Yes Killed The Buggles Star, By Making It Brighter
“You were the first one, You were the last one”
Watch this before we move on so we can properly get in the mood, especially if this is news to you.
There will be many more songs linked throughout this article. They are worth listening to, but not mandatory.
Ok, so the story of Video Killed the Radio Star is cool, being the first music video on MTV and a catalyst for the entire music video revolution. Today I want to focus on the legacy of the artist behind the hit: The Buggles. Youtuber Todd in the Shadows made a video on the Buggles legacy a few years back. It’s more in-depth on the Buggles perspective than I will be here, as I will take a different direction. It’s one of my all-time favorite videos on the site. However, something huge happened after this video posted. There was an element the story that Todd couldn’t cover, and I didn’t know about it until a few days ago.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we begin with The Buggles.
Trevor Horn (vocals) and Geoff Downes (keyboards) have impressive careers in music. It’s not because their one hit as the Buggles is the greatest thing ever. I mean, it IS the greatest thing ever, but that‘s not enough to keep Horn and Downes on the map. They only released 2 albums as The Buggles, with one hit in America and only a few mild hits in Europe. The Buggles was only the start of lifelong music careers for these two men. Their legacy could have died as a one-hit wonder. Bands and artists drown in the seas of time when they become labeled one-hit wonders, whether because it’s how poorly their songs age, or that they can’t recreate their 15 minutes of fame, or both.
But Horn and Downes journeyed far beyond 15 minutes, abandoning their own video star when a much brighter future was presented to them.
If I met your children, this is what I’d tell them.
The ‘Drama’ of Buggles x Yes
“Drawn at an angle I see when I’m with you
To navigate waters and finally answer to YES”
Yes is one of the most impressive and prolific music groups in rock history. They have a habit of recording ambitious and experimental rock music. The band has had many rotating members over the years, but have nailed down an signature euphoric sound. The prog rock legends were helmed by Chris Squire (bass) and Jon Anderson (vocals). These 2 worked on every Yes record, with Steve Howe (guitar), Bill Bruford →Alan White (drums) and Rick Wakeman (keyboards) becoming defining, but not permanent, members. It’s not a comprehensive list of Yes members in the 1970s, but these guys helped create wonderful records such as The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close To The Edge.
Progressive rock as a music style is known for being ‘unusual’. Songs last 10 minutes or more, though it’s fine because it’s broken down by movements and passages, as opposed to repeating verses and choruses. Even on the songs that resembles verses and choruses have dynamic musicianship driving the song. Their biggest song up the this point, Roundabout, is a perfect example of what I mean. The technicality of Rick Wakeman’s keyboards and otherworldly lyrics of Jon Anderson‘s vocals mixed beautifully for their style. It’s still rock and roll, but it doesn’t sound like many mixes of pop and rock at this point in time.
On first glance, it is the stylistic opposite of Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn, and The Buggles.
But they worked together and produced Drama, an album that debuted in 1980. It likely shouldn’t have worked, but it did. Listen to Tempus Fugit, easily my favorite song on the album. Chris Squire’s bass gives life to the track, and responded perfectly by Geoff Downes on keyboards. Howe and White keep the rhythm going without issue. Horn’s vocals work well with the melody as well, but don’t necessarily transcend the sound like Anderson did, (which is more about praising Anderson than an issue with Horn). Much of the rest of the album has a similar effect. Songs like Into The Lens and Machine Messiah stack very well against the experimental sounds of 70’s Yes.
The album is still undeniably Yes, with evolving movements, and wonderful musicianship. The remaining Yes members seemed to get along masterfully with the Buggles. Not everyone was happy with the vocal change, but I’ve also met fans of Yes that are unaware that Anderson was replaced at all. The supersonic sound of Yes seems to prevail no matter which members show up.
Beyond The Drama: Buggles x Yes
“And now you find yourself in 82, the disco hotspots hold no charm for you”
We can’t talk about the ripple effects of this collaboration without acknowledging the Lonely Heart in the room…
Yes reformed with Anderson, and other members new and old, a few years later to their greatest success as a band. Trevor Horn became a producer after Drama, and found a new level of success with it. His first big project was the production of 90125 by Yes. It’s lead single ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ remains Yes’s only #1 hit single, their other hits never reached this level. I don’t believe it’s the best song on the album, but it’s still the right way to represent the record. 90125 departed from Yes’s experimental progressive roots, but still sounded like the Yes that fans fell in love with.
