Video Killed The Radio Star

While we were watching the documentary of how MTV and it's music videos broke the boundaries for the music industry, demanding artists for visuals just as good as their songs, I was reminded of a tune that encapsulates the entire message we heard of in class today. With its incredibly peppy synth beats, "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles mourns for the old technology being replaced with the new, specifically that of radio slowly being replaced by   the captivating new tool, television. The lead singer even begins the song with this verse, "I heard you on the wireless back in fifty two/Lying awake intent at tuning in on you/If I was young it didn't stop you coming through", reminiscing back to 1952, when he used to tune into and listen to stars on the radio meant for everyone to listen to.

Along with television, the second verse acknowledges machine or computers programs now being able to create instrumentals artificially, "They took the credit for your second symphony/Rewritten by machine on new technology/And now I understand the problems you can see" however this inauthentic recreation doesn't sound as good as the same instruments played live would. 

Leading up to the chorus, are a few lines asking what parents told their children about the days of radio, "Oh a oh/I met your children/Oh a oh/What did you tell them?", which to the ever repeating chorus responds "Video killed the radio star" which hits home the big message of how the emergence of television put radio out of fashion. A line that also typically follows the chorus, "In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone too far/Pictures came and broke your heart Put down the blame on VCR" tells of how it is too late to go back in this sudden progression of technology, as it has already created videos that overshadowed the radio and its stars.

In the only other verse of the song, "And now we meet in an abandoned studio/We hear the playback and it seems so long ago/And you remember the jingles used to go", it is described of how possibly the lead singers and the band members hear the playback of the radio and its jingles, in a studio that is now abandoned, just as their career has been in the midst of television arising. 

Work Cited:

“Buggles (Ft. Debi Doss & Linda Jardim) – Video Killed the Radio Star.” Genius, Genius Media Group Inc., 7 Sept. 1979, genius.com/Buggles-video-killed-the-radio-star-lyrics.