"Radar Love" is a song by the Dutch rock band Golden Earring. The single version
of "Radar Love" reached #10 on the Cash Box Top 100 and #13 in Billboard in the
United States. It also hit the Top 10 in many countries, including the United
Kingdom, Australia, Germany, and Spain. Background
The subject of the song is the point of view of an automobile driver who drives
to his lover and communicates with her without physical means such as telephone
or letters. On his radio, he hears Brenda Lee's "Coming on Strong", and the
newsman "singin' his same song". Cover versions
The song has been covered by Tribe 8, Ministry, Omen, U2, R.E.M., Ian Stuart
Donaldson, Sun City Girls, White Lion, Blue Man Group, Def Leppard, James Last,
The NWOBHM band Aragorn, Nine Pound Hammer, Carlos Santana, and The Pressure
Boys. The White Lion version charted at #59 on The Billboard Hot 100.
Goth-pop band Ghost Dance recorded a cover of the song on the B-side of their
"Heart Full of Soul" single, itself a cover of the Yardbirds track.
The song was also covered by industrial metal band Ministry on the 2008 album
Cover Up. A pre-Mercyful Fate band featuring King
Diamond on vocals recorded a cover of the song. It is featured on King Diamond
& Black Rose 20 Years Ago. Notable song appearances
The song has been used in the following media:
1985: American Flyers, film 1993: "Radar Love" is included near the
beginning of the film Wayne's World 2. 1993: "Radar Love" is included at the
beginning of "Radar Love" an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 on November 24
1994: Featured in the Ken Burns documentary Baseball during the 1970s
Cincinnati Reds "Big Red Machine" story. 1995-1998: Portions of the song were
used in Téa Leoni's sitcom The Naked Truth as the theme song.
In two episodes of The Simpsons: 1996: "Bart on the Road", where it is on
the radio during the road trip. 2002: "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge",
where Fat Tony requests the song on the radio, and Homer begins singing along
1999: In the film Detroit Rock City when Trip throws a slice of pizza out the
passenger side window of a moving Volvo and onto the windshield of a car full of
"Stellas" and "Guidos," causing a confrontation, "Radar Love" plays.
Also briefly featured in the 1999 film Pushing Tin.
2000: In the Strangers with Candy episode "Hit and Run".
2002: Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours Series 1 Episode 2 - "Belgium
& Holland" 2006: In the My Name Is Earl episode
"Dad's Car" 2007: The song was featured heavily in
the Reaper episode "Love, Bullets & Blacktop".
2010: In the Newfoundland TV series, Republic of Doyle
2011: The song appeared on the soundtrack for the film, Cedar Rapids.
2012: In the House episode "Post Mortem", allegedly by a band called
Georgia Steamroller. 2015: In the Blacklist episode "Sir
Crispin Crandall" Other appearances:
In 1994, in The X-Files season 1 episode 14, "Gender Bender," Fox Mulder makes a
reference to "Radar Love". In 2004, as the name of an episode in
the popular web series Red vs. Blue The song is a regular part of the Leland
Stanford Junior University Marching Band's playlist. Unlike most college
bands, the LSJUMB concentrates on rock and roll, especially from the 1970s.
In a video of a training exercise with the Oregon Air National Guard
As a part of the ambient soundtrack around Rita - Queen of Speed at Alton
Towers As of July 2008, appears as the
soundtrack to an on-line Jaguar promotion
The White Lion version was included in the setlist in the PlayStation 2
exclusive Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's
As part of the setlist of Rock Band 3 In a Volcom United montage filmed
exclusively at The Berrics skatepark. "Radar Love" was voted as the 2nd
greatest driving song on the 6th series of Top Gear, behind Queen's "Don't Stop
Me Now". The Ministry version is featured in the
2011 video game Test Drive Unlimited 2 Before this, this cover appeared on
their album Cover Up. The lyrics of the Devin Townsend song
"Radial Highway" cite a passage of the first verse of "Radar Love".
The song is featured as one of the background music tracks in the Sega Mega
Drive/Genesis version of the video game Rock N' Roll Racing. However, the song
was omitted from the Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance ports of the game.
In 2013, the song appeared in promos for the launch of Fox Sports 1.
In 2013, the song was featured in a preview of Grand Theft Auto V. It was
cut from the definitive version of the video game.
Was one of ESPN's first theme songs for its NASCAR coverage.
References External links
Radar-Love.net lists more than 500 cover versions, by artists including U2,
R.E.M., Blue Man Group, James Last, Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, White Lion,
Crowded House. Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics