This was the first video played on MTV way back in 1981. There were videos put out by bands before this, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was made in 1975, but they weren't called "Music Videos" but were called "Promotional Films", plus there wasn't a dedicated place to air them on. They were primarily shown to record executives to showcase a band to geet them signed.
I knew this was the first I didn’t know Pat Benatar “You better Run” was the second, I looked it up while ago thanks, MTV was a blast back in the fun filled 80s you had to be there!
HBO had music videos in the 70s. Video Jukebox showed videos in between movies, back when HBO came on at 5pm. I remember seeing the Village People's In The Navy when I was a little kid in 1979. Side note: The Cowboy aka Randy Jones gave me a nice compliment after I played a set at a jazz club here in NYC. Just a "Hey, you're good" but I got to tell him about how the funky and a bit silly VP songs made me aware of music back in the day. Nice guy. But yeah, there were music videos in the 70s.
This song was predicting the future, but also mourning a past - the radio programs and stars of the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s who were made obsolete by television. VTR = Video Tape Recorder/Recording
@@StanSwan it didn't attempt to. It was radio that was killed (in the early 1900's style) by Video. To the younger generation, people use in the "Old Days" before TV, the family would huddle around the radio like we do today with the TV set and listen to regular daily recordings, NOT just music on them. Whole shows were voiced over the radio. The gap in the youths understanding of history is mind boggling!
This was released as a single in 1979... So them singing "Back in '52" would be the equivalent today of saying "Back in '95" It's scary how fast time flies... 😲
Back in '95 I was in high school, now I'm just old 😂 The music video itself aired on MTV as their first ever video in 1981 when I was 3 years old, but not having cable at the time and also living in Canada, we didn't get MTV there anyway; later in the 80s, MuchMusic kinda became the Canadian equivalent of a (primarily) music video channel.
Sometimes I feel so old listening to the younger generations talk about different things lol. Luckily I was born in a time when all of these changes were coming forward. I just hope the next 52 years are as fun. Really enjoy watching you two, makes me smile.
I'm also 52yrs old and I remember this song when it first came out on some new show called MTV. I remember the catalog of music videos was small and MTV only would air for a few hours each day. Do your remember the several weeks count down to Micheal Jackon's "Thriller" video? I remember the first time I ever heard a rap song was by RunDMC my freshmen year in highschool (1983). I didn't even know it was called rap. I just remember thinking how are these singers talking really fast to a rhythmic beat. Then the Fat Boys blew my mind with beat boxing. I was the normal 80's kid that listened to Rush, Billy Squire, ACDC, etc and then I became a fan of the fast talking singers. It was great to see the birth of hip hop, break dancing and all the classic music from the 80's. MTV was great when they just played music videos.
☆ Right!?? LoL... Exactly man! Damn, I so feel you on this one my friend; hell, I don't usually realize the true extent of my "old" age(44)... at least not until one of these types of moments occurs, such as when I happen to be talking with my 19 year old daughter or one of her friends and they'll just suddenly have this confused blank look come across their faces because I've inadvertently made a reference to something which was "before their time" & thus they simply have absolutely no knowledge of it whatsoever... But I also have those moments of realization happen to me while I am watching something wherein there is someone that's as young as these two cool cats here.... LoL, and suddenly it becomes starkly apparent to me how astonishingly disconnected from my own generational experiences during that span of time all of these young folks truly are, simply due to their young age... It hits especially hard whenever they are just discussing how they view stuff from the 70's, 80's, & 90's as being "old school"... heh, damn... OLD school huh?... Ok, fair enough I suppose. Heh... Ah well, I guess rhat getting old is still far better than it's only alternative, yeah? Ha.
@@jeremyw.norwood1453 "I'm gunna live forever, Baby remember my name" - Name that one! :) Just popped in my head reading you and Jorge's posts. I am right there with you two! Just think the way song lyrics and show catch phrases hit us when we are hanging with our friends and all remember back and laugh (might just be me). Kids growing up now will be visualizing and remembering tiktoks and YT videos...hell some even Vines...I feel sad for them lol! I will say we are the lucky ones because we saw this major development and transition in culture with technology that most do not get to live in their prime years. The excitement of the development of it but that separation without it...an independence. Most twenty somethings and younger don't know life without it and depend on it. I feel we are blessed in that way.
When MTV was a blank screen with the numbers counting down to zero, when it hit zero this was the first video the world seen. It was a great time to be a teenager.
@@auralfixxation6702 No doubt. I was a little too young to appreciate Night Flight when it first came on, but it was great. Never knew what you might see on there.
This song is the essence of nostalgia, for both the subject of the song and for the song itself, since we are "hearing the playback and it seems so long ago", 43 years to be precise.
Yes, first video on MTV...i personally saw it when MTV came on in 1981!! We were so excited bc all we had at the time was Friday Night Videos late at night. Thanks for the nostalgia. ❤️❤️❤️
VTR stands for Video Tape Recorder and predated VCR's. VTR's were big reel to reel units, that recorded on two inch wide tape and were used by television studios.
@@StanSwan There were reel to reel video recorders. collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8096369/ampex-video-recorder-vr1000-video-recorder is the first practical VTR and it came long before cassette based formats. But the cost of such units very prohibitively high for most other users, so they were used by bigger TV channels only. Later several other formats was used. Type A was smaller, cheaper and still reel to reel. Yes, type A was the first standardised format. But for the AMPEX VR1000... You hear it was 45000 USD... But compensated for inflation it is over 420000. But like plenty of large professional electronic devices it also required quite a few things to operate. Obviously it wasn't designed for home use, and when we mention professional use, you would need some editing stations with multiple such video tape recorders, so adopting this technology was very expensive. But Sony CV2000 is a consumer format you see on video at ruclips.net/video/3YyJsv3sNgk/видео.html
The singer, Trevor Horn, was a full-fledged member of Yes during the record of "Owner of a Lonely Heart." He was also a founding member of The Art of Noise, and was one of the most sought-after music producers of the 1980s and 1990s. Dude is a legend. Too bad you didn't play the original video. It's a classic.
I listened to the maxi version of 'moments in love' full blast in my car on my way home tonight, i could feel the bass in my chest. a f masterpiece. just before 'Frond 242', i'm sure you don't know them! ;)
@@willythebluebear Wait--do you mean FRONT 242? If so, of course I know them. Legendary 1980s industrial band, up their with Skinny Puppy and Nitzer Ebb.
It wasn`t just Trevor Horn that joined Yes Geoff Downes the Keyboard player also joined Yes, and is still their touring Keyboard player, along with being a founder member of supergroup Asia, who are still touring.
This song is the spiritual child of the movie “Singing in the Rain” which was about “talkies” taking over from silent movies, but here it’s the visuals of tv taking over from radio shows.
Video Killed the Radio star was the very first video to Launch on MTV - Aug 1, 1981... followed by #2 - Pat Benatar - "You Better Run", #3 - Rod Stewart "She won't dance with me", and #4 The Who - "You Better, you Bet" ..
Actually The Buggles had two very talented musicians Geoff Downs and Trevor Horn. They both made an album with Yes, Drama which is one of my favorites. Downs was also in the Super group Asia. Both were succesful producers.
Exactly. The Buggles were more like a bunch of music producers just having a bit of fun arranging music, much like a DJ today would do. They are kind of a forerunner to guys like Avicii, except what they were doing back then was so new they never stuck at it and moved into traditional producing.
That's actually amazing. I had always thought this was just a garbage song whose only reason for being remembered was as the answer to a trivia question, but that actually gives it considerably more historical value. Thanks for sharing!
This is such a fun song! The clincher at the end, is that :You ARE the radio star! Most artists made the transition to videos as well as albums. A happy ending! I am really enjoying your reactions!
Back when this came out, "back in '52" was thirty years in the past. It's the equivalent of saying, "back in '92" nowadays. Even though this duo was a one hit wonder, they scored hits as members of other groups. Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes were members of Yes, and Geoffrey Downes also played with '80s supergroup Asia. Trevor Horn went on to produce hits for '80s megastars like ABC and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
For those of us who were coming of age when MTV started, this song (and many others) was a total game changer. What was interesting the first couple years, it was mainly British bands that had the concept videos, and the american bands were primarily live concert recordings (or lip synching while "playing" live)
Released in late 1979, reached #1 on virtually every chart in Europe in 79-80 and did pretty well in a bunch of other places too. So poppy, so story, so atmospheric, so iconic. I was 15 and living in the UK. This song made #1, and the number #1s list from that year has some huge songs in it. "Y.M.C.A." Village People "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" Ian Dury and the Blockheads "Heart of Glass" Blondie "Tragedy" Bee Gees "I Will Survive" Gloria Gaynor "Bright Eyes" Art Garfunkel "Sunday Girl" Blondie "Ring My Bell" Anita Ward "Are 'Friends' Electric?" Tubeway Army "I Don't Like Mondays" The Boomtown Rats "We Don't Talk Anymore" Cliff Richard "Cars" Gary Numan "Message in a Bottle" The Police "Video Killed the Radio Star" The Buggles "One Day at a Time" Lena Martell "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show "Walking on the Moon" The Police "Another Brick in the Wall Part II" Pink Floyd
It was released in 1979, but was the first video played at 12:01am on August 1, 1981 on the brand new MTV. The 2nd song played was much better, Pat Benatar, “You Better Run”.
I remember when this first aired, I remember begging My Dad to let Me stay up till midnight to see MTV launch. My dad hated it cause of the way the guys dressed lol, but its a memory Ill Never forget
The first time I heard this in 79. I got it, it still makes me sad to this day.Trevor Horn went onto produce the best album of the 80s. Lexicon of Love by ABC.
VTR = Video Tape Recorder. It became VCR shortly after. Trevor Horn was referring to television taking people away from listening to the radio. When he was a kid, more and more English people were starting to buy TV sets. This being the first MTV video was probably done in a spirit of irony.
Back in schooldays, a local UHF channel played videos set to the Top 30 songs of the week whatever... sometimes would not have footage of band at all, sometimes just girls dancing in front of a trippy, psychedilc background.
OMG I feel so damn old I remember this being the first one in 81 on MTV!!! Crazy! When it premiered!!! but when MTV Premiered everyone was having a WATCH PARTY EVERYWHERE
I used to loved this song back in the early 80´s , I guess this song is actually from the late 70´s (the disco era) but it was huuuge in the 80´s. anyway husg guys!!! lots of love from Argentina.
this is one of my favorite 80s songs. When the kick comes in, those background vocals. I always sing along at the end to "You areeee a radio staarrrrr" lmao this song also has a lot of potential for a good House remix, but i'm sure that's been done plenty of times already
Video refers to moving images and I always took this to mean (more widely) that TV stars took over from radio stars and radio became less important after people bought and watched TVs. Some radio stars were unable to adapt to TV or maybe only had a face for radio. I think the stilted sounding voices are meant to sound like a throwback to the radio age, but I guess it's open to interpretation.
I like this interpretation, makes more sense than a “prediction”. I believe the idea behind I Love Lucy was born from TV execs wanting to put Lucille Ball’s radio show My Favorite Husband on TV. She only agreed to do it if Desi could play her husband. Well…
I think you’re right. The main vocal is supposed to be reminiscent of old-time radio. New Wave Artists were very into video at the time as technology had progressed (not just music videos but video/visual in general).
You are 100% correct. In the 40's and 50's, radio "serials" were the soap operas of today. Families used to gather around the radio to listen to the latest episode. In the late 50's early 60's is when tv shows started to gain traction as television became more affordable and more mainstream. They are right it is about the passing of an era, but it happened 30 years before they thought.
It was also the one millionth song played on MTV. But the song is more about television killing radio programs in the 1950's. Also, there were music videos decades before MTV started.
Trevor Horn, the singer with the glasses would go on to be on of the most prolific and respected record producers of the 80's. Like an 80's Phil Spector, but without being a complete nasty nutjob. For instance, Realx, by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, is one of his.
@@NoCanDu Yes, but BEFORE 90125, he joined Yes as lead vocalist (and fretless bassist) on the album, Drama, after Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman left the band. Keyboardist Geoff Downes replaced Wakeman on that album and would go on to form Asia with John Wetton, Steve Howe, and Carl Palmer (of ELP).
Check out " I am a Camera". It is a song the band Yes covered too. The two guys in the Buggles ended up joining Yes. The keyboard player Geoff Downes is in the band again right now.
The band may have been a one hit wonder, but Trevor Horn went on to become one of the most prolific record producers in the business and produced countless hits.This was first video every played on MTV.
Talk about foreshadowing. ON POINT. And the 70's and 80's kids witnessed it live. Dang. Brad is right. It IS historic. In a pop culture kind of way. I'm glad I was there. Even if I didn't realize what we were witnessing.
I remember being on Liberty in Fort Lauderdale while in the Navy in 1981 when this was broadcast on MTV. I was in a place called the Candy Store and this first video was followed closely by the video for the song "Fish Heads." LOL.
This song still makes me a little sad. I grew up with top-40 radio stars, but by 1979-80, everything started changing... and eventually radio DJs and music programs faded away and radio became "canned." MTV and videos killed the radio stars. And then MTV stopped showing videos, so...yeah, that happened. The singers were supposed to sound like an old transistor radio.
A couple of years later Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes were walking onto the Madison Square Garden stage as the lead vocalist and keyboard player respectively in Yes.
There were many different types of music videos before this, there were even special jukeboxes for them. That's where I first heard Prince - Little Red Corvette. Michael Nesmith of The Monkees was essential in the modern development, but those jukeboxes were out in the Fifties.
This came from the album 'Plastic Age". It was a brilliant album with a very futuristic sound. The album highlighted Geoff Downs keyboard abilities, and Trevor Horn's production capabilities. As for MTV, that was created by none other than Mike Nesmith from The Monkees.
This is the song that kicked off MTV. I remember seeing this, the first video and we were hooked. The channel used to be so fun when it only played music.
You have to think back to the days before television where the radio was the entertainment central at home and audiences would tune in to hear their favorite shows, then TV came along and all the big stars of radio quickly became forgotten. This was a well written and performed tune for its day. You should check out the live version they did as a reunion with several of the original members of the band. I think you'd dig it more, honestly.
The song also brings in the fact that singers had to look good in addition, to sounding good. Some would argue that being attractive and looking good on camera would become more important that singing and musical talent because of MTV .
The angelic voice singing towards the end of the video was Lisa Richards, who sang back up on many videos- sadly she died several years ago. She was the girl in white in the official music video for this song.
The guy singing went on to be a super producer, and had a hand in a massive (literally) amount of hits in the 80s & 90s (to this day if you need a hit, you call Trevor Horn). The keyboard player is in the prog rock bands Yes & Asia
This number paid for Trevor Horn"s studio and started his producing career. Horn co-wrote Owner of a Lonely Heart for Yes while being a member also including Geoff Downes. The B-side of the single called Kid Dynamo are also a great song
This is actually by someone from the band YES. Right after this YES released the amazing album DRAMA. You should do the YES song TEMPUS FUGIT from that album.
The singer (Trevor Horn) went on to be a massively successful producer - with artists like Art of Noise, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Seal as well as producing music for movies.
Michael Nesmith of the Monkees is sort of the inventor of a Music television channel. There were many promotional videos up to that point and he pushed to get a channel to air them.
There were music videos before MTV, but for years it was only really a thing in Britain on a weekly type show, then MTV mainstreamed it, and many artists immediately capitalized on the video medium
In this episode of Brad & Lex, keys unlock the door that leads Lex to a drummer drumming which triggers a domino effect causing her to fall into her "boisterous bop" as Brad showcases a moderate "side to side sway".
In terms of music production, this was bleeding edge at the time. The bassist, lead singer and co-writer of this later became a monster producer in the 80s: Trevor Horn. He pushed the envelope sonically, back when digital was in its infancy.
So prophetic. MTV "killed" a lot of artists who really weren't "video/image" friendly - mainly 1970's rock & R&B bands. I remember hearing this song during my high school senior year in 1980
This also kind of replays the idea of the old silent movies progressing into moving picture movies. In effect the one killed the other. Much like records losing out to cassettes, cassettes to CDs, CDs to digital and streaming. Technology never stops
Ngl haven’t been watching brad and lex reaction vids for a minute, some things never change - like brad sitting there with a confused look in his face while lex is bopping away to them feels.
I never thought of this song as a stand alone type of video or song, it for me represents a shared moment of millions of GenX sitting watching the count down until our time began, and it was great... at least for a few years until the baby boomers sold out as usual, Boomers grew up with Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll, and left GenX with Aids, Addiction, and corporate controlled MTV, shoving their voice altered, choreographed dancing, boy bands down our throat, programming Millennials from birth, to buy and consume the crap they say without question, people wonder why GenX is so sarcastic and dont have 2 fucks to give about anything boomers have to say, its to train GenZ to not get brainwashed by this corporate world they were born into, GenZ raised by their GenX parents and grandparents, are being raised to burn this corporate world to the ground and GenX is supplying the matches... So... yeah... this video brings back alot of memories... sorry about that...
The Beatles made promotional videos for some of their songs. Paperback Writer, Penny Lane, Revolution, Strawberry Fields Forever. The creators of MTV were the kids of the 60's so The Beatles were their influencers.
Not to mention that I think MTV actually played snippets of some of the songs from Beatles movies, which were just music videos strung together with a crazy movie plot. Great entertainment they were, though.
there were lots of music video's in the 70's for more than a decade (even the 60's and earlier) - this song was the realisation that video was emerging as the dominant technology for future music - VERY on point at the time and I know because I was there
The guy behind this song was Trevor Horn, who went on to produce not the biggest but some of the most important, influential and iconic bands of the 80's. He was instrumential in bringing the new electronic music and especially sampling into mainstream pop music. Till this day there are very few people who hasn't heard something he was involved in. This song wasn't written for MTV but yeah, the guy was a visionary so he likely predicted the video takeover. :)
For me, this song always implied that when music only ever came from the radio, it made no difference how you looked or dressed, it was all down to how you sounded. As soon as video came out, the 'video killed the radio star', we got to see how some looked and it ruined their careers. The line 'pictures came and broke your heart', I feel describes falling for a singer based on how they sounded and being let down when you saw them.
It's not the "first music ideo" but yes, MTV launched by playing this song and video because it was prophetic at the time (ironically MTV no longer lays music videos). This song came out in what? 1980-81? I remember hearing and loving it when it came out. it was the beginning of the music video era.
There were music videos since the 60s, even short films featuring musicians back in the 30s, but only a few artists made them. MTV was the first big venue for music videos and forced artists and labels to use videos as a major part of their marketing.
