Coming off the disappointing chart performance and critical response to their 1978 album, Tormato, the English progressive rock band Yes were at a crossroads. The band split into two different factions, the members of which could not agree on a musical direction for their next album. Ultimately, the drama caused lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman to quit the group. The remaining three members—guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, and drummer Alan White—found replacements for Anderson and Wakeman, and together they created Drama, Yes’ 10th studio album.
The new lead singer and keyboardist were unlikely recruits for the veteran prog outfit. They were Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, also known as the synth-driven New Wave duo The Buggles. They had just one album to their credit, the 1980 release, The Age of Plastic, which included the hit single “Video Killed the Radio Star” (the video for which was the first music video broadcasted by MTV when it went on the air in 1981). The Age of Plastic was glossy and minimal. Yes built a reputation over the course of the ‘70s for its elaborate and complex compositions. Yet, somehow, the improbable fusion of these two bands wound up being the peanut butter cups of rock—two great tastes that taste (or sound) great together.
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So how did The Buggles wind up merging with Yes? It was a classic case of being in the right place at the right time.
How Yes Got “Buggled”
The Buggles just happened to find themselves in Yes’ orbit at the exact moment when the band was splintering. Their new manager, Brian Lane, was also Yes’ longtime manager. When the Buggles started recording their second album, Adventures in Modern Recording, they were working at SARM East Studios in London, where Yes had been doing some of their recording. Lane encouraged Horn and Downes to write a song for the three-member remnant of Yes, and the duo eventually wound up rehearsing with Howe, Squire, and White. That led to an invitation for Horn and Downes to join Yes as full-fledged members.
The song that Horn and Downes wrote for Yes, “We Can Fly From Here,” was initially intended for a Buggles album, but it didn’t make the cut for Drama. It was eventually included on Yes’ 2005 live box set, The Word is Live, and on their studio albums, Fly From Here (2011) and Fly From Here – Return Trip (2018).
Behind the Album: Trevor Horn Looks Back on The Buggles, ‘The Age of Plastic’
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The Sound of Drama
Ironically, some of the reviews for Drama cited the album as a return to form for Yes, even with two of its key members having departed. Tracks like “Tempus Fugit,” “Does It Really Happen?,” “Into the Lens,” all of which received airplay on album-oriented rock stations, featured many aspects of the traditional Yes sound, and not just because of the continued presence of Howe, Squire, and White. If one isn’t listening too closely, it’s easy to mistake Horn’s high-pitched vocals for Anderson’s.
As one would expect, there are moments on Drama that are clearly Buggles-influenced. “Run Through the Light” has a lighter, poppier feel than anything Yes had recorded previously, and the brief palate-cleanser “White Car” is essentially a Buggles track, primarily showcasing Downes on synthesizers and Horn on vocals.
The album opener, “Machine Messiah,” is the one track on Drama for which the Yes-Buggles fusion created something altogether different from either band’s prior work. The most Yes-like feature of “Machine Messiah” is its structure, as it is composed of several movements that add up to ten-plus minutes of music. Right out of the chute, though, listeners are treated to an intro that sounds more like Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” than “Roundabout” or “Video Killed the Radio Star.” The song zigzags between metal, pop-rock, and a softer sound that matches Downes’ slick keyboards with Howe’s mellow acoustic guitar.
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A Prelude to “Owner of a Lonely Heart”
Though Drama was received far more favorably by critics than Tormato was, it continued the gradual downward slide of Yes’ albums in terms of chart performance, peaking at No. 18 on the Billboard 200. It was also their first album in a decade to not be certified either Gold or Platinum. However, Drama set the stage for Yes’ greatest commercial success.
Yes split up after touring for Drama, and Squire, White, and guitarist Trevor Rabin formed a new group called Cinema. Eventually, former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye (who was Wakeman’s predecessor) made Cinema a quartet, and Horn was under consideration as the new band’s fifth member and lead vocalist. However, Horn opted to produce the band instead, and Anderson returned and wound up splitting lead vocal duties with Rabin. With Anderson and Kaye in the fold, along with Squire and White, the band went back to calling themselves Yes.
The re-formed Yes released 90125 in November 1983, and just ahead of the album, the band put out the lead single, “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” It would become Yes’ only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, and it featured many of the defining qualities of a Horn-produced song (particularly in the mid-’80s), including its jerky transitions and unsettling synth horn blasts. Horn would not only go on to produce three more Yes albums, but he would become one of the most successful producers in pop music, working with Seal, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ABC, Pet Shop Boys, Cher, and countless other popular artists.
While Drama’s footprint on AOR playlists didn’t last far beyond the end of Yes’ tour for that album, the Yes-Buggles partnership spawned a generation of beloved pop and rock music. It revived Yes’ career and eventually launched the relatively-unknown Horn and Downes into successful ventures. Not only did Horn become a top producer, but Downes went on to become the keyboardist for the supergroup Asia, with whom he made two Top 10 albums and four Top 40 singles, on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns