“Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo

"Mexican Radio" first showed up on Call of the West, Wall of Voodoo's second studio album, in 1982, and it's one of the oddest things new wave ever smuggled into the mainstream: a clanking, twangy, synth-laced contraption with Stan Ridgway's deadpan drawl riding over the top like a man narrating his own fever dream.

Ridgway sings and plays harmonica and keyboards, Marc Moreland plays guitar, Chas T. Gray handles bass and synthesizer and sings backing vocals, and Joe Nanini pounds the drums and percussion and adds vocals of his own. Moreland and Ridgway wrote it, Richard Mazda produced it for I.R.S. Records, and Jess Sutcliffe engineered and mixed it with Robert Battaglia and Avi Kipper.

The video got regular play on MTV in the United States and did plenty to push the song along. By April 1983 it had reached 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 55 on the Cash Box Top 100, while abroad it peaked at 18 in Canada, reached 21 in New Zealand, got to 33 in Australia and managed 64 in the UK.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.