The song was written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1978. It was first recorded by Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their album English Garden, and later by British group The Buggles, consisting of Horn and Downes. 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 would later take place at Sarm East Studios. 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. On 27 February 2000, it became the one-millionth video to be aired on MTV. All the tracks of the The Age of Plastic ( Which this song debued on) deal with positives and concerns of the impact of modern technology. The theme of "Video Killed the Radio Star" is thus nostalgia, with the lyrics referring to a period of technological change in the 1960's, the desire to remember the past and the disappointment that children of the current generation would not appreciate the past. 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.
Linking This music video Andrew Goodwins 6 features of music video,s there is a relationship between the lyrics sung and the visuals shown. This is shown as the lyrics in the chorus of the song which is the songs title and shows a little girl with a radio before it is blown up and is replaced by television. This is important as this song shows meaning as it makes a point on how older technology is changing and being replaced by newer technology. The way the singers voice comes through on the song is very technological as if it sounds like the singers voice is coming through a radio. The song uses the examples of the radio and the television as they were and still are a popular way that people gain entertainment in society.This is backed up by the co writer Trevor Horn in the book I Want My MTV: "It came from this idea that technology was on the verge of changing everything. Video recorders had just come along, which changed people's lives. We'd seem people starting to make videos as well, and we were excited by that. It felt like radio was the past and video was the future. The was a shift coming." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=681
When viewing the video the tempo seems very fast through the singer but the editing, cross cutting and transitions are not as much throughout, although there is change from the singers becoming the narrator to the band performing in front of the camera. The cameras present mainly focussed on the band members especially when there is the transition to the band performing. So linking this to Goodwins conventions and the six features of music video's that there is frequent reference to notion of looking. There is parts where there is voyeuristic treatment of the female body where a woman dressed in futuristic clothing glides down a clear see through pipe and looks scared because she is confined in a small area.
There is many close ups of the artists within this music video as they were known before this song came out but many listeners and viewers whom are fans of the Buggles will relate more of the group with "Video Killed The Radio Star". There is also mid shots and long shots of the band performing in a white studio area. The lighting present within the video is mainly bright which represents the positives in the change to technology but with the scene with the little girl and the radio the background is black which can show a negative aspect which is the demise of the radio.
The mise en scene of the music video shows the authenticity of the Buggles musical ability through the performance parts of the video as these parts show how talented the members are for example the man on the left of the picture above whom is playing the piano with one hand and another instrument shows the effort the band is putting in on the performance. The music video has the sense of the 1980's through the music as the 80's was a time of new technological and synthetic music and also with now styles of dress and clothing. The narration parts with the futuristic setting adds the view of change for the world with new technology as emphasised throughout.
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