Radio Ga Ga
| "Radio Ga Ga" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "I Go Crazy" |
Radio Ga Ga is a song performed and recorded by the band Queen, written by their drummer Roger Taylor. The song was a commentary of the invention of television overtaking radio's popularity, and how one would listen to radio for their favorite comedy, drama, sci-fi programs and so on as well as the advent of the music video and MTV. Taylor originally conceived it as "Radio Ca-Ca" (apparently from something his toddler son once said), a slam against radio for the decrease in variety of programming and the type of music being played. It was eventually changed to "Radio Ga Ga", because it sounded better, clearer, and rolled off the tongue easier. There are rumors that the publishers objected to the original title (caca being Spanish and French for crap, with much the same cultural connotations).[citation needed]
Taylor began writing the song in Los Angeles when he locked himself in a room with a synthesiser and a drum machine. He thought it would fit his solo album, but when the band heard it, John Deacon wrote a bass-line 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 and included session keyboardist Fred Mandel, who later on would work with Supertramp and Elton John. Mandel programmed the synth-bass parts. The recording features prominent use of the Roland VP330+ vocoder.
It was released as a single and was included on the album The Works. The single was an enormous worldwide success for the band. It reached number 2 in the UK and 16 in the USA.
Queen played a shorter, uptempo version of "Radio Ga Ga" at the Live Aid charity event in 1985. It 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). Paul Young performed the song with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. This song was played on the Queen + Paul Rodgers tours in 2005/2006, and sung by Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers.
Video
David Mallet's music video for the song features scenes from the film Metropolis—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. Critics said that the video looked like a "Nuremberg Rally" much to the anti-Nazi Roger Taylor's dislike. In the video there is a part where they list some of their earlier videos in a photo album, illustrating the changes and the influence videos received through the years.
In filming the "clap" sequence, the extras got the beat down perfectly; the band members, however, needed some practice before they got it right.
All the extras in the "clap" sequence were recruited from the band's official fan club.
Cover versions
- A heavily modified version of the song serves as the introductory number for We Will Rock You, a musical composed of Queen songs.
- The song was covered in 2004 by Electric Six. The video depicts Electric Six frontman, Dick Valentine, as the ghost of Freddie Mercury dancing on his own grave. Roger Taylor has said the video is tasteless and that he will "wait for the royalties". On the other hand, Brian May reportedly enjoyed the video.
Trivia
- "Radio Ga Ga" is also the name of a radio station in Marosvasarhely, Romania, in 88 FM (in the region).[1]
- Roger Taylor performed the song with Spike Edney's SAS Band.
