This song is about how teenagers tend to use pop culture, specifically radio songs, as tools to deal with other people. The music industry promotes the idea that pop songs actually reflect how life is lived by most people, but the kicker is that the kids who listen to this stuff are supposed to believe that this is how life should be lived.
I remember there was a George Michael song about how he was never going to love again because of a bad breakup, and critics of the song at the time pointed to the idea that this was a bad message to be sending to our youth -- that it was OK to shut yourself off if things go bad. The weird part is that this kind of pop music message COULD get through to youths as actual life lessons.
The narrator of the song is listening to the radio and is hearing all the emotions of his life in every song (much like you can see a bit of yourself in the horoscope for every zodiac sign), so naturally he assumes that the radio will provide him with everything he needs to know. Even if the world is collapsing around him, the radio songs say that it isn't, so it must not be real. He's also trying to relate to his girlfriend in terms of songs he hears on the radio.
"Children grow up prisoners
All their lives radio listeners"
People are tied to how pop-culture tells them what they should think and feel.
This song is about how teenagers tend to use pop culture, specifically radio songs, as tools to deal with other people. The music industry promotes the idea that pop songs actually reflect how life is lived by most people, but the kicker is that the kids who listen to this stuff are supposed to believe that this is how life should be lived.
I remember there was a George Michael song about how he was never going to love again because of a bad breakup, and critics of the song at the time pointed to the idea that this was a bad message to be sending to our youth -- that it was OK to shut yourself off if things go bad. The weird part is that this kind of pop music message COULD get through to youths as actual life lessons.
The narrator of the song is listening to the radio and is hearing all the emotions of his life in every song (much like you can see a bit of yourself in the horoscope for every zodiac sign), so naturally he assumes that the radio will provide him with everything he needs to know. Even if the world is collapsing around him, the radio songs say that it isn't, so it must not be real. He's also trying to relate to his girlfriend in terms of songs he hears on the radio.
"Children grow up prisoners All their lives radio listeners" People are tied to how pop-culture tells them what they should think and feel.