# Radioactive "Radioactive" is a 2012 Imagine Dragons song that picked up a second life as a meme in 2017 when Tumblr users rewrote its opening line "I'm waking up to ash and dust, I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust" into crude parody. By 2019, YouTubers were swapping the chorus for video game death screams and other absurd sound effects. ## Origin Imagine Dragons released "Radioactive" on October 29, 2012, with the official music video arriving on YouTube on December 10, 2012[2]. The song hit Diamond certification, sold more than 8.2 million copies in the United States, and won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance[3]. It also picked up a Record of the Year nomination at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014[1]. A parody version started circulating in March 2017 through a Tumblr post by user butchgomezaddams, which rewrote the opening couplet as "I'm waking up to ash and dust, I wipe my ass and I slap my nuts"[3]. The swap scanned close enough to the real line that it spread through reblogs without much friction. - **Platform:** Tumblr (lyric parody) / YouTube (video remixes) - **Creator:** butchgomezaddams (Tumblr) - **Date:** 2017 ## Overview Remixes keep the first half of the song's opening line intact and swap the rhyming second half for something vulgar, absurd, or purely sonic. The earliest Tumblr version went with "I wipe my ass and I slap my nuts," which scanned close enough to the real lyric that it reads as plausible at a glance[3]. Later video edits moved away from rewritten words and toward replacing the chorus vocal with audio clips: death screams from video games, cartoon yelps, or whatever noise paired well with the song's dramatic buildup[4]. The tone sits between affectionate and mocking, since the actual chorus is already theatrical enough that a small substitution feels in character[3]. ## How to Use Creators typically preserve the setup line "I'm waking up to ash and dust" and replace what follows with either a vulgar rhyme or a short audio clip timed to the beat. Video edits often cut Dan Reynolds' vocal under the chorus entirely and drop in game death noises or cartoon sound effects where the lyric would fall. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Radioactive? A 2012 Imagine Dragons song that became a remix meme in 2017 when Tumblr users rewrote its opening line as a crude parody[3]. ### Where did Radioactive come from? A Tumblr post by butchgomezaddams in March 2017 kicked off the meme, swapping "wipe my brow and I sweat my rust" for "wipe my ass and I slap my nuts"[3]. ### What does Radioactive mean? As a meme, it refers to lyric parodies and sound-replacement edits of the Imagine Dragons song, usually targeting the first line of the chorus[4]. ### How do you use Radioactive? Creators typically keep "I'm waking up to ash and dust" and replace what follows with a vulgar rhyme or a video game sound effect[5]. ### Is Radioactive still popular? Remix activity peaked in 2018 and 2019, though the original music video still has over a billion YouTube views[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5819883/grammy-awards-2014-full-nominations-list-complete-nominees]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvTqknDobU]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/radioactive]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX7Bq2dRKWo]() 5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwW_Ux7kbw]() 6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzuvbLqMwTI]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/radioactive Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library