Mexican Radio

"Mexican Radio" is a song by American new wave band Wall of Voodoo. Produced by Richard Mazda, the track was initially released on their 1982 album '' Call of the West'' and was released as a single. With regular airplay on MTV in the United States, the song had moderate commercial success, peaking at No. 58 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It did better in other parts of the world, peaking at No. 18 in Canada, No. 21 in New Zealand and No. 33 in Australia. It also reached No. 64 in the UK.

Background

Wall of Voodoo frontman Stan Ridgway and guitarist Marc Moreland cited listening to high-wattage unregulated AM Mexican radio stations (among them XERF, XEG, and XERB) as the inspiration for the song.

Moreland was the first to begin writing the song. In a recorded interview in the 1990s, he stated, "It was basically just me singing 'I'm on a Mexican radio' over and over again". Moreland added that, when he played it for his mother, she hated it because of his repetitious lyrics. Ridgway collaborated with Moreland to finish the song, adding all the verse lyrics to Moreland's chorus and guitar lick, as well as the "mariachi" harmonica melody in the song's middle breakdown. When performing live with Wall of Voodoo, Ridgway usually played the mariachi melody via an organ/synthesizer and Bill Noland used a synthesizer to play the melody when performing with Wall of Voodoo in the 1982–1983 era.

Single version

The 7" single mix differs in a few areas from the album mix:

*Ridgway's vocals are mixed differently, with a more pronounced echo effect on certain lines.
*The first few bars of the LP version have no overtalk while the single version does.
*A loud Spanish-speaking DJ voice is present on both versions, but each version's voice is different and is saying different words.
*A significantly louder snare drum part is noticeable in the song's chorus.
*Ridgway chants ''"radio, radio, oleo, radio"'' at the song's end, rather than ''"radio, radio, radio, radio"'' as he does on the album version. Because of this, the single mix is sometimes called the "oleo" mix.
*A pulsing, mangled synth noise is heard at the end of the song on the album version, but not in the 7" mix. Instead, this sound is heard at the beginning of the track, as well as during the song's instrumental break.

Music video

The music video for the song was produced and directed by Francis Delia at his studio on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, CA, as well as on location in Tijuana, Mexico. Wall of Voodoo rehearsed down the hall from Delia's commercial photography studio and chose him to direct the video. The movie was edited by Kert VanderMeulen, and marked the first of many collaborations between the director and editor during the next two years. The video's fast cutting, impressionistic and bizarre dark images and faux documentary style of Mexico and Mexican culture made it one of the most popular clips in MTV history to that point in time and was in heavy rotation throughout 1983.

Iconic images include a woman (Ann Marie Bates), uncovering a large bowl of baked beans—cooked by Bob Casale of Devo—from which the face of Stan Ridgway emerges. The Los Angeles studio photography was done in a nearly 24-hour span and left the production bereft of extras, forcing the director to cameo as an anonymous Mexican turning an iguana on a spit over a campfire. The wardrobe for the video was provided by Genny Schorr and Tony Riviera of the Strait Jacket clothing store in Los Angeles.

Track listing

7" single

Side A
#"Mexican Radio" - 3:55
Side B
#"Call of the West" - 6:00

*In the United States, two different catalog numbers were shown on the seven-inch single. The first, SP-70963 on IRS label was for promotional use only. and issued without a picture sleeve. The second, IR-9912 on IRS label released for both promotional and commercial use with a picture sleeve .

''Two Songs by Wall of Voodoo'' 12" single

Side A
#"Mexican Radio" - 3:55
Side B
#"There's Nothing on This Side" - 10:00

*Side B is actually two separate tracks. The first is an instrumental piece, which leads directly into "Mexican Radio (Limited Edition Special Dub Mix)", which is unlisted.

1989 mini CD reissue

#"Mexican Radio" - 3:55
#"Tomorrow" - 2:43
#"Call of the West" - 5:35

*Tracks 2 and 3 recorded live at Barstow Auditorium, Barstow, CA on August 18, 1982.

Charts

In popular culture

* The song was influenced by the Sesame Street skit title
Martians Discover a Radio

* In Season 9, Episode 12 of ''Seinfeld'', " The Reverse Peephole", Kramer sang the main chorus of the song while changing his peephole. In the closing credits, a two-second sting of the chorus was also played.
* Rapper SPM sampled the song's chorus on his own song (also called “Mexican Radio") on his 2001 album Never Change.
* The song was used in Box of Moonlight
* It has been the unofficial anthem of the hungarian pirate/alternative radio, Tilos Rádió from 1991.
* The song was covered by extreme metal band Celtic Frost on their 1987 album Into the Pandemonium.
* The song was also covered by punk rock band Authority Zero on their 2004 album Andiamo.

See also

*Border blaster
*DXing

References

{{authority control

1982 songs
1983 singles
Wall of Voodoo songs
Spanglish songs
Songs written by Stan Ridgway
I.R.S. Records singles
Songs about radio