Mike Nesmith (of the Monkees, who just sadly passed away last month) is generally credited with creating the first music video. He made a music video for his 1977 song "Rio" which led to the creation of his show "PopClips". In 1980, PopClips was sold to Time Warner/Amex, who developed PopClips into the MTV network. In 1981, Nesmith won the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long television show, Elephant Parts.
This is cool. I was a (softmore?) in high school when I literally saw the daube of MTV with this song. Must have been around 1982?? And then they had dire straights money for nothing, that funny song from those guys in overalls … lol. What a time to be young with all that great music
An orchestrated song by the music industry? No. And the song was a hit a two years before MTV. The two members of the Buggles ended up joining Yes on their Drama album. VTR is video tape recorder - the precursor to VCRs. They used reels of tape rather than cassettes (the "C" in VCR). It's a nostalgic reference (the song starts off talking about listening to the radio in '52).
VTR is "Video Tape Recording" - referring to any magnetic tape recording of video. VCR "Video Cassette Recorder" is a specific format designed by Phillips that competed with Sony's Betamax - eventually winning the public's choice.
In 1952, Ginsburg began working for Ampex. It was there that Ginsburg had the opportunity to lead the research team that developed the first broadcast-quality videotape recorder (VTR), U.S. patent number 2,956,114. The VTR is said to have revolutionized television broadcasting.
From my experience. Cable tv was as life changing as the internet has been. It was preceded by some subscription tv services without commercials and they’d play music videos to fill gaps while waiting for the next scheduled movie to start. When cable came along it meant room for everything and so…MTV.
I was 8 years old. I had to walk home from school so I didn’t catch the initial beginning but they played this over over on the new Mtv. Blew our frikkin’ minds. lol
Fun fact: Hans Zimmer made an appearance in this video. Also, the two lead members were also members of the band 'Yes'. You may want to check out some Yes, but most of their early songs are very long. You may have heard one of their greatest hits "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (1983). That one would be a good listen. Thanks for your videos!
I always think in my head when listening to scripted fiction podcasts that it’s basically the current version of the old radio theater shows. I think everything is circular, but I think too much! 🤣
Ooh, somebody mentioned ELP below, and it occurred to me that y'all have not yet done a reaction to anything by Emerson, Lake & Palmer! They were a big '70s progressive rock band with amazing keyboards by Keith Emerson, guitar by Greg Lake and drums by Carl Palmer. So many good songs by them, some of which got airplay on the radio, but many of which were a little too abstract or "hard" at the time for the radio, where more pop-sounding songs ruled. A few great ELP songs to listen to are "Lucky Man", "From the Beginning", "Take a Pebble" and their version of the Aaron Copeland classic, "Hoedown" - but the one to definitely start with is "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression Part 2" which has the wonderful lyric of "Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends..." Lex will totally love it!
Grace Jones' Slave to the Rhythm was produced by Trevor Horn, maybe also written, and that's fabulously over-produced, really lush. Trevor Horn was briefly in Yes. After he left that band he produced Owner of a Lonely Heart. Also check out the theme to The Tube which featured Trevor Horn, Jeff Beck, Jan Hammer and a group the name of which escapes me.
It was the first music video played on MTV. They had music videos before MTV but they weren't played in rotation until MTV. It does predict the future, to a point, but radio has survived while MTV now plays everything BUT music videos
Promotional Films were used by any kind of bands back in the 50s and 60s and a lot of people credit the producers of The Monkees for creating the image and slapstick silliness of a music video as it came to be by the 80s. HUGS!!! :)
This was the first video played on MTV way back in 1981. There were videos put out by bands before this, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was made in 1975, but they weren't called "Music Videos" but were called "Promotional Films", plus there wasn't a dedicated place to air them on. They were primarily shown to record executives to showcase a band to geet them signed.
Music videos were shown on TOTP every week, to fill for bands who were elsewhere. That was the end of Pans People!
I don't think Brad and Lex are old enough to remember MTV when they still played music videos.
I knew this was the first I didn’t know Pat Benatar “You better Run” was the second, I looked it up while ago thanks, MTV was a blast back in the fun filled 80s you had to be there!
And the first song / video played on MTV Europe was Dire Straits ‘Money for Nothing’…..back in 1987.
HBO had music videos in the 70s. Video Jukebox showed videos in between movies, back when HBO came on at 5pm.
I remember seeing the Village People's In The Navy when I was a little kid in 1979.
Side note: The Cowboy aka Randy Jones gave me a nice compliment after I played a set at a jazz club here in NYC. Just a "Hey, you're good" but I got to tell him about how the funky and a bit silly VP songs made me aware of music back in the day. Nice guy.
But yeah, there were music videos in the 70s.
This song was predicting the future, but also mourning a past - the radio programs and stars of the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s who were made obsolete by television.
VTR = Video Tape Recorder/Recording
It did not predict the death of music videos.
@@StanSwan it didn't attempt to. It was radio that was killed (in the early 1900's style) by Video. To the younger generation, people use in the "Old Days" before TV, the family would huddle around the radio like we do today with the TV set and listen to regular daily recordings, NOT just music on them. Whole shows were voiced over the radio. The gap in the youths understanding of history is mind boggling!
@@zepdog4595 In this context we are talking about MTV not 1900.
This was released as a single in 1979... So them singing "Back in '52" would be the equivalent today of saying "Back in '95"
It's scary how fast time flies... 😲
Time
Flies like an arrow
Fruit flies
Like an over ripe banana
Bruh...
@@fjoliva710 Love that!
Back in '95 I was in high school, now I'm just old 😂 The music video itself aired on MTV as their first ever video in 1981 when I was 3 years old, but not having cable at the time and also living in Canada, we didn't get MTV there anyway; later in the 80s, MuchMusic kinda became the Canadian equivalent of a (primarily) music video channel.
Sometimes I feel so old listening to the younger generations talk about different things lol. Luckily I was born in a time when all of these changes were coming forward. I just hope the next 52 years are as fun. Really enjoy watching you two, makes me smile.
I'm also 52yrs old and I remember this song when it first came out on some new show called MTV. I remember the catalog of music videos was small and MTV only would air for a few hours each day. Do your remember the several weeks count down to Micheal Jackon's "Thriller" video? I remember the first time I ever heard a rap song was by RunDMC my freshmen year in highschool (1983). I didn't even know it was called rap. I just remember thinking how are these singers talking really fast to a rhythmic beat. Then the Fat Boys blew my mind with beat boxing. I was the normal 80's kid that listened to Rush, Billy Squire, ACDC, etc and then I became a fan of the fast talking singers. It was great to see the birth of hip hop, break dancing and all the classic music from the 80's. MTV was great when they just played music videos.
