Without fail, I can bet that you better know The Buggles as a trivia fact than an actual band. While many are likely to have their memory jogged by saying that their big hit was “Video Killed the Radio Star,” it is likely that more people will be quick to point out something even more impressive. This song was the first music video featured on MTV when it premiered in 1981. Maybe at the time, it was considered cheeky, especially as it reflected a shift of music consumption from radio to television. It makes sense as a grand statement even if this arty new wave group was more into high concept albums than producing any single that’s on par with what would come to define the network even five years later.
But that’s what’s fun about 1980. It was a time when rock music was especially strange, producing artists who were rebelling against stadium rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd with their own strain of rock that emphasized pop hooks and a subversive personality. It could also be a response to the fairly new punk rock genre, but it was clear that new wave as a genre was going to be a commercial cousin that put all of their efforts into being strange and accessible, producing something that you could dance to but also sit down and think about on a deeper level. Bands like The Vapors and Soft Boys rewarded patience, and in some respects, The Buggles pushed things even further.
To be transparent, my only reference point for The Buggles going into this week’s Make It New was “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Like most of these bands, they have come to be defined by one track that’s existed somewhere in pop culture. In this case, it’s somehow lasted up through the modern age thanks to randomly appearing on my version of Wii’s Just Dance. Of course, by now it’s a bit of a novelty, losing all meaning to whatever cheeky subtext The Buggles originally intended. Then again, was the song ever supposed to be sincere?
Researching “The Age of Plastic” was one of the most exciting moments that I’ve had doing this column yet. As a big fan of DEVO, I have been eager to find other bands that almost exist more as a concept than a genuine band. It turns out that the group made concept albums about how robots created pop music, a.k.a. a plastic band for a plastic age. It was going to be strange, electronic, and even impersonal. Hearing songs like “Kid Dynamo” automatically made me realize that The Buggles’ rightful heir was The Network, even if they skewered more towards a techno-punk sound. Still, they envisioned a future that was dystopic, where consumerism altered humanity so greatly. It is said that they formed over a shared interest over J.G. Ballard’s “Crash” (yes, the same one that David Cronenberg's movie is based on), eager to explore something more complex about society.
As a result, they sound more alien.
Before starting the band, Trevor Horn had an interesting career producing punk rock music and jingles. While he would regret the band’s name years later, it was in response to the sense that every band he worked with had a self-serious name. He believed that his new group should be called The Bugs, meaning that they were running around a studio causing problems. At some point it was suggested that they should turn the name into a play on The Beatles, meaning that they would never be as big as them. Given that some of their work has been argued as a satirized take on The Beatles if done by a robot, it makes sense that they eventually settled on The Buggles. Horn considered the name very punk rock in that it was gross and dumb.
Partnering with Geoffrey Downes, they began to record demos that included “Video Killed the Radio Star” and “Clean, Clean.” It was impressive enough that they landed a record contract and would begin producing the album around 1979. Given their shared love of Kraftwerk, they tried to find a sound that reflected their unique perspective. As a result, this resulted in months of experimenting with sound, doing everything to make the songs as robotic as possible while fitting into a crafty pop song. Certain reviews have called the sound they developed to be cyberpunk, though their place in new wave is more than earned for a handful of reasons.
To be totally honest, The Buggles aren’t nearly as great as I would’ve hoped. On some level, I wanted to imagine that they would be peers of DEVO, capable of making one of the most surreal visions of the future imaginable. This isn’t to say that “The Age of Plastic” doesn’t have some amazing moments. I’m sure that listening to it in 1980 is to be taken so far aback that unless you had heard DEVO’s “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!” that it sounded so foreign. Given that Horn and Downes would have personal involvement with progressive rock groups Yes and Asia later on, it makes sense that they were more about epic sounds, where “Video Killed the Radio Star” has a three act structure that starts and ends with musical motifs. Everything about them feels more immersive, more about the interpretive use of sound.
Like reviews of the time, I do think that The Buggles leaned too much into novelty. While I admire them for creating something original, I don’t know that their two albums were really reflective of a band that had more than crazy ideas. DEVO had a whole ethos, even a uniform that went with their music. They embraced the weirdness where The Buggles at best felt like they were just getting started, telling stories of this strange, Ballard-esque landscape that sounds worth exploring but, like almost every new wave band I have covered so far, they were gone in less than five years only to randomly reunite whenever they felt like it.
