When I was tasked with this project, I thought about all of my favorite songs that I’d want to write about. I thought about songs like Slide Away and Supalonely, but those didn't seem very fitting. I went through playlist after playlist after playlist, but I still couldn’t find a song that really meant something to me. Then I thought back to some of the songs I used to listen to, and one particular song popped into my head. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive. I remember watching the music video over and over when I was little. I probably didn’t know what was really happening in that video then, all I really remember was the pink teddy bear with laser eyes. But now, rewatching it, I see there’s a lot more to it than just a pink teddy bear.
Let’s start with the artists from Imagine Dragons: Dan Reynolds did lead and backing
vocals, Wayne Sermon played guitar and did some backing vocals, Ben McKee did synthesizers, bass, and some backing vocals as well, and Daniel Platzman handled the drums. But we’ll just focus on the lead singer: Dan Reynolds. From the time he was born, you could already tell something was interesting about this family. He was born in Las Vegas as the 7th child in the family, with 2 more to later come. A big part of his early life was about boy scouts (he went on to earn the Eagle Scout Rank, something only 4% of scouts have achieved) He grew up and went to Brigham Young University, and that was where he met Wayne, Ben, and Daniel. They got together and created the now well-known band, Imagine Dragons. You don’t have to go much farther from there until they made Radioactive, as it was actually in their debut album, Night Visions (2012). It was produced by Alexander Grant, AKA Alex da Kid. He and Josh Mosser co-wrote it, and Manny Marroquin did the mixing, with Joe LaPorta doing the mastering. As for the “why” behind the song, lots of people interpret it differently. Beginning with vocalist Dan Reynolds, in an interview with Rolling Stone, he said “That’s basically a song about my struggle with anxiety and depression. It’s about becoming self-empowered and rising above that.” Other people have said that it’s about nuclear war, protests, the end of the world, etc. I think these are all true. And that’s one of the interesting points of the song. There are lots of different ways people can think about this song. They could take the video that goes with it very literally, cage fights for stuffed animals. But it could also be taken as a song for taking a stand, for fighting for yourself, or maybe an inner fight, like waking up in the morning (that’s always a tough one for me). You can take a look at the lyrics yourself to figure out what you think!
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa
I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
I raise my flags, don my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We'll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
All systems go, the sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Just reading through the lyrics, you can tell the theme of the song. It's about perseverance. "I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow" could be interpreted as the power within, the drive to succeed and not give up. Now let's break down the video. In the beginning, you can see a hooded figure carrying some sort of container to an old barn. She walks in, and you can see what's so special with this barn. It's some sort of puppet-fighting ring, with this crazy purple monster puppet beating other puppets up, ripping out their eyes, and decapitating them and stuff. Underneath, a few people are being held captive, who happen to be Imagine Dragons. The girl takes the sheet over the cage and reveals a timid, pink teddy bear. The teddy bear is put into the ring and gets pummeled by the purple monster, but manages to get up. My understanding of this is like pushing through something even though it's hard, even though people have failed before. And with the determination of a lion, it does some crazy power punch thing straight out of an anime and KOs the purple puppet. After winning the battle, the bear incinerates 2 of the spectators when they tried to catch it, and the pink bear and the hooded girl bust Imagine Dragons out. Pretty wild video, though I'm sure there are crazier ones out there. The idea behind it seems to be pushing through tough situations, overcoming adversity, and that reflects the song.
This song also had some really cool achievements. It only peaked at number 3 on Billboard Hot 100, but it was named the No. 2 Song of the Summer by Billboard and is the best-selling rock song in US history (digitally). It’s a really meaningful song for a lot of people because it’s so versatile. If you’re down and looking for some motivation, you can play Radioactive. If you’re in a good mood and just want to rock out, you can listen to Radioactive. It’s a song that I know I’ll never forget. I’ll never be able to get that teddy bear with laser eyes out of my head.
“Dan Reynolds (Singer).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Aug. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Reynolds_(singer).
“Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Scout_(Boy_Scouts_of_America).
“Imagine Dragons – Radioactive.” Genius, genius.com/Imagine-dragons-radioactive-lyrics.
Monger, James Christopher. “Imagine Dragons: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/imagine-dragons-mn0002040645/biography.
“Radioactive (Imagine Dragons Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_(Imagine_Dragons_song).
Montclair Film / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
ImagineDragons. "Imagine Dragons - Radioactive." YouTube. https://youtu.be/ktvTqknDobU
Comments