Track Listing

1. Living In The Plastic Age
2. Video Killed The Radio Star
3. Kid Dynamo
4. I Love You (Miss Robot)
5. Clean, Clean
6. Elstree
7. Astroboy (And The Proles On Parade)
8. Johnny On The Monorail
9. Island
10. Technopop
11. Johnny On The Monorail - The Buggles, John Sinclair

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7798 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 47 minutes

From Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

The Buggles's critique of much more than video and radio
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).

Fantastic!
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)!

do you remember the days of kid dynamo?
Cold grey winter mornings listening to the radio at breakfast time or daydreaming out of the school classroom window...thats my memory of Buggles music. I only bought this album 3 years ago but had the singles at time of release. All the album tracks are forlorn and haunting but also optimistic about the future. Astroboy, Kid Dynamo and Technpop were B sides on the singles but I never played them.... The reprise on 'Video' is the most evocative for me and just think..''i saw you on the wireless back in 52..'' that was 27 years ago for the girl in 1979-next year will be 27 years on from 'Video'..I'm glad that I am living in the Plastic Age...