“Radioactive” by The Firm

In this song, the term “radioactive” points to the vocalist being hot, though not necessarily sexually excited. That is to say that, first of all, the addressee is his romantic interest. And what is telling this person overtly is that he wants to be ‘turned on’ and ‘turned loose’ by her.

But reading in between the lines, what’s being inferred is that maybe said addressee is contentious, or perhaps this relationship has its issues. In any event, what Paul is also putting forth is that he’s not interested in any games or conflicts with her this evening. Rather, he just wants to be by her side and enjoy her company in a romantic sense.

The Firm

The Firm, in this case, is a short-lived mid-1980s supergroup from England. Its membership consisted of Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page, who had respectively made names of themselves as members of Bad Company and Led Zeppelin. 

The pair were joined by fretless-bassist Tony Franklin in addition to drummer Chris Slade, the latter of whom went on to be part of AC/DC later down the line.

Throughout its three-year existence, The Firm did manage to drop a couple of studio albums, complete with a handful of singles.  

“Radioactive”

“Radioactive” is the first song the group ever put out. It came out in 1985 and served as the lead single from the group’s maiden album, a self-titled effort that was backed by Atlantic Records.

This track went on to top the US Mainstream Rock chart, in addition to making appearances on the UK Singles Chart and US Hot 100. And to note, MTV is said to have contributed to it faring much better in the latter regard.

Paul Rodgers wrote this song, and he produced it with Jimmy Page.