What songs use the "song on the radio within the song" effect?

August 30, 2006 11:18 AM

What songs use the "song on the radio within the song" effect?

Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" begins with the sound of a radio cycling through stations until it lands on a guitar tune. The guitar proceeds for a few bars--through a tinny "radio" filter--until David Gilmour starts accompanying it on a higher fidelity "live" guitar. Then, of course, the song proper begins. Eventually, the band gives out to the "radio" guitar again. (At the moment, "Wish You Were Here" can be heard here.)

Natalie Merchant's "Carnival" pulls a similar trick; after it ends, you can hear a snippet of the song playing on a radio in a busy urban soundscape.

Have other songs used this "redundant radio" effect? Who was the first to use it?

posted by Iridic to media & arts (80 comments total)

"Guten Morgen" by Die Prinzen. Starts exactly as you described for the Pink Floyd song.
posted by artifarce at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2006

Fastball's "The Way"
posted by sjuhawk31 at 11:26 AM on August 30, 2006

"The Way" by Fastball also starts in this manner.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 11:26 AM on August 30, 2006

"Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio" by the Ramones
posted by jessenoonan at 11:27 AM on August 30, 2006

Although on closer reading, not quite what you were looking for. Sorry.
posted by jessenoonan at 11:28 AM on August 30, 2006

Not quite as dramatic as the pink floyd song you mention, but the Meat Beat Manifesto cover of the DM song "Everything Counts" has a "radio squelch" intro, as well as being a damned fine cover.
posted by fishfucker at 11:31 AM on August 30, 2006

ELO's "Mr Blue Sky" has a similar effect to the one you're describing, in the opening.
posted by saladin at 11:32 AM on August 30, 2006

CRASS: "Bloody Revolutions" uses it, but they were def. not the first.
posted by mds35 at 11:32 AM on August 30, 2006

"NYC" by Steve Earle.

I seem to recall "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen has the effect too.
posted by essexjan at 11:37 AM on August 30, 2006

"Enid" by Barenaked Ladies

"Allusions" by Chris Plays Guitar
posted by bryanzera at 11:38 AM on August 30, 2006

Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" has a spot during the bridge that does this, but you'll be hard pressed to make anything serious out of it, as it's good and garbled.
posted by thanotopsis at 11:40 AM on August 30, 2006

"Outro with Bees (Reprise)" by Neko Case on her album Blacklisted uses this effect for a end of album reprise of the song "Outro with Bees."

(I apologize in advance for the duh factor of this answer. I didn't how else to put it, I need more coffee.)
posted by 1f2frfbf at 11:41 AM on August 30, 2006

Everclear's "AM Radio" maybe? (I don't have it on hand to listen to the whole thing.)
posted by idigress at 11:42 AM on August 30, 2006

"This Flight Tonight" uses this effect in both the Joni Mitchell verion and the Nazareth cover. It's the part where the music on the airplane headphones is playing "Goodbye Baby, Baby Goodbye".
posted by rocket88 at 11:43 AM on August 30, 2006

Jim White's wild cover of "King of the Road" has the original Roger Miller version on the "radio" at the end.
posted by transient at 11:44 AM on August 30, 2006

The original version of 'Rap Tyranny,' by Last Emperor, has this kind of introduction.
posted by box at 11:46 AM on August 30, 2006

"Radio" by Eazy-E
posted by dead_ at 11:47 AM on August 30, 2006

All the songs on Queens of the Stone Age album "Songs for the Deaf" are separated by little clips of fakey radio.
posted by pocams at 11:47 AM on August 30, 2006

"Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)" by Snoop Dogg
posted by dead_ at 11:47 AM on August 30, 2006

"Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" by The Raspberries.
posted by baltimore at 11:48 AM on August 30, 2006

"Turn Off The Radio" by Dead Prez
posted by dead_ at 11:48 AM on August 30, 2006

I might be wrong, but I think the "baseball" segment of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" could qualify.
posted by macadamiaranch at 11:49 AM on August 30, 2006

"Radio Song" by R.E.M. does this.
posted by ND¢ at 11:50 AM on August 30, 2006

The outro of Wilco's Via Chicago, off of Summerteeth.
posted by cortex at 11:51 AM on August 30, 2006

