Geoff Downes Gets a Yes, Asia and Buggles Refresher Course

Some music artists have released literally hundreds of songs over the years, to say nothing of the ones deemed too garbage-y to release. BlastEcho wondered if those involved in recording so many songs could remember them all. Enter Rockers’ Block.

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For each Rockers’ Block contestant, we play five random songs from their catalog, each song from the beginning, to see how long it takes for them to guess (well, maybe guess isn’t the right word) the correct song. Then once they do (hopefully), they talk a bit about the song.

Geoff Downes may not be a household name, but many of his songs own that ubiquity. As half of The Buggles, the New-Wave duo recorded “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the first music video ever played on MTV and one that somewhat accurately forecast the demise of terrestrial radio. Later, as part of Asia, he gave us timeless classics like “Heat of the Moment” and “Only Time Will Tell.” And that’s without mentioning his solo work, side-project Trapeze and, of course, gig with Yes. In fact, Yes, with Downes, will be on tour this summer in support of 1973’s Tales From the Topographic Oceans and 1980’s Drama, the first Yes album he worked on.

Needless to say, there was no dearth of Downes material in which to choose from for this latest installment of Rockers’ Block. For copyright reasons, you won’t hear the songs during the game, but we’ve provided links to the actual songs so you can play along.

Let’s hear how he did!

Song #1:

Song #2:

Song #3:

Song #4:

Song #5: