In 1982, the rock supergroup Asia kept my interest long enough to make me seek out previous work by the band members. This led me to the band Yes, and their final ’70s album, Drama. On it, Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes was given the unenviable task of replacing the enigmatic Rick Wakemen. At the same time, one of Downes’ former bandmates, Trevor Horn, was brought in to be the new singer (another unenviable task, as replacing Jon Anderson in Yes is like replacing Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin; there’s only one voice for the band). Soon thereafter, I learned that Horn and Downes had been in the Buggles, authors of the prophetic song, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” A minor hit on the rock and roll stations where I grew up, it had enough of a lasting impression on me that I sought it out when I went on my ’80s music binge in the early ’90s (this was before VH1 cornered the ’80s nostalgia market). I must have collected eight or nine of Priority Records’ Rock of the 80’s cassettes in a three-month period. Soon after ending this obsession with the music from my adolescence, I stopped listening to cassettes altogether and moved exclusively on to CDs. All of those tapes were moved into a box and placed in a closet to be forgotten for a couple of years.
Those boxes of tapes were pulled out of the closet a couple of years later when it came time to make my first mix CD. You never forget your first. Mine was gold and white with 74 minutes of free space on it. The compilation was done on the job at the animation company that employed me in the early 21st century. The computer I worked on was equipped with software that could convert my old cassettes into digital files and then, ta-da, instant CDs. Digging through the Rock of the ’80s tapes, I picked 15 of my favorite songs. I had always liked the Buggles song even though it was sort of a fluff number. The melody has a bit of sadness, possibly about the passing of a generation that Downes and Horn (and their co-writer Bruce Woolley) were writing about. In particular, the ending piano outro has always moved me. Some may think this bit of classical piano playing is out of place with a song about the modern age, but I have always found it beautiful. Needless to say, “Video Killed the Radio Star” made the cut. Unfortunately, the CD burner I was using was not compatible with just about any other CD player or computer. The only place I could listen to my triumphant accomplishment was in my car. This is how Sophie discovered her first rock song. (more…)
