Video Killed the Radio Star On This Day

The band that became The Buggles formed in 1977, with charter members Trevor Horn (bass, vocals) and Geoff Downes (keyboards, drums) with Bruce Woolley (guitar). The three had become friends during the '70s as musicians for hire in Britain. The three began working on songs with technological themes. As such, the tunes were meant to have a synthetic feel.

"Video Killed the Radio" star was a collaboration between all three, although Woolley was mostly responsible for the music and Horn was in charge of the words. The singer was inspired by a J.G. Ballard short story called The Sound-Sweep, in which a boy is charged with vacuuming all the music in the world, but comes upon a hiding opera singer. The song became a lament for a bygone age, because Horn said he felt "an era was about to pass." - more on this story

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