Zimmer began his career playing keyboards and synthesizers in the 1970s, with the band Krakatoa. He worked with the Buggles, a new wave band formed in London in 1977 with Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, and Bruce Woolley. Zimmer can be seen briefly in the Buggles' music video for the 1979 song "Video Killed the Radio Star". After working with the Buggles, he started to work for the Italian group Krisma, a new wave band formed in 1976 with Maurizio Arcieri and Christina Moser. He was a featured synthesist for Krisma's third album, "Cathode Mamma". He has also worked with the band Helden (with Warren Cann from Ultravox). Both Zimmer (on keyboards) and Cann (on drums), were invited to be part of the Spanish group Mecano for a live performance in Segovia (Spain) in 1984. Two songs from this concert were included in the "" album released in 1985 only in Spain. In 1985, he contributed to the Shriekback album "Oil & Gold". In 1980, Zimmer co-produced a single, "History of the World, Part 1," with, and for, UK punk band The Damned, which was also included on their 1980 LP release, "The Black Album", and carried the description of his efforts as "Over-Produced by Hans Zimmer."