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The Buggles

The Buggles were an English musical duo.[1][2] It had Trevor Horn on vocals, bass guitar and guitar and Geoff Downes on keyboards. They have been most known for their 1979 debut single Video Killed the Radio Star that was #1 on the singles charts of sixteen countries.[3] The music video was the first to be shown on MTV in the United States of America at 12:01 on 1 August 1981.

Following the poor success of their second album, Adventures in Modern Recording, the group broke up in 1981.

Biography

Horn and Downes first met in the mid 1970s, at auditions for Tina Charles' backing band, and worked with her producer, Biddu, whose backing tracks had inspired their early work.[4][5] Trevor Horn said that the group was originally planned to be named "The Bugs": "The Bugs were studio insects—imaginary creatures who lived in recording studios creating havoc. Then somebody said as a joke that The Bugs would never be as big as The Beatles. So we changed it to The Buggles."[6]

The Buggles' first hit, "Video Killed the Radio Star", was released in September 1979 and was the 444th number one in the UK charts, spending one week at the top, as well as reaching number one on the singles charts of fifteen other countries[3] Hans Zimmer worked for "Video Killed the Radio Star, and makes a brief appearance in the video.[7]

Downes and Horn worked on their second album, Adventures in Modern Recording. As originally intended, I Am a Camera was brought to completion as a Buggles song under its original title. However, Downes left the group during the recording of the album to form the band Asia with former Yes bandmate Steve Howe. Horn completed the album with a lot of new songwriting partners and musicians. Adventures in Modern Recording was released in late 1981, but five singles released from the album (I Am a Camera, Adventures in Modern Recording, On TV, Lenny and Beatnik) were not as successful as "Video Killed the Radio Star", resulting in the end of The Buggles.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Title Peak chart positions
UK
[8]		 CAN
[9]		 NOR
[10]		 SWE
[11]		 USA
[12]
1980 The Age of Plastic 27 83
[13]		 23 24 —
1981 Adventures in Modern Recording — — — 50 161
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
UK
[14]		 AUT
[15]		 CHE
[16]		 GER
[17]		 IRL
[18]		 NLD
[19]		 NZL
[20]		 SWE
[21]		 USA
[22]		 ZAF
[23]
1979 "Video Killed the Radio Star" 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 16 2 1 40 6 The Age of Plastic
1980 "Living in the Plastic Age" 16 — — 5 29 — — 29 — — — —
"Clean Clean" 38 — — — 60 — — — — — — —
"Elstree" 55 — — — — — — — — — — —
1981 "I Am a Camera" — — — — — — — 46 — — — — Adventures in Modern Recording
"Adventures in Modern Recording" — — — — — — 27 — — — — —
1982 "On TV" — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Lenny" — — — — — — — 17 — — — —
"Beatnik" — — — — — — — — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Music videos

  • "Video Killed the Radio Star"
  • "Living in the Plastic Age"
  • "Clean Clean"
  • "Elstree"
  • "I Am a Camera"
  • "Adventures in Modern Recording"
  • "On TV"

The Buggles Media

  • Geoff Downes (right) performing with Asia in 2006

  • Trevor Horn performing with Producers in 2007

References

  1. ↑ "Biography". Official Geoff Downes Website. Geoff Downes. 3 July 2005. Retrieved 2008-12-01.(see para 8)
  2. ↑ "Geoff on Sirius Satellite Radio". Official Geoff Downes Website. Geoff Downes. 31 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Peel, Ian (2010). Adventures in Modern Recording (Media notes). The Buggles. Salvo Records. SALVOCD036. 
  4. ↑ Hanson, Amy. "Tina Charles". VH1. Archived from the original on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  5. ↑ Warner, Timothy (2003). Pop music: technology and creativity. Ashgate Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 0-7546-3132-X. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Welch, Chris (2003). Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes (3rd ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-7119-9509-3. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
  7. ↑ "DebiDoss". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  8. ↑ Roach, Martin, ed. (2009). The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums (1st ed.). London: Virgin Books. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-7535-1700-0. Retrieved 15 March 2010.[dead link]
  9. ↑ "RPM Weekly - The Canadian Charts". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  10. ↑ "VG-Lista - Norwegian Album Charts: Buggles". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  11. ↑ "Swedish Top 60 Album Charts: Buggles". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  12. ↑ "Buggles: Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  13. ↑ "RPM Top Albums - March 22, 1980". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  14. ↑ Roach, Martin, ed. (2008). The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles (1st ed.). London: Virgin Books. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-7535-1537-2.
  15. ↑ "Austrian Single Charts: Buggles" (in German). austriancharts.at. Retrieved 3 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  16. ↑ "Swiss Single Top 75 Charts: Buggles" (in German). hitparade.ch. Retrieved 3 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  17. ↑ "Chartverfolgung/Buggles, The/Single" (in German). musicline.de. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  18. ↑ "Irish Singles Charts". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  19. ↑ "Dutch Single Top 100 Charts: Buggles" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 3 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  20. ↑ "New Zealand Top 40 Single Charts: Buggles". charts.org.nz. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  21. ↑ "Swedish Top 60 Single Charts: Buggles". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  22. ↑ "Buggles: Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  23. ↑ "SA Charts 1969 - 1989: Acts B". www.rock.co.za – The South African Rock Library. Retrieved 3 March 2010.

Other websites

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