Queen’s Roger Taylor at Budapest Nepstadion in 1986 – Photograph courtesy of Queen Productions
Queen’s viewers is a rhythm part in its personal proper – and as we see within the newest episode of the band’s yearlong video collection “The Biggest Stay” – in relation to stadium-shaking handclaps, “Radio Ga Ga” is a match for even the mighty “We Will Rock You.”
As certainly one of Queen’s defining hits of the ’80s, “Radio Ga Ga” was written by Roger Taylor, who labored for 3 days straight within the studio with a synth and drum machine to craft this ode to the golden age of the airwaves. “That’s a part of what the track’s about, actually,” the drummer informed the UK’s Breakfast Time presenter Frank Bough because the track hit its peak UK chart place of No. 2 in 1984. “The truth that music movies appear to be taking on nearly from the aural aspect – the visible aspect appears to be nearly extra necessary.”
Whereas the verse felt directly triumphant and wistful, it was “Radio Ga Ga”s refrain – inviting an nearly Pavlovian double-handclap – that gave Queen yet one more crowd-participation flashpoint. But it took Freddie Mercury to acknowledge the track’s anthem potential. “I feel Roger was enthusiastic about it as simply one other observe,” mirrored the singer, who completed off “Radio Ga Ga.” “However I immediately felt there was one thing in there, a very good, robust, saleable commodity.”
As ever, Freddie was proved emphatically proper, with “Radio Ga Ga”s human percussion ringing out at each Queen present from its launch till the unique lineup stepped again from the highway within the late-’80s. And in case you have been by no means fortunate sufficient to be in that sea of fingers, catch the environment with this week’s electrifying archive footage from the band’s history-making Hungary Népstadion live performance on the 1986 “Magic Tour.”
Watch each episode of ‘The Biggest Stay’ on Queen’s official YouTube channel.