Firm – Radioactive

I was graduating from high school when I heard this band. There was a buildup about them because of the members. You had guitarist Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), singer Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company), drummer Chris Slade (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band), and the great bassist Tony Franklin (who worked with many). I went out and bought the single for this one. 

They managed to create a band that avoided nostalgia and sounded like a working group rather than a reunion act. The goal was to write fresh material rather than new Zeppelin or Bad Company songs. They did that because they didn’t really sound like either. The song was written by Paul Rodgers and became the band’s biggest single in the U.S., helped by heavy rotation on MTV during their peak.

The band itself released only two studio albums: the self-titled album in 1985 and Mean Business in 1986. Even with the short lifespan, The Firm gave Page a way back into recording and touring after a difficult stretch in the early 1980s. Page admitted it was never meant to last past two albums. Page was coming out of a difficult time after Zeppelin ended. 

Ok, yes, I love bass, and that stands out in this one. Tony Franklin used a fretless bass to get that smooth sound. I remember some older Zeppelin fans were unsure about the keyboards and production style, but the song found a younger audience that was already listening to harder-edged 1980s rock. Over time, this song became the signature track for The Firm and one of the better-known post-Zeppelin recordings connected to Jimmy Page. 

The song peaked at #28 on the Billboard 100, #75 in Canada, and #76 in the UK in 1985. The song was written by Paul Rodgers. 

Radioactive

Well I’m not uptightNot unattractedTurn me on tonight‘Cause I’m radioactiveRadioactive

There’s not a fightAnd I’m not your captiveTurn me loose tonight‘Cause I’m radioactiveRadioactive

I want to stay with youI want to play with you babyI want to lay with youAnd I want you to know

Got to concentrateDon’t be distractiveTurn me on tonight‘Cause I’m radioactiveRadioactiveRadioactiveRadioactive

I want to stay with youI don’t want to play with youI want just to lay with youAnd I want you to know

Got to concentrateDon’t be distractiveTurn me on tonight‘Cause I’m radioactive oh yeahOh yeah radioactiveDon’t you stand, stand too closeYou might catch it

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

14 thoughts on “Firm – Radioactive”

  2. Pingback: Firm – Radioactive – MobsterTiger

  3. I was always partial to their other minor hit from this album, “Satisfaction Guaranteed”. Unfortunately I kinda think this album is too much of a product of it’s time, 80’s production techniques, keyboard & drum sounds especially, ruin alot of that decade for me across alot of genres of 80’s music. Wild to think that a master musician & producer like Jimmy Page got seduced into that 80s sound a bit.

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    1. I like that song as well.
      We are on the same page…I can’t stand the 80s huge production styles. I was a teen in the 80s and wanted to hear more timeless recordings…not fake drums and bass. . It left me cold… The shame of it was…there were good songs that I probably would have liked if they would have played them straight. Thats why I stuck with 60s 70s and the Alternative bands mostly…plus the heartland rockers.
      Yea bands like Cheap Trick, Heart, ZZ Top, and some others went in that direction…although Cheap Trick pulled back after one album.

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  4. I love the part where the deepened, booming vocal effect is produced on the title phrase “Radioactive”, which was achieved through a combination of studio production techniques rather than Paul Rodgers just singing in a lower register.

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    1. Glad you brought that Simon album/song up. That was the point where I started to investigate the fretless bass. I’ve never had one but have thought about converting a cheaper bass I have into a fretless…but I would have to cheat…I would need those lines probably.

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      1. Being the parent of a violist, I know that intonation is an issue without frets. Since you have infinite notes available, you need pinpoint accuracy with your fingers. Since frets don’t move, once you tune your instrument, you’re in tune. Without frets, miss by a millimeter and you sound horrible. But you can get sounds almost no one else can get. Keys, frets, and valves limit your ability to slide from one note to another. Yeah, you can bend notes, but it’s not the same – which listening to Kumalo makes clear.

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      2. You said it…if you miss by a hair…it will always tell the truth. I slide a lot in my playing so that is why I want to try it. You don’t have those clicks….click may not be the right word but you don’t get that seamless sound of a fretless.

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  6. Believe it or not, I had this album. Might have been through Columbia House, but anyway I thought it was not bad. And as a single, I think this was excellent…as good as a lot of Plant’s post-Zep ’80s. Never listened carefully to the bass though, so I’m going to do that

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    1. Yea man…and this song probably was the first time I noticed a fretless bass…something was different about it I couldn’t put my finger on….plus I do love Rodgers voice.

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