Radio Birdman

234,629 plays (19,765 listeners)

garage rock, punk, punk rock, rock, australian… see all

Radio Birdman began recording in 1976 when the single ”Burn My Eye” was released. They took their name from a misheard lyric in The Stooges song, ”1970”. (The actual line is “Radio burnin’”) Their first LP, Radios Appear, showed diverse influences, including Detroit bands of the late 1960s, such as The MC5 and The Stooges. The album was totally ignored by commercial radio but was championed by Sydney station 2JJ (Double Jay) and became sufficiently successful in Australia to lead to a contract with Sire Records (US label, home of The Ramones), who released a different version of Radios Appear internationally. It took three years to record a follow-up, Living Eyes, and by then, the Australian punk scene had diversified and the band broke up before the LP was released.

The band’s lyrics reference US-born guitarist/main songwriter Deniz Tek’s home state of Michigan, with lyrics from tracks such as “Murder City Nights” referring to Woodward Avenue in Detroit:

“Cruising down Woodward gotta find me some action/Looking for a lover with a power reaction.”

Many of their other songs, such as “Hand Of Law” & “Descent Into The Maelstrom” deal in apocalyptic images of war and violence, but these are more than balanced by the lighter pop culture references of tunes such as “Aloha Steve & Danno”, an ode to the TV show Hawaii 5-0. “Man With Golden Helmet” (which Tek wrote in high school) is one of their most cryptic efforts: “Man with golden helmet/drinks water from the faucet…plays with tiny children/on his way home from work…he’s a top man/in the language department”. Deniz Tek wrote most of the lyrics and music for the band

Radios Appear
Radio Birdman
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Zeno Beach
Radio Birdman
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Living Eyes
Radio Birdman
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Essential Radio Birdman 1974-78
Radio Birdman
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Top Tracks

1	Murder City Nights	118
2	New Race	106
3	Anglo Girl Desire	71
4	Hand Of Law	69
5	Love Kills	64
6	Aloha Steve & Danno	61
6	Descent Into The Maelstrom	61
8	Do The Pop	57
9	I-94	55
10	Aloha Steve and Danno	50
11	Hanging On	49
12	Non-Stop Girls	46
13	Burn My Eye '78	44
14	Alone in the Endzone	43
14	What Gives?	43

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LordGazeau wrote:
last month

Bought the "Radios appear" album some 30 years ago and I've been playing it since then :) Timeless rock'n'roll

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jakville wrote:
July 2008

A great album

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walruzzi89 wrote:
June 2008

Yeah, wow, this ís cool!

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LightbulbBandit wrote:
May 2008

Coo'. Top listener

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rtollison wrote:
April 2008

wack wack wack!!!!!!!!!!

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kostasdegrecia wrote:
April 2008

The best rock'n'roll band since the invention of sound!

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LightbulbBandit wrote:
April 2008

So underrated

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The_poukieman wrote:
February 2008

only 13,000 listeners! They deserve so much more, everybody should check this band out, because they're just the best!

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Phillyzero wrote:
October 2007

Wow, that's some good aussie

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RubberSoulBro wrote:
October 2007

great stuff

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madmonk80 wrote:
September 2007

they defenetely ROCK!

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albertrock wrote:
September 2007

RADIO BIRDMAN FOREVER!!!!

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Pixieguts wrote:
September 2007

Classic Aussie rock!!

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blafblabla wrote:
July 2007

My Favorite Australian Band? Almost. Blame that on Nick Cave.

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GG_NextMatt wrote:
July 2007

I saw them tonight, fucking awesome.

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2cabs2toucan wrote:
May 2007

Orstralia

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lspaceman3 wrote:
May 2007

Fuck yeah. Discovered them in 10th grade through my fathers record collection. Haven't looked back since. :)

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nickwafer wrote:
March 2007

No one knows this band. I think they were better than the New York Dolls.

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[deleted-user] wrote:
November 2006

vote the pics
Larvi wrote:
October 2006

There's no better rockmusic to dance to !

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Recent Activity

picsofme, imryrian, thelasttoknow and 2 other people added Radio Birdman to their libraries. 3 hours ago
MAGT1976 tagged Radio Birdman with ‘garage rock’ and ‘garage’. yesterday evening
samandsue, reddevil663, philstones and 30 other people added Radio Birdman to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
rakshasa07 tagged Radio Birdman with ‘punk rock’, ‘garage rock’, ‘70s’ and ‘punk’. last month
sinamo68 tagged Radio Birdman with ‘rock’. last month
MikeS58, KarenaH78, jmickens and 31 other people added Radio Birdman to their libraries. last month
fergusmcphail tagged Radio Birdman with ‘australia’ and ‘a’. August 2008
cut_paste, DieDeeDie, fouramjava and 11 other people added Radio Birdman to their libraries. August 2008
jocasta77 tagged Radio Birdman with ‘punk’. July 2008
1mayflower7 tagged Radio Birdman with ‘australian’ and ‘garage rock’. July 2008