BUGGLES

12 Oct 1979 7" (+ CDS) Video Killed the Radio Star

    Video Killed the Radio Star 3.18 / Kid Dynamo 3.26 (UK 7": Island Records WIP 6524; UK CD-single 15 Nov 1999: Island 562 465-2)
Linda Allan, backing singer, told me 24 Sep 2003: "The singer on Video Killed the Radio Star and on the album was me (on the album there was also input from Joy Yates and Debbie Doss). The females in the video were NOT models [as someone suggested]. One of the other girls was an Australian model who we all called Sydney Australia, but I was present (at the time of the recordings I was Linda Jardim)."

Jan 1980 7" The Plastic Age

    The Plastic Age 5.05 / Island 4.03 [Horn/Downes] (UK 7": Island, WIP 6540)

    The Plastic Age 3.51 [edit] / Island 3.32 [edit] (German 7": Island 101 282)

30 Jan 1980 LP (+ CD) THE AGE OF PLASTIC
  1. Living in the Plastic Age 5.06 [Horn/Downes]
  2. Video Killed the Radio Star 4.11 [longer LP version] [Horn/Downes/Wooley]
  3. Kid Dynamo 3.26 [remixed LP version] [Horn/Downes]
  4. I Love You (Miss Robot) 4.53 [Horn/Downes]

  5. Clean, Clean 3.52 [Horn/Downes/Wooley]
  6. Elstree 4.26 [Horn/Downes]
  7. Astroboy (and the Proles on Parade) 4.47 [Horn/Downes]
  8. Johnny on the Monorail 5.26 [Horn/Downes] (UK LP: ILPS 9585; US CD: 7 90090-2)
Recorded by Trevor Horn (born on July 15th 1949 in Newcastle) and Geoff Downes. Buggles joined the super group 'Yes' in the Spring of 1980 to record the album 'Drama' and stayed until Dec 1980.

14 March 1980 7"/promo 12" Clean Clean

    Clean Clean 3.52 / Technopop 3.47 [Downes/Horn] (UK 7": WIP 6584)

    Clean Clean 5.13 / Living in the Plastic Age 5.05 (US 12" promo: Island Records PRO-A-859)

The DJ-only extended version of Clean Clean is simply a longer edit of the album version, most likely created by the US record company.

26 Sep 1980 7" Elstree

    Elstree 4.05 / Johnny on the Monorail (A Very Different Version) 3.54 [remixed by John Sinclair] (UK 7": Island WIP 6624)

9 Oct 1981 7"/12" I Am a Camera

    I Am a Camera 4.32 [fade-out] / Fade Away 2.34 [Horn/Sinclair] (UK 7": Carrere Records, CAR 213)

    I Am a Camera (12 Inch Mix) 4.11 / Fade Away 2.34 (12": CAR 213T)

A-side produced by Horn/Downes, B-side by Horn.

8 Jan 1982 7"/12" Adventures in Modern Recording

    Adventures in Modern Recording 3.42 / Blue Nylon 2.23 (Carrere Records, CAR 222)

    Adventures in Modern Recording / Blue Nylon (CART 222)

A-side produced by Horn/Sinclair, B-side by Horn.

March 1982 LP (+ CD) ADVENTURES IN MODERN RECORDING

  1. Adventures in Modern Recording 3.42 [Horn/Wooley/Darlow]
  2. Beatnik 3.36 [Horn]
  3. Vermillion Sands 6.45 [Horn/Downes]
  4. I Am a Camera 4.51 [Horn/Downes]

  5. On TV 2.48 [Horn/Wooley/Thompson]
  6. Inner City 3.18 [Horn/Darlow]
  7. Lenny 3.11 [Horn/Downes]
  8. Rainbow Warrior 5.21 [Horn/Darlow/Sinclair]
  9. Adventures in Modern Recording (Reprise) 0.45 (UK LP: Carrere CAL 131; Japanese CD 1 July 1993: JICK-89266)

    Japanese 1997 CD bonus tracks:

  10. Fade Away 2.34
  11. Blue Nylon 2.23
  12. I Am a Camera (12 Inch Mix) 4.11 (Japanese CD 21 Dec 1997: TFCK-87577)
    UK 2010 CD:
  1. Adventures in Modern Recording 3.42 [Horn/Wooley/Darlow]
  2. Beatnik 3.36 [Horn]
  3. Vermillion Sands 6.45 [Horn/Downes]
  4. I Am a Camera 4.51 [Horn/Downes]
  5. On TV 2.48 [Horn/Wooley/Thompson]
  6. Inner City 3.18 [Horn/Darlow]
  7. Lenny 3.11 [Horn/Downes]
  8. Rainbow Warrior 5.21 [Horn/Darlow/Sinclair]
  9. Adventures in Modern Recording (Reprise) 0.45
  10. Fade Away 2.34
  11. Blue Nylon 2.23
  12. I Am a Camera (12” mix) 4.11
  13. We Can Fly from Here – part 1 5.08 [previously unreleased demo]
  14. Dion 5.04 [previously unreleased demo dated 4 Feb 1981]
  15. Videotheque 3.34 [previously unreleased demo dated 21 Jan 1981]
  16. On TV 3.52 [previously unreleased demo dated 21 Jan 1981]
  17. Walking on Glass (original version of Lenny) 3.14 [previously unreleased demo dated 21 Jan 1981]
  18. Riding a Tide 4.51 [previously unreleased demo dated 4 Feb 1981]
  19. We Can Fly From Here – part 2 4.02 [previously unreleased demo]
    (UK CD 15 Feb 2010: Union Square Music/Salvo, SALVOCD036)
Recorded by the re-formed Buggles at Sarm Studios. Trevor Horn: vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar. Geoff Downes: Fairlight, keyboards (on 2,3,4,7). Simon Darlow: guitars, keyboards (on 1,5,6,8,9). John Sinclair: electronic drum machine, cymbals. Produced by Horn/Sinclair, except 3,4,7 by Horn/Downes. After this Trevor Horn continued as a super producer, while Geoff Downes formed the group 'Asia' together with Steve Howe from Yes. As a side note, a different version of 'I Am a Camera' called 'Into the lens' was released by Yes on their 'Drama' album in 1980.

9 April 1982 7"/12" On TV

    On TV / Fade Away 2.34 (7": RCA Records, RCA 232)

    On TV 3.54 [12" mix] / Blue Nylon 3.55 (French 12": Carrere 8140)

Thanks to 'Philippe' for info on the rare French 12". He told me: "It is definitely quite not the album version. It sounds like it is an extended version - the intro and the end are longer, the end is fading in rythm but not with the flute synth sound and there is no break before the end and the all track is continuously in rhythm so it sounds like a 12" mix (of 3'54 !)"

TREVOR HORN ON BUGGLES:

"Before I started Buggles I was a sort of loser record producer, I spent four years producing records for various people without ever making any money out of it or having any success at all. A couple of people have become famous since though, like Lee what's-his-name out of Imagination. I used to play bass in Shakatak years ago when it wasn't called Shakatak, when it was a sort of jazz rock outfit. Mainly I just produced unsuccessful records because I couldn't seem to lay my hands on a good song.

Eventually I got so fed up doing things that weren't successful I decided that if I couldn't find a good artist and a good song then I'd write it myself and become the artist, so I wrote this song called "Video Killed The Radio Star" with Bruce Wooley. I know the name's awful, but at the time it was the era of the great Punk thing. I'd got fed up of producing people who were generally idiots but called themselves all sorts of clever names like The Unwanted, The Unwashed, The Unheard . . . when it came to choosing our name I thought I'd pick the most disgusting name possible. In retrospect I have frequently regretted calling myself Buggles, but in those days I never really thought much about packaging or selling myself, all that really concerned me was the record." [Interview with Trevorn Horn in 1982, by Fiona Russell Powell. You can find the complete interview here.]

Copyright (c) 1996-08-13 Jonas Wårstad.

Last update 2010-02-24.

Thanks to Tim and Steve Masson in general, and to Rolf Muckel for info on German singles.

My Buggles-related discography (pre-Buggles records and related records)

www.buggles.co.nr

Trevor Horn Worship Hall (by Christoph Roeckerath)

'Singles of BUGGLES'

www.dollarsite.co.uk

[My home page] [Links to record shops] [CDs for sale] [Email me]