Line #37 Main/RadioSong


1	->''Invisible airwaves crackle with life\
2	Bright antennae bristle with the energy\
3	Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength\
4	Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free''
5	-->-- Music/{{Rush\|Band}}, "The Spirit Of Radio"
6
7	A Radio Song is any song ''about'' the medium or culture of radio itself, or that incorporates it as a central metaphor.
8
9	{{Radio}} as a technology and as a medium has played an indispensable role in shaping our popular culture and consciousness--especially so in the world of music. For decades before the advent of streaming services and widely available digital music, radio was ''the'' arbiter of public taste: who got played on the radio (and [[FridayNightDeathSlot at what time of day]]) dictated who got popular and sold records, ranking systems like the [[Radio/AmericanTop40 Top 40]] decided who was the best of the best, and station identities helped codify modern genre classifications.
10
11	As such, many artists over the years have had a . . . ''complex'' relationship to this medium that could make or break them on a whim. And, as musicians tend to do when confronted with complexity, many have written songs about it.
12
13	Since most of these songs were themselves written to be played on the radio, this is a subtrope of HeavyMeta. However, these can forfeit their own RadioFriendliness if they overlap with {{Protest Song}}s written by [[ArtistDisillusionment Disillusioned Artists]] about how MusicIsPolitics. Compare HymnToMusic, ThisIsASong. Sister-trope to RockStarSong. Because of the prominence of car radios, this often overlaps with DrivingSong and maybe CarSong.
14
15
16	JustForFun/NotToBeConfusedWith RadioFriendliness, about songs written ''for'' but not ''about'' radio.
17
18	----
19	No [[Administrivia/ZeroContextExample Zero-Context Examples]], please!
20	----
21
22	!!Examples:
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26	%%
27	%% Examples are alphabetized by artist (where known)
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32	%%
33	* "Ain't Misbehavin'", first published in 1929, is an early example. The song in general is about staying home, waiting for your baby, and one of the verses discusses listening to the radio instead of going out dancing.
34	* The {{title track}} to Music/TheBeachBoys' ''Music/ThatsWhyGodMadeTheRadio'' is a 21st-century example. According to co-writer [[Music/SurvivorBand Jim Peterik]], the song came from a conversation he and Music/BrianWilson (also a co-writer) had at a restaurant about radio and how songs sounded over car speakers, and Wilson responded "Yeah, that's why God made the radio." The chorus:
35	-->That's why God made the radio\
36	So tune right in, everywhere you go\
37	He waved His hand, gave us rock 'n' roll\
38	The soundtrack of falling in love\
39	That's why God made the radio
40	* Music/TheBlasters' "Border Radio" describes a woman who calls up a radio station and requests a song that she and "her man" used to enjoy, in hopes that it'll console her and her child. It's left indeterminate why exactly the father can't be reunited with them.
41	* Music/TheBuggles' "Music/VideoKilledTheRadioStar" is about the falling out of the use of radio in favor of music videos, silky-voiced radio personalities replaced by beautiful, often less talented celebrities. Appropriately, it was the first video ever played on Creator/{{MTV}}.
42	* In "Yesterday Once More" by the Music/{{Carpenters}}, the singer reminiscences about hearing her favorite song on the radio.
43	* Music/HarryChapin's "W.O.L.D." is about a D.J. whose aging voice lost him his job at a big time station, landing him back in his hometown.
44	* "On the Radio" by Music/CheapTrick, which Rick Nielsen described as "about being fourteen years old and wishing you had a car, riding out, where your best friend was the guy on the radio."
45	* "Radio" by Music/TheCorrs, where the singer listens to the radio to remedy her loneliness.
46	* One of Music/ElvisCostello's most beloved songs (and the one that got him [[http://www.openculture.com/2013/09/the-stunt-that-got-elvis-costello-banned-from-saturday-night-live.html banned from]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' for a while) is the iconoclastic "Radio Radio."
47	-->Radio is a sound salvation\
48	Radio is cleaning up the nation\
49	They say you better listen to the voice of reason\
50	But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason\
51	So you had better do as you are told\
52	You better listen to the radio ...\
53	I wanna bite the hand that feeds me\
54	I wanna bite that hand so badly\
55	I wanna make them wish they'd never seen me
56	* Music/DarylHallAndJohnOates' "Portable Radio" is an ode to the portable fun of the boom box and FM radio. Hell, the cover of the album it's from, ''X-Static'', features a boom box in its pure glory.
57	** From the same album, the video for ''Wait For Me'' depicts the band playing ''inside'' a boom box.
58	* "Midnight Radio" from ''Theatre/HedwigAndTheAngryInch'', about the magic of radio and rock 'n roll.
59	* Music/JoeWalsh has "The Radio Song," about finding a quiet place alone and listening to music on the radio.
