda to "Video Killed the Radio Star" is indexed on an album sampler as "Polythene Symphonia".
22	* {{Blackface}}: The keyboard women in the "Living in the Plastic Age" video feature this as part of their body-wide makeup.
23	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Yes, this goofy synth duo with the silly name are godfathers of NewWave music. The frontman with the funny-looking glasses? He's now one of the most influential and prolific producers in popular music.
24	* EndOfAnAge: "Video Killed the Radio Star" (for radio), "Elstree" (for the British film industry).
25	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The bass-heavy "I Love You (Miss Robot)" points towards their later contributions to the Yes album ''Music/{{Drama\|YesAlbum}}'', which is stylistically similar.
26	* KissMeImVirtual: "I Love You (Miss Robot)".
27	* IAmTheBand: ''Adventures in Modern Recording'' is pretty much a Trevor Horn solo album, as Geoff Downes had joined Asia.
28	* IconicItem: Trevor Horn's glasses, to the point where the cover of ''Adventures in Modern Recording'' features them prominently as a hint that Horn basically ''was'' The Buggles at that point.
29	* ImaginaryFriend: "Kid Dynamo" has the titular character, a fictitious creation remembered by an adult whose over-exposure to media as a child has him recalling Dynamo into action on a daily basis.
30	* LeadBassist: Trevor Horn.
31	* LyricalDissonance (if not outright HypocriticalHumor): Pretty much their entire output was synthesised shiny hypermodern machine pop... bemoaning the impact of technology on modern life.
32	* NewTechnologyIsEvil: The world outlook on ''The Age of Plastic'' is depression and disappointment with the embracement of technology at that time in society.
33	* RadioSong: Their SignatureSong.
34	* RaygunGothic: Most of their lyrics.
35	* RearrangeTheSong: "I am a Camera" went through this twice, starting as a demo that got fleshed out as the Music/{{Yes}} song "Into the Lens" before being revisited by the Buggles on ''Adventures in Modern Recording''. The latter is atmospheric, minor-key SynthPop compared to the major-[[{{Tonality}} key]] ProgressiveRock of the Yes version, and the Buggles' version lacks Yes' rewrites.
36	* ShoutOut:
37	** Their name is a take off of Music/TheBeatles, based on an idea they had about a futuristic dystopia in which scientists produce artificial perversions of classic pop music.
38	** "Video Killed the Radio Star" is based on the short story "The Sound-Sweep" by J.G. Ballard, about a mute boy who "vacuums up" sound in a future where ultra-sonic sound has replaced audible, regular sound, happening upon an opera singer in an abandoned theatre.
39	** The music video for "Living in the Plastic Age" includes footage from ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''.
40	** "Elstree" is an extended ode to the film studio of the same name, with the music video reenacting the kinds of movies that were shot there in the early 20th century.
41	* SpellMyNameWithAThe: They did, though whoever designed their sleeves didn't always (both albums notably just feature "Buggles" on them.)
42	* TheStoic: Geoff Downes hardly ever emotes in his performances.
43	* SurrealMusicVideo: The video for "Living in the Plastic Age" features a cavalcade of strange and incongruous scenes involving cave monks, space age landscapes, ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'', and women painted to look like phone booths and pianos, among other sights.
44	* TitleTrack: Played with "Living in the Plastic Age" on ''The Age of Plastic.'' Played straight on ''Adventures In Modern Recording''.

Context Music / TheBuggles