Video Killed the Radio Star

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1979. It was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their album English Garden and by British new wave/synth-pop group the Buggles, which consisted of Horn and Downes (and initially Woolley).

"Video Killed the Radio Star"
Italian single release
Single by Bruce Woolley
from the album English Garden
Released	17 June 1979^[1]
Recorded	1979 (1979)
Length	2:49
Label	Epic
Songwriter(s)	Geoff Downes Trevor Horn Bruce Woolley
Producer(s)	Mike Hurst

"Video Killed the Radio Star"
Common variant of the standard artwork
Single by the Buggles
from the album The Age of Plastic
B-side	"Kid Dynamo"
Released	7 September 1979^[2]
Recorded	1979
Studio	Virgin's Town House (London) Sarm East (London)
Genre	New wave synth-pop
Length	4:13 (album version) 3:25 (single version)
Label	Island
Songwriter(s)	Geoff Downes Trevor Horn Bruce Woolley
Producer(s)	The Buggles
The Buggles singles chronology
"Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979) "Living in the Plastic Age" (1980)
Music video
"Video Killed the Radio Star" on YouTube

The Buggles' version of the track was recorded and mixed in 1979, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979 by Island Records, and included on their first album The Age of Plastic. The backing track was recorded at Virgin's Town House in West London, and mixing and vocal recording was done at Sarm East Studios.

The song relates to concerns about, and mixed attitudes toward 20th-century inventions and machines for the media arts. Musically, the song performs like an extended jingle and the composition plays in the key of D-flat major in common time at a tempo of 132 beats per minute. The track has been positively received, with reviewers praising its unusual musical pop elements. Although the song includes several common pop characteristics and six basic chords are used in its structure, Downes and writer Timothy Warner described the piece as musically complicated, due to its use of suspended and minor ninth chords for enhancement that gave the song a "slightly different feel."

On release, the single topped sixteen international music charts, including those in the UK, Australia, and Japan. It also peaked in the top 10 in Canada, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa, but only reached number 40 in the US. The accompanying music video was written, directed, and edited by Russell Mulcahy. It was the first music video shown on MTV in the US, airing at 12:01 a.m. on 1 August 1981, and the first video shown on MTV Classic in the UK on 1 March 2010. The song has received several critical accolades, such as being ranked number 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s.^[3] It has also been covered by many recording artists.

Background and lyrics

The Buggles, which formed in 1977, first consisted of Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley.^[4] They recorded the first demo of "Video Killed the Radio Star" on a Revox A77 tape recorder, one afternoon in 1978, in Downes' apartment located above a monumental stonemason's in Wimbledon Park, London.^[5][6][7] The piece was built up from a chorus riff developed by Woolley.^[6] It is one of the three Buggles songs that Woolley assisted in writing, the two others being "Clean, Clean" and "On TV".^[4] A later, more detailed demo of the song, featuring Horn's then-girlfriend Tina Charles on vocals, was recorded at Camden's Soundsuite Studios, and engineered by studio owner Peter Rackham. This demo became the blueprint for the final record, and helped the group get signed to Island Records to record and release their debut album The Age of Plastic, as well as producing and writing for the label, after Downes' girlfriend, who worked for Island, managed to get it played to executives there.^[4][8][9] Woolley left during recording to form his own band, The Camera Club, which did their own version of "Video", as well as "Clean, Clean" for their album English Garden.^[4]

Horn has said that J. G. Ballard's short story "The Sound-Sweep", in which the title character—a mute boy vacuuming up stray music in a world without it—comes upon an opera singer hiding in a sewer, provided inspiration for "Video", and he felt "an era was about to pass."^[10] Horn claimed that Kraftwerk was another influence of the song: "It was like you could see the future when you heard Kraftwerk, something new is coming, something different. Different rhythm section, different mentality. So we had all of that, myself and Bruce, and we wrote this song probably six months before we recorded it."^[7] In a 2018 interview Horn stated: "I'd read JG Ballard and had this vision of the future where record companies would have computers in the basement and manufacture artists. I'd heard Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine and video was coming. You could feel things changing".^[9]