Geoff Downes was absent from this album, as was Steve Howe, though it’s because they had a new band in development called Asia.
The story of Buggles x Yes becomes less involved after 90125 unfortunately. Yes produced albums past the late 80’s into the 90’s, and into their wild unknown future. I like a lot of this material in all honesty, but I understand that popular music evolved beyond Yes. It could/should have been the end of this story right here.
Trevor Horn’s producing career took off like a bullet train, with a long list of collaborations and hits too broad to list here. Horn helped produce a few Yes albums including Big Generator, which followed 90125. Geoff Downes would play keys throughout music, including Yes again, Asia again, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and more. Geoff Downes is even credited in a Nicki Minaj album since she sampled Video Killed The Radio Star for a song.
Horn and Downes likely take no issue with putting The Buggles behind them, as their broader horizons treated them better than Buggles fame ever could have. The time for the two of them playing together on a record was over, and those magical Buggles memories are far behind us. Few of their reunions with Yes involved both of them, and none of them involved them as musicians.
Or so I thought…
FLY FROM HERE: RETURN TRIP OF THE BUGGLES
“Rewritten by machine and new technology, and now I understand the problems you can see”
In 2011, Yes released a new record called Fly From Here with new singer Benoit David. The few fans who couldn’t tell Anderson’s vocals were absent in Drama had no such illusion with David’s vocals in Fly From Here. David got his career start in a Yes cover band, making him a natural replacement of Jon Anderson. The musicianship behind the vocals is still on-point. Squire, Howe, White, and even Geoff Downes all returned to record, and they still knew how to play with each other. Horn came back to produce, and their rapport from records past works wonders. It rekindles the former glory of Yes, with the symphonic moving rock melodies and ever-evolving tracks. Horn was only behind the scenes, at first.
It turns out, Horn remastered this album a few years back, titling it Fly From Here: Return Trip. Horn rerecorded the vocals on the album himself. This makes it officially the 2nd album that both Buggles members recorded as Yes members. Maybe it’s a prophecy that the singer of Video Killed The Radio Star, who talked about rewriting songs with technology, would rerecord an entire album’s vocal track while keeping the rest of the symphony nearly unchanged. The remastered album is less than 3 years old as I write this, and is a fact that I’ve seen few people discuss. The other article on Medium that touches on the Buggles x Yes collab, didn’t mention this either. It’s a legacy collaboration that goes under the radar in late 2010’s pop music culture.
These elements of the past seem like history, but we forget that it’s still being made. We need to hold onto moments like this, because we take them for granted once they’re over, and that’s when they become forgotten. Our memories trick us into thinking that time moves on, but most members of Yes, and both Buggles are still alive and active.
Lessons, Reflections, Conclusions
Musicians across genres, cultures, and regions emphasize the importance of collaboration. This creates a fascinating history of music collabs that seem to appear out of an alternate universe, such as Ginger Baker x Fela Kuti, Robin Williams x Bobby McFerrin, and, of course, Buggles x Yes. While we may be mystified at these projects, they can only help us learn more about music, and expand what these beloved sounds mean to us.
Music is always evolving, and will always be with us through thick and thin. It may be the most human art form, as it has lasted in-between every event in human history. We applaud many of the musicians that have brought music to it’s standing in pop culture now, and likely will far into the wierd wild unknown.
Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes stand in one of the biggest no-turning-back moments in music history, and instead of being stuck to one moment in time, they evolved with it. They set our music video world into motion, but continued their lives as extraordinary musicians. While their legacies are less pronounced, they exist, and they are here. The melancholy of the final notes in Video Killed The Radio Star imply a fading into obscurity of pop culture past, but that’s not the life led by the Buggles.
While it’s true that we can’t rewind, and we’ve gone too far, it doesn’t mean that these memories must stay locked in the past.
“Alan (White) pointed out that if I did then the album would be the same line-up as Drama. An opportunity we’ll never get again now that Chris (Squire) has passed away.”- Trevor Horn (2018) on rerecording vocals of Fly From Here
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