DOWNLOAD THE SONG SHEET
Video Killed The Radio Star (PDF)
Video Killed The Radio Star (WORD)
You can play along in the same key as The Buggles in GCEA tuning, if you put your capo on the 1st fret! I may simplify the song sheet for our BUG Jam.
"Video Killed The Radio Star" was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their debut studio album, English Garden, and by British new wave/synth-pop group the Buggles, which consisted of Horn and Downes (and initially Woolley). On release, the Buggles' version topped sixteen international record charts, including those in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan. It also peaked in the top 10 in Canada, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa, but only reached number 40 in the United States.
It was the first music video shown on MTV in the US, airing at 12:01 a.m. on 1 August 1981, and the first video shown on MTV Classic in the UK on 1 March 2010. It was also the final music video played on MTV Music in the UK before it closed down on 31 December 2025. In 2024, Billboard recognized "Video Killed the Radio Star" as one of the 100 greatest songs about the music industry, ranking it at number one.