Music Review: Imagine Dragons "Radioactive"

Imagine Dragons

Radioactive

Album: Night Visions

Year:  2012

        Dan Reynolds survives an atomic bomb blast in the  grim “Radioactive.”

          A passive guitar and resigned “whoas” open the single, setting a tense tone.

               There had been some small news articles about the conflict at first. One political party was fighting was another. It was the same headlines he and others had read before. They figured it was out of their hands and nothing they could do was going to stop it. It had been going on years. Each time the one party shouted, nothing had happened. However, it was the election of new leaders in the government which changed everything. It had shifted power to one side, giving the other means to do whatever they wanted.  The news articles became more frequent, with columnists calling for a peaceful resolution and compromise among the polititical parties. However, it was not enough. A month later, the city he lived in was attacked for voting for the other party.  In his shelter, several people around him cough. The stench of urine follows him as he walks to the window to view the damage. All he can see are piles of rubble. A gas station sign, twisted and mangled, lies in the street. He steps outside, the heat of sun beating on him, dissolving the dirt on his body. Smoke rises from the metal and aluminum, which once were homes and offices, and enters his lungs. (“I'm waking up to ash and dust/I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust/I'm breathing in the chemicals.”)

             In the pre-chorus, he is adapting to his new surroundings, listening to what’s going on around him, keeping a makeshift weapon with him at all times. Now considered a criminal, he and others are rounded up and travel by bus to another location of the country. He had read news articles describing what could happen but he dismissed it, thinking it couldn’t. It was far too extreme a measure. However, as the hours pass by on the bus, he realizes it’s the end of the world. (“I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus/This is it, the apocalypse/Whoa.”)

.In the chorus, he believes something has to be done and he hopes the others who are with him fight back. Poisoned and likely with only a couple years to live, he wants see change. This is not the country he was taught to pledge to every morning in class. (“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, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive/Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive.”)

               At his new living situation, he hangs the country’s redesigned flag inside. He puts on his white t-shirt and jeans (the uniform everyone must now wear) and walks to the flagpole outside, where his worn hands slip through the cord. He checks the flag, making sure it’s swaying in the right direction. Some red makeup from his arms smeared his shirt, revealing a bit patch of skin. Historic laws, which had been on the books for centuries, were thrown out and replaced by different ones. The anthem he heard at sports games for years was something of a whisper, words long forgotten. A majority of the country’s population was affected from several bomb blasts. The charcoal hue, for a minority (including him) disappeared. However, each person   now has titian tint. The shade of a person’s skin has become a represenation to how close they were to a bombing. (“I raise my flags, don my clothes/It's a revolution, I suppose/We're painted red to fit right in/Whoa.”)

              The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

             In the bridge, progress has since stopped. Most are concerned for their own survival to care. Science is at its bare minimum, starting all over due to lost books and destroyed studies. He remembers his once beautiful country and how it flourished. Covering his eyes with his hand, he views the sun, his only  lasting reminder of what his country used to be.  (“All systems go, the sun hasn't died/Deep in my bones, straight from inside.”)

            The chorus is sung to end the single.

           Reynolds’ dire, primal vocals are on edge, suspicious of any unknown rattle or shake. His main challenge is to nullify his memories of the past. The world he remembers no longer exists, torturing him.

          The speculative “Radioactive” envisions a plausible post-apocalyptic future in which the word freedom has become archaic.