11 February 1984
‘Radio Ga Ga’ got to number one in Ireland, but in the UK it stalled at number two behind Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’. A comparison is telling. Frankie and ‘Relax’ are exciting, funny, subversive, forward-looking, and innovative. Queen have never been any of those things, and their popularity has always bored me. On top of that, ‘Radio Gaga’ is conservative and reactionary; not for them this video lark! They want the “old-time stars” and Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, from 1938. The video (below) even shows a 1940s family in gas-masks, all gathered around the wireless. OK, boomers!
‘Radio Ga Ga’ may have been a pivot towards synths and electronica for Queen, but 1984 was a bit late to be doing it. Then again, anyone who listens to Queen is hardly interested in the avant-garde or latest thing. ‘Radio Ga Ga’ is dumbed-down stadium-sized synth pop which hangs on for dear life to that clap-along chorus, its only trick. Video killed the radio star, and here’s Queen digging up the corpse and flogging it.
