 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) and Parliament-Funkadelic.Songs by eighties-era artists such as Talking Heads and Elvis Costello showed up in The Radiators' performances as well.The Radiators were formed in January 1978 after a jam session in keyboardist Ed Volker's garage.