All the tracks of The Age of Plastic deal with positives and concerns of the impact of modern technology.^[8] The theme of "Video Killed the Radio Star" is thus nostalgia, with the lyrics referring to a period of technological change in the 1960s, the desire to remember the past and the disappointment that children of the current generation would not appreciate the past.^[11] The lyrics relate to concerns of the varied behaviours towards 20th-century technical inventions and machines used and changed in media arts such as photography, cinema, radio, television, audio recording and record production.^[12] According to Horn, the band initially struggled to come up with a line to follow the song's opening ("I heard you on the wireless back in '52"): he eventually came up with "Lying awake intent at tuning in on you", inspired by memories of listening to Radio Luxembourg at night as a child.^[9] Woolley worried about the song's name, given the existence of a band with the name Radio Stars and a song titled "Video King" by singer Snips.^[13]

Development and composition

The Buggles' version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" is a new wave and synth-pop song.^[14][15] It performs like an extended jingle,^[14] sharing its rhythm characteristics with disco.^[16] The piece plays in common time at a bright tempo of 132 beats per minute.^[17] It is in the key of D♭ major,^[6][17] and six basic chords are used in the song's chord progression.^[16] According to Geoff Downes, "It's actually a lot more complicated piece of music than people think, for instance part of the bridge is actually suspended chords and minor 9ths. A lot of people transcribed the song wrongly, they thought it was a straight F# chord. The song was written in D flat. The suspended gives it a slightly different feel."^[6] Writing in his book, Pop Music: Technology and Creativity: Trevor Horn and the Digital Revolution, Timothy Warner said that the "relatively quiet introduction" helping the listener detect a high amount of "tape hiss" generated through the use of analogue multi-track tape recorders, as well as the timbre of the synthesized instruments, give an indication of the technical process and time of producing the song.^[18]

 

"Video Killed the Radio Star"

The final chorus of "Video Killed the Radio Star". There are instruments of electric guitars, a bass guitar, drums, and synths arranged in the track, and the male and female singers' accents and effects differ to give a historical and tonal contrast.

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Horn and Downes tried to interest labels in the song, but were turned down multiple times, including by Island Records. Downes' then girlfriend worked for Island and was able to get the song listened to again. The demo ended up being heard by Chris Blackwell, who chose to sign the band.^[19]

The song took more than three months of production.^[6] In 2018 Downes stated that the version that was released was rewritten from that recorded for the band's demo tape: the verses were extended and Downes contributed a new intro and middle eight, with the bulk of the original song having already been written by Horn and Woolley when he joined.^[9] The instrumental track was recorded at Virgin's Town House in West London in twelve hours, with mixing and recording of vocals held at Sarm East Studios.^[7][8][20] The entire song was mixed through a Trident TSM console.^[8] "Video" was the first track recorded for the group's debut LP The Age of Plastic, which cost a sum of £60,000 (equivalent to £366,202 in 2021) to produce,^[20] and the song was mixed by Gary Langan four or five times.^[8] According to Langan, "there was no total recall, so we just used to start again. We’d do a mix and three or four days later Trevor would go, 'It's not happening. We need to do this and we need to do that.' The sound of the bass drum was one of his main concerns, along with his vocal and the backing vocals. It was all about how dry and how loud they should be in the mix without the whole thing sounding ridiculous. As it turned out, that record still had the loudest bass drum ever for its time."^[8]

The song includes instrumentation of drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, synth strings, piano, glockenspiel, marimbas and other futuristic, twinkly sounds, and vocals.^{[14][6][21][text–source integrity?]} Downes used a Solina, Minimoog and Prophet-5 to create the overdubbed orchestral parts.^[6] Both the male and female voices differ to give a tonal and historical contrast.^[22] When Langan was interviewed in December 2011, he believed the male vocal was recorded through either a dynamic Shure SM57, SM58, Sennheiser MD 421, or STC 4038 ribbon microphone, and that four or five takes had to be done.^[8] The male voice echoes the song's theme in the tone of the music, initially limited in bandwidth to give a "telephone" effect typical of early broadcasts, and uses a Mid-Atlantic accent resembling that of British singers in the 1950s and '60s.^[22] The Vox AC30 amplifier was used to achieve the telephone effect, and Gary Langan says he was trying to make it "loud without cutting your head off", in others words make the voice sound soft. Gary Langan and Trevor Horn also tried using a bullhorn, but they found it too harsh. Langan later compressed and EQ'd the male vocals, and he said that doing the compression for old-style vocal parts was a "real skill".^[8] The female vocals are panned in the left and right audio channels,^[8] and sound more modern and have a New York accent.^[22]

