THE “SOFT” CLOSING
Feature Song: “Radioactive”
And here we are, almost at the end of another year. And what a %^&%$% year it was! But enough about that. When I started “Deeper Under the Covers” on January 1, 2023, my plan was to post every so often, giving me the time I needed for my other writing projects. Well, after two years and 102 posts, so much for my plan. Or, as Claire Cook put it: “If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters – 204 if you’re in Japan.”
The “soft” closing (the opposite of a “soft” opening in the retail and restaurant world) is my way of saying that I am going to ease up on the weekly “cover” posts of the past two years to put my energy into another music writing project/page entitled Quadzilla Spins. When I first began this WordPress blog (a pandemic project), it was to make some of the over 100 playlists I had created in support of my “spinning” habit, otherwise known as getting some exercise, available to anyone who wanted them. The combination of the pandemic and being retired translated into, shall we say, going a little bit overboard with how I categorized these playlists, coming up with a ridiculously elaborate coding system for the songs in the lists, basing it on matching song tempo to pedal rotation. This is what happens when you have way too much time on your hands! The new page is my way of revisiting the initial idea but in a very different way, all of which will be laid out on Quadzilla Spins in the new year, so stay tuned. And now, for the final DUTC of 2024. Oh, I almost forgot, the Annoying Songs feature with Randy Dafoe will, of course, continue.
As I have relied on Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ) many times over the past two years, I thought it would be fitting to end this year with one of their covers. In fact, the song “Radioactive” was really not on my radar until I heard PMJ’s cover and felt that I needed to use the song, especially because it featured Rogello Douglas Jr., who has quite the resumé. But first, Imagine Dragons. They are an American pop/rock band that formed in 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Dan Reynolds (lead vocals), Wayne Sermon (guitar), and Ben McKee (bass). They first gained recognition with the release of their first single, “It’s Time,” which was followed by their debut album, Night Visions (2012), resulting in the chart-topping singles, “Radioactive” and “Demons.” This first album was followed by albums in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, and the latest, Loom in 2024. The band has sold more than 74 million albums and 65 million digital songs worldwide, making them one of the world’s best-selling music artists. If that were not enough, they have also earned a mind-numbing 160 billion streams across the many music platforms. They have also won numerous awards and received much adulation from fans and critics. However, despite all this, they have been the subject of negative attention as well from some critics and other musicians, many saying that their music has repetitive lyrics, overblown arena rock presentations, and my personal favorite, “genre-hopping.” My first thought when reading the latter was: “Since when is it a crime to dabble in more than one genre?” All of this is eerily familiar to me, as the Canadian group Nickelback received similar criticism, especially after their huge early success. Jealousy in the music business, who’d a thunk!
“Radioactive” was written by Imagine Dragons and producer Alex Da Kid. It is one of the more electronically influenced tracks on the album, as well as one of the darkest. The song’s lyrics speak of apocalyptic themes, with lines such as, “I’m working up to ash and dust,” and “This is it, the apocalypse.” Though the band, as always, maintained its secularity, one music critic suggested that the song features strong “religious or spiritual imagery, the likes of which have been common throughout the history of rock music.” According to lead singer, Dan Reynolds, “Radioactive, to me, it’s very masculine, powerful-sounding song, and the lyrics behind it, there’s a lot of personal story behind it, but generally speaking, it’s a song about having an awakening; kind of waking up one day and deciding to do something new and see life in a fresh way.” For myself, there is no denying that it is a “catchy” tune that has one humming or singing along after hearing the first few notes.
Rogello Douglas Jr.’s Vintage Jazz cover of “Radioactive” was part of PMJ’s 10th anniversary live show commemorating 10 years of touring around the world, performed on August 22, 2024. Backing Douglas Jr. are Adam Kubota (bass), Zach Cohen (guitar), J.P. Floyd (trombone), Kyle Morgan (sax), Logan Evan Thomas (piano), and Willie Ray More (drums), with Scott Bradlee handling the arrangement. The multitalented Douglas Jr. has played a trumpeter in both the movie Whiplash and the American comedy series, Key and Peele, as well as taking on the role of Public Enemy rapper Chuck D in Straight Outta Compton. He also sang background vocals for Mariah Carey’s performance from New York City titled Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden. After performing with Jennifer Hudson for the 25th anniversary staging of Dreangirls, he was chosen to play the loveable crab Sebastian in Broadway’s production of Little Mermaid. He was also the lead tap dancer for Riverdance and was chosen for the lead role in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s, In The Heights when it went on it’s first national tour. Like I mentioned, quite the resumé! You will witness pretty much all of the above in his mesmerizing performance of “Radioactive.”
Enjoy!
Imagine Dragons. “Radioactive” 2012.
PMJ. “Radioactive” Vintage Jazz cover (with a few surprises) 10th anniversary tour version featuring Rogello Douglas Jr. August 22, 2024.
Two bonus videos for you. Imagine Dragons performing “Radioactive” live at The Joint, 2013, followed by the first PMJ cover of the song featuring Blake Lewis in a Vintage Jazz/Beatbox style and a killer sax solo. Talk about genre-hopping!
Imagine Dragons. “Radioactive” live at The Joint 2013.
PMJ. “Radioactive” cover featuring Blake Lewis 2015.
From Los Angeles…Bye bye 2024!
I didn’t realize how wildly successful Imagine Dragons have been, that is amazing. Im at the mother-in-laws so I will circle back for the videos!
I loved “It’s Time” and “Radioactive” a lot, and still do (though the “Radioactive” video is very odd). I liked “Demons” a lot too at first, but it got played to death on the radio to the point I tired of it. I still like Imagine Dragons well enough, but they’ve suffered from overexposure. The PMJ cover is great, especially the jazzy arrangement and Kyle Morgan’s energetic sax. Rogello Douglas Jr. is an amazing singer, and I really like the 2015 PMJ cover featuring Blake Lewis too.