Radio Ga Ga

"Radio Ga Ga" is a 1984 song performed and recorded by the British rock band Queen, written by their drummer Roger Taylor. It was released as a single with "I Go Crazy" by Brian May as the B-side. It was included on the album The Works. The song is also featured on the band's compilation albums Greatest Hits II and Classic Queen.[3]

This article is about the Queen song. For the Norwegian comic strip, see Radio Gaga. For the Australian radio station, see Radio Gaga (radio).

"Radio Ga Ga"
Single by Queen
from the album The Works
B-side"I Go Crazy"
Released
  • 23 January 1984 (UK)
  • 7 February 1984 (US)
Format
RecordedAugust – October 1983
Genre
Length
  • 5:48 (Album/video version)
  • 4:23 (US radio edit)
  • 6:53 (12" extended version)
  • 6:01 (12" instrumental version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Roger Taylor
Producer(s)
Queen singles chronology
"Back Chat"
(1982)		 "Radio Ga Ga"
(1984)		 "I Want to Break Free"
(1984)
Music video
"Radio Ga Ga" on YouTube

The single was a worldwide success for the band, reaching number one in 19 countries, number two on the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Kent Music Report and number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[4][5] The band performed the song at every concert from 1984 to their last concert with lead singer Freddie Mercury in 1986, including their performance at Live Aid in 1985.[6][7][8][9]

The music video for the song uses footage from the 1927 silent science fiction film Metropolis. It received heavy rotation on music channels and was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 1984.[10]

Meaning

"Radio Ga Ga" was recorded in 1983 and released in January 1984. It was a commentary on television overtaking radio's popularity and how one would listen to radio in the past for a favourite comedy, drama, or science fiction programme. It also addressed the advent of the music video and MTV, which was then competing with radio as an important medium for promoting records. At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards the video for "Radio Ga Ga" would receive a Best Art Direction nomination.[11] Roger Taylor was quoted:

That's part of what the song's about, really. The fact that they [music videos] seem to be taking over almost from the aural side, the visual side seems to be almost more important.[12]

Taylor originally conceived of it as "Radio caca" (from something his toddler son once said),[13] which doubled as a criticism of radio for the decrease in variety of programming and the type of music being played.[4]

The song makes reference to two important radio events of the 20th century; Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds in the lyric "through wars of worlds/invaded by Mars", and Winston Churchill's 18 June 1940 "This was their finest hour" speech from the House of Commons, in the lyric "You've yet to have your finest hour".[14]

Recording
Queen and producer Mack recorded the song at Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles through August and early September 1983

The inspiration for this song came when Roger Taylor heard his son utter the words "radio ca-ca" while listening to a bad song on the radio while they were in Los Angeles. After hearing the phrase, Taylor began writing the song when he locked himself in a room with a Roland Jupiter-8 and a drum machine (Linn LM-1). He thought it would fit his solo album, but when the band heard it, John Deacon wrote a bassline and Freddie Mercury reconstructed the track, thinking it could be a big hit. Taylor then took a skiing holiday and let Mercury polish the lyrics, harmony, and arrangements of the song. Recording sessions began at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles in August 1983 – the band's only time recording in North America.[15] It included Canadian session keyboardist Fred Mandel. Mandel programmed the Jupiter's arpeggiated synth-bass parts. The recording features prominent use of the Roland VP330+ vocoder. The bassline was produced by a Roland Jupiter-8, using the built-in arpeggiator.[16]

Video
Shepperton Studios, London, where the video was shot by David Mallet in November 1983

David Mallet's music video for the song features scenes from Fritz Lang's 1927 German expressionist science fiction film Metropolis[17] and was filmed at Carlton TV Studios and Shepperton Studios, London, in November 1983. It features the band in a car flying over the title city and later performing the song in front of the city's working class, interspersed with a family in their dining room listening to the radio while wearing gas masks. Freddie Mercury's solo song "Love Kills" was used in Giorgio Moroder's restored version of the film and in exchange Queen were granted the rights to use footage from it in their "Radio Ga Ga" video. However, Queen had to buy performance rights to the film from the communist East German government, which was the copyright holder at the time.[18] At the end of the music video, the words "Thanks To Metropolis" appear. The video also features footage from earlier Queen promo videos.[17]