"The Drive By" by Ice Cube has a sample from "Bust a Move" by Young MC. The guys are listening to the radio in the car, and that song is playing.
posted by peep at 11:53 AM on August 30, 2006

"Wish You Were Here" from Pink Floyd starts out like this -- it was designed to sound as if you'd blown your speakers on the previous song.
posted by parilous at 11:55 AM on August 30, 2006

"Protect Ya Neck" by Wu-Tang Clan
posted by dead_ at 11:56 AM on August 30, 2006

D'oh. duplicate. Dammit.
posted by parilous at 11:56 AM on August 30, 2006

The beginning of Bad Fish by Sublime starts with party sounds and a radio on in the background.
posted by spicynuts at 11:58 AM on August 30, 2006

"Life on a Chain" by Pete Yorn starts with his own song done acoustically that way, although it's not really implied it's on the radio; it just sounds like it. I've often liked it when a song uses that effect... not sure why.
posted by rolypolyman at 12:02 PM on August 30, 2006

"the cool and the crazy" by the del-lords.

do the inserts on the who sell out count?
posted by sdn at 12:03 PM on August 30, 2006

The Paul McCartney and Wings song "Reception" on Back to the Egg (although, by this point, the band was simply called Wings) uses this format in the beginning as well.
posted by kenneth at 12:03 PM on August 30, 2006

"Demand" by Phish. It actually includes someone getting into the car, turning on the radio, changing the stations, cranking the tune he finds, speeding, and then eventually attracting the attention of the cops and getting into a car accident.
posted by danb at 12:08 PM on August 30, 2006

"Burn it Down" from Searching for the Young Soul Rebels by Dexy's Midnight Runners has a radio-dial effect, including bits of the Specials and the Pistols.
posted by baggers at 12:09 PM on August 30, 2006

Several songs from Roger Waters' Radio K.A.O.S album fit the category nicely.
posted by grateful at 12:14 PM on August 30, 2006

I particularly enjoy this one: "FM Blues" by J-Zone. Hilarious use of radio.
posted by dead_ at 12:14 PM on August 30, 2006

"Detroit Rock City" (Kiss) has a little snippet from "Rock and Roll All Nite" as part of the intro.
posted by malocchio at 12:18 PM on August 30, 2006

ELO's Telephone Line sounds like a radio, but it's supposed to be a phone (duh)
posted by DandyRandy at 12:21 PM on August 30, 2006

On The Air - Peter Gabriel
posted by Gungho at 12:21 PM on August 30, 2006

Andy Prieboy's "Maybe That's Not Her Head" starts and ends with radio dial searching.

Husker Du's "Turn On The News" starts with multiple radio news stations in the background.
posted by fings at 12:24 PM on August 30, 2006

"Goofy's Concern (I don't give a ...)" by the Butthole Surfers begins with the song on the radio and then somebody being pulled over by the cops. After a fairly disturbing piece of conversation, the real song begins.
posted by one_bean at 12:29 PM on August 30, 2006

"The End" by RZA & Ras Kass ends with a radio interview.
posted by dead_ at 12:30 PM on August 30, 2006

the boys' star library 'a (very) brief history of the radio'
posted by noloveforned at 12:37 PM on August 30, 2006

Oh man, how did I forget this one!

"Edit These" by J-Zone is a brilliant song where the artist does a clean song for the radio, censoring the curse words for the first half of the track, then about midway through he gets frustrated and finishes the song by bleeping out all of the verses and letting only the swear words play forward.

Sort of not what you're looking for, but hilarious.
posted by dead_ at 12:37 PM on August 30, 2006

Nas - The Genesis
posted by calculon at 12:40 PM on August 30, 2006

The full version of the opening theme to WKRP In Cincinnati starts with the sound of somebody tuning through several radio stations ("...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity...") before locating the theme song.
posted by Guy Smiley at 12:48 PM on August 30, 2006

The Kinks do this on "Around the Dial" (from their 1981 album Give the People What They Want).

They Might Be Giants do a great bit in concert where they play a radio over the PA while they cycle through the stations, and play songs that they come across. (They did "Free Fallin'" when I saw them. Even if they're faking it's a lot of fun.)
posted by kirkaracha at 12:54 PM on August 30, 2006

"Left of the Dial" by the Replacements
posted by jbickers at 12:59 PM on August 30, 2006

Simon and Garfunkle's 7 O'Clock News is a combination of various evening news clips sliding into Silent Night... which is lovely and heartbreaking and as up to date as ever
posted by crepeMyrtle at 1:00 PM on August 30, 2006

I'm not completely positive--and, as I'm in a school computer lab without access to my music, I can't verify this claim--but I think that The Unicorns' song "Let's Get Known" has some noisy, static-filled radio clips at the beginning that segue into the song itself. They seem to be news clips, if I recall correctly.

The Japanese rock song "Drastic My Soul" (by Mikio Sakai) has a huge amount of station-flipping static at the beginning. Then it gets to be all brassy and rockin'. It's the ED theme of Scryed.

Hm... now I need to check my MP3 collection.
posted by ElectricBlue at 1:00 PM on August 30, 2006

The first one I ever heard was Taco's version of "Puttin' on the Ritz", in 1982. Ugh, I can't believe I remember this.
posted by xil at 1:06 PM on August 30, 2006

There's a Selena song that does this...I think it might be "Baila Esta Cumbia".
posted by exceptinsects at 1:14 PM on August 30, 2006

Aerosmith's Amazing ends with some old-timey radio sounds, and a voice-over

Bouncing Souls' Private Radio starts with a dial scan and a bit of a song going "...it was allllll so grand..."

Red Elvises have a few from the Six String Samurai soundtrack that have a DJ voice-over in the beginning or end

this is all from memory, so I can't be too exact on these
posted by toomanyplugs at 1:31 PM on August 30, 2006

Starship's "We Built This City" has a bridge that consists of a spoken word bit that's supposed to be a radio DJ.
(please god kill me now for knowing that)
posted by cosmicbandito at 1:35 PM on August 30, 2006

Crash and Burn by Sheryl Crow. Not sure if it was a single - it's on the Globe Sessions Album.
posted by ganseki at 1:42 PM on August 30, 2006

"Cut My Hair" by the Who fades out over a fake news report on the radio.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 1:47 PM on August 30, 2006

Radio #1 by Air starts with a radio tuning, and also has the "DJ" cutting in over the end of the song and singing along with it. But it doesn't strictly have the song itself sounding like it's on the radio.
posted by O9scar at 1:58 PM on August 30, 2006

Sweets For My Sweet by CJ Lewis does something similar. The first few bars sound like they are coming from a scratchy mono record player, followed by a needle scratching the record and then the full song.
posted by forrest at 2:04 PM on August 30, 2006

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's "Television, the Drug of a Nation" starts with a similar effect, although I think it's the sound of a tv changing through the many channels...
posted by hincandenza at 2:14 PM on August 30, 2006

Starship's "We Built This City" has a bridge that consists of a spoken word bit that's supposed to be a radio DJ.

"I'm looking out over that Golden Gate Bridge on another gorgeous sunny Saturday, and I'm seein' that bumper to bumper traffic..."
posted by Servo5678 at 2:17 PM on August 30, 2006

Over The Rhine - "Like A Radio" & "L.A.R. (Reprise)" from Till We Have Faces.
posted by grabbingsand at 2:20 PM on August 30, 2006

Baby Won't You Let Me Rock 'N' Roll You - Ten Years After
posted by megatherium at 2:58 PM on August 30, 2006

NOFX has the 18-minute punk rock epic The Decline, which ends with the music reduced to AM radio quality.

Rilo Kiley's album The Execution of All Things has bits throughout that are postprocessed and you could take it to be a "radio" effect, but it could also be just an effect.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor use all sorts of found sound samples in their work, and a bunch of them sound like they could have been recorded off a radio. Though it's not a song, in particular, I like this part around 19:00 on the first track of Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven where what sounds like a desperate Mayday call or a news report on the Apocalypse is playing in the background, and you can't make out any words.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 3:05 PM on August 30, 2006

"The Last DJ" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers ends with the song being played over the radio. Another twist on this is "Lady of Dreams" by VAST, which has the melody of the song played over an old-timey radio or phonograph at the beginning and end of the song.
posted by christinetheslp at 3:12 PM on August 30, 2006

Junkie XL - Zerotonine. Fun part is I recognized the sound -- it was on a sound effects CD of mine. :o)
posted by shepd at 4:22 PM on August 30, 2006

The beginning of "Heroes and Villains" from the 2004 version of Brian Wilson's SMiLE.

Rilo Kiley's album The Execution of All Things has bits throughout that are postprocessed and you could take it to be a "radio" effect, but it could also be just an effect.

Yeah, the interludes throughout, and also the beginning of "Better Son/Daughter"
posted by ludwig_van at 4:49 PM on August 30, 2006

Josh Ritter's "Golden Age of Radio" starts with this effect, but I think it might actually be at the end of the previous track, "Drive Away." (The album is also called "Golden Age of Radio.")
posted by candyland at 4:59 PM on August 30, 2006

Live, Radiohead introduce "Climbing Up the Walls" and "The National Anthem" by holding a small portable radio up to a microphone and playing a few seconds of a local talk or classical station. The I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings album has an example of this.
posted by Zozo at 5:09 PM on August 30, 2006

REM's "Radio Song"
posted by burhan at 5:39 PM on August 30, 2006

Beck: Rental Car
Taco: Puttin on the Ritz
Nikka Costa: Everybody Got Their Something
Rocket From The Crypt: French Guy
Fungo Mungo: Sex Sells
posted by sourwookie at 5:57 PM on August 30, 2006

"Mr Radio" by (a very early, circa 1971) ELO has that effect at the beginning.

cosmicbandito: You'll never listen to that song the same way again once you've heard the LMP 'jug band and farm report' version ;-)
posted by Pinback at 7:26 PM on August 30, 2006

The intro of Butter 08's "Butter of 69".
posted by msittig at 8:20 PM on August 30, 2006

Starship's "We Built This City" has a bridge that consists of a spoken word bit that's supposed to be a radio DJ.

And in some markets, permission was given for radio stations to replace the alleged SF stuff with a voiceover from a local DJ.
posted by Dreama at 9:39 PM on August 30, 2006

Stephen Duffy (of Lilac Time, TinTin, etc.) opens his album "I Love My Friends" with about 30 seconds of fake-radio scanning between songs from various phases of his own career. The track is titled "Tune In" and precedes "Eucharist," the first verse of which again describes his early years in music.
posted by idontlikewords at 1:08 AM on August 31, 2006

Forgot a couple:

Refused's album The Shape of Punk to Come has several radio-esque intros and outros, especially in the first few songs.

Also, the song "True Lovers Knot" by The Shipping News has a two minute intro in that style. It's really more of a gramaphone sound than radio, but the effect is similiar.
posted by saladin at 6:27 AM on August 31, 2006

Meatloaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Lights" features a baseball game on a radio in the middle of the song.
posted by itchie at 7:14 AM on August 31, 2006

Although it ain't exactly the same, Lila Downs' rendition of La Cama de Piedra (from the La Cantina... album) starts with dogs barking, her speaking and then a version of the song she is about to sing as if playing from a gramohone, then the actual song comes in. Very similar to the Floyd room-atmosphere you mentioned.
posted by micayetoca at 8:13 AM on August 31, 2006

There's fake radio-scanning on one of the last songs on The All-American Rejects' self-titled debut album.

Ironically, I believe it's called "The Last Song".
posted by Glitter Ninja at 3:47 PM on August 31, 2006

> Starship's "We Built This City" has a bridge that consists of a spoken word bit that's supposed to be a radio DJ.

And, of course, local radio jocks loved to record local versions of this...

"It's another sunny, summer Saturday, and I'm lookin' out over the Howard Frankland bridge, seeing that bumper-to-bumper traffic right here in the City by the Bay; the city that rocks; the city that never stops... Q-1-0-5!"
posted by baylink at 11:20 AM on September 1, 2006

By the way, the Selena song is NOT in fact "Baila Esta Cumbia", though I think that's the song that's sampled--it's actually "La Carcacha".
Heard it in a Mexican restaurant today!
posted by exceptinsects at 3:48 PM on September 5, 2006