From Queenpedia.com
After the somewhat muted reaction to the Hot Space album, 16 months passed between the release of Back Chat and the band's triumphant return to the top end of the UK charts with the Roger-penned pop-rock anthem Radio Ga Ga, kept off the coveted number one position only by Frankie Goes To Hollywood's infamous 'Relax'. Queen had the last laugh however, as 'Radio Ga Ga' topped the charts in nineteen other countries, and also gave them a respectable Top 20 hit in America once again.
The video for the track has since become a firm favourite among both casual and diehard fans alike, and was one of the most expensive Queen ever made. At a cost of more than £110,000, the epic piece was shot by David Mallet in November of 1983 and paid homage to Fritz Lang's 1926 expressionist masterpiece Metropolis. At the time, famed disco producer Georgio Moroder was reworking what footage still survived of the heavily damaged film (its distributors had edited the film and much of the excised footage was lost until a chance rediscovery of sections of it less than a decade prior), and adding colour filters and a contemporary score - which Freddie had agreed to contribute to.
Freddie's song, Love Kills, cowritten with Moroder and featuring an uncredited Brian May and Roger Taylor, became a hit single later in 1984, and featured in a key scene of the reworked film. The Radio Ga Ga promo included different scenes from Metropolis, and the rights to these were bought by the band and Jim Beach directly from the German government.
Much of the rest of the video used sets loosely based on those in the film: the machine the film's hero Freder operates, for example, was recreated in vibrant colours for Freddie to work. Another set piece also required five hundred extras to become the faceless workers who stand before the band, their heads bowed, clapping their hands in a manner now familiar to every hardened Queen fan (particularly those who would later perform the same move whenever the band perform the song on tour). For this, David Mallet turned to members of the fan club, who once again found the required number of more than willing fans at incredibly short notice, spending all of 23rd November 1983 under very hot lights at Shepperton Studios in London with only a short break for lunch. Yet as ever, the fans were on top form, and outshone the band, who kept forgetting their timing!
Alternate Versions
There are three versions of the video - the first two identical bar the final shot. The original version was found on The Works EP and broadcast on television worldwide, while the version featured on Greatest Flix II and its American counterpart Classic Queen has the words "Thanks to Metropolis" added on in post production.
The third version of the video features on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, and proved to be controversial amongst Queen's hardened fanbase. The Greatest Videos Hits series saw the majority of Queen's videos remastered from original 4:3 aspect ratio into 16:9 ratio widescreen - but whereas most were simply reframed as best as possible, Radio Ga Ga featured scenes presented as 4:3 ratio in the widescreen frame (giving a pillarbox effect), which would then stretch outwards and inwards during the chorus sequences, giving those sections a full widescreen presentation.
Credits
| Version | Name | Artist | Recorded | Format | Length | Director | Filming Location |
| Original Version | Radio Ga Ga | Queen | 23rd November 1983 | Video | 5.44 | David Mallett | Shepperton Studios, London |
| Standard Version | Radio Ga Ga | Queen | 23rd November 1983 | Video | 5.44 | David Mallett | Shepperton Studios, London |
| GVH2 Version | Radio Ga Ga | Queen | 23rd November 1983 | Video | 5.44 | David Mallett | Shepperton Studios, London |
Availability
- Original Version - The Works EP VHS
- Standard Version - Greatest Flix II VHS, Box Of Flix VHS, Classic Queen VHS
- GVH2 Version - Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD