The Buggles: The Age of Plastic

The Buggles: The Age of Plastic

 1980

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Age of Plastic  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


 This record is better than a lot of people would probably expect...The Buggles are usually remembered as one-hit wonders or a historical curiosity for being the first video played on MTV...

 I think that's what drew me into it initially, to be honest..."Video Killed the Radio Star" was a no-brainer to kick off the station, but as I kept hearing it, it struck me what a bizarre song it was...It sounded sad-yet-celebratory...And as catchy as the songwriting was, I think the production itself provided most of the hooks...Was there really an entire record of this stuff?

So I eventually picked up a used vinyl copy and found that "Age of Plastic" is indeed fantastic, futuristic early 80's synthpop, but not of the usual Human League or Thompson Twins variety...It has a lot of interesting prog touches...Listening to Trevor Horn's vocals on the chorus of the title track, I'm not  surprised that he later became the singer for Yes...



(Both of the Buggles joined Yes for the "Drama" album, actually...I'll get to this record in about 10 years at the rate I'm going...Holy shit! It never struck me I'd have to do this blog for that long, but yea...That's how the math works out...Hope you guys aren't doing anything for awhile...)

All hard, shiny surfaces and immaculate production, listening to the "The Age of Plastic" is like living in a sci-fi world of robots and monorails for 36 minutes...And I never want to leave! I want to live in this record so bad...

We're greeted with pinched-nose vocals that set the scene:

"Every day my metal friend
Shakes my bed at 6am
Then the shiny serving clones
Run in with my telephones..."

 Although for a record that immerses itself so fully into technology, they sure seem weary of it...Cameras are everywhere, radio towers crumble into dust, and the Heart Police place you under cardiac arrest...I mean, I still want to live here, but I'll probably stick to the suburbs...

Oh yea, forgot "Video Killed the Radio Star"...It's nowhere near the best song here...I'm giving that honor to the chugging new-wave rocker "Clean, Clean" and "Elstree."



"Elstree" is nothing less than a perfect piece of pop...I have no idea why this wasn't a huge hit...Those "Oh woah woah" backing vocals are a thing of wonder....They actually kind of remind me of Billy Joel circa-"Glass House" now that I think about it...



 If you're into 80's synth-based pop then you should own at least  10 copies of this record, if you don't already...I can see how it might seem a bit emotionally hollow for some people, but how nourishing should plastic be, really?

So put on your best pair of futuristic shades...

 ...and your shiniest silver jumpsuit...

...and let's check out "Clean, Clean" by the Buggles...