Radioactivity (song)

	"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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"Radioactivity" (original German language title: "Radioaktivität") is a song written by Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Emil Schult, and recorded by electronic band Kraftwerk as the title track of its 1975 album Radio-Activity.

Background

The song was released as a single in most European territories and the US, and was a number one hit in France.

"Radioactivity" has remained a regular part of Kraftwerk's live sets over the years. On its original performances in 1976, the band tried out an experimental light-beam operated "percussion cage", where Wolfgang Flür attempted to trigger electronic drum sounds by interrupting light beams using arm gestures. This system was environmentally unstable and frequently failed.

The original recording features an insistent Minimoog bass line (playing eighth notes), with chords played on the distinctive "choir" disc of the Vako Orchestron. Morse code signals spelling out "R-A-D-I-O-A-C-T-I-V-I-T-Y" are also present, near the beginning of the track and again near the end. The second time it is followed by "I-S I-N T-H-E A-I-R F-O-R Y-O-U A-N-D M-E".

Lyrically, the 1975 version of the song plays upon the meaning of its title, with the line "Discovered by Madame Curie"^[1] juxtaposed with "Tune in to the melody".

The song was re-recorded as a radically different version for The Mix album in 1991 and was issued as a single in an edited form with remixes by François Kevorkian and William Orbit. While the original does not offer a value judgement on the safety of radioactivity, the 1991 version drops all references to radio and incorporates additional lyrics with a pointed anti-nuclear theme, remaking the central lyrical hook as "stop radioactivity" and also referring to "contaminated population" and mentioning by name Chernobyl, Harrisburg (Three Mile Island), Sellafield and Hiroshima. The band performed it at the "Stop Sellafield" concert in 1992. The song was performed during Kraftwerk's set at Coachella to commemorate the anniversary of the Chernobyl incident on April 26 (the date of the band's performance). In 2012, Kraftwerk performed the new remix of Radioactivity during No Nukes 2012, held in Japan. To commemorate the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, they sang alternate lyrics to the song in Japanese, at one point even name checking Fukushima. This version of the song also has notable lyric changes such as "Chernobyl, Harrisburg, Sellafield, Fukushima".^[2] This altered version of the song is also the version Kraftwerk performs live to this day.

The song appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films Chinese Roulette and Berlin Alexanderplatz, and the 2010 documentary Into Eternity.

Charts

Chart (1976)	Peak position
French SNEP Singles Chart	1

Chart (1991)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	43
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	21

Fatboy Slim cover

"Radioactivity"

Single by Fatboy Slim

from the album It's As Working and Late Night Tales: Fatboy Slim

A-side

"Radioactivity"

B-side

"Everything Is Everything"

Released

October 8, 2007

Format

7" Single

Genre

Big beat, electro house

Length

3:01

Fatboy Slim and Simon Thornton

Fatboy Slim singles chronology

"Champion Sound"
(2006)

"Radioactivity"
(2007)

"Please Don't"
(2010)

Fatboy Slim covered "Radioactivity" on his compilation album Late Night Tales: Fatboy Slim. The song was released as a limited edition 7" single.

Track listing

"Radioactivity" - Fatboy Slim
"Everything Is Everything" - Bootsy Collins

References

↑ Not strictly true. Natural radioactivity was discovered by Henri Becquerel (and independently by Silvanus Thompson); induced radioactivity by Irène Joliot-Curie, Madame Curie's daughter. Marie Curie coined the term "radioactivity".
↑ http://www.kraftwerk.com/concerts/index-livevideo.html

Kraftwerk

Ralf Hütter Fritz Hilpert Henning Schmitz Falk Grieffenhagen Florian Schneider Houschäng Néjadepour Plato Kostic Peter Schmidt Charly Weiss Thomas Lohmann Eberhard Kranemann Andreas Hohmann Klaus Dinger Michael Rother Emil Schult Wolfgang Flür Klaus Röder Karl Bartos Fernando Abrantes Stefan Pfaffe

Studio albums	Kraftwerk Kraftwerk 2 Ralf and Florian Autobahn Radio-Activity Trans-Europe Express The Man-Machine Computer World Electric Café/Techno Pop The Mix Tour de France Soundtracks

Live albums	Minimum-Maximum

Compilations	Exceller 8

Box sets	Klang Box The Catalogue

Singles	"Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie" "Comet Melody 2" "Autobahn" "Radioactivity" "Trans-Europe Express" "Showroom Dummies" "Europe Endless" "The Robots" "The Model" "Neon Lights" "Pocket Calculator" "Computer Love" "Numbers" "Computerwelt" "Tour de France" "Musique Non Stop" "The Telephone Call" "Expo 2000" "Tour de France 2003" "Elektro Kardiogramm" "Aerodynamik" "Aerodynamik/La Forme Remixes"

Videography	Minimum-Maximum

Related articles	Conny Plank Düsseldorf School of electronic music Discography Elektric Music Kling Klang Studio Neu! Organisation Tone Float

Book Category

Fatboy Slim singles

Better Living Through Chemistry	"Everybody Needs a 303" "Punk to Funk" "Going Out of My Head"

You've Come a Long Way, Baby	"The Rockafeller Skank" "Gangster Trippin" "Praise You" "Right Here, Right Now" "Build It Up – Tear It Down"

Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars	"Sunset (Bird of Prey)" "Demons" "Star 69"/"Weapon of Choice" "Song for Shelter"/"Ya Mama" "Drop the Hate" "Retox" "Talkin' Bout My Baby"

Palookaville	"Slash Dot Dash" "Wonderful Night" "The Joker" "Don't Let the Man Get You Down"

The Greatest Hits - Why Try Harder	"That Old Pair of Jeans" "Champion Sound"

Late Night Tales: Fatboy Slim	"Radioactivity"

Here Lies Love	"Please Don't"

Other singles	"Everybody Needs a 303 (Remix — Everybody Loves a Carnival)" "Badder Badder Schwing" "Are We Having Fun Yet?" "Machines Can Do the Work" "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat"

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