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Product Description
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Part of the early-1980s great explosion of pop music (witness: Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson) to have any real impact, an accident of fate-titled "Video Killed the Radio Star" inextricably links the Buggles to the rise of MTV. Unfortunate for the band's future, the two best Buggles tracks (the other, "Clean Clean") were cowritten with Bruce Woolley, who simultaneously released them (with less success) with his new band, The Camera Club. The artificial sound of these comparatively primitive keyboards and drum machines, once embraced by nihilist popsters on the edge of punk, has since mutated (Gary Numan, Eno, Woodentops, etc.) into the all-but-voiceless electronic music of the late '90s. Regardless, the Buggles manifested a handful of pop gems in science fiction clothing. And why not? We still read Bradbury and Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Oddly, what once seemed such smart and jaded music now plays as the voice of joyous optimism. Go figure. --Grant Alden
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'll admit, I bough this album for "Video", only to discover that the entire album is excellent. Standouts of course would include "Clean, Clean", "Elstree", "Plastic Age", and of course "Video Killed the Radio Star". It should be mentioned that although Amazon's review mentions drum machines, all the drums were actually played by a real drummer (none other than Ultravox's Warren Cann), though Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes wanted him to sound like a drum machine ('cause they didn't have one at the time)!
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Buggles have their place in music history because their quirky hit "Video Killed the Radio Star" has the distinction of being the first music video shown on MTV. But their 1980 debut album "Age of Plastic" deserves to be remembered on its own terms; not just for the "futuristic" music, but because the lyrics represent a coherent critique of the world of technology as being full of potential but fraught with peril. Even a cursory look at "Video Killed the Radio Star" shows the song is offering up less than subtle ironies about the medium of pop music, not to mention the fledgling MTV. The Buggles consisted of the tandem of Geoffrey Downes on percussion/keyboards and Trevor Horn doing bass/guitar/percussion/vocals, both of who were obviously more interested in producing. That same year they produced the Yes album "Drama," and the pair ended up joining the group and replacing Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman.
Pay attention to the lyrics on this album. "Kid Dynamo" is about the death of imagination in the age of mass media, a proposition that is clearly becoming more and more obvious with each year. "I Love You Miss Robot" is not kinky, despite its title, and is about the pitfalls of human dependence on technology. As for the music, it is pretty diverse. ""Video Killed the Radio Star" is upbeat and peppy while "Johnny on the Monorail" is the exact opposite, dark and brooding. Of course, at the time the use of electronic devices was considered cutting edge and the novelty of it all distracted from the potency of the lyrics. The Alan Parsons Project tried to do something along these lines with with 1977's "I Robot," but that effort seems ponderous and pretentious when compared to "Age of Plastic." I think I could make a compelling argument that this is one of the top ten, or at least top two dozen albums, from the decade (and you can go either way on that as the end of the 1970s or the start of the 1980s).
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Buggles have their place in music history because their quirky hit "Video Killed the Radio Star" has the distinction of being the first music video shown on MTV. But their 1980 debut album "Age of Plastic" deserves to be remembered on its own terms; not just for the "futuristic" music, but because the lyrics represent a coherent critique of the world of technology as being full of potential but fraught with peril. Even a cursory look at "Video Killed the Radio Star" shows the song is offering up less than subtle ironies about the medium of pop music, not to mention the fledgling MTV. The Buggles consisted of the tandem of Geoffrey Downes on percussion/keyboards and Trevor Horn doing bass/guitar/percussion/vocals, both of who were obviously more interested in producing. That same year they produced the Yes album "Drama," and the pair ended up joining the group and replacing Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman.
Pay attention to the lyrics on this album. "Kid Dynamo" is about the death of imagination in the age of mass media, a proposition that is clearly becoming more and more obvious with each year. "I Love You Miss Robot" is not kinky, despite its title, and is about the pitfalls of human dependence on technology. As for the music, it is pretty diverse. ""Video Killed the Radio Star" is upbeat and peppy while "Johnny on the Monorail" is the exact opposite, dark and brooding. Of course, at the time the use of electronic devices was considered cutting edge and the novelty of it all distracted from the potency of the lyrics. The Alan Parsons Project tried to do something along these lines with with 1977's "I Robot," but that effort seems ponderous and pretentious when compared to "Age of Plastic." I think I could make a compelling argument that this is one of the top ten, or at least top two dozen albums, from the decade (and you can go either way on that as the end of the 1970s or the start of the 1980s).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"They'll Never Be as Big as the Buggles"
Despite living through the short Buggles era, I did not buy this album, but I did buy their singles. Read more
Published on 17 May 2010 by Nicholas Casley
the buggles age of plastic
Don't buy at pridestuff; they send you a CD frm 1980 instead of the one shown on the site dating from 11 october 2004!
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by stephan vandenbrande
An 'average' album.
'The Buggles', like so many groups that had just one major hit, probably made a mistake in the choosing of their follow-up single which was not so powerful. Read more
Published on 2 July 2008 by FAMOUS NAME
An 'average' album.
'The Buggles', like so many groups that had just one major hit, probably made a mistake in the choosing of their follow-up single which was not so powerful. Read more
Published on 2 July 2008 by FAMOUS NAME
An 'average' album.
'The Buggles', like so many groups that had just one major hit, probably made a mistake in the choosing of their follow-up single which was not so powerful. Read more
Published on 2 July 2008 by FAMOUS NAME
Plastic fantastic!
It's quite an album, even now. 'Video' is probably one of the stand-out tracks but that's not to say the title track and 'Elstree' especially aren't up there with it. Read more
Published on 4 May 2008 by sonik57
An average album.
'The Buggles', like so many groups that had just one major hit, probably made a mistake in the choosing of their follow-up single which was not so powerful. Read more
Published on 17 April 2008 by FAMOUS NAME
DVD killed the video star
Recorded on the threshold of the synth-dominated 1980s, Buggles' first album felt like a gateway to that decade. Read more
Published on 30 May 2007 by D. J. H. Thorn
Simply Superb
Recently discovered this album and I've not stopped listening to it since. It is absolutely outstanding, in fact probably the best album I've ever heard. Read more
Published on 4 May 2007 by M. Evans
Techno Pop
Before there was techno, there was Technopop, the Buggles rarely heard song on the b-side to Clean Clean until it's inclusion on the newer CD reissue; and techno pop, an apt... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2007 by Hans 'Dark Waves' Dresden
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