60	* Music/JoniMitchell's "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio," [[InspirationNod which she wrote after being asked for]] [[RadioFriendliness a catchy love song that could be played on the radio]].
61	* In "Radio," Music/LanaDelRey uses being "on the radio" as a synechdoche for fame, discussing its double-edged nature.
62	* Music/LLCoolJ: "I Can't Live Without My Radio," about his love for his boombox.
63	* Music/MarenMorris's "My Church" combines this with DrivingSong, describing listening to music on the road as a religious experience.
64	* "I Radio Heaven" by Music/OverTheRhine uses the radio as a metaphor for a would-be lover struggling to make a connection.
65	* Music/{{Queen\|Band}}'s "Radio Ga Ga," an unabashed ode to the radio.
66	-->Let's hope you never leave, old friend\
67	Like all good things, on you we depend\
68	So stick around, 'cause we might miss you\
69	When we grow tired of all this visual
70	* Music/BonnieRaitt's "Love Letter", about writing a love letter while listening to a love song on the radio.
71	* Music/{{Rammstein}}'s "Radio" is about evading East Germany's censorship by surreptitiously listening to foreign broadcasts late at night on shortwave radios.
72	* Music/TheRamones' "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?" laments the rock stations of the 70s straying away from the genre's roots.
73	* Music/ReginaSpektor: In the chorus of "On the Radio", the singer relates listening to the same song (Music/GunsNRoses's "November Rain") twice because the radio DJ had fallen asleep.
74	* Music/{{REM}}'s "Radio Song" seemingly blames the radio for destroying society with monotonous low-grade crap, [[AWildRapperAppears featuring]] a rap by Music/{{KRS ONE}}.
75	-->[=DJs=] communicate to the masses\
76	Sex and violent classes\
77	Now our children grow up prisoners\
78	All their life, radio listeners
79	* "Hearthammer" by Music/{{Runrig}} describes growing up in Scotland in TheSixties. The second verse is about [[BuccaneerBroadcaster Radio Caroline]].
80	* Music/{{Rush\|Band}}'s "The Spirit of Radio" is half a delightfully verbose celebration of the medium and half a lament on FM radio passing into more regulated, commercial formats during the late 70s.
81	-->Invisible airwaves crackle with life\
82	Bright antennae bristle with the energy\
83	Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength\
84	Bearing a gift beyond price almost free\
85	[[Music/SimonAndGarfunkel For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall\
86	Concert hall\
87	And echoes with the sounds\
88	Of salesmen, of salesmen, of salesmen]]
89	* Music/ShemikiaCopeland's "Who Stole My Radio?" discusses the general decline of radio-music quality.
90	* "FM," by British PunkRock band Music/TheSlits, takes a look at the darker side of public radio and its potential to control the populace. The lyrics are vague and paranoid, repurposing ''FM'' to stand for ''frequent mutilation''.
91	-->My head is like a radio set\
92	I'm waiting to hear what program is next
93	* Music/{{Sloan}}: "Listen To The Radio" where the singer listens to the radio but there is just static.
94	* Music/TheSmashingPumpkins: "I of the Mourning" is told from the perspective of a man who seeks comfort in his radio and hears voices within that inspire him to start a band.
95	* Music/SteelyDan: "F.M. (No Static at All)". Created as the opening song for the film ''FM'', it song sings the praises of Main/{{Blues}}, Main/{{Reggae}}, Music/ElvisPresley and the lack of static when compared to AM.
96	* Music/DonnaSummer's "On the Radio", about how a man's letter to TheOneThatGotAway is found by someone and read on the radio. The woman hears it and reunites with him.
97	* Music/TwentyOnePilots have "Car Radio," about someone whose car radio has been stolen discovering how much they've been using music to block out uncomfortable thoughts.
98	* "Radio" by Music/ViennaTeng depicts the aftermath of a suicide bombing in a major American city through the perspective of a first responder. The speaker alludes to a time when such events were only a distant reality reported on the radio, at which she could easily "turn away to another station" to hear a love song.
99	* "Mexican Radio" by Music/WallOfVoodoo is a tribute to the powerful AM radio stations located near the U.S.-Mexico border known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_blaster "border blasters."]]
100	* Mark Germino's "Rex Bob Lowenstein" is about a [[Series/WKRPinCincinnati Johnny Fever]] type D.J. who refuses to play the station's playlist and has to be dragged out of the booth.
101	* Charlie Dore's "Pilot of the Airwaves": The singer tells a D.J. (unclear whether on the phone or only in her head) that she stays up listening to the overnight radio show every night and the D.J. seems like a friend.
102	* The Members' "Radio", though it's also a bragging ImageSong.

Context Main / RadioSong