☆ Right!?? LoL... Exactly man! Damn, I so feel you on this one my friend; hell, I don't usually realize the true extent of my "old" age(44)... at least not until one of these types of moments occurs, such as when I happen to be talking with my 19 year old daughter or one of her friends and they'll just suddenly have this confused blank look come across their faces because I've inadvertently made a reference to something which was "before their time" & thus they simply have absolutely no knowledge of it whatsoever... But I also have those moments of realization happen to me while I am watching something wherein there is someone that's as young as these two cool cats here.... LoL, and suddenly it becomes starkly apparent to me how astonishingly disconnected from my own generational experiences during that span of time all of these young folks truly are, simply due to their young age... It hits especially hard whenever they are just discussing how they view stuff from the 70's, 80's, & 90's as being "old school"... heh, damn... OLD school huh?... Ok, fair enough I suppose. Heh...
Ah well, I guess rhat getting old is still far better than it's only alternative, yeah? Ha.
@@jeremyw.norwood1453 "I'm gunna live forever, Baby remember my name" - Name that one! :) Just popped in my head reading you and Jorge's posts. I am right there with you two! Just think the way song lyrics and show catch phrases hit us when we are hanging with our friends and all remember back and laugh (might just be me). Kids growing up now will be visualizing and remembering tiktoks and YT videos...hell some even Vines...I feel sad for them lol! I will say we are the lucky ones because we saw this major development and transition in culture with technology that most do not get to live in their prime years. The excitement of the development of it but that separation without it...an independence. Most twenty somethings and younger don't know life without it and depend on it. I feel we are blessed in that way.
@@fearmo1852
You said it brother!
I Absolutely agree...
@@jmanil same!
When MTV was a blank screen with the numbers counting down to zero, when it hit zero this was the first video the world seen. It was a great time to be a teenager.
This song never gets old. More New Wave, please.
New Wave Theater from the USA network was classic.
@@auralfixxation6702 No doubt. I was a little too young to appreciate Night Flight when it first came on, but it was great. Never knew what you might see on there.
This song is the essence of nostalgia, for both the subject of the song and for the song itself, since we are "hearing the playback and it seems so long ago", 43 years to be precise.
Yes, first video on MTV...i personally saw it when MTV came on in 1981!! We were so excited bc all we had at the time was Friday Night Videos late at night. Thanks for the nostalgia. ❤️❤️❤️
VTR stands for Video Tape Recorder and predated VCR's. VTR's were big reel to reel units, that recorded on two inch wide tape and were used by television studios.
Thank you!
Nope, it was a cassette format had them in high school. Reels were never used in any user format.
@@StanSwan You're wrong on this. There's a whole wikipedia entry about early VTR including pictures -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_tape_recorder
@@Malady Wiki is crap some idiot posted. VTR is simply Video Tape Recorder has nothing to do with the format.
@@StanSwan There were reel to reel video recorders.
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8096369/ampex-video-recorder-vr1000-video-recorder is the first practical VTR and it came long before cassette based formats. But the cost of such units very prohibitively high for most other users, so they were used by bigger TV channels only. Later several other formats was used. Type A was smaller, cheaper and still reel to reel. Yes, type A was the first standardised format.
But for the AMPEX VR1000... You hear it was 45000 USD... But compensated for inflation it is over 420000. But like plenty of large professional electronic devices it also required quite a few things to operate. Obviously it wasn't designed for home use, and when we mention professional use, you would need some editing stations with multiple such video tape recorders, so adopting this technology was very expensive.
But Sony CV2000 is a consumer format you see on video at ruclips.net/video/3YyJsv3sNgk/видео.html
The singer, Trevor Horn, was a full-fledged member of Yes during the record of "Owner of a Lonely Heart." He was also a founding member of The Art of Noise, and was one of the most sought-after music producers of the 1980s and 1990s. Dude is a legend.
Too bad you didn't play the original video. It's a classic.
There's a recent live version that is pretty cool
I listened to the maxi version of 'moments in love' full blast in my car on my way home tonight, i could feel the bass in my chest. a f masterpiece. just before 'Frond 242', i'm sure you don't know them! ;)
@@willythebluebear Wait--do you mean FRONT 242? If so, of course I know them. Legendary 1980s industrial band, up their with Skinny Puppy and Nitzer Ebb.
It wasn`t just Trevor Horn that joined Yes Geoff Downes the Keyboard player also joined Yes, and is still their touring Keyboard player, along with being a founder member of supergroup Asia, who are still touring.
Trevor horn on the Yes album 90125 did production and backing vocals, jon Anderson was the singer.
Personally, I love this song. Where in hell did 40 years go?!
I do too. Beats the Hell out of Metal and hair band garbage that dominates the channel.
I know and you know whats sad this song sounds better 40 years later than all the crap you hear in todays music!!
@@mikeortiz6008 Absolutely!
sucks. ILove t for the history and memories, but hate it too.
It went that way
This song is the spiritual child of the movie “Singing in the Rain” which was about “talkies” taking over from silent movies, but here it’s the visuals of tv taking over from radio shows.
This was the first song played on MTV and it’s brilliant! Every time I hear it I sing it out load 🤩🤩👌👌👏👏
Video Killed the Radio star was the very first video to Launch on MTV - Aug 1, 1981... followed by #2 - Pat Benatar - "You Better Run", #3 - Rod Stewart "She won't dance with me", and #4 The Who - "You Better, you Bet" ..
I remember sitting in front of the TV as a kid in the summer of 1981 waiting for MTV to come on the air and this was the very first video they played.
Actually The Buggles had two very talented musicians Geoff Downs and Trevor Horn. They both made an album with Yes, Drama which is one of my favorites. Downs was also in the Super group Asia. Both were succesful producers.
Horn produced "Owner of a Lonely Heart" just featured.
And Hans Zimmer in the video
Downes is back in YES and Horn is producing them.
Exactly. The Buggles were more like a bunch of music producers just having a bit of fun arranging music, much like a DJ today would do. They are kind of a forerunner to guys like Avicii, except what they were doing back then was so new they never stuck at it and moved into traditional producing.
That's actually amazing. I had always thought this was just a garbage song whose only reason for being remembered was as the answer to a trivia question, but that actually gives it considerably more historical value. Thanks for sharing!
Geoffrey Downes and Trrevor Horn. Later (in 1980) they became part of Yes. They were vocalists/musicians, but also producers.
This is such a fun song! The clincher at the end, is that :You ARE the radio star! Most artists made the transition to videos as well as albums. A happy ending! I am really enjoying your reactions!
Back when this came out, "back in '52" was thirty years in the past. It's the equivalent of saying, "back in '92" nowadays. Even though this duo was a one hit wonder, they scored hits as members of other groups. Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes were members of Yes, and Geoffrey Downes also played with '80s supergroup Asia. Trevor Horn went on to produce hits for '80s megastars like ABC and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
For those of us who were coming of age when MTV started, this song (and many others) was a total game changer. What was interesting the first couple years, it was mainly British bands that had the concept videos, and the american bands were primarily live concert recordings (or lip synching while "playing" live)
Released in late 1979, reached #1 on virtually every chart in Europe in 79-80 and did pretty well in a bunch of other places too. So poppy, so story, so atmospheric, so iconic.
I was 15 and living in the UK. This song made #1, and the number #1s list from that year has some huge songs in it.
"Y.M.C.A." Village People
"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" Ian Dury and the Blockheads
"Heart of Glass" Blondie
"Tragedy" Bee Gees
"I Will Survive" Gloria Gaynor
"Bright Eyes" Art Garfunkel
"Sunday Girl" Blondie
"Ring My Bell" Anita Ward
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" Tubeway Army
"I Don't Like Mondays" The Boomtown Rats
"We Don't Talk Anymore" Cliff Richard
"Cars" Gary Numan
"Message in a Bottle" The Police
"Video Killed the Radio Star" The Buggles
"One Day at a Time" Lena Martell
"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
"Walking on the Moon" The Police
"Another Brick in the Wall Part II" Pink Floyd
Great list! I remember all of those! I turned 12 that year and was also in the UK.
It was released in 1979, but was the first video played at 12:01am on August 1, 1981 on the brand new MTV.
The 2nd song played was much better, Pat Benatar, “You Better Run”.
If you look up First 2 hours of mtv Boadcast it’s here on RUclips. So cool!
I remember when this first aired, I remember begging My Dad to let Me stay up till midnight to see MTV launch. My dad hated it cause of the way the guys dressed lol, but its a memory Ill Never forget
The first time I heard this in 79. I got it, it still makes me sad to this day.Trevor Horn went onto produce the best album of the 80s. Lexicon of Love by ABC.
VTR = Video Tape Recorder. It became VCR shortly after. Trevor Horn was referring to television taking people away from listening to the radio. When he was a kid, more and more English people were starting to buy TV sets. This being the first MTV video was probably done in a spirit of irony.
such a catchy fun song! ♥
music videos were actually around well before MTV (1981)
But there wasn't a show that played them 24 hrs a day with VJs (Video DJ)
Back in schooldays, a local UHF channel played videos set to the Top 30 songs of the week whatever... sometimes would not have footage of band at all, sometimes just girls dancing in front of a trippy, psychedilc background.
@@xaspirate8060 what year? MTV started in 1981
@@willie417 yes,1981
OMG I feel so damn old I remember this being the first one in 81 on MTV!!! Crazy! When it premiered!!! but when MTV Premiered everyone was having a WATCH PARTY EVERYWHERE
I used to loved this song back in the early 80´s , I guess this song is actually from the late 70´s (the disco era) but it was huuuge in the 80´s. anyway husg guys!!! lots of love from Argentina.
this is one of my favorite 80s songs. When the kick comes in, those background vocals. I always sing along at the end to "You areeee a radio staarrrrr" lmao
this song also has a lot of potential for a good House remix, but i'm sure that's been done plenty of times already
omg samee, this song is masterpiece!
Video refers to moving images and I always took this to mean (more widely) that TV stars took over from radio stars and radio became less important after people bought and watched TVs. Some radio stars were unable to adapt to TV or maybe only had a face for radio. I think the stilted sounding voices are meant to sound like a throwback to the radio age, but I guess it's open to interpretation.
I like this interpretation, makes more sense than a “prediction”. I believe the idea behind I Love Lucy was born from TV execs wanting to put Lucille Ball’s radio show My Favorite Husband on TV. She only agreed to do it if Desi could play her husband. Well…
I think you’re right. The main vocal is supposed to be reminiscent of old-time radio. New Wave Artists were very into video at the time as technology had progressed (not just music videos but video/visual in general).
You are 100% correct. In the 40's and 50's, radio "serials" were the soap operas of today. Families used to gather around the radio to listen to the latest episode. In the late 50's early 60's is when tv shows started to gain traction as television became more affordable and more mainstream. They are right it is about the passing of an era, but it happened 30 years before they thought.
It was also the one millionth song played on MTV. But the song is more about television killing radio programs in the 1950's.
Also, there were music videos decades before MTV started.
Trevor Horn, the singer with the glasses would go on to be on of the most prolific and respected record producers of the 80's. Like an 80's Phil Spector, but without being a complete nasty nutjob. For instance, Realx, by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, is one of his.
Owner of a Lonely Heart!
Plus he didn't murder anyone as far as we know
He also formed the band Art of Noise
Rip Phil! A great man!
@@NoCanDu Yes, but BEFORE 90125, he joined Yes as lead vocalist (and fretless bassist) on the album, Drama, after Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman left the band. Keyboardist Geoff Downes replaced Wakeman on that album and would go on to form Asia with John Wetton, Steve Howe, and Carl Palmer (of ELP).
Well worth viewing the original video -- some great underlying humor to it -- the stark contrast between the backup singers is great.
Check out " I am a Camera". It is a song the band Yes covered too. The two guys in the Buggles ended up joining Yes. The keyboard player Geoff Downes is in the band again right now.
Absolutely love that album. Tempus Fugit is my fave on the Drama album.
VTR is short for video tape recorder-this was before home VHS or VCR's which started gaining popularity shortly after this song came out in 1979.
The band may have been a one hit wonder, but Trevor Horn went on to become one of the most prolific record producers in the business and produced countless hits.This was first video every played on MTV.
