"The Spirit of Radio" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush, released from their 1980 album ''

Permanent Waves ''Permanent Waves'' is the seventh studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on January 14, 1980 through Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, '' Hemispheres'' (1978), the band began working on new material for ...

''. The song's name was inspired by

Brampton, Ontario Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

based radio station

CFNY-FM CFNY-FM (102.1 Hertz, MHz, "102.1 The Edge") is a radio station city of license, licensed to Brampton, Ontario. Owned by Corus Entertainment, the station broadcasts a modern rock format serving the Greater Toronto Area. Its studios are in Downtow ...

's slogan. It was significant in the growing popularity of the band, becoming their first top 30 single in Canada and reaching number 51 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Background

The introduction of the song was composed in a

mixolydian mode Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic s ...

scale built on E; most of the rest, barring repetitions of the introductory guitar riff, is in conventional E major. Guitarist Alex Lifeson explained the song's opening riff as "I just wanted to give it something that gave it a sense of static – radio waves bouncing around, very electric. We had that sequence going underneath, and it was just really to try and get something that was sitting on top of it, that gave it that movement." "The Spirit of Radio" features the band experimenting with a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

style in its closing section. Reggae would be explored further on the band's next three records, '' Moving Pictures'', ''

Signals A signal is both the process and the result of Signal transmission, transmission of data over some transmission media, media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processin ...

'', and '' Grace Under Pressure''. The group had experimented with reggae-influenced riffs in the studio and had come up with a reggae introduction to " Working Man" on their tours, so they decided to incorporate a passage into "The Spirit of Radio", and as Lifeson said, "to make us smile and have a little fun". Lyrically, the song is a lament on the change of FM radio from free-form to commercial formats during the late 1970s. The Brampton, Ontario based station

—which had ''not'' abandoned free-form programming—is cited as an inspiration for the song. The reggae finale also has lyrics inspired by the song "

The Sound of Silence "The Sound of Silence" (originally "The Sounds of Silence") is a song by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon. The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original ac ...

" by

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

Single release

Rush had grazed the UK Top 40 two years earlier with " Closer to the Heart". However, when "The Spirit of Radio" was issued as a single in February 1980, it reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in March. It remains their biggest UK hit to date (the 7" single was a 3:00 edited version which has not appeared on CD, as of 2011). In the US, the single peaked at number 51 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

in 1980 and number 22 in Canada, and in 1998 a live version of the song reached number 27 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. Promotional 12-inch copies were released in the United States in late 1979 with the B-sides of " Working Man" and " The Trees", and the song being incorrectly titled "The Spirit of the Radio".

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "Geddy Lee's high vocals and the band's electrically charged instrumental should click on AOR lists." "The Spirit of Radio" was named one of

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

and was among five Rush songs inducted into the

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame () is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their ''Hall of Fame'' within three different categories: songwriters, songs, and those others who have m ...

on March 28, 2010. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it a "crafty rocker that's an out-of-the-box AOR-pop smash." ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' readers voted "The Spirit of Radio" the fourth best Rush song. The song was covered by the British alternative rock band Catherine Wheel in 1996, with their version appearing both on their B-sides and rarities album '' Like Cats and Dogs'' and on the CFNY-branded compilation album ''Spirit of the Edge, Vol. 2''.

Music video

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of ''Permanent Waves'', on June 12, 2020, Rush produced an animated music video by Fantoons Animation Studio. The video features the band as they appeared around 1980. It also features nods to

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegraphy, wireless tel ...

(an Italian inventor instrumental in the development of radio) as well as radio DJs from the time that were influential in Rush's development. The video also pays homage to Rush's drummer, the late

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart ( ; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush (band), Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Profe ...

, "whose music and lyrics continue to capture the hearts and imaginations of the fans".

Weekly charts

References

External links

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Dedicated to the old CFNYCurrent CFNY
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spirit of Radio, The 1980 songs 1980 singles 1998 singles Mercury Records singles Rush (band) songs Animated music videos Songs about music Songs written by Alex Lifeson Songs written by Geddy Lee Songs written by Neil Peart Song recordings produced by Terry Brown (record producer) Songs about radio