Thomas Dolby - Radio Silence

[lazorlasso]

this song is so soothing to me...

[klantize]

Absolut right. The album is fantastic! On my top five list.

Airwaves is the masterpiece.

[northbynorthleft]

From one of the most overlooked, and under appreciated albums of the 1980s. This album is a hidden gem. Give it a listen, and pass it on!

[cohodave]

i think this song was a comment on Radio Caroline sinking about this time...

[4yules]

computer music...look where we r now...id say he was a genious..ahead of his time ...

[tommyboynude]

you can smell the valves and circuits...... it's just like opening a radio from the forthies and breathe inside

[thepinkpill]

illuminati symbol pause at 2:10

[thepinkpill]

Pause at 2:10 for illuminati symbol

[lazorlasso]

very steampunk video, just like europa and the pirate twins.

[denormzone]

the chorus parts are pretty trippy/spacey/stoney.

[TheLifeEnigma]

Where is the 'Love' button? There are so many great things about this song but 2:40-3:00 is especially magical.

[MrKayley10]

And a great micmick, I might add!

[MrKayley10]

What an amazing artist, lyricist, producer, idealist and (OF COURSE!) KEYBOARDIST!

[MrKayley10]

Thumbs up if you preferred 80's radio!

[Aviva2121]

I'm pretty sure the woman's voice in this song is Akiko Yano, who's the wife of Ryuichi Sakamoto.

[shinjukugewalt]

@Aviva2121 wow thats a neat fact and you're right too, i just looked it up on wikipedia.

[rd80schild]

Such a unique musician, half scientist- half musical artist. Cheers Thomas! 

[darknight910]

Heh, you know, Thomas Dolby would have made an excellent Doctor Who back then. ^_^

[macrossmatrix]

This artist was different and awesome!

[SuperHoggar]

this is just about as good as synthpop gets...and let's not forget, this was chart music 30 years ago, I pity the kids of today.

[maskof]

There was a ton of crappy music in the 80s, but this was NOT a part of it. Thomas Dolby was a cutting edge artist and one of the best at his craft. It would have been cool if him and Rik Ocasek of the Cars collaborated.

[SpazzyLazzy]

I believe thats LENE LOVICH in a blonde wig. She sang backup on this Album

[JohnnyLovely2]

@SpazzyLazzy Oh my gosh, i was just gonna comment the exact same thing!! I was watching this, then i was like "Wait a minute, is that lene lovich? it looks exactly like her!" lol

[th3fr4gil3]

ah classic dolby, i still listen to a golden age of wireless on a regular basis.

[tonywest2010]

@Scientifico sorry to spoil your greek tragedy theory but its about the demise (albeit temporary) of the ship based pirate radio station, Radio Caroline

[MegaHeyheyhey10]

kids who listen to this music compared to music now are so different its like there aliens to each other.

[lazorlasso]

i love this song!!

[riff5fki]

I want those glasses.

[Casey5693]

Wow! Turning girls into stone statues. It's an 80's music video of the House of Wax.

[Casey5693]

I love the shadow of his hand motions at 2:05. It's weird but strangely cool.

[52vegeta52]

so basically what he's saying is that the girls date didn't come, so he's gonna show up istead? and the radio is silent...

[scientifico]

I just understood this song after 30 years!! He's seen this girl, this almost perfect girl but he won't say anything, just watch her (radio silence. Observe. maintain radio silence). He imagines her as nervous to find someone like him but still "radio silence." Despite "being on her radio" and knowing he's the right one, he can't bring himself to speak. He'd rather see her as some epic unattainable mission by "raising her likeness on my mast" like Odysseus or some lost mariner. So tragic!

[JlangrelDirector]

@scientifico Thank you, for helping me with the meaning. 

[TheTyaptyap]

@scientifico wow! You must love Thomas Dolby as much as me to be thinking about this song for 30 years :)

[scientifico]

this is steampunk and synthpop and timeless. There will be a whole generation (yet unborn) who will live this and own this.

(And when i am long dead and gone she will arrive. My Caroline with eyes so red and her lips so blue. Oh well, there may still be one in this world.)

[awafityfour]

what ever happened to the "fast" version of this song that was on the original US LP? it seems to have fallen off of the face of the earth :P

[writesnews]

@awafityfour It's out there. Won't let me post the link on here for some reason. By far my favorite version, too. It was on my cassette tape I bought in 82.

[ashproductions]

@awafityfour I have it, I have it!!!!!

[extraballzz]

He is really sexy

[theonetruebeast]

great video! been forever since ive seen it =) thanks

[JlangrelDirector]

What does this song mean?See my opinion is that Thomas stars as a scientist and he is trying to preserve beauty, with Radio Silence

[tehjos]

I can't be the only person who finds this man terribly attractive.

[c8udyp]

The 80's US LP version of this song was different, less synthy and it had an overdriven guitar solo in the middle. I've been looking for it but it's impossible to find.

[Casey5693]

I absolutely adore the techno beat of '80s music.

[MrQwertyman1337]

I cannot stop saying "radio..... silence".

[chad174670]

terrible.

[yurismir1]

So this is what Alton Brown was doing in the 80's.

[XxGirntacos]

@yurismir1 my mom thinks its alton brown too lol

[totopatter]

FASCINATING. Way too avant garde for me

[560tsexybeast]

Dope azz video n dope azz song.

