This song serves as something of an Aria in Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." It helps explain Hedwig/Hansel's appeal to music as the lifeline that can keep one afloat through any hardship. But it also brilliantly generalizes to any and all of us who "get it." Young people are disdained, condescended, and "enfringed" routinely for their musical and lifestyle explorations, as expressed in Stephen's references to "misfits and losers." Yet there is an often uspoken solidarity in our collective appreciation of music that others consider noise. That music permeates us, identifies us, and binds us. "Midnight Radio" serves as an appreciation of those of us who could no more forsake our music than we could forsake our breathing. We love it so much we could be found listening, playing or dancing deep into the night. We live individually, yet our individual muses are evidenced collectively. And so the song is a "hang in there!" kind of advocacy message that we should never slip into feeling too alone, that we "misfits" need to honor our musical selves, and each others'.
This song serves as something of an Aria in Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." It helps explain Hedwig/Hansel's appeal to music as the lifeline that can keep one afloat through any hardship. But it also brilliantly generalizes to any and all of us who "get it." Young people are disdained, condescended, and "enfringed" routinely for their musical and lifestyle explorations, as expressed in Stephen's references to "misfits and losers." Yet there is an often uspoken solidarity in our collective appreciation of music that others consider noise. That music permeates us, identifies us, and binds us. "Midnight Radio" serves as an appreciation of those of us who could no more forsake our music than we could forsake our breathing. We love it so much we could be found listening, playing or dancing deep into the night. We live individually, yet our individual muses are evidenced collectively. And so the song is a "hang in there!" kind of advocacy message that we should never slip into feeling too alone, that we "misfits" need to honor our musical selves, and each others'.