4 Fiery Songs That Were Highly Critical of Radio Back in the Day

These days, a musician can do big business without ever engaging with radio in a meaningful way. That certainly wasn’t the case in past years. Getting songs on the airwaves was the surest ticket to success.

Yet many artists took their pot shots at the very medium that sustained them. These four well-known songs from classic acts view radio in a much less than flattering light.

“FM” by Steely Dan

The catalyst for this Steely Dan song was a 1978 movie about an FM radio station. At the time, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were knee-deep into making Aja, the album that many consider their masterpiece. As such, the artistic vibes were flowing nicely. In a somewhat ironic twist, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Timothy B. Schmit of Eagles, who had a bit of a sarcastic back-and-forth with the Dan in song in previous years, provided backing vocals. Typical of Fagen and Becker, they weren’t about to give a glowing review of radio. Instead, they nailed the programming with the faintest of praise: “Nothing but blues and Elvis/And somebody else’s favorite song.”

“Radio Radio” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Elvis Costello wrote the bones of the song that would become “Radio Radio” back in his pre-fame days. Only it was a much more benign song that looked at radio as a place where dreams could come true. A few years later, however, Costello changed his tune, literally and figuratively. He felt that the BBC was unfairly cracking down on punk acts. As such, he revved up the tempo with the help of The Attractions, the band he’d only recently formed. And he made no attempt to hide his distaste for the way the airwaves were being policed. Sample searing lyric: “I wanna bite the hand that feeds me/I wanna bite that hand so badly/I want to make them wish they’d never seen me.”

“The Last DJ” by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty crossed over successfully to the pop charts more than any rock artist of his generation. And he did so without compromising the authenticity of his approach. By the time the new millennium rolled around, however, Petty started to feel that radio was becoming one mass conglomerate afraid of taking chances, instead of the legion of independent, adventurous entities it once was. Petty essentially dedicated an entire album to the subject, with songs like “Money Becomes King” offering especially scathing critiques. “The Last DJ” celebrates a rebellious on-air personality while also bemoaning the overall lack of such free-thinking folks in the industry.

“Radio Nowhere” by Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen songs often take on many different layers of meaning. You can listen to “Radio Nowhere” as a personal cry, someone decrying the fact that individuals don’t quite communicate in the same way as they once did. The refrain of “Is there anybody alive out there?” mirrors what Springsteen often says in concert to get his crowds riled up. But “Radio Nowhere” also works as a song wondering not just about radio but about the very state of music itself. The narrator’s search for intelligent radio in the universe leaves him wanting, as he complains about a “dead dial.” “Just searching for a world with some soul,” he moans. You get the sense from Springsteen’s frustrated tone that it’s a futile search at that.

(Photo by BSR Agency/Gentle Look via Getty Images)

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