The Age of Plastic

The Age of Plastic
Studio album by The Buggles
Released 4 February 1980
Recorded 1979–80
Genre New Wave, Synthpop
Length 47:43
Label Island
Producer The Buggles
The Buggles chronology
The Age of Plastic
(1980)		 Adventures in Modern Recording
(1981)
Singles from The Age of Plastic
  1. "Video Killed the Radio Star"
    Released: 7 September 1979
  2. "Living in the Plastic Age"
    Released: 14 January 1980
  3. "Clean Clean"
    Released: 24 March 1980
  4. "Elstree"
    Released: 27 October 1980

The Age of Plastic is the first album by synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, which consisted of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, released on Island Records on 4 February 1980. The album is a concept album, with themes of intense nostalgia and anxiety about the possible effects of modern technology. It followed the success of their first single, "Video Killed the Radio Star", which had reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart in 1979. Three subsequent singles, "Living in the Plastic Age", "Clean Clean" and "Elstree" were released from the album, but met with considerably less success.

The title of the album, The Age of Plastic', and the title track, "Living in the Plastic Age", allude to the 1924 novel and consequent 1925 silent movie The Plastic Age.

Contents

Track listing

All tracks are written by Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn, except where otherwise noted.

Original LP release

Side one

  1. "Living in the Plastic Age" – 5:13
  2. "Video Killed the Radio Star" (Bruce Woolley, Horn, Downes) – 4:13
  3. "Kid Dynamo" – 3:29
  4. "I Love You (Miss Robot)" – 4:58

Side two

  1. "Clean Clean" (Horn, Downes, Woolley) – 3:53
  2. "Elstree" – 4:29
  3. "Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade)" – 4:41
  4. "Johnny on the Monorail" – 5:28

Bonus tracks on 2000 CD re-release

  1. "Island" – 3:33
  2. "Technopop" – 3:50
  3. "Johnny on the Monorail" (A very different version) – 3:49

Bonus tracks on 2010 Japanese CD re-release

The album was re-released on February 24, 2010 in Japan in its remastered version.[1] The re-released album added 9 tracks (3 of the nine tracks get from the 2000 re-release album).

  1. "Video Killed the Radio Star" (Single version) – 3:25
  2. "Kid Dynamo" (Single version) – 3:29
  3. "Living in the Plastic Age" (Single version) – 3:51
  4. "Island" (Edit version) – 3:33
  5. "Clean Clean" (12-inch version) – 5:15
  6. "Technopop" – 3:50
  7. "Elstree" (Single version) – 4:06
  8. "Johnny on the Monorail" (A very different version) – 3:50
  9. "Elstree" (Special DJ edit version) – 3:36

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Chart performance

Chart (1979) Peak
position
French Albums Chart[3] 15
Norwegian Albums Chart[4] 23
Swedish Albums Chart[5] 24
UK Albums Chart[6] 27

Personnel

The Buggles
Additional musicians

References

  1. ^ Buggles, The - The Age Of Plastic (CD, Album) at Discogs
  2. ^ Montesano, Jeri. "Buggles: The Age of Plastic > Review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r2940. Retrieved 1 March 2010. 
  3. ^ InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste
  4. ^ norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal
  5. ^ swedishcharts.com - Swedish Charts Portal
  6. ^ Chart Stats - UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive
The Buggles
Studio albums
The Age of Plastic • Adventures in Modern Recording
Singles
"Video Killed the Radio Star" • "Living in the Plastic Age" • "Clean Clean" • "Elstree" • "I Am a Camera" • "Adventures in Modern Recording" • "On TV" • "Lenny" • "Beatnik"
Categories
Albums • Songs