10 facts about the Queen hit “Radio Ga Ga”
1. Roger Taylor’s greatest coup
Queen drummer Roger Taylor wrote “Radio Gaga.” Of course, it wasn’t the first piece he contributed to the band’s body of work as a writer (including “In The Lap Of The Gods” and “Sheer Heart Attack”). But it was his greatest success. All four members of the group have written at least one top 10 hit in either the USA or Great Britain.
2. Homage to radio
According to Roger Taylor, he wrote the song as a memory of his childhood, in which the radio gave him access to rock’n’roll – and thus to a new world. At the same time, the piece should be understood as a criticism of the commercialization of radio stations, which became ever greater in the 80s and caused music to degenerate into a nonsense.
3. MTV as a trigger
Taylor noted, as he revealed in an interview, that many children in his circle only listened to music on MTV. Songs without a video were not even heard by the youngest children. He wanted to write against it.
4. Single success – but not number one
“Radio Ga Ga” is one of Queen’s best-selling singles. Nevertheless, the piece from the album “The Works” only made it to number two in the charts in Great Britain and Germany. In the USA it was only ranked 16th.
5. Ga Ga or Ca Ca?
Roger Taylor was inspired by his three-year-old son Felix, who was also French-speaking, for the title of his biggest hit. He had commented on a radio program with the words “Radio Ca Ca” (other sources speak of “Radio Poo Poo”). The drummer turned this into the less cacophonous and more Dadaistic sounding track “Radio Ga Ga”. Apparently also because his colleagues didn’t like the title “Radio Ca Ca” at all.
6. “Metropolis” model
The video for “Radio Ga Ga” is one of the band’s best-known and was very elaborately produced. Queen took “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang as a model. Numerous scenes from the German sci-fi film classic were used, but they weren’t cheap. Germany actually collected money for this by providing scenes from its archive treasures. Before the halcyon days of DVD and digital restoration techniques, there were very few (poorly preserved) copies of Metropolis in existence.
7. Queen quote themselves
The David Mallet-directed video clip for “Radio Ga Ga” contains excerpts from Queen’s previous music videos, including “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Flash”. The band believed very early on in staging their music through videos. The film for “Bohemian Rhapsody” is considered one of the first music clips.
8. The Nazi controversy
The video for “Radio Ga Ga” was criticized immediately after its release due to its intrusive symbolism. The choreography in the hand-clapping scenes in particular appeared to some to be a blatant and, above all, uncritical imitation of Nazi symbolism. A memory of the films by Leni Riefenstahl (“Triumph of the Will”)? Video director David Mallet always dismissed this: “Nazi rallies were never an influence on the scenes.” Roger Taylor explained: “This sequence was intended to symbolize the mind control of the workers in ‘Metropolis’.” Fans were undeterred made fun of the band’s notorious political naivety.
9. “Radio Ga Ga” – a real live hit
After its release, “Radio Ga Ga” was played at every subsequent Queen concert. From 1984 to 1985 it was included in the set list as the last title before the encore. In 1986 – on the last tour with Freddie Mercury – Queen played it as the first encore.
10. Without “Radio Ga Ga,” there would be no Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga was actually inspired by “Radio Ga Ga” for her stage name. Stefani Germanotta, as the singer’s real name is, apparently chose the name when she was a burlesque dancer. However, her former producer Rob Fusari counters this and claims that the name is his.
