Video Killed the Radio Star

Video Killed the Radio Star: the song that opened MTV before anyone even knew what MTV was.

Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley wrote it in 1979 as an anxious nod to a world losing its analog stars - then in 1981 it became the literal first video the channel ever aired, at 12:01 a.m. on August 1st.

Horn has called it pure irony ever since: a song mourning old media turned into the icon of the new one.

Did you know it topped the UK chart before MTV even existed?