Sunday, April 7, 2013

Radioactive - Imagine Dragons —Communist??

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

The song starts out feeling very serene. There is a very high-pitched guitar and some soft chanting. Suddenly, the bass kicks in and the song takes on an industrial feeling. The first verse comes:

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, checking out on the prison bus.
This is it, the apocalypse, whoa.

So along with the industrial bass sounds, you get images of ash, dust, rust, and chemicals. The singer seems to be in a grimy, nasty world. With the line "wipe my brow and sweat my rust" I get the idea that the singer is partly mechanical, since machines rust. However, the next line about breathing in chemicals makes it seem more like the singer's body exists in a universe where people are like machines—their bodies taking in and exuding out nasty harsh chemicals. Instead of his body, the next line refers to the singer's life. He describes himself as being broken-in, shaped-up; he then says he is on a "prison bus." This bus seems to be figurative; the singer feels as though his whole life is just disciplining him into becoming a machine. Furthermore, to the singer, the idea that people are becoming machines is apocalyptic. The chorus comes now:

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, whoa, radioactive, radioactive.
Whoa, whoa, radioactive, radioactive.

During this part, the narrator sounds excited, which makes sense based on what he is saying. The first time the singer said he was "waking up," he just described himself and his surroundings. Now, he starts to go into how he feels about them—they'll "make his systems blow." In other words, the heavy disciplining that has turned the singer into a machine is about to explode. He is waking up in the sense that he is now both aware of what he is doing and seeks to change, which is indicated by referencing a "new age."

The reference to radioactivity is a bit daunting, but here's the way I see it: radioactivity is a property of certain chemicals that humans discovered. Radioactive atoms are extremely dangerous and difficult to isolate and utilize. However, under careful conditions we have figured out how to best harness radioactivity to both destroy and provide us with energy. However, there is always the lingering possibility that some error will cause a giant explosion or a lethal chemical spill or something. I think the singer feels the same way about his life. He has been conditioned to work endlessly for the benefit of society and industry, but he is waking up, realizing that what he is doing is neither healthy, nor particularly productive. In the same way that radioactive substances might at any second combust, the singer feels that his systems are about to blow. Next verse:

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, checking out on the prison bus.
This is it, the apocalypse, whoa.
This next paragraph is potentially controversial, but I think the singer is referencing a Marxist revolution here. If you know anything about Marx, he basically said that people are going to continue to be exploited by society into working until people gained consciousness that they were being abused and revolted. In this verse, the singer says he raises a flag, dons clothes, and revolts. He say's he will paint something red to fit right in—I assume he means the flag. Red is traditionally a color that symbolizes communism. 
There isn't much to say about the rest of the song. I personally think that the song has a communist vibe to it, but that doesn't mean it was necessarily written with that intention. Additionally, I wouldn't discredit what Marx had to say without reading and understanding what he wrote. He provided a lot of interesting insight into society that this song also touches on. Happy listening.


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