The single version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" lasts for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. The album version plays for 4 minutes and 13 seconds, about 48 seconds longer than the single version, as it fades into a piano and synth coda, which ends with a brief sampling of the female vocals.^[8]

Commercial performance

"Video Killed the Radio Star" was a huge commercial success, reaching number one on 16 national charts.^[23] The song made its debut on the UK Singles Chart in the top 40 at number 24, on the issue dated 29 September 1979.^[24] The next week, the track entered into the chart's top ten at number six^[25] before topping the chart on the week of 20 October.^[26] It was the 444th UK number-one hit in the chart's entire archive.^[23] In 2022, the single was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for UK sales and streams of 600,000 units.^[2]

In Australia, "Video Killed the Radio Star" reached number one, and for 27 years it held the country's record for best-selling single.^[23] In late 1979, while the single was still in an eight-week run at Number one in the charts, the single was awarded a platinum disc by Festival Records, the record's distributing company, for sales of over 100,000 copies in Australia.^[27] The song also made a number-one peak in France and Spain,^[28][29] where it was certified gold and platinum, respectively, as well as Austria,^[30] Ireland,^[31] Sweden^[32] and Switzerland.^[33] In other parts of Europe and Oceania, "Video Killed the Radio Star" was a number-two hit in Germany and New Zealand,^[34][35] and also charted in Flanders on the Ultratop 50^[36] and in the Netherlands, on the Nationale Hitparade Top 50 (now the Single Top 100) and Dutch Top 40.^[37][38]

"Video Killed the Radio Star" did not start charting in North America, however, until November 1979. In the United States, the song appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100, barely breaking into the top 40 on both charts.^[39][40] In a 2015 list from Billboard, it tied with Marvin Gaye's recording of "The End of Our Road" as the "Biggest Hot 100 Hit" at the peak of number 40.^[41] "Video Killed the Radio Star" debuted at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of 10 November 1979,^[42] while on the Cash Box Top 100 it debuted at number 83 that same week.^[43] It started also at number 83 on the Canadian RPM Top Single Chart.^[44] By January 1980, it entered the top 40 at number 31,^[45] and on 2 February made it into the top 20 at number 11.^[46] Two weeks later, the song earned its peak in the top 10 at number 6 and issue dated 16 February 1980.^[47]

Critical reception

The song became a Billboard Top Single Pick on 3 November 1979. The publication found the chorus catchy and also highlighted the orchestral instruments supporting the backing singers.^[48] Although there had been a mixed review of the single from Smash Hits, who found the song to be "too tidy, like vymura" (wallpaper),^[49] they listed it in a review of The Age of Plastic as one of the best tracks of the album, along with "Living in the Plastic Age".^[50] Timothy Warner wrote that, although several common pop elements were still present in the song, it included stronger originality for its own purpose than most other pop hits released at the time.^[51] These unusual pop music characteristics include the timbres of the male and female vocal parts, and the use of suspended fourth and ninths chords for enhancement in its progression.^[16] He also felt it was unnecessary to dislike it as a "novelty song".^[51] AllMusic's Heather Phares said the track "can be looked on as a perfectly preserved new wave gem", "just as the song looks back on the radio songs of the '50s and '60s". She concluded her review by saying that it "still sounds as immediate as it did when it was released, however, and that may be the song's greatest irony".^[14]

However, many writers called Woolley's recording of "Video" much better than the Buggles' version.^[52][53][54] This included one critic who called both acts overall as of being very high quality, but felt that Woolley's version was more faithful to the source material than that of The Buggles, noting the filtered vocals and cute, female vocals of the latter rendition as giving it a novelty feel.^[55] However, he also wrote of liking both versions of "Clean, Clean" on the same level.

