''The Great Radio Controversy'' is the second studio album by American
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band Tesla, released in 1989. The album's sound has been described as "glam metal to play inside the cab of a tractor-blusey denim and downright wholesome".
The hit singles "
Love Song
A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...
", "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)", "Hang Tough" and "The Way It Is" received considerable airplay on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's
Headbangers Ball
''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...
, and rocketed the band to stardom.
The album is titled after the controversy about the identity of the
inventor of radio
The invention of radio communication was preceded by many decades of establishing theoretical underpinnings, discovery and experimental investigation of radio waves, and engineering and technical developments related to their transmission and ...
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...
took the credit and is widely regarded as having the title. The album's inner sleeve recounts this story.
The album was certified
double platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
on July 23, 1998.
Critical reception
Kirk Blows, reviewer of British music newspaper ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' gave positive response to the album. He thinks that the album musical material will ″satisfy even the most fastidious rock fan″. He writes, ″There's plenty of light and shade here too, all conveyed with an overwhelming air of confidence from a band set to expand on their promising base″.
Track listing
Personnel
;Tesla
* Jeff Keith – vocals
* Tommy Skeoch – guitars, backing vocals
* Frank Hannon – guitars, piano, synthesizer, organ
* Brian Wheat – bass, backing vocals
* Troy Luccketta – drums
;Production
* Steve Thompson – producer, mixing at Mediasound, New York City
*
Michael Barbiero
Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography . Infidel Records. Retri ...
– producer, engineer, mixing
* George Cowan – additional recording and assistant engineer
* Vic Deyglio – assistant engineer
*
George Marino
George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.
Biography
Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...
– mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City
* Barry Diament – CD mastering at BDA, New York City
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Singles
Certifications
Accolades
See also
*
List of glam metal albums and songs
The following list of glam metal albums and songs is a list containing albums and songs described by at least one professional source as glam metal or its interchangeable terms, hair metal, lite metal, pop metal, and metal pop.
Albums
1978
* ...