[mangouldbarrington1]

Dang Girl, is it just me or is this song still the coolest more than 20 yrs after it was originally the hype? This song will still be the shiznogga in the year 2030 i guarantee it! AlsoTthomas will get his hair back by then because they will have developed a cure for baldness making him more hip than einstein on the beach!

[RANDOMdude123124]

What is this song supposed to mean?

[JeredtheShy]

Oh shit. This is where Dirty Projectors get inspiration from.

[kungfooed]

Synth music today is different. And their are so many types. Artists like Thomas Dolby liked to play around with sound effects quite a bit. I think some of todays kids might not get it.

[rabbitfish63]

@kungfooed He's always had great ears and technological curiosity, but what makes it last is that he is a GREAT songwriter. You could do these songs with acoustic piano and digeridoo and they would still work. Brilliant song writer.

[lemontarsier]

It's Lene Lovich, in a big blonde wig.

[Vinylized]

Is it the 80's that we miss, or our childhood's?

[TheCharleyman87]

@Vinylized

Both.

[electrolounge]

I love musicians that use historical references. Today's musicians aren't nearly as well-read nor have any regard for the past.

[twinreflection]

One of my Dolby faves. :>)

[FaceInTheRain]

"The Golden Age Of Wireless" is Synth-pop at it's best, as far as I'm concerned...along with YMO's "Naughty Boys" album. Not one dud on either.

[kellybrooke1979]

I agree with you, Mordalin33 and I love this artist. He is totally amazing and unique. My parents had me listening to him when I was just a baby.

[imoyakichan]

@kellybrooke1979 I grew up on Dolby too. As far as a musical upbringing, can't imagine a better one! =)

[SlimeAmTheBest]

Where is the Guitar Version of "Radio Silence"?

[mordalin33]

YOu don't realize in the 80's this was the cutting edge

[sepulchre10]

@mordalin33 In many ways it is still cutting edge. It beats the heck out of a lot of the crap that's popular now.

[mortygirly]

@mordalin33 Anything noticeably absent from the record store at the mall and rarely/never played on the radio-- edgy.

[suspendedfromthemoon]

dear EMI,

drop this artist.

[SpearOfGoth]

I like the video , and somehow he reminds me of that guy off Food Network , hosts a show called "Good Eats" o.o

[MissSkullGirl7]

@SpearOfGoth I agree he does look a lot like Alton Brown. But to me that is awesome because they are both two guys totally original and interesting to watch :-D

[O2H1984]

@MissSkullGirl7 I think he looks like alton in terms of his hair (or lack which now) and his facial features.

[aflockofmusic2]

this song is about a radio station in England called caroline that all of sudden sutdown, along time ago.

[ihatestupidsignups]

@aflockofmusic2 I'd like to see a source, or I call bullshit on that.

[aflockofmusic2]

@ ihatestupidsignups

are you kidding me? The title of the song is called Radio silence!!!!! Plus that was well known Radio Station back in the day. And Dolby Said that's what the song was about himself in an interview, that you can probably easily find.

[aflockofmusic2]

* The Golden Age of Wireless album by Thomas Dolby, Track: "Radio Silence" - reference to a woman named "Caroline" and lamenting a lost love like an empty radio frequency

Sources: Wikipedia / Radio Caroline

[butiamthedoctor]

@ihatestupidsignups Radio Caroline was one of several pirate radio stations, famous in the 1960s for being based on a ship, to try and get round the licensing situation by broadcasting from international waters. They were the only radio stations in the UK at the time where you could hear UK and US pop. But being out at sea didn't stop the British Government from trying to shut them down, it was only when the ship sank around the early 80's that Radio Caroline, the last pirate, was silenced.

[kirkpear]

is that mrs. lovich in a wig?

[Rawblah]

Good eye! Yes I agree thoroughly!

Makes perfect sense of course.

They should have stayed together, Good idea, somebody tell 'em to reunite already! :D

[O2H1984]

This vid makes no sense to me...

[TabaquiJackal906]

I love this song but really....that's a rather horrifying vid. He turns random women into statues for his lair? Meep!

[Casey5693]

@TabaquiJackal906 I agree with you. The dude turned his girlfriend into a statue. Creeper.

[conradragzoff]

Very old vid, but still love it... Actually, Golden Age of Wireless was one of the first music tapes I owned (yeah, tape).... first class work!

[Sambarre]

@conradragzoff You say Music TAPE like it's old.....

[FredericDaguerre]

Turning perfectly agreeable ladies into statues: Who does this Dolby fellow think he is!

[takaomurasako]

本当い懐かしい限りです。ＰＶを見たのは今回が初めてなので、感­慨深いものがあります。

[Crichton44]

Oh MY GOD ! It was Akiko Yano, famous japanese singer / artist, and Ryuichi Sakamoto's wife at the time ! Not average female vocalist... ;-D

[cubdukat]

Really? The album credits it to Lene Lovich.

[Crichton44]

On this very song, I'm positive ;-)

Thomas Dolby himself tells how the session went, and how he didn't recognize first the guy who came along with Akiko Yano... Ryuichi Sakamoto !!!

[thestereosalvation]

It's Lene acting in the vid but not on the track as I understand it though she does do backing vocals on the album - on Cloudburst in Shingle St I believe. Unless it says different on the new version.

[laughingmanseaking]

The female vocals RUIN this song..

[chucku00]

70's : free your mind and your ass will follow.

00's (golden age of wireless) free your brain your ears will disappear!

[chucku00]

P.S. : It's only an answer. So it doesn't concern Thomas, only Borat!