Music video

Production and concept

 

Trevor Horn (right) and Geoff Downes (left) as they appear in the video

The music video for "Video Killed the Radio Star", written, directed and edited by Australian Russell Mulcahy,^[56][57] was produced on a budget of $50,000.^[5] It was filmed in only a day in South London,^[56] and was edited in a couple of days.^[57]

The video starts with a young girl sitting in front of a radio. A black-and-white shot of Trevor Horn singing into an early radio-era microphone is superimposed over the young girl by the radio. The radio blows up by the time of the first chorus, then in the second verse, she is seen transported into the future, where she meets Horn and a silver-jumpsuited woman in a clear plastic tube. Shots of Horn and Geoff Downes are shown during the remainder of the video.^[58]

There were about 30 takes required for shots of the actress in the tube. The tube falls over in the video, although Mulcahy claims it was not intended to be shown in the final edit.^[56] Hans Zimmer can be briefly seen wearing black playing a keyboard,^[58] and Debi Doss and Linda Jardim-Allen, who provided the female vocals for the song, are also seen.^[59]

Broadcasting and reception

The video was first released in 1979,^[60] when it originally aired on the BBC's Top of the Pops for promotion of the single, in lieu of doing live performances.^[5] Zimmer recalled in 2001 that the video drew criticism from some viewers who watched it before it aired on MTV, due to being "'too violent' because we blew up a television."^[5] The video is best known as marking the debut of MTV, when the US channel started broadcasting at 12:01 AM on 1 August 1981.^[61] On 27 February 2000, it became the one-millionth video to be aired on MTV.^[62] It also opened MTV Classic in the UK and Ireland. The video marked the closing of MTV Philippines before its shutdown on 15 February 2010 at 11:49 PM.^[63][64] MTV co-founder Bob Pittman said the video "made an aspirational statement. We didn't expect to be competitive with radio, but it was certainly a sea-change kind of video."^[5] In July 2013, multiple independent artists covered the song for the launch of the TV channel Pivot, which launched with the music video of the cover on 1 August at 6 am.^[65]

Live performances and cover versions

A notable interpretation of the melody was released in 1979 by French singer Ringo, using French language lyrics by Étienne Roda-Gil supplying a new title "Qui est ce grand corbeau noir ?" ("Who is this big black raven?")^[66][67] Ringo's version peaked at number 8 in France.^[67]

The Presidents of the United States of America recorded a cover of the song which appeared on the soundtrack of the 1998 film The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler.^[68]

A rare live performance of the song by Horn and Downes came at a ZTT showcase in 1998.^[69]

In November 2006, the Producers played at their first gig in Camden Town. A video clip can be seen on ZTT Records of Horn singing lead vocals and playing bass in a performance of "Video Killed the Radio Star". Tina Charles appears on a YouTube video singing "Slave to the Rhythm" with the Producers^[70] and Horn reveals that Tina was the singer and originator of the "Oh Ah-Oh Ah-Oh" part of "Video"; fellow 5000 Volt member Martin Jay was also a session musician on The Buggles record.^[71]

Robbie Williams performed the song with Trevor Horn at the BBC Electric Proms on 20 October 2009.^[72]

Erasure covered this song as a final track to their Other People's Songs album. Vince Clarke in an interview said that he considers it "the perfect pop song" ^[73]

Anne Dudley, composer and co-founding member of The Art of Noise with Trevor Horn, performed the song on solo piano on her album Anne Dudley Plays the Art of Noise.^[74]

In popular culture

In mid-2020, the song became popular among TikTok users as a trend to revisit celebrity death conspiracies,^[75] and across the internet when a deepfake of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin singing the song went viral on multiple social media sites.^[76][77]

Personnel

Sources:^[8][78]

Bruce Woolley version

• Bruce Woolley – vocals, guitar
• Dave Birch – guitar
• Matthew Seligman – bass
• Thomas Dolby – keyboards
• Rod Johnson – drums
• Richard Goldblatt – engineering

