[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvontheradiosmall2_990.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: Gerard Smith, Dave Sitek, Kyp Malone, Tunde Adebimpe and Jaleel Bunton]]

TV on the Radio is a Brooklyn-based band that was formed in 2000. They are known for their GenreBusting sound, often combining elements of HipHop, {{Soul}}, PostPunk, [[ElectronicMusic Electronica]], and AlternativeRock into their music.
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'''Band members:'''
* Tunde Adebimpe: vocals, loops
* Kyp Malone: vocals, guitars, loops
* David Andrew Sitek: keyboards, guitars, bass, loops
* Jaleel Bunton: drums, loops, guitars
* Gerard Smith: bass, keyboards (died in 2011)

'''Albums:'''
* ''OK Calculator'' (demo, 2002)
* ''Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes'' (2004)
* ''Music/ReturnToCookieMountain'' (2006)
* ''Dear Science'' (2008)
* ''Nine Types of Light'' (2011)
* ''Seeds'' (2014)

David Sitek has also produced quite a few albums, including all three of the albums from Music/YeahYeahYeahs. Tunde Adebimpe, for his part, has a respectable sideline as an actor, best known for playing the groom in ''Film/RachelGettingMarried''.
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!!Never you mind, trope professor:
* AlbumTitleDrop: The title of their first album, "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes," shows up during the climax of the first song, "The Wrong Way."
** Said in Seeds, which also doubles as their first TitleTrack.
* BeastFable: "Stork & Owl" is essentially one of these in song form.
* BrokenRecord: "My repetition, my repetition is this" x20 or so at the end of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Repetition"]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: The band came back after Gerard Smith's death with Mercy, which was the heaviest thing they'd done since Wolf Like Me.
** "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes", their debut album, has a darker, slower and more atmospheric sound compared to its follow-ups, "Return to Cookie Mountain" and "Dear Science".
* DestructoNookie: "Lover's Day." Sweet Jesus, "Lover's Day."
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their early demo ''OK Calculator'' is way more experimental and hip-hop influenced than their later studio albums.
* GenreMashup: Post-punk, {{Funk}}, electro, dub, {{Afrobeat}}, hip-hop, ProgressiveRock, gospel, NoiseRock, swing, SynthPop... and that's just only a fraction of what you'll hear in an average TV on the Radio album. Seeds even features a PunkRock song in "Lazerray".
* GenreRoulette: Their albums contain any number of different song styles, including drum-and-bass, AvantGardeMusic, trip-hop, {{Funk}}, ACappella, PowerBallad, or NewWaveMusic. With this as well as GenreBusting under their belt, it is safe to say their music defies simple categorization, although a good contender would be "art rock."
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: "Tonight." Sounds more like a heart with a pacemaker or something, though.
* LastNoteNightmare: "Wolf Like Me" ends with a sound that is comparable to the transformation of a person to a wolf. Actually fitting, considering the name and the thematics of the song.
* MagicalNegro; [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the song "The Wrong Way:"
-->''Wake up in a magic nigger movie / with the bright lights pointed at me / as a metaphor / teachin' folks the score / about patience, understanding, agape babe / and sweet sweet amour.''
* MindScrew: Tons of their music videos. "Province" is a particularly outstanding example.
* NonIndicativeName: "Second Song" is the first song on ''Nine Types of Light''. However, it is the second song in the tracklisting for the video version (the first being "Caffeinated Consciousness", which is the last track on the regular album).
* {{Parody}}: Their video for the song "You" in the video "Nine Types of Light" is a parody of Prince, possibly of the affectionate variety. In the movie, Tunde leaves the band and begins a solo career that is clearly modeled after Prince.
** Definitely an affectionate one, seeing as how they listed Music/{{Prince}} as one of their main influences.
* RecycledLyrics: Killer Crane and Ride both feature a chorus lyric of "Leave it behind" and recurring themes of looking to the sky. It would appear that they are related, Killer Crane being about their coming to terms with Gerard Smith's impending death, and Ride being about their desire to live life to the full whilst they still have it.
* ShoutOut: Their first album, ''OK Calculator'', was titled as a reference to Music/{{Radiohead}}'s ''Music/OKComputer''.
* SpaceOpera: "Lazerray," assuming it isn't just WordSaladLyrics, is a love letter to the genre.
* StylisticSuck: The werewolves in the video for "Wolf Like Me" look like stop-motion killer poodles, probably deliberately.
** The saxes, flute and banal lyrics of "Make Love All Night Long".
*** The entirety of their demo album OK Calculator is acapella joke songs.
* TalkyBookends: The video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRgpbYHEzvA You]]" intersperses the song itself--performed by Tunde Adebimpe in Music/{{Prince}} getup--with a seriocomic skit where the (ex?) members of TVOTR get together for brunch at a diner where Gerard Smith is working. A melancholy viewing experience, as it's about the last thing Smith did with the band before his untimely death from cancer.
* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: The band have three examples in "Wolf Like Me", "Mercy" and "Lazerray". "Lazerray" in particular is pure punk rock.
* TokenWhite: David Sitek is the only white guy in a band that is otherwise entirely black.
* WordSaladLyrics: Their songs can verge towards the nonsensical, especially those written by Kyp Malone.
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