Queen - Radio Ga Ga

What this video is

Released on January 16, 1984, 'Radio Ga Ga' occupies a uniquely self-reflexive position in music video history: a video about the displacement of radio by television and MTV, broadcast heavily on MTV itself. Written by drummer Roger Taylor as a nostalgic defense of radio as a dying medium, the song's thesis was ironically amplified by its lavish, high-concept video. The Metropolis homage layered Cold War anxieties…

Why it matters

A pivotal document of Queen's mid-career synth-pop pivot and the broader New Wave absorption by mainstream arena rock. The video set a benchmark for concept-driven, cinematically literate music video production, demonstrating that rock acts could compete with pop's MTV dominance through…

The director

David Mallet is a British music video and television director with a prolific career in rock video production throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He directed multiple landmark videos for Queen, including 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'I Want to Break Free,' and is widely…