A major · Camelot 11B · 109 BPM
Radiation Vibe
by Fountains of Wayne
- 109
- BPM
- A major
- Key
- 11B
- Camelot
- 60
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
In early 1996, Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger were putting together the first recordings by their new band, Fountains of Wayne. The pair tracked "Radiation Vibe" at the Place in New York City between January and April of that year, with Schlesinger producing. Collingwood had written the song one day and played it for Schlesinger, who recalled that it was written as a goof but struck him as a great song with a fun quality the band had never captured before. He later said the track was what really started the band.
Atlantic Records released "Radiation Vibe" as the band's debut single on October 11, 1996, drawn from their debut album. It peaked at number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart and reached number 14 on the US Alternative Airplay chart. In the UK, it climbed to number 32 in March 1997, and it hit number 95 in Australia that same month. The music video, directed by Clark Eddy, premiered on MTV on October 29, 1996.
The single arrived in Europe as a vinyl release backed with "Karpet King", while a CD edition added "Janice's Party" and "Imperia". Those three B-side tracks stayed off any Fountains of Wayne album until the compilation Out-of-State Plates came out in 2005. Chris Shaw and Eric Tew mixed the recording at Greene Street Recording, and Greg Calbi mastered it at Masterdisk in New York City.
Radiation Vibe runs at 109 BPM, the tempo of mid-tempo pop, dancehall and indie. In classical terms it sits in moderato territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.2 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 550 ms. It is in A major, Camelot 11B, which shares its notes with F# minor and mixes cleanly with D major and E major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.