Live versions

Queen finished their sets before the encores on The Works Tour with "Radio Ga Ga" and Mercury would normally sing "you had your time" in a lower octave and modify the deliveries of "you had the power, you've yet to have your finest hour" while Roger Taylor sang the pre-chorus in the high octave. Live versions from the 1984/85 tour were recorded and filmed for the concert films Queen Rock in Rio 1985 and Final Live in Japan 1985.[19] As heard on bootleg recordings, Deacon can be heard providing backing vocals to the song; it is one of the very few occasions he sang in concert.

"I remember thinking 'oh great, they've picked it up' and then I thought 'this is not a Queen audience'. This is a general audience who've bought tickets before they even knew we were on the bill. And they all did it. How did they know? Nobody told them to do it."

—Brian May on the audience participation in clapping to "Radio Ga Ga" at Live Aid.[20]

Queen played a shorter, up-tempo version of "Radio Ga Ga" during the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985 at Wembley Stadium, where Queen's "show-stealing performance" had 72,000 people clapping in unison.[6][21] It was the second song the band performed at Live Aid after opening with "Bohemian Rhapsody".[7][22] "Radio Ga Ga" became a live favourite thanks largely to the audience participation potential of the clapping sequence prompted by the rhythm of the chorus (copied from the video). Mercury sang all high notes in this version. The song was played for the Magic Tour a year later, including twice more at Wembley Stadium; it was recorded for the live album Live at Wembley '86, VHS Video and DVD on 12 July 1986, the second night in the venue.[9]

Paul Young performed the song with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert again at Wembley Stadium on 20 April 1992.[23] At the "Party at the Palace" concert, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee in 2002, "Radio Ga Ga" opened up Queen's set with Roger Taylor on vocals and Phil Collins on the drums.[24]

This song was played on the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour in 2005–2006 and sung by Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers. It was recorded officially at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield on 5 May 2005. The result, Return of the Champions, was released on CD and DVD on 19 September 2005 and 17 October 2005. It was also played on the Rock the Cosmos Tour during late 2008, this time with only Rodgers on lead vocals. The concert album Live in Ukraine came as a result of this tour, yet the song is not available on the CD or DVD versions released 15 June 2009. This performance of "Radio Ga Ga" is only available as a digital download from iTunes. It was again played on the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour with Lambert on lead vocals.

Charts and certifications

Cover versions
  • The song was covered in 2004 by Electric Six. The band released the song as a single against their wishes under pressure from their label at the time, although the song had been in their repertoire during the band's early Wildbunch days. The video depicts Electric Six frontman, Dick Valentine, as the ghost of Freddie Mercury dancing near his own grave. It was widely misinterpreted that Valentine (as Mercury) was dancing on his grave. He explains on his website's video section "Though some have claimed this video portrays me dancing on Freddie Mercury's grave, actually it's more like we are resurrecting Mr. Mercury for the duration of the song and his grave is the logical starting point."[61]

Influences

American pop singer Lady Gaga credits her stage name to this song.[62][63] She stated that she "adored" Queen, and that they had a hit called 'Radio Ga Ga'. "That's why I love the name".[64]

