1979.

As somebody who is (just) old enough to remember a time before modern music videos were a regular thing, I’m happy to say that video did not kill the radio as many were afraid it would. It seems that both have been able to live quite harmoniously together over the decades.

Written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1978, this was first recorded by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club for their album English Garden.

In 1979 new wave/synth-pop group the Buggles released this as their debut single, from the album The Age of Plastic. It went on to give the group a number one in sixteen countries, including here in the UK where it spent eleven weeks on the chart.

Whilst this is best known for being the video that launched MTV in 1981, it also caused controversy after airing on Top of the Pops. The scene of a television set being blown up led to the BBC receiving a number of complaints that the video was too violent. Ah, such innocent times. Just imagine what those same people would make of music videos today!