Turning Up the Radio

"Turning Up the Radio"
Album track by Weezer
Album	Death to False Metal
Released	November 2, 2010
Format	CD, vinyl, digital
Recorded	2008
Length	3:37
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo, A. Rob Carballo, Paul Dutton, Nishant Thakur, Daniel James Kelsch, Justin Vail, Taylor Morden, Reshad Malik, Daniel Powell, Sam Mitchell, Lauren Sonder, Mike Danger, Kingsley Vanata, Joshua Godinez, Patrick Gannon, Ryan Wiesbrock, Cameron L. Maris
Producer(s)	Taylor Morden, Shawn Everett, Rivers Cuomo
Status	officially released
Stream	Spotify
	Apple Music
Death to False Metal track listing
"Turning Up the Radio" (01) "I Don't Want Your Loving" (02)

"Turning Up the Radio" (formerly "80s Radio" or "Turn It") is the first song on Death to False Metal. Cuomo wrote the song in 2008 in collaboration with followers of his YouTube channel, a project Cuomo dubbed "Let's Write a Sawng."

Appearances

• Death to False Metal (2010)

Overview

Cuomo first uploaded a YouTube video titled "Let's Write a Sawng (Step 1 and Step 2)" on March 19, 2008. Cuomo explained that he wanted to write a song that was "fun," adding "It's gonna be poppy but it's gotta be tough at the same time." Cuomo requested that his followers submit ideas for song titles using YouTube's (since deprecated) "video responses" feature. In the second video, Cuomo expressed enthusiasm for the title "80s Radio," suggested by user "songsforsongs," saying "I just get the sense of, like, this kind of outcast character who's got his relationship to his music, and that he gets a lot of spiritual sustenance from that, and he doesn't care what anybody else thinks, and that's his '80s radio.'"

Cuomo ultimately selected a chord progression submitted by user Paul "pgrizzlie" Dutton. Despite differing from Cuomo's original intent, Cuomo said of the chords, "It's got a real hypnotic vibe, a real sad vibe, and I'm just a sucker for that feeling." A more upbeat rendition of the chord progression, largely resembling that of the final product, was thereafter recorded and submitted by Nishant "ats5" Thakur. User Daniel "danthewelch" Kelsch submitted what would become the song's vocal melody. Justin "CapNCrunchitize" Vail wrote much of what became the song's verse lyrics. Taylor "taylor2d2" Morden of Death Star Studios in Portland, Oregon recorded guitar, background vocals, and synth that would appear on both the final demo and album versions of the song, in addition to receiving a producer credit. Morden also recorded an early version of the bridge, though a newer bridge by Cameron "GimmeSomeLove" Maris was ultimately selected. The lyric "You say I'm actin' like a fool" was suggested by Joshua Godinez as a replacement for the original lyric ("Tell me I should go to school").

In November of 2008, Cuomo uploaded a final "Let's Write a Sawng" video, wherein he presented a demo of the song to producer Jacknife Lee (who was, at that time, working with Weezer on their then-forthcoming album, Raditude). The song made what Cuomo called "the short-short-shortlist of 23 songs" for the record, though it, ultimately, did not make the cut for Raditude. "Turning Up the Radio" was finally released in 2010 as part of Death to False Metal, a compilation album composed of songs that did not make the cut for previous Weezer albums. Cuomo's shout-outs of Vail ("Crunchie") and Nishant ("ats5"), originally present in the "Let's Write a Sawng" videos, are also present in the final song.

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo — vocals, producer
• Brian Bell
• Scott Shriner
• Patrick Wilson
• Taylor Morden — additional guitar, background vocals, synth, producer
• Shawn Everett — producer

Audio

• YouTube (North America)
• YouTube (International)

Lyrics

Death to False Metal liner notes lyric sheet

Crunchie! ats5!

What ya' playin' in my ear?
You got a fix of what it is I wanna hear
Comin' through the frequencies
And the airwaves
You say I'm actin' like a fool
Hey man, back off, 'cause you don't look so cool
With your button-down shirt tie smack
Man, you're so wack

Let the music play
Let the good times roll
We don't care what you say
We're turnin' up the radio

Turn it, turn it
Got to get it louder
Turn it, turn it
Let me hear you shout it
Turn it, turn it
Get yourself together
Turn it, turn it
Wakin' up your neighbor

Listen as I start my jam
Tuning into the stations on the stereo
Don't you dare touch that dial
'Cause I got style (for miles and miles)

Everybody clap your hands
Grooving to the way I roll with my rock band
You know we gonna turn back time to the 80s

Let the music play
Let the mohawks grow
We don't care what you say
We're turning up the radio

Turn it, turn it
Got to get it louder
Turn it, turn it
Let me hear you shout it
Turn it, turn it
Get yourself together
Turn it, turn it
Wakin' up your neighbor

It's the rock, it's the roll
It's the pop, it's the soul
It's the funk, the hip-hop
Oh, DJ, don't you stop
It's the hits, it's the flops
Billie Jean and She Bop
It's the cream of the crop
Oh, DJ, don't you stop
Just turn it all the way

Turning, turning, turning up the radio

Turn it, turn it
Got to get it louder
Turn it, turn it
Let me hear you shout it
Turn it, turn it
Get yourself together
Turn it, turn it
Wakin' up the neighbor

See also

• "Let's Write a Sawng"
• List of Weezer songs
• List of Rivers Cuomo songs