In the early ’90s, while grunge was getting gritty in Seattle and Britpop was still warming up its swagger in the UK, Shakespears Sister released something that felt like it came from somewhere entirely different. “Hello (Turn Your Radio On),” dropped in October 1992 as the final single from Hormonally Yours, and it didn’t sound like it belonged to any one scene. It was like tuning into a distant, dreamlike transmission — part glam, part ghost story, entirely its own thing.
A Dreamy, Distant Farewell
Written by Siobhan Fahey, Marcella Detroit, and Manu Guiot, and co-produced with Alan Moulder, “Hello” was the last track on the album — and it felt like the final word, the deep breath after all the theatrical highs of earlier singles like “Stay” and “I Don’t Care.” It’s slower, quieter, and carries a strange kind of weight, like it’s mourning something it can’t quite name.
The single version was gently remixed from the album cut — more bass, a little more punch, and an extended chorus to give it a smoother ride on the radio. But the heart of it stayed the same: “Hello, hello, turn your radio on / Is there anybody out there?” It’s a soft, aching call into the void — a theme that hits just as hard now as it did in a pre-internet, analog world.
On the Charts
Despite its more subdued mood, “Hello” still found listeners. It peaked at No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart, sticking around the Top 40 for six weeks. It also reached the Top 10 in Switzerland, the Top 20 in Sweden, and charted modestly in Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands. While it didn’t reach the same stratosphere as “Stay”, it proved the band could land a hit with something softer, weirder, and more reflective.
Black & White, Inside a Box
The music video, directed by Sophie Muller, leaned into the song’s dreamy isolation. Shot in black-and-white, it shows Fahey and Detroit inside a narrow, box-like room that opens and closes like a stage. It’s part theater, part prison — a perfect visual metaphor for being hidden away, singing your heart out, unsure if anyone’s even listening.
Critics Tuned In
Critics got it. AllMusic praised the song as a “stellar glam-tinged ballad with a dreamy chorus.” Billboard highlighted its “Beatles-esque vibe” and that big, emotional hook. The Daily Vault called it the “spellbinding grand finale” of Hormonally Yours, while Music & Media simply dubbed it another gem from “the hippest sisters around.”
Covers and Echoes
Over the years, “Hello” has been reimagined by acts from all corners — from German punk band The Bates in 1994 to pop group Queensberry in 2009. But nothing really touches the original. There’s something about the way Shakespears Sister delivered it — dramatic but restrained, theatrical but intimate — that makes it feel like a true one-off.
In the noise of the early ’90s and even more so in today’s always-on, always-loud world, “Hello (Turn Your Radio On)” still sounds like a message worth picking up. Quiet, strange, a little haunted — and somehow still hopeful.