"Queen: Radio Ga Ga" is the title that gives us the name of the band featured in this slightly under 6 minute music video as well as the title of the song. It is definitely one of the more known, maybe most known works by the group around Freddy Mercury and I think the number of clicks it reached on youtube speaks for itself and yes I know it is not Despacito, but that's actually a good thing overall I suppose. The director is Emmy winner David Mallet by the way who worked with many very talented artists. And while, this is a relaly catchy song and the clapping rhythm idea was somewhat groundbreaking back then, you could say Queen invented it, something that is considered so normal today on concerts, sports events etc. the real threnght of this music video is the tribute that this is in favor of Metropolis, the silent movie from the middle of the first half of the 20th century that is considered one of Germany's best movies of all time and it is from the impressive Fritz Lang of course. This is really what a tribute music video should look like. It is not just the mix of scenes including the band (and their audience) and the shots from the film, but also how Mercury for example becomes part of the film on several occasions, so it is a bit of a journey back in time and it all looks very professional. But lets not ignore the basics here. Of course it would have been far more inferior without such a great song attached to it, there is no denying. As catchy as it gets, lyrics-wise well let's not talk about it, even if I am sure there is some hidden meaning. There is really only one somewhat negative aspect to this film and that is probably that Lady Gaga got the inspiration for her name from this one, but well her having a different name probably would not have changed anything really, so it is all good and honestly you cannot blame Queen or their director here for making Gaga popular. She is incredibly overrated honestly, but there is some priceless irony for sure to the fact that in the year when Rami Malek won the Oscar for playing Mercury, his film took a lot (awards) attention away from Gaga, most of all the Golden Globes Best Drama win of course. Now I am drifting away. Back to this song. If you for whatever reason have not seen it yet, then it is really high time you do. In my opinion, this is one of the best short films and music videos from 1984 (great year by the way brought some really crucial stuff) and probably also in the extended list of the finest from the 1980s, or at least the first half. Do not miss out under any circumstances.
Review of Queen: Radio Ga Ga
Queen: Radio Ga Ga
(1984 Music Video)
Nothing missing really, a quality music video
2 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers