"Radioactivity" (German: Radioaktivität) is a song by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk. It was released in May 1976 as the lead and only single from their fifth studio album, Radio-Activity (1975).[1]

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"Radioactivity"
Single by Kraftwerk
from the album Radio-Activity
B-side	"Antenna"
Released	May 1976 (1976-05)
Studio	Kling Klang Studio
Genre	electronic Synth-pop
Length	3:18 (radio edit) 6:42 (album version)
Label	Kling Klang EMI Electrola Capitol Records
Songwriter(s)	Ralf Hütter Florian Schneider Emil Schult
Producer(s)	Ralf Hütter Florian Schneider
Kraftwerk singles chronology
"Autobahn" (1975) "Radioactivity" (1976) "Trans-Europe Express" (1977)

The song was a commercial success in France, but was not as successful in other countries as Kraftwerk's previous hit single "Autobahn". The song features an insistent Minimoog bass line with chords played on the distinctive "choir" disc of the Vako Orchestron.[1] It also featured Morse code signal and mentioned Marie Curie in the lyrics.[2][3]

"Radioactivity" is widely regarded as one of Kraftwerk's best songs. In 2020, Billboard and The Guardian ranked the song number five and number two, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Kraftwerk songs.[4][5]

"Radioactivity"

A 22-second sample of the original recording of "Radioactivity" featuring the Morse code signal and one iteration of the main theme of the song.

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Charts

Certifications and sales

1991 re-release

"Radioactivity" was re-issued in 1991 as a single from Kraftwerk's remix album The Mix, featuring remixes by François Kevorkian and William Orbit. The song now has brand-new lyrics compared to the old version, in effect turning it into an anti-nuclear protest song, with references to Harrisburg, Chernobyl, Hiroshima, and Sellafield.[5][9]

On March 11, 2011, an accident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Two weeks later, anti-nuclear demonstrations were held calling for the immediate closure of all nuclear power plants. A year later, Kraftwerk performed the song at the No Nukes 2012 event in Japan with Fukushima introduced to the repetitive singing introduced in the 1991 version (switching with Hiroshima). In addition, the song had an entire section sung in Japanese. This version would be included on the 2017 live album 3D The Catalogue.[9]

Track listing

7-inch single

12-inch single

CD single

Cassette single

Charts

In popular culture

The song appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's works Chinese Roulette and Berlin Alexanderplatz,[12] The song, as did other songs from Radio-Activity, appeared in the Brazilian telenovela Saramandaia.[13]

Fatboy Slim covered "Radioactivity" for the closing track of his compilation album Late Night Tales: Fatboy Slim. It featured vocals contributed by a woman from Norman Cook favorite record store.[14] The song was released in October 8, 2007 as a limited edition 7-inch single, and their B-side is "Everything Is Everything" written by Bootsy Collins.

References

На других языках

[ru] Radioactivity (песня)