In a feat of continuity rarely seen in the rock music world, the five-man line up in the year of their breakup (2011) is the same one as when the band formed in 1978.
On June 10, 2011, at Tipitina's in New Orleans, during the second of their final three concerts, The Radiators were inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
From the world of the blues, The Radiators performed standards by Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf and more.
They also covered early rock and roll and R&B artists such as Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and Mose Allison.
Fellow swamp-rockers Creedence Clearwater Revival and J. J. Cale were well represented in The Radiators' repertoire, as are more mainstream acts such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, The Doors, The Allman Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Jesse Winchester, Little Feat (to whom the band are often compared)[4][5] and Parliament-Funkadelic.
As already-established musicians in New Orleans, the newly formed band was quickly able to find work in the city's bars and clubs, including a weekly Wednesday night show at Luigi's Pizza Parlor on Elysian Fields, which was canceled after Bua brought in a real chainsaw during a performance of their song "Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
They played marathon-length concerts with an emphasis on funky dance beats mixed with fiery rock licks, and their popularity continued to grow.
As students from Tulane graduated and moved on to other cities, they spread the word about The Radiators,[9] and the band began to establish a fan base beyond New Orleans and Louisiana.
Ed Volker's previous band, the Rhapsodizers, had earlier been the featured act at this party, so it was natural for The Radiators to take over.
's Ball, put on by the renegade Krewe of Mystic Orphans and Misfits, would become an inspiration for other private parties hosted by groups of Radiators fans in other cities.
[10] Their next album on Epic, 1989's Zig-Zaggin' Through Ghostland, was their biggest release ever, making it all the way up to #122 on Billboard, but it also failed to crack the top 100, and when Total Evaporation, their third album with Epic, failed to make the charts at all, the band and the label parted ways.
While traditional rock and roll success had so-far eluded the Radiators, they had, at least, managed to establish a broad enough fan base that they could make regular national tours.
's Ball, and the band earned the coveted closing spot on one of the main stages at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which is held to this day, and where they often played before crowds of up to thirty thousand people.
In January 2004, in honor of their twenty-fifth anniversary, The Radiators decided to hold and film a series of celebratory concerts at Tipitina's, the site where they had recorded their very first album.
After floods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans in 2005, The Radiators appeared in a hurricane-relief benefit concert broadcast simultaneously on MTV, VH1 and CMT on September 10.
After taping their segment for the benefit in Los Angeles, the band flew to San Francisco for a previous-scheduled concert that same night.
In early 2006, in a city still devastated, The Radiators returned to the studio for the first time in five years, to produce Dreaming out Loud, which was released at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in spring of 2006.
The album was initially available only through the band's website, and through local Louisiana distributors, but in the fall of 2006, it was picked up by the SCI Fidelity label and given a new cover and national distribution.
After 33 years..over 4500 live shows..and a dozen albums..legendary New Orleans rockers The Radiators are finally calling it quits.
The band will honor all dates already on their schedule and are planning to add as many shows as possible before ending their storied 33 year career.
[14] Despite ceasing to perform regularly as an active band, the Radiators still reunite at least once a year in January for a three-day run at Tipitina's in New Orleans.
[3] The band played a run of three livestreamed reunion virtual shows at Tipitina's in New Orleans, LA on January 13, 14, 15, of 2021 during the Covid pandemic.