Frankie goes to Hollywood, TaTu, Yes, Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones...to name a few.
They had several chart hits in the UK.
Hans Zimmer had a pretty good career too.
Talk about foreshadowing. ON POINT. And the 70's and 80's kids witnessed it live. Dang. Brad is right. It IS historic. In a pop culture kind of way. I'm glad I was there. Even if I didn't realize what we were witnessing.
I remember being on Liberty in Fort Lauderdale while in the Navy in 1981 when this was broadcast on MTV. I was in a place called the Candy Store and this first video was followed closely by the video for the song "Fish Heads." LOL.
What a song! One of the best ever. Queen nicked the idea for Radio Ga Ga
This song still makes me a little sad. I grew up with top-40 radio stars, but by 1979-80, everything started changing... and eventually radio DJs and music programs faded away and radio became "canned." MTV and videos killed the radio stars. And then MTV stopped showing videos, so...yeah, that happened. The singers were supposed to sound like an old transistor radio.
This brings back memories! I love it!
A couple of years later Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes were walking onto the Madison Square Garden stage as the lead vocalist and keyboard player respectively in Yes.
There were many different types of music videos before this, there were even special jukeboxes for them. That's where I first heard Prince - Little Red Corvette. Michael Nesmith of The Monkees was essential in the modern development, but those jukeboxes were out in the Fifties.
This came from the album 'Plastic Age". It was a brilliant album with a very futuristic sound. The album highlighted Geoff Downs keyboard abilities, and Trevor Horn's production capabilities. As for MTV, that was created by none other than Mike Nesmith from The Monkees.
This is the song that kicked off MTV. I remember seeing this, the first video and we were hooked. The channel used to be so fun when it only played music.
MTV killed radio, offed itself, and internet took over.
Bill Clinton killed radio by allowing monopolies to own all of the stations.
Yep, I agree. MTV committed suicide.
The classic murder - suicide.
You have to think back to the days before television where the radio was the entertainment central at home and audiences would tune in to hear their favorite shows, then TV came along and all the big stars of radio quickly became forgotten. This was a well written and performed tune for its day. You should check out the live version they did as a reunion with several of the original members of the band. I think you'd dig it more, honestly.
The song also brings in the fact that singers had to look good in addition, to sounding good. Some would argue that being attractive and looking good on camera would become more important that singing and musical talent because of MTV .
The angelic voice singing towards the end of the video was Lisa Richards, who sang back up on many videos- sadly she died several years ago. She was the girl in
white in the official music video for this song.
This one, because of the context, would make much more sense to watch the official video, since it's the song that kicked-off MTV .
Trevor Horn has a great voice, love his work with the group YES and the album drama shortly after his departure from the Buggles.
Music videos were being made back in the 1960's, it was the first one on MTV in 1981-nearly 2 years after it was released.
Yep in the 70s, the record companies had bands make "promo" videos for released singles.
The guy singing went on to be a super producer, and had a hand in a massive (literally) amount of hits in the 80s & 90s (to this day if you need a hit, you call Trevor Horn). The keyboard player is in the prog rock bands Yes & Asia
Good choice for an ‘80s one hit wonder! As others here have said, it’s the first video ever played on MTV.
This number paid for Trevor Horn"s studio and started his producing career. Horn co-wrote Owner of a Lonely Heart for Yes while being a member also including Geoff Downes. The B-side of the single called Kid Dynamo are also a great song
I absolutely love this song! Been on my playlist since we had playlists.
This is actually by someone from the band YES. Right after this YES released the amazing album DRAMA. You should do the YES song TEMPUS FUGIT from that album.
I loved this song when it came out, I was in my teens!! Never listened to who the group where, just the lovely song!! Just so crazy!!!!
The singer (Trevor Horn) went on to be a massively successful producer - with artists like Art of Noise, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Seal as well as producing music for movies.
Michael Nesmith of the Monkees is sort of the inventor of a Music television channel.
There were many promotional videos up to that point and he pushed to get a channel to air them.
There were music videos before MTV, but for years it was only really a thing in Britain on a weekly type show, then MTV mainstreamed it, and many artists immediately capitalized on the video medium
In this episode of Brad & Lex, keys unlock the door that leads Lex to a drummer drumming which triggers a domino effect causing her to fall into her "boisterous bop" as Brad showcases a moderate "side to side sway".
I would like to subscribe to your Brad & Lex episode recaps
Aren't most of Brad's side to side sways "moderate?" :)
@@ronparsons8786 I would subscribe too👊🏻
Came to the comments looking for this 😂
@@neillenet291 Yes
The very first video ever on MTV
Yes indeed…
Yeah, we all know.
@@DaveF. doubt everyone watching this knows, but Pat yourself on the back for being the voice of everyone
@@rileyandmike Thanks! I'll do that.
In terms of music production, this was bleeding edge at the time. The bassist, lead singer and co-writer of this later became a monster producer in the 80s: Trevor Horn. He pushed the envelope sonically, back when digital was in its infancy.
This was the very first music video broadcast over MTV way back when. Up until that point video only ever was live performances captured on film.
in correct. Video's were called promo's before then, but yes its the first video broadcast on MTV.
Trevor Horn was an innovator at the time and the Buggles’ sound was totally new. ‘The Plastic Age’ is another great tune from them
So prophetic. MTV "killed" a lot of artists who really weren't "video/image" friendly - mainly 1970's rock & R&B bands. I remember hearing this song during my high school senior year in 1980
I saw it when it first came out on MTV - what a wonderful time :-)
This also kind of replays the idea of the old silent movies progressing into moving picture movies. In effect the one killed the other. Much like records losing out to cassettes, cassettes to CDs, CDs to digital and streaming. Technology never stops
Ngl haven’t been watching brad and lex reaction vids for a minute, some things never change - like brad sitting there with a confused look in his face while lex is bopping away to them feels.
I never thought of this song as a stand alone type of video or song, it for me represents a shared moment of millions of GenX sitting watching the count down until our time began, and it was great... at least for a few years until the baby boomers sold out as usual, Boomers grew up with Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll, and left GenX with Aids, Addiction, and corporate controlled MTV, shoving their voice altered, choreographed dancing, boy bands down our throat, programming Millennials from birth, to buy and consume the crap they say without question, people wonder why GenX is so sarcastic and dont have 2 fucks to give about anything boomers have to say, its to train GenZ to not get brainwashed by this corporate world they were born into, GenZ raised by their GenX parents and grandparents, are being raised to burn this corporate world to the ground and GenX is supplying the matches...
