DESCRIPTION:
From '' Video Killed The Radio Star ''
Label: One Records -- ONE 001
Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Single
Country: Italy
Released: 1987

Tracklist
A Video Killed The Radio Star (Vocal)
B Video Star

Producer -- Alberto Carpani

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"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic.
It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television.
The song topped the music chart in several countries and has been covered by many recording artists.
It was the first music video shown on MTV in the U.S. at 12:01am on 1 August 1981.
The song was number 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80's.

Structure and release

Group member Trevor Horn has said that his lyrics were inspired by the J. G. Ballard 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.
He also felt "an era was about to pass."
The theme of the song is thus nostalgia, which is also echoed in the tone of the music.
(The vocals are initially limited in bandwidth, giving a "telephone" effect typical of early broadcasts.)
The lyrics refer 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.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, radio was an important medium for many, through which "stars" were created.

The song was written by Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley.
Horn has claimed that Woolley was primarily responsible for the musical content, while Horn wrote most of the words.
Woolley was responsible for the addition of the words 'put the blame on VTR'. The first version was recorded by Woolley & the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for his album English Garden, which was a hit in Canada. The Buggles later recorded the song and it reached number one in the UK charts the week of 20 October 1979, the first-ever number one for the Island Records label.
It also would top the Australian charts, and made the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, debuting on 10 November 1979, and peaking at number 40.

It appears on the album The Age of Plastic, where it has an additional piano coda.
The complicated arrangement and production of the song, which includes a chorus sung by a group of very high-pitched backup singers, foreshadows Horn's later career as a producer.

It appears on the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and in the game itself.

The song is used twice in Sarah Polley's 2011 film "Take this Waltz"; once midway through, and again during the closing scene.
It is played as part of an indoor theme park ride in downtown Toronto.

Cover versions

In 1998, the alternative rock band, The Presidents of the United States of America, released a version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" for The Wedding Singer soundtrack.
The song was also released as a one-track single.
The song later appeared on the band's compilation Rarities.

Other cover versions

1999 Lolita No.18 - ヤリタミン (YALITAMIN)
2000 Ken Laszlo - Ken Laszlo 2000
2000 The Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
2003 Erasure - Other People's Songs
2003 Handsome Hank & His Lonesome Boys - Greatest Hits
2005 Amber Pacific - Punk Goes 80's
2005 Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
2005 Len - The Diary of the Madmen (in hidden track)
2007 Alvin and the Chipmunks - Alvin and the Chipmunks video game
2007 The Feeling - Rosé (CD single)
2007 Haruko Momoi - COVER BEST — Cover Densha
2008 Bitch Alert - Pink Bunnies Get Hit by Big Trucks
2009 Tina Ray - Super Eurobeat 193
2009 VV Brown - Travelling Like the Light

In popular culture

The song is heavily sampled in the 2010 single, "Check It Out" by will.i.am and Nicki Minaj.

Several artist have answered the song.

In 2009, Robbie Williams titled his eight album Reality Killed the Video Star The album was produced by Trevor Horn.

Drop Dead, Gorgeous included (The) Internet Killed the Video Star on their 2009 release The Hot n' Heavy.

Tristopia TV did a YouTube parody called Copyright Killed the Video Star.

In 2010, The Limousines did a track on their Get Sharp album titled Internet Killed the Video Star and released a music video for the song.

On August 2, 2011, Jay Leno aired a short video of Jersey Shore Killed the Video Star on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.