The Buggles version

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, percussion
• Trevor Horn – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Debi Doss – backing vocals, chorus vocals
• Linda Jardim-Allen – backing vocals, chorus vocals
• Dave Birch – guitars
• Phil Towner – drums
• Gary Langan – mixing, recording
• Hugh Padgham – recording, audio engineering
• John Dent – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts Year Chart Peak position 1979–1980 Australia (Kent Music Report)^[79] 1 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)^[30] 1 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[36] 12 Canada Top Singles (RPM)^[47] 6 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)^[80] 1 France (IFOP)^[28] 1 Germany (Official German Charts)^[34] 2 Ireland (IRMA)^[31] 1 Italy (Musica e Dischi)^[81] 1 Japan (Oricon International Chart)^[82] 1 Japan (Oricon Singles Chart)^[82] 25 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)^[38] 17 Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[37] 16 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[35] 2 South Africa (Springbok Radio)^[83] 6 Spain (AFE)^[29] 1 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)^[32] 1 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)^[33] 1 UK Singles (OCC)^[26] 1 US Billboard Hot 100^[39] 40 US Cash Box^[40] 40 2013 France (SNEP)^[84] 190

Year-end charts Year Chart Position 1979 Australia (Kent Music Report)^[85]^[86] 18 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[87] 94 France (IFOP)^[88] 3 UK Singles (OCC)^[89] 17 1980 Australia (Kent Music Report)^[90]^[91] 46 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)^[92] 14 Canada (RPM Top Singles)^[93] 30 Germany (Media Control Charts)^[94] 43

Sales and certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)^[96]	Platinum	1,200,000^[95]
Japan (RIAJ)^[97] 2007 digital release	Gold	100,000^*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)^[98]	Gold	25,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)^[2]	Platinum	600,000^‡
Summaries
Worldwide	—	5,000,000^[99]
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Accolades

Publication/TV show/author(s)	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
20 to 1	Australia	Top 20 One Hit Wonders^[100]	2006	3
Bruce Pollock	United States	The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000	2005	*
Giannis Petridis	Greece	2004 of the Best Songs of the Century	2003
Gilles Verlant, Thomas Caussé	France	3000 Rock Classics	2009
The Guardian	United Kingdom	The Top 100 British Number 1 Singles^[101]		53
Hervé Bourhis	France	Le Petit Livre Rock: The Juke Box Singles 1950-2009	2009	*
Les Inrockuptibles		1000 Indispensable Songs	2006
Mashable	United States	32 Unforgettable Music Videos^[102]	2013
MSN Music	United Kingdom	Best Song Titles Ever^[103]	2003	19
NBC-10	United States	The 30 Best Songs of the 80s	2006	*
Pause & Play		Songs Inducted into a Time Capsule, One Track at Each Week
PopMatters		The 100 Best Songs Since Johnny Rotten Roared^[104]	2003	73
Q	United Kingdom	The 1010 Songs You Must Own (Q50: One-hit Wonders)^[105]	2004	*
Time	United States	Top 10 MTV Moments^[106]	2010
Time Out	United Kingdom	100 Songs That Changed History^[107]		100
Triple J Hottest 100	Australia	Hottest 100 of All Time^[108]	1998	79
VH1	United States	100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80's^[3]	2009	40
		100 Greatest Videos^[109]	2001	79
Volume!	France	200 Records that Changed the World	2008	*
Xfinity	United States	Top 10 Groundbreaking Videos^[110]		10
WhatCulture!		10 Controversial Music Videos That Look Tame Today^[111]	2013	*
WOXY.com		The 500 Best Modern Rock Songs of All Time	2008	348
All accolades are adapted from Acclaimed Music,^[112] except if cited by an additional source. "*" indicates the list is unordered.

See also

• Reality Killed the Video Star, a 2009 album by Robbie Williams produced by Trevor Horn
• "Internet Killed the Video Star", a 2010 song by the Limousines
• "Check It Out", a 2010 song by will.i.am and Nicki Minaj which heavily samples the song.

No. 1 chart lists

• List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1970s
• List of European number-one hits of 1980
• List of number-one singles of 1979 (France)
• List of number-one singles of 1979 (Ireland)
• List of number-one hits of 1980 (Italy)
• List of number-one singles of 1980 (Spain)
• List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden
• List of number-one singles from 1968 to 1979 (Switzerland)
• List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1970s
• List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States

References

1. "Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club – Video Killed the Radio Star". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
2. "British single certifications – Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
3. Ali, Rahsheeda (2 May 2013). . VH1. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
4. . ZTT Records. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
5. "Meet the Buggles". People. 15 July 2001. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
6. . Geoffdownes.net. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
7. "Trevor Horn". Red Bull Music Academy. 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
8. Buskin, Richard (December 2011). "The Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
9. Simpson, Dave (30 October 2018). "The Buggles: how we made Video Killed the Radio Star". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
10. Hodgkinson, Will (5 November 2004). "Horn of Plenty". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
11. Warner 2003, p. 44.
12. Warner 2003, p. 41.
13. Lindvall, Helienne (13 February 2014). "Trevor Horn: 'I had delusions the label would be a hub of creativity'". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
14. Phares, Heather. "Video Killed the Radio Star – Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
15. Cardona, Joe (11 August 2013). . The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
16. Warner 2003, p. 43.
17. "Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles – Digital Sheet Music". Faber Music. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2013 – via Musicnotes.
18. Warner 2003, p. 45.
19. Downes, Geoff (23 November 2020). "Roger Dean and Geoff Downes in Conversation" (Interview). Interviewed by Roger Dean. YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
20. Deller, Fred (21 February 1980). "Life With the Buggles". Smash Hits. Vol. 32.
21. Warner 2003, pp. 43, 45.
22. Warner 2003, p. 46.
23. Peel, Ian (1 January 2010). . Trevorhorn.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
24. "Official Singles Chart Top 75: 23 September 1979 – 29 September 1979". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
25. "Official Singles Chart Top 75: 30 September 1979 – 06 October 1979". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
26. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
27. Kent Music Report. No. 288. 31 December 1979. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
28. . InfoDisc (in French). Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
29. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.^{[page needed]}
30. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
31. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Video Killed the Radio Star". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
32. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
33. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
34. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
35. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
36. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
37. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
38. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 46, 1979" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
39. "Buggles – Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
40. . Cash Box. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011.
41. Trust, Gary (20 January 2015). "The Biggest Hot 100 Hits to Peak at Nos. 50-26". Billboard. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
42. "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Vol. 91, no. 45. 10 November 1979. p. 12. ISSN 0006-2510.
43. . Cash Box. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011.
44. "RPM 100 Singles". RPM. Vol. 32, no. 11. Library and Archives Canada. 8 December 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
45. "RPM 100 Singles". RPM. Vol. 32, no. 16. Library and Archives Canada. 12 January 1980. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
46. "RPM 100 Singles". RPM. Vol. 32, no. 19. Library and Archives Canada. 2 February 1980. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
47. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9499a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
48. "Billboard's Top Single Picks > First Time Around". Billboard. Vol. 91, no. 44. 3 November 1979. p. 86. ISSN 0006-2510.
49. Partridge, Andy (20 September 1979). "Secret Affair". Smash Hits. Vol. 32. p. 24.
50. "The Police". Smash Hits. Vol. 31. 7 February 1980. p. 31.
51. Warner 2003, p. 48.
52. Lewis, Barbara (5 July 1980). "What is the latest on Paul McCartney". The Free Lance–Star. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
53. Burley, Ted (24 April 1980). "Fine production puts Woolley ahead of the new wave pack". Montreal Gazette. p. 84. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
54. Marsh, Dave (7 March 1980). "Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club". Star-News. p. 6–B. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
55. Lawson, Michael (8 March 1980). "Two bands eulogize departed 'radio star'". The Phoenix. p. 7. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
56. Tannenbaum, Rob; Marks, Craig (2011). "A Total, Unmitigated Disaster". I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-1015-2641-5.
57. . YouTube. 1 August 2011. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
58. Young, Alex (11 July 2009). "Rock History 101: The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star"". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