See also

References
  1. Furniss, Matters (2012). Queen – Uncensored On the Record. Coda Books Ltd. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-9085-3884-0.
  2. Stereo Review. 49. CBS Publications. 1984. p. 76. Radio Gaga (the single), a skillful merger of contemporary synth-pop and old-time Brill Building panache
  3. "Classic Queen by Queen". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  4. Lazell, Barry (1989). Rock movers & shakers. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 404. ISBN 978-0-8230-7608-6.
  5. "Queen Biography for 1984". QueenZone.com. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  6. "Queen win greatest live gig poll". BBC News Online. 9 November 2005. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  7. Stanford, Peter (24 September 2011). "Queen: their finest moment at Live Aid". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  8. "Queen live on tour: The Works 1985". Queen Concerts. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  9. "Queen live on tour: Magic tour". Queen Concerts. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  10. Giles, Jeff. "That Time Classic Rock Cleaned Up at the First-Ever MTV Video Music Awards". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  11. "Rock On The Net: 1984 MTV Video Music Awards". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  12. "Roger Taylor & John Deacon – 1984 Breakfast Time Interview". YouTube. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  13. Roger Taylor speaking in the documentary Queen – Days of Our Lives
  14. Avery, Todd (2006). Radio Modernism: Literature, Ethics, and the BBC 1922-1938. Ashgate Publishing. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-7546-5517-6.
  15. Purvis, Georg (2007). Queen: Complete Works. Reynolds & Hearn. p. 236.
  16. "Instruments on Queen and solo tours". Queen Concerts. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  17. "Queen Promo Videos". Ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  18. Brooks, Greg; Taylor, Gary. "The Works – Album Details". Queenonline.com. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  19. Purvis, Georg (2007). Queen: Complete Works. Reynolds & Hearn. p. 321. ISBN 978-1-90528-733-8.
  20. Thomas, David (August 1999). "Their Britannic Majesties Request". Mojo Magazine (69): 87. ISSN 1351-0193.
  21. Ryan Minchin, dir. (2005). "Queen Voted Best Gig-Live Aid". YouTube. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  22. "Queen live on tour: Festivals, parties, TV". Queen Concerts. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  23. "The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert". Ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  24. "Queen Miscellaneous Live Song Lyrics". Ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  25. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 243. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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  27. "Ultratop.be – Queen – Radio Ga Ga" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  28. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6262." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  29. "Danske Hitlister". Danskehitlister.dk. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016.
  30. "MusicSeek.info – UK, Eurochart, Billboard & Cashbox No.1 Hits". Archived from the original on 14 June 2006.. MusicSeek.info.
  31. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  32. "Accès direct aux Artistes (Q)". InfoDisc (in French). Select "Queen" from the artist drop-down menu. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  33. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Radio Ga Ga". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  34. "I singoli più venduti del 1984" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia. Creative Commons. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  35. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 8, 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  36. "Dutchcharts.nl – Queen – Radio Ga Ga" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  37. "Charts.nz – Queen – Radio Ga Ga". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  38. "Norwegiancharts.com – Queen – Radio Ga Ga". VG-lista. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  39. "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (Q)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  40. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  41. "Swedishcharts.com – Queen – Radio Ga Ga". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
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  47. "Hot Canadian Digital Song Sales". Billboard. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
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  52. "Jaaroverzichten 1984" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  53. "Top 100 Singles of 1984". RPM. Vol. 41 no. 17. Library and Archives Canada. 5 January 1985. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  54. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
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  57. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1984". Archived from the original on 30 September 2012.. Cash Box magazine.
  58. "Year-End Charts: Hot Rock Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  59. "Italian single certifications – Queen – Radio Ga Ga" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 18 November 2019. Select "2019" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Radio Ga Ga" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli online" under "Sezione".
  60. "British single certifications – Queen – Radio Ga Ga". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  61. "Electric Six – Music + Videos". Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  62. Martin, Gavin (8 January 2009). "Lady GaGa the new Princess of Pop". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  63. Rose, Lisa (21 January 2010). "Lady Gaga's outrageous persona born in Parsippany, New Jersey". NJ.com. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  64. Dingwall, John (27 November 2009). "The Fear Factor; Lady Gaga used tough times as inspiration for her new album". Daily Record. pp. 48–49. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
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