The Spirit of Radio (4:56)

“The Spirit of Radio” is a song released in 1980 by Canadian rock band Rush from their album Permanent Waves. The song’s name was inspired by Toronto radio station CFNY’s. 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” became their breakthrough hit at the time, and soon reached number 13 on the UK singles chart. “The Spirit of Radio” was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Rush’s only such entry.

UK Band St. Etienne sampled the opening riff on “Conchita Martinez”, a track on their 1993 album, So Tough

The song’s familiar synthesizer hook during the breaks was programmed using the Oberheim OB1 synthesizer. Today, the part is achieved through MIDI pedals.

The final lines of the song (“For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall…/Concert hall/And echoes with the sounds of salesmen”) are an allusion to the famous final lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkel classic “The Sound of Silence”: “…the words of the prophets/Are written on the subway walls/And tenement halls/And whispered in the sounds of silence.”

On performances during the 1981 tour, the line “one likes to believe in the freedom of music” was changed to “one likes to believe in the freedom of baseball” as a commentary on the 1981 Major League Baseball Players Association strike. Geddy Lee still occasionally drops this change into the song when performing live.