We have a few goals for this blog, which may or may not be obvious to the reader. We want to provide high quality technical information that RF engineers value. We try to keep you up to date on our latest product releases and new capabilities in our product line. We like to provide a look inside our company life and culture so you know who you’re doing business with, whether your a customer or considering your next career move with us. But sometimes, we just want to entertain you, make you laugh, or give you a conversation starter, something different to enrich your day.
To that end, we’re starting a series that explores the many ways RF and microwave technology influences the culture we live in, from books and film to art, music and more. While wireless signals touch all of the above, it seems fitting to start where the technology we know and love first crossed paths with mainstream public life: in music.
Considering musicians have been writing and singing about the medium that brings their art to the ears of the masses since the advent of commercial broadcast radio around the 1920s, there’s more material to choose from than is practical to enumerate here. What follows doesn’t pretend to be exhaustive or even representative of the diverse universe of artists, genres and traditions that belong in a comprehensive playlist on the RF and microwave theme. But we have to start somewhere. We hope you’ll write to us with your suggestions for a future installment.
From the lips of rock and roll heroes to your speakers through all the Mini-Circuits parts in between, here are five tunes for the newly minted RF & microwave playlist.
1. “Space Oddity,” David Bowie, Space Oddity, Mercury Records, 1969
Perhaps the most famous single in Bowie’s prolific songbook, “Space Oddity” tells the tragic story of a heroic space explorer’s journey from Earth into the unexplored reaches of outer space. Notably, the lyrics are comprised entirely of dialogue between Major Tom in the cockpit of his spacecraft and Ground Control operators over the radio. The story ends when Tom bids farewell to his Earthbound companions, crosses into the unknown, and the signal goes dead.
2. “Boy in the Bubble,” Paul Simon, Graceland, Warner Bros. Records, 1986
The music for the overture to Simon’s classic, genre-bending album was recorded without vocals in a studio in Johannesburg, South Africa with a group of local musicians called Tau Ea Matsekha. Inspiration for the lyrics came later, after Simon returned to the U.S., evidently awestruck and a little frightened by the techno-commercial panorama of American life after several months traveling in another part of the world. His observations include more than one direct reference to wireless technology. The terror of remote detonation and improvised explosives in the first verse (“…The bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio…”) shifts gears to wonderment at “lasers in the jungle somewhere / Staccato signals of constant information…” which would technically fall into optical communications, but it’s a close cousin of RF and microwave.
3. “Radio Head,” Talking Heads, True Stories, Sire Records, 1986
Let the song not be confused with its namesake, the British rock band, Radiohead. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne produced the album True Stories as the soundtrack for a film by the same name, which he also wrote, directed and starred in (some people are good at everything). In the film, the unnamed Narrator (David Byrne) visits the small Texas suburb of Virgil where he meets its residents whose bizarre stories were inspired by tabloid headlines. The cast converges at a celebration of the town’s 150th anniversary featuring a talent show in which the characters perform. The song, “Radio Head” is sung by Ramon (Tito Larriva), a local computer factory worker who believes people transmit radio signals he can read by touching their noses. The album track (Byrne does the vocals) evokes a complex mix of humor, romance and paranoia that seems to have grown in relevance through the information age.
4. “Turn it On,” The Flaming Lips, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, Warner Bros. Records, 1993
Even before high-speed broadband internet was a staple in most households, The Flaming Lips found a theme for their 1993 release with technology’s waxing presence in private life. Edgy, conceptual and often experimental, the Oklahoma City band blends elements of punk, rock and electronic music into the distinctive sound that’s sustained its cult following for three decades and counting. Fortunately for us, the single that deals most directly with wireless technology is also one of the most accessible to newcomers. “Turn it On” combines an upbeat catchy melody complete with grunge-era guitar distortion with lyrics poking fun at Americans’ immersion in television and other electromagnetic media. It’s also the only song on this list that explicitly mentions three different RF technologies: CATV, satellite and radar. Listen, and see if you can find all three!
5. “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” R.E.M., Monster, Warner Bros. Records, 1994
Radio is a recurring theme in the music of Gen X college rock sensation, R.E.M. with singles like “Radio Free Europe” (1981) and “Radio Song” (1991) leaving memorable impressions on listeners from that period. While the hit single from the band’s 1994 album, “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” is probably the most recognizable of these, its reference is also likely the most obscure. The eponymous line in the lyrics refers to an incident in 1986 when CBS news anchor, Dan Rather was assaulted outside his New York apartment by two men who repeated, “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” during the attack. Lead singer, Michael Stipe explained the song as the narrative of an older character trying to understand the cultural norms of the next generation and failing to pick up their signal.
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