So... yeah... this video brings back alot of memories... sorry about that...
I first heard it in1979. Still love it. Killer bass, awesome harmonies.
The Beatles made promotional videos for some of their songs. Paperback Writer, Penny Lane, Revolution, Strawberry Fields Forever. The creators of MTV were the kids of the 60's so The Beatles were their influencers.
In a way "HELP" was the first Video in 1965, portrayed as a Movie, they played the albums songs during the , AHEM, Movie.
Not to mention that I think MTV actually played snippets of some of the songs from Beatles movies, which were just music videos strung together with a crazy movie plot. Great entertainment they were, though.
there were lots of music video's in the 70's for more than a decade (even the 60's and earlier) - this song was the realisation that video was emerging as the dominant technology for future music - VERY on point at the time and I know because I was there
The guy behind this song was Trevor Horn, who went on to produce not the biggest but some of the most important, influential and iconic bands of the 80's. He was instrumential in bringing the new electronic music and especially sampling into mainstream pop music. Till this day there are very few people who hasn't heard something he was involved in.
This song wasn't written for MTV but yeah, the guy was a visionary so he likely predicted the video takeover. :)
She was just grooving to it and having fun and he was like "wtf is this?????!!" LOL
The best part about the the song is the driving bass guitar during the chorus and how high it is in the mix. Loves it.
This was the first music video played on MTV. I was 12. We planned a huge sleep over. Changed our lives.
All new technology kills a previous one - sometimes they make a little comeback
For me, this song always implied that when music only ever came from the radio, it made no difference how you looked or dressed, it was all down to how you sounded. As soon as video came out, the 'video killed the radio star', we got to see how some looked and it ruined their careers. The line 'pictures came and broke your heart', I feel describes falling for a singer based on how they sounded and being let down when you saw them.
The song came out in 1979 then became one of the most popular songs because what they became part of the yes the group and 5 other group
It's not the "first music ideo" but yes, MTV launched by playing this song and video because it was prophetic at the time (ironically MTV no longer lays music videos). This song came out in what? 1980-81? I remember hearing and loving it when it came out. it was the beginning of the music video era.
There were music videos since the 60s, even short films featuring musicians back in the 30s, but only a few artists made them. MTV was the first big venue for music videos and forced artists and labels to use videos as a major part of their marketing.
Mike Nesmith (of the Monkees, who just sadly passed away last month) is generally credited with creating the first music video. He made a music video for his 1977 song "Rio" which led to the creation of his show "PopClips". In 1980, PopClips was sold to Time Warner/Amex, who developed PopClips into the MTV network. In 1981, Nesmith won the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long television show, Elephant Parts.
This is cool. I was a (softmore?) in high school when I literally saw the daube of MTV with this song. Must have been around 1982?? And then they had dire straights money for nothing, that funny song from those guys in overalls … lol. What a time to be young with all that great music
An orchestrated song by the music industry? No. And the song was a hit a two years before MTV. The two members of the Buggles ended up joining Yes on their Drama album. VTR is video tape recorder - the precursor to VCRs. They used reels of tape rather than cassettes (the "C" in VCR). It's a nostalgic reference (the song starts off talking about listening to the radio in '52).
VTR is "Video Tape Recording" - referring to any magnetic tape recording of video. VCR "Video Cassette Recorder" is a specific format designed by Phillips that competed with Sony's Betamax - eventually winning the public's choice.
In 1952, Ginsburg began working for Ampex. It was there that Ginsburg had the opportunity to lead the research team that developed the first broadcast-quality videotape recorder (VTR), U.S. patent number 2,956,114. The VTR is said to have revolutionized television broadcasting.
From my experience. Cable tv was as life changing as the internet has been. It was preceded by some subscription tv services without commercials and they’d play music videos to fill gaps while waiting for the next scheduled movie to start. When cable came along it meant room for everything and so…MTV.
VTR stands for video tape recorder, before it was called VCR. Not the first video made, just the first one played on MTV.
I was 8 years old. I had to walk home from school so I didn’t catch the initial beginning but they played this over over on the new Mtv. Blew our frikkin’ minds. lol
Fun fact: Hans Zimmer made an appearance in this video. Also, the two lead members were also members of the band 'Yes'. You may want to check out some Yes, but most of their early songs are very long. You may have heard one of their greatest hits "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (1983). That one would be a good listen. Thanks for your videos!
I always think in my head when listening to scripted fiction podcasts that it’s basically the current version of the old radio theater shows. I think everything is circular, but I think too much! 🤣
Ooh, somebody mentioned ELP below, and it occurred to me that y'all have not yet done a reaction to anything by Emerson, Lake & Palmer! They were a big '70s progressive rock band with amazing keyboards by Keith Emerson, guitar by Greg Lake and drums by Carl Palmer. So many good songs by them, some of which got airplay on the radio, but many of which were a little too abstract or "hard" at the time for the radio, where more pop-sounding songs ruled. A few great ELP songs to listen to are "Lucky Man", "From the Beginning", "Take a Pebble" and their version of the Aaron Copeland classic, "Hoedown" - but the one to definitely start with is "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression Part 2" which has the wonderful lyric of "Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends..." Lex will totally love it!
Grace Jones' Slave to the Rhythm was produced by Trevor Horn, maybe also written, and that's fabulously over-produced, really lush.
Trevor Horn was briefly in Yes. After he left that band he produced Owner of a Lonely Heart. Also check out the theme to The Tube which featured Trevor Horn, Jeff Beck, Jan Hammer and a group the name of which escapes me.
It was the first music video played on MTV. They had music videos before MTV but they weren't played in rotation until MTV. It does predict the future, to a point, but radio has survived while MTV now plays everything BUT music videos
Horn also produced my favourite album of all time, ABC's The Lexicon of Love in 1982.
I was born in 1981, and music, culture, and the world changed when MTV premiered playing this very first music video.
A big hit in 1979. Though the lyircs didn't age well, it's still a well-loved song.
Promotional Films were used by any kind of bands back in the 50s and 60s and a lot of people credit the producers of The Monkees for creating the image and slapstick silliness of a music video as it came to be by the 80s. HUGS!!! :)