I love how the album starts. “Living in the Plastic Age” recreates the song about living in society and makes it all have this surreal undertone. It perfectly sets the template for what the remaining 10 songs will address. Even the way that Horn sings about his alarm clock makes it sound like something more human. The hooks are bouncy, making the music so much fun to listen to, creating a sense of momentum as the song gets to the bigger world details. If this is indeed a plastic band, their ability to sound artificial is ambitious in a curious way. Later songs would explore the sound in even more confusing ways, like “Clean, Clean” and “I Love You (Miss Robot),” but for now it feels like a nice little encapsulation of what the themes will be.
Before diving into the big hit, I want to explore some of the other songs. “Kid Dynamo” has the upbeat aggression that paints the picture of a modern day hero. It pairs nicely with “Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade),” which has more of an epic feel, creating deep emotion as Horn recounts a journey that is full of wondrous details. The real highlight is the closer “Johnny on the Monorail,” which has a zippy quality that creates a deeper build of character and makes you want to know what else The Buggles were capable of. They have created some catchy numbers around sci-fi premises and made them accessible. Whereas prog rock is all about grandiose, over-produced majesty, The Buggles have a more rambunctious sound, desiring to move as fast and as anarchic as possible.
My favorite song is easily “Elstree,” which starts and ends like one is on the set of a film, having the singer shout “Action!” and “Cut!” It’s the point where their view makes the most sense. They are a band that’s both inherently nostalgic while also interpreting a future where details have been warped. The singer has acted with Elstree in a movie and is recounting their time together. It’s not entirely clear what their relationship is or why this song ultimately matters, but it’s so much fun and takes interesting time signatures to convey something resembling deep internal heartbreak. There’s mystery and confusion. Is this all a movie? The Buggles have created the ultimate piece of ambiguous new wave charm.
Then there’s “Video Killed the Radio Star.” It would be easy to write off the song as being nonsensical. However, I love the layers of what it’s doing. For starters, the male vocals feel like they’re recorded off a victrola, possibly imitating Al Jolson. Placing them within the swirl of digital sound makes it feel discordant, removed from any specific era. The female vocals having a stronger clarity and even different tempo create this disorienting quality that makes it sound like a transmission that’s being caught across multiple frequencies. It’s a wonderful song that does so much right in capturing the atmosphere. While the outro doesn’t often make airplay, it’s an interesting decompression from what came before, sweeping us into a beautiful nothingness.
The music video in particular is not nearly as interesting as what the song symbolizes for the MTV premiere. Yes, there is something fun about watching The Buggles wander around a minimalist set, extras in weird sci-fi outfits in tubes. It’s definitely striking and has an interesting use of TV and radios as transitions, but by today's standards, it ultimately feels like it was shot in a warehouse. You can see the seams. Save for some fun crossfades, it’s not bound to be one of the Top 100 greatest videos they aired, save for sentimental value. That, and a random cameo from Hans Zimmer on piano.
Like The Vapors, the best that came out of this column is a curiosity to check out the rest of their music. They have a quality that is undeniably interesting even if I think that they come up short. It’s definitely experimental in a way that eventually skewers more towards impersonal. While I like that The Buggles remind me of The Network down to even their strange views on consumerism and sexuality, they never quite become something greater. I can hope that “Adventures in Modern Recording” captures something more satisfying, but for now, all I’ll say is that they’re a lot better than their name. In fact, the quality of their name works in their favor by making them feel more esoteric and not of this world.
Even if “The Age of Plastic” doesn’t quite feel like a hidden gem, there’s enough here that should please fans of new wave, needing a break from the more emotion-driven, straightforward approaches. There’s a defiance in the sound that is delightful, proving that there’s so much more that this genre can do besides make you think while you dance. This is one for the nerds who likely want a musical accompaniment to their Ballard collection. For them, I’m sure they’ll appreciate what this album does a lot more. I definitely wish there was more to love from the band, but for what they have, they deserve to be remembered as something more than a random factoid that is brought up every few years.
Up Next: X-Ray Spex - "Germfree Adolescents" (1978)
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