Rocktrospectiva: The Fresh And Influential "The Age Of Plastic" Turns 45

Released on 10 January 1980 in Australia and on 8 February in United Kingdom, "The Age Of Plastic" was the debut studio album by the English new wave duo The Buggles, it is a concept album about the possible repercussions of modern technology. The title was conceived from the group's intention of being a "plastic group" and the album was produced in the wake of the success of their seminal single, "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979), which topped the UK Singles Chart. Most of the album's other tracks were written during promotion of the single. 

Bassist Trevor Horn was chiefly inspired by Kraftwerk's 1978 album The Man-Machine and sought unconventional recording methods for The Age of Plastic. Keyboardist Geoff Downes characterised the album as "science fiction music ... like modern psychedelic music ... very futuristic." Several tracks also featured contributions from vocalist Bruce Woolley, who left the group mid-production. The backing tracks were recorded at Virgin's Town House in West London, while the vocals were recorded and mixed at Sarm East Studios. Mixing was completed before Christmas 1979.

The album eached number 27 on the UK Albums Chart amid a mixed critical reception. Its three subsequent singles, "The Plastic Age", "Clean, Clean" and "Elstree", charted in the UK, reaching number 16, 38 and 55 respectively. 

The Buggles were signed to Island Records, who gave Horn and Downes recording and publishing contracts. The group started recording their first studio album in the first half of 1979. Although Woolley was originally intended to be the band's lead vocalist, he left the group during the sessions to form his own band, the Camera Club, who also recorded versions of "Clean, Clean" and "Video Killed the Radio Star", songs that appeared on their 1979 album English Garden.

When "Video Killed the Radio Star" became a huge commercial success, Horn and Downes realized that they needed to record more material to fill out a full album, so they wrote additional songs, during the promotion of the single, while in airport lounges, dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms and studios.

The sound and style obey the following premise in which Horn unable to make the album sound similar to others of the late 1970s, because he couldn't figure out how they did it, he decided then whatever he could do, he had also wanted to perverse things with sound, except that in 1978 and 1979, none of the equipment which would later allow me to do that was available. So I had to pre-date that technology by finding my own ways of achieving certain sounds.

Due for those reasons, some music reviewers have labeled The Age of Plastic as the first landmark of another electropop era. Multiple music journalists have described it as a mixture of synthpop and new wave music, with elements of disco, punk, progressive rock and pop music from the 1960s.The album was also influenced by groups such as 10cc, ELO and Kraftwerk.

Downes and Krinein Magazine noted the tracks' instrumentations of guitars, bass guitar, drums, vocoded, robotic and female vocals, and synthesizers used to emulate orchestral instruments, and well as compositional elements of a variety of complex builds. Downes has said that he used five synthesizers in making The Age of Plastic, which were used to "fake up things and to provide effects we won't use them in the manner that somebody like John Foxx does. According to Horn: "We used about three different drummers including one Richard James Burgess from Landscape and Johnny Richardson from the Rubettes, who's really good. We also used the occasional session guitarist to play various bits and there were three or four girl singers involved. Apart from that, we did everything ourselves.

The Age of Plastic is a tragicomic concept album with lyrical themes of intense nostalgia and anxiety about the possible effects of modern technology. The lyrics, which were written by Trevor Horn, were inspired by the works of J. G. Ballard. The Buggles have claimed that they were necessarily a "plastic group" to meet the needs of a "plastic age", explaining the album's title, The Age of Plastic. Downes has said that the lyrics were "trying to make cynical comments on a number of issues." Eight tracks are included on The Age of Plastic: "Living in the Plastic Age", "Video Killed the Radio Star", "Kid Dynamo", "I Love You (Miss Robot)", "Clean, Clean", "Elstree", "Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade)" and "Johnny (on the Monorail)".

But if there's a remarkable track, that's "Video Killed the Radio Star," the second track, refers to a period of technological change in the 1960s, the desire to remember the past and the disappointment that children of the current generation would not appreciate the past. The fast-paced third song, "Kid Dynamo," is about the effects of media on a futuristic kid of the 1980s. Of the album's fourth track, "I Love You (Miss Robot)", Downes has said it is about "being on the road and making love to someone you don't really like, while all the time you're wanting to phone someone who's a long way off." Wave Maker magazine viewed the song as "a darkly soothing, bass guitar-driven ballad which brings us back into cyberpunk country. "Clean, Clean" is the album's fifth track, and follows the story of a young boy who grows out of being a gangster, and, despite not willing to do so, will at least try to keep the fighting clean. "Elstree," the album's sixth song, as lyrically similar to "Video Killed the Radio Star," as it follows "a failed actor taking up a more regular position behind the scenes and looking back at his life in regret." And then the slow-tempo ballad "Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade)", the album closer "Johnny on the Monorail" has a "pop atmosphere" that "better suits the flow of the rest of the album."

Lead single "Video Killed the Radio Star", released months earlier, was commercially successful, topping the record charts in 16 countries, including the UK Singles Chart. From January to October 1980, three more singles were issued in support of the album: "Living in the Plastic Age", "Clean, Clean" and "Elstree". all of the singles had chart success in the UK, with "The Plastic Age" and "Clean, Clean" gaining chart success on an international level.

The critics were mixed, some called the album a remarkable example of disposable pop from the 1980s, an essentila electro pop record, an innovative and fresh album but other called the record a wasteful mixed of childish sounds with little creative imagination, nevermind that, the legacy of this record stills lives in French bands such as Justice, Daft Punk and Phoenix, and the combinantion of pop, electro and classical is timeless, also, the single "Video Killed The Radio Star" still remembered today and being covered by several bands. The music video was first released in 1979, when it was originally broadcast on the BBC's Top of the Pops for promotion of the single, the German composer Hans Zimmer who starring on the video recalled in 2001 that the video drew criticism from some viewers who watched it before it aired on MTV, due to being "'too violent' because we blew up a television."

The music video for Video Killed the Radio Star is notable as the first video ever played on MTV, when the US channel began broadcasting at 12:01 AM on 1 August 1981. On 27 February 2000, it became the one millionth video to be broadcast on MTV. It also opened MTV Classic in the UK and Ireland. The video marked the closing of MTV Philippines before its shutdown on 15 February 2010 at 11:49 PM. MTV co-founder Bob Pittman said the video "made an aspirational statement. We didn't expect to be competitive with radio, but it was certainly a sea-change kind of video."

 

The Age Of Plastic Track List: 

 

1. Living In The Plastic Age

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