Queen can be found on iTunes.

by Walter Price

In 1984 you were pleased that your favorite DJ would play your songs. The songs from The Smiths, R.E.M., Hanoi Rocks, and U2 that made you dream. But you were (and still are) a smart cookie. You noticed that things were getting more repetitive on your local radio station. More and more of the top songs that year from Prince, Bryan Adams, and The Bangles were getting heavier and heavier airplay. So sad, the eras of personal DJ curated playlists were going the way of the dinosaur.

You were not the only one noticing the changing corporate way radio and media were increasingly forgoing taste for profit. Fastly being lost were the days when folks would rely on the radio for their nearly sole source of entertainment. Cable TV was boss media and its MTV had a stranglehold on the record business with their platform of eye-catching ‘music videos’. One of your all-time favorite rock n’ roll bands Queen were aware of these corporate mind-controls and they made a permanent record of their disdain with their smash hit, “Radio Ga Ga”.

You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds invaded by Mars
You made ’em laugh, you made ’em cry
You made us feel like we could fly.
Radio.

So don’t become some background noise
A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just don’t know or just don’t care
And just complain when you’re not there

Even if you, at the time, didn’t understand the connections to Orson Wells, Fritz Lang, and Winston Churchhill, you were an eager fan of the catchy way the boys in Queen got Roger Taylor’s sentiments across. And sometimes ‘catchy’ is all you need to fall in love with rock n’ roll. Just like these artists in these three cover versions of the classic rock song “Radio Ga Ga’.

QUEEN

website / instgram

fun.

Paul Young

Electric Six

MOTHERSHIP

support great artists, buy music