The Selecter: “On My Radio” (1979)

No, your radio’s not broken. This is the ska revolution coming to you in black and white.

Kronomyth 0.2: Quizzing on my jukebox selection?

I fell in love with On My Radio the first time I heard it. To understand my instant infatuation, you’d have to transport yourself back to 1980 at a time when the radio was still playing the hits from Captain & Tennille, Olivia-Newton John and Air Supply. There was something subversive about “On My Radio” and its off-kilter, cuckoo-clock chorus that felt like a big wrench being thrown into the music machinery. Of course, you were only likely to encounter this song on late-night college radio stations, but the effect was the same. I soon picked up The Selecter‘s first album, Too Much Pressure, the title track of which was featured on the flip side to this single. That song is English ska with a solid work ethic, good but not as deliciously fun as The Specials or Madness. “On My Radio” made the band a brief sensation in the UK, when ska seemed like the future. Maybe there’s a parallel universe somewhere where ska really did catch on, which would be a world worth visiting.

Original 7-inch single version

A1. On My Radio (Neol Davies)
B1. Too Much Pressure (Neol Davies)

Back-to-back hits 7-inch single version
A1. On My Radio (Neol Davies) (3:16)
B1. Three Minute Hero (Neol Davies) (3:00)

The Plastic

Released on 7-inch single in October 1979 in the UK and France (Two-Tone, CHS TT4) and Portugal (Chrysalis, 6155 268) with regional picture sleeve. Reached #8 on the UK charts. Also released as promotional 7-inch single in 1980 in the US (Chrysalis, CHS 2376) feat. A stereo and mono versions.

1. Re-issued w. “Three Minute Hero” on back-to-back hits 7-inch single in 1987 in the UK (Old Gold, OG-9681).