My Cosmic Connection to Hans Zimmer and “Video Killed the Radio Star”

I learned today that Hans Zimmer played keyboards in the music video for “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles (which at least I knew was the first music video played on MTV—a fun Trivial Pursuit fact).

For a variety of reasons, this kinda blew me away. I’m always fascinated by intersections in history like that (see the 2012 Robert Krulwich NPR article on Human Wormholes or the 2012 Mental Floss article on Peculiar Meetings Between Famous People).

Learning about Zimmer and one of my favorite songs made me realize I have some bizarre cosmic connection to the Buggles/Zimmer combo:

• USC PIRC RA staff may remember me singing (and winning?) a karaoke contest back in 2001 with “Video Killed the Radio Star”.
• Mark Van Lommel used to play Hans Zimmer soundtracks all the time when we lived together (The Rock, Gladiator, etc.) (there’s a separate discussion to be had on how Zimmer’s music all sounds similar…).
• Hans Zimmer was also heavily involved with DreamWorks when I worked there (Shark Tale, Madgascar, Kung Fu Panda).
• I watched Pentatonix perform the song on The Sing-Off and remember being blown away and deciding I would root for them the rest of the season…and I’m still listening to them…
• The subject matter of the song relates to my interests and career—technology and how it changes media arts, as well as a nostalgic fondness for past artistic forms.

So, I’m still reeling a bit from this piece of information, but also intrigued to how many other parts of my life seem predestined… (my birthday coinciding with the release date of Star Wars is a topic for another time…)

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