59. . Sphere Studios. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004.
60. "the Buggles – "Video killed the radio star"". Mvdbase.com. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
61. Ankeny, Jason. "Buggles – Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
62. Dehnart, Andy (1 March 2000). "Who really killed the video star?". Salon. Associated Press. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
63. . Pinoy Rock Central. Archived from the original on 6 March 2010.
64. . Manual to Lyf. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013.
65. Bierly, Mandi (31 July 2013). "Pivot: New cable channel launches Thursday with 'Video Killed the Radio Star' -- VIDEO". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
66. Cadet, Thierry (3 July 2015). "Ringo passé à la moulinette : "Génération remixes"". Melody.tv (in French). Retrieved 12 October 2019.
67. Foucault, Jean-Pierre (10 July 2019). "Le grand corbeau noir par Ringo" (in French). France Bleu. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
68. McNerthney, Casey (16 November 2016). "Presidents of the United States of America – band behind 'Lump' and 'Peaches' – announces retirement". KIRO7. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
69. "Gig review: The Buggles". Bondegezou.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
70. Tina Charles – Slave to the Rhythm on YouTube
71. Jay, Martin. "My Website". Retrieved 28 April 2014.
72. "BBC Electric Proms – Robbie Williams". BBC Online. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
73. "The Perfect Pop Song". 30 January 2019.
74. "Anne Dudley's 'Plays the Art of Noise' Is an Unexpected Triumph of Tunes Over Technology". PopMatters. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
75. O'Sullivan, Eilish (21 July 2020). "'Video Killed the Radio Star' TikTok trend revisits celebrity death conspiracies". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
76. "Hitler y Stalin cantan 'Video Killed the Radio Star' a dúo en el último y sorprendente 'deepfake' viral". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 3 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
77. "El vídeo viral de Hitler y Stalin cantando 'Video Killed the Radio Star'". Okdiario (in Spanish). 6 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
78. Video Killed the Radio Star (vinyl single). The Buggles. UK: Island Records. 1979. WIP 6524.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
79. . World Charts. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
80. . MusicSeek.info. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006.
81. "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 8 June 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli", then search "Video killed the radio star" under "Titolo".
82. (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 11 September 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2014 – via 18.ocn.ne.jp.
83. "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (B)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
84. "Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
85. . Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
86. "Kent Music Report No 288 – 31 December 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1979". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Imgur.com.
87. "Jaaroverzichten 1979" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
88. "TOP – 1979". Top-france.fr (in French). Retrieved 26 August 2013.
89. "Top Singles 1979". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. 22 December 1979. p. 27.
90. "National Top 100 Singles for 1980". Kent Music Report. 5 January 1981. Retrieved 17 January 2022 – via Imgur.
91. . Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
92. "Jahreshitparade 1980" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
93. . RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 20 December 1980. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
94. (in German). Offiziellecharts.de. GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015.
95. Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). Fabrice Ferment (ed.). . 40 ans de tubes : 1960–2000 : les meilleures ventes de 45 tours & CD singles (in French). OCLC 469523661. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2022 – via Top-France.fr.
96. "French single certifications – Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in French). InfoDisc. Select BUGGLES and click OK. 
97. "Japanese digital single certifications – Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 20 May 2021. Select 2017年7月 on the drop-down menu
98. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
99. . People. 15 July 2001. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
100. "One-Hit Wonders". 20 to 1. Series 2. Episode 1. 13 February 2006. Nine Network.
101. "The Top 100 British Number 1 Singles". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2014 – via Rocklist.net.
102. Hernandez, Brian Anthony (2 August 2013). "MTV Turns 32: Your Favorite Music Videos of All Time". Mashable. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
103. Chipping, Tim (19 July 2013). . MSN Music. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
104. "100 from 1977–2003: 71–80". PopMatters. 21 August 2003. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
105. "1010 Songs You Must Own!". Q. September 2004. Retrieved 27 August 2013 – via Rocklist.net.
106. "Top 10 MTV Moments". Time. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
107. "100 songs that changed history". Time Out. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
108. "Hottest 100 of all time". Triple J Hottest 100. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
109. "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos". VH1. Retrieved 29 April 2014 – via Rock on the Net.
110. . Xfinity. Comcast Cable. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
111. . WhatCulture!. Archived from the original on 1 March 2013.
112. . Acclaimed Music. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2013.

Bibliography

• Warner, Timothy (2003). Pop music: technology and creativity : Trevor Horn and the digital revolution. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-3132-3.