B-side "Circumstances" (international) / "The Trees" & "Working Man" (UK/US promo copies) Released December 1979 (promo)
March 1980 (single) Format Vinyl record (7" / 12") Recorded 1979, Le Studio, Quebec, Canada Genre Progressive rock, hard rock Length 4:56 (Album version)
3:00 (Single version) | ||
"The Spirit of Radio" is a song released in 1980 by the Canadian rock band Rush from their album Permanent Waves. The song's name was inspired by Toronto radio station CFNY's slogan. The song was significant in the growing popularity of the band. The band had grazed the UK Top 40 two years earlier with "Closer to the Heart", but when issued as a single in March 1980, "The Spirit of Radio" soon reached #13 on the UK singles chart. It remains their biggest UK hit to date (the 7" single was a 3:00 edited version which has never appeared on CD to date). In the US, the single peaked at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980, and in 1998 a live version of the song reached #27 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. "The Spirit of Radio" was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and was among five Rush songs inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010.
Contents
Promotional 12-inch copies were released in the United States late 1979 with the B-sides of "Working Man" and "The Trees", and the song being incorrectly titled "The Spirit of the Radio".
Cover versions
Kobra and the Lotus included a version of "The Spirit of Radio" on their 2015 covers EP Words of the Prophets. The EP's title is a reference to the song.
Catherine Wheel covered the song as a hidden track on their 1996 compilation Like Cats and Dogs.