"The Sound-Sweep" is a short story by J.G. Ballard in which the title character, a mute boy vacuuming up stray music in a world without it, comes upon an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer hiding in a sewer. As all music has been outlawed and destroyed, the opera singer is obsolete. Trevor Horn

Trevor Horn

Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....

 has said that his lyrics of "Video Killed the Radio Star

Video Killed the Radio Star

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...

" by The Buggles

The Buggles

The Buggles were an English New Wave band consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes . They are remembered chiefly for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was #1 on the singles chart in 16 countries. Its music video was the first to be shown on MTV in the U.S...

 were inspired by this story of a world without music.

It was first published in Science Fantasy

Science Fantasy (magazine)

Science Fantasy, which also appeared under the titles Impulse and SF Impulse, was a British fantasy and science fiction magazine, launched in 1950 by Nova Publications as a companion to Nova's New Worlds. Walter Gillings was editor for the first two issues, and was then replaced by John Carnell,...

, Volume 13, Number 39, February 1960 and was reprinted in the collection, The Four-Dimensional Nightmare

The Four-Dimensional Nightmare

The Four-Dimensional Nightmare is a collection of science fiction short stories by J. G. Ballard, published in 1963 by Victor Gollancz.-Contents:* "The Voices of Time"* "The Sound-Sweep"* "Prima Belladonna"* "Studio 5, The Stars"...

.