The Buggles were a British new wave performing and record production duo consisting of Trevor Horn (vocals, bass guitar, guitar) and Geoff Downes (keyboards, synthesizers, electric piano, piano, drums, percussion, backing vocals). They are best known for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was No. 1 on the singles charts of sixteen countries. The music video for that song was the first to be shown on MTV; it aired in the U.S. at 12:01 on 1 August 1981. It was the lead single of the Buggles' first album, The Age of Plastic, which also had three other UK-hit singles. In addition to their fame from "Video Killed the Radio Star", the Buggles also handled production for other popular tracks such as "Back of My Hand" by The Jags and "Monkey Chop" by Dan-I, as well the song "Film Star" by Tom Marshall.

In 1980, both Horn and Downes joined progressive rock band Yes. However following the release of the album Drama, Yes disbanded in 1981; Yes then reformed with Horn as producer, and Downes went on to create Asia with fellow former Yes member Steve Howe. After Downes' move to Asia and the commercial failure of the Buggles' second album Adventures in Modern Recording, The Buggles came to an end in 1981. However, Downes and Horn have been occasionally performing Buggles' songs together since 1998. Additionally, they collaborated again on the album Fly From Here by Yes (which Downes re-joined in 2011). The album, produced by Horn and with Downes on keyboards, used songs originally recorded as demos for the Buggles as a basis for most of the material.