The Great Radio Controversy is the second album by American rock band Tesla

Tesla (band)

Tesla is an American hard rock band formed in Sacramento, California in 1984. They have sold 14 million albums in the United States.-Formation and Mechanical Resonance :...

, released in 1989. The songs combine 1980s metal with some blues-influenced elements, as well as the occasional love ballad. The record features many two-part counterpoints provided by guitarists Frank Hannon and Tommy Skeoch, on both electric and acoustic guitars.

The hit singles "Love Song

Love Song (Tesla song)

"Love Song" is a power ballad by the band Tesla, from the album The Great Radio Controversy, released in 1989. When the video was placed in heavy rotation on MTV, the song rocketed to number ten on the U.S. charts, becoming one of the group's biggest hits....

", "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)", "The Way It Is" received considerable MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 airplay and rocketed the band to stardom. Many tracks on this album later received acoustic versions on their follow-up album, Five Man Acoustical Jam

Five Man Acoustical Jam

-Charts:AlbumSingles and Album Tracks...

, a precursor of the Unplugged

Acoustic music

Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...

 trend.

The album is titled after the controversy about the identity of the inventor of radio

Invention Of Radio

Within the history of radio, several people were involved in the invention of radio and there were many key inventions in what became the modern systems of wireless. Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy"...

. It is posed that Serbian engineer Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...

 (whom the band is named after) is the true inventor of radio, while the Italian Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...

 took the credit and is widely regarded as having the title. The album's inner sleeve recounts this story.

RIAA

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 certified the album 2x platinum

RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

 on July 23rd, 1998.

Track listing

1. "Hang Tough" (Jeff Keith
   Jeff Keith
   Jeffery Lynn Keith is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the band Tesla. He was also the lead singer for the band Bar 7 and Sofaking....
   
   , Tommy Skeoch, Frank Hannon, Brian Wheat) – 4:21
2. "Lady Luck" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon, Wheat) – 3:39
3. "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" (Keith, Skeoch) – 4:41
4. "Be a Man" (Keith, Hannon, Skeoch) – 4:20
5. "Lazy Days, Crazy Nights" (Keith, Skeoch) – 4:26
6. "Did It for the Money" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon) – 4:25
7. "Yesterdaze Gone" (Keith, Hannon) – 3:43
8. "Makin' Magic" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon, Wheat) – 5:03
9. "The Way It Is" (Keith, Troy Luccketta, Skeoch, Hannon) – 5:14
10. "Flight to Nowhere" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon, Wheat) – 4:43
11. "Love Song
    Love Song (Tesla song)
    "Love Song" is a power ballad by the band Tesla, from the album The Great Radio Controversy, released in 1989. When the video was placed in heavy rotation on MTV, the song rocketed to number ten on the U.S. charts, becoming one of the group's biggest hits....
    
    " (Keith, Hannon) – 5:20
12. "Paradise" (Keith, Wheat, Hannon) – 4:59
13. "Party's Over" (Keith, Hannon, Skeoch) – 4:24

Personnel

• Jeff Keith
  Jeff Keith
  Jeffery Lynn Keith is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the band Tesla. He was also the lead singer for the band Bar 7 and Sofaking....
  
   – vocals
• Tommy Skeoch – guitars
• Frank Hannon – guitars, piano, organ
• Brian Wheat – bass
• Troy Luccketta – drums

• Recorded at Bearsville Studios, New York
  New York
  New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
  
  , USA
• Produced and mixed by Steve Thompson
  Steve Thompson (musician)
  -Biography:Steve Thompson is an American record producer, Having worked with Guns N Roses, Madonna, John Lennon, Wu Tang, Korn, Cutting Crew, Belouis Some,Public Enemy, Whitney Houston, Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers...
  
   and Michael Barbiero
  Michael Barbiero
  Michael Francis Barbiero , is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, songwriter, and journalist.-Background:Michael Barbiero has worked with a number of artists, such as Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Tesla, Cinderella, Blues Traveler, Ziggy Marley, Belouis Some, Cutting Crew, Counting Crows,...
  
  
• Engineered by Michael Barbiero
  Michael Barbiero
  Michael Francis Barbiero , is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, songwriter, and journalist.-Background:Michael Barbiero has worked with a number of artists, such as Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Tesla, Cinderella, Blues Traveler, Ziggy Marley, Belouis Some, Cutting Crew, Counting Crows,...
  
  
• Additional recording and assistant engineered by George Cowan
• Mixed at Media Sound, New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  , USA
• Assistant engineered by Vic Deyglio
• Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  , USA
• CD mastered by Barry Diament at BDA, New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  , USA

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1989	The Billboard 200	18

Singles and Album Tracks

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1989	Hang Tough	Mainstream Rock Tracks	34
1989	Love Song	Mainstream Rock Tracks	7
1989	Love Song	Billboard Hot 100	10
1990	The Way It Is	Mainstream Rock Tracks	13
1990	The Way It Is	Billboard Hot 100	55
1991	Paradise (Five Man Acoustical Jam Five Man Acoustical Jam -Charts:AlbumSingles and Album Tracks... version)	Mainstream Rock Tracks	28