The World Wars devastated all countries involved. Economies crashed, governments crumbled, and all notions of global identity disintegrated. It is only natural that in the wake of this utter destruction people began to redefine social values. Members of the Baby Boomer generation were young and furious with the old. This generation was left with the task of repairing the mistakes of their elders. So how would they achieve it? Would they perish? Or would they prosper? They lived by the words of George Orwell who, in his novel 1984, said, “He who controls the present controls the past.” Also occurring in 1984 was the release of Queen’s “Radio Gaga.”

The majority of “Radio Gaga’s” video is borrowed from the 1927 silent film Metropolis. In the film, a futuristic society is ruined by war, much like the societies ruined by the first and second World Wars. Queen was convinced that the invention of the radio saved their generation from the ruin Metropolites had fallen victim to. Opening shots show mundane workers piling into an elevator. Fear is represented by the protective retrieval of a cat who has strayed outside and the eager shutting of window curtains. Families sit at dinner in gas masks, uncertain of their futures. But the magical boxes projecting low-quality music were signs of hope in the eyes of Freddie, Roger, John, and Bryan. They wanted to ensure their millions of fans that despite the many obstacles in their path, everything would pan out as long as they had their radios. The video’s somber tone shifts to one of reinvention halfway through the video as a sea of music fans stand before a stage, clad in white and juxtaposed with the vibrant red costumes of Queen. Queen was music, color, hope, radio. 

Much like Metropolis predicted war torn societies of the future, "Radio Gaga" predicted how music would change “through the years.” The video serves as a type of warning. Radios risked extinction as visual technologies developed and Queen observed “we hardly need to use our ears.” “When we grow tired of all this visual” people will once again turn to the simple pleasures of music. The immortality of music is embodied in the final scene of the video as a family’s world comes crashing down, presumably because of war, but their radio rests on the mantel, content and unmoving. Radios were tantamount to an “old friend,” always dependable. In a time plagued by uncertainty, radios symbolized the dissemination of knowledge, influence, hope, and stability. The lasting images of “Radio Gaga,” however, are none of these. The images of Freddie tirelessly trying to turn back the hands of time and the quartet controlling their hovercraft with a joystick convey one central message; we are in control of our destiny.

Queen successfully predicted the prominence music would hold in our culture as one of the most popular artists of the 21st century draws influence from their songs. Her name is Stefani Germanotta but she goes by Lady Gaga.