The Buggles was ostensibly bass-playing production titan Trevor Horn, joined by keyboardist Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley.
The three began recording a selection of demos above a shop in Wimbledon, London, in 1977. They then proceeded to re-record the songs at a 16-track recording studio.
The demo version of Video Killed the Radio Star caught the attention of producer Chris Blackwell of Island Records, who offered them a lucrative deal, which they accepted.
The Buggles recorded their debut studio album, The Age of Plastic, throughout 1979, with Video Killed the Radio Star released in September as the album’s lead single.
The song enjoyed considerable commercial success, topping the charts in 16 countries and achieving pop immortality by being the first song ever played on MTV.
Although the song was primarily a Bruce Woolley composition, he ended his association with Horn and Downes before the song’s release as a single.
Horn and Downes began work on a second Buggles album in 1980, working in a studio next door to prog rock band Yes, who had recently lost vocalist Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Horn and Downes were invited to replace them and accepted.
The absorption of The Buggles into Yes met with mixed reactions (the band was sometimes booed in the UK), and Yes disbanded in December 1980.
Following the disbanding of Yes, Downes and Horn reconvened to record the Buggles’ second studio album, Adventures in Modern Recording.
Downes left the group on the day that the recording was to begin to help form the supergroup Asia with former Yes guitarist Steve Howe. Horn was now left to complete much of the album with several additional personnel.
While the album garnered little attention in the UK, it was a commercial success in France. But by that time, Horn had decided that he was always meant to be a producer rather than a performer and was producing the album The Lexicon of Love by ABC.
The Buggles recorded their debut studio album, The Age of Plastic, throughout 1979, with Video Killed the Radio Star released in September as the album’s lead single.
