Enthralled by Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine, Trevor Horn and his Buggles collaborator Geoff Downes aimed to create an English equivalent on their debut album The Age of Plastic, something which the cover art alone definitely nodded to in various ways. Certainly the sonics and subtle humor were there as well, as numbers like “The Plastic Age,” “I Love You (Miss Robot)” and more showed, but one number dominates above all: “Video Killed The Radio Star,” their funny, danceable monster hit single that famously was MTV’s first broadcast choice ever.

– Ned Raggett