Kid A
Encyclopedia
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock
band Radiohead
, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone
label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum
in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single
or music video
as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead release to debut at number one in the United States. This success was credited variously to a unique marketing campaign, the early Internet leak
of the album, and anticipation after the band's 1997 album, OK Computer
.
Kid A was recorded in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire
and Oxford
with producer
Nigel Godrich
. The album's songwriting and recording were experimental for Radiohead, as the band replaced their earlier "anthemic" rock style with a more electronic
sound. Influenced by Krautrock
, jazz
, and 20th century classical music
, Radiohead abandoned their three-guitar line-up for a wider range of instruments on Kid A, using keyboards, the Ondes martenot
, and, on certain compositions, strings
and brass
. Kid A also contains more minimal and abstract lyrics than the band's previous work. Singer Thom Yorke
has said the album was not intended as "art", but reflects the music they listened to at the time. Original artwork by Stanley Donwood
and Yorke, and a series of short animated films called "blips", accompanied the album.
Kid A has been considered one of the most challenging pop
records to have commercial success. The album won a Grammy
for Best Alternative Album
and was nominated for Album of the Year
. It also received praise for introducing listeners to diverse forms of underground music
. Despite the band's new direction alienating some fans and critics, Kid A received generally positive reviews from notable music publications. It was subsequently listed by multiple publications as one of the best albums of recent years, and in 2009 was ranked No. 1 in lists of the best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork
, Rolling Stone
, and The Times
.
. His feeling of disconnection with the "speed" of the modern world, which inspired songs on OK Computer, had intensified on the 1997–1998 "Running from Demons" world tour. As documented in Grant Gee
's 1999 film Meeting People Is Easy
, Radiohead unveiled new songs on the tour, including what was then known as "How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found", but the band had difficulty recording them.
While Yorke was receiving praise for his music, he became openly hostile to the media. He believed his songs had become part of a constant background noise he described as "fridge buzz". Yorke felt that "all the sounds you made, that made you happy, have been sucked of everything they meant", and he suffered depression
as he struggled to write new music. Yorke said that in late 1998, "Every time I picked up a guitar I just got the horrors. I would start writing a song, stop after 16 bars
, hide it away in a drawer, look at it again, tear it up, destroy it". Radiohead members decided to continue; bassist Colin Greenwood
adding, "we felt we had to change everything".
When Radiohead began work on the album early in 1999, the members had differing ideas as to the musical direction they should take. Guitar player Ed O'Brien
wanted to strip the band's style down to direct, three-minute guitar pop songs, while Yorke felt their past efforts with rock music
had "missed the point". Yorke said he had "completely had it with melody. I just wanted rhythm". Yorke had been a DJ and part of a techno
band at Exeter University, and began to listen almost exclusively to electronic music
, saying, "I felt just as emotional about it as I'd ever felt about guitar music". He liked the idea of his voice being used as an instrument rather than having a leading role in the album.
Work began on Kid A with OK Computer producer Nigel Godrich
, without a deadline from the label. Yorke, who had the greatest control within the band, was still facing writer's block
. His new songs were incomplete, and some consisted of little more than a drum machine
rhythm and lyric fragments he had drawn from a hat. The band rehearsed briefly and began recording at a studio in Paris, but rejected their work after a month and moved to Medley Studios in Copenhagen
for two weeks. Some music from early 1999 was incorporated into the album, often unrecognisable from its original form ("In Limbo", originally known as "Lost at Sea", dates from this time). According to band members, the period was largely unproductive.
O'Brien began to keep an online studio diary of the band's progress. He later described Radiohead's change in style during this period: "If you're going to make a different-sounding record, you have to change the methodology. And it's scary—everyone feels insecure. I'm a guitarist and suddenly it's like, well, there are no guitars on this track, or no drums". Drummer Phil Selway
also found it hard to adjust to the recording sessions.
In April 1999 recording resumed in a Gloucestershire
mansion before moving to the band's long-planned studio in Oxford
, which was completed in September 1999. In line with Yorke's new musical direction, the band members began to experiment with different instruments, and to learn "how to be a participant in a song without playing a note". The rest of the band gradually grew to share Yorke's passion for synthesised sounds. They also used digital tools like Pro Tools
and Cubase to manipulate their recordings. O'Brien said, "everything is wide open with the technology now. The permutations are endless". By the end of the year, six songs were complete, including the title track.
Early in 2000 Jonny Greenwood
, the only Radiohead member trained in music theory
, composed a string
arrangement for "How to Disappear Completely", which he recorded with the Orchestra of St. John's in Dorchester Abbey
. He played ondes Martenot
on the track, as well as on "Optimistic
" and "The National Anthem
". Yorke played bass
on "The National Anthem" (known during the sessions as "Everyone"), a track Radiohead had once attempted to record as a B-side for OK Computer. Trying it again for Kid A, Yorke wanted it to feature a Charles Mingus
-inspired horn section
, and he and Jonny Greenwood "conducted" the jazz
musicians to sound like a "traffic jam". Jonny Greenwood and his brother Colin also began experimenting with sampling
their own and other artists' music. One such sample yielded the basic track for "Idioteque
", which Yorke sang over. Despite their change in direction, Colin Greenwood still described Radiohead as being a rock band. Jonny Greenwood summarised their recording sessions for Kid A:
Radiohead finished recording during the spring of 2000, having completed almost 30 new songs. Preferring to avoid a double album
, the band saved many of the songs for their next release, the 2001 album Amnesiac
. Yorke obsessed over potential running orders and the band argued over the track list, reportedly bringing them close to a break-up. It was eventually decided that Kid A would begin with "Everything in Its Right Place". Yorke felt the song, which was written on a piano and computer, was most representative of the new record, and initially wanted to release it as a single. Final mixing
was completed by Godrich, and mastering
of Kid A took place at London's Abbey Road Studios
under Chris Blair.
executive praised the music but described "the business challenge of making everyone believe" in it. However, there was considerable media interest; Kid A was described as "the most highly anticipated rock record since Nirvana
's In Utero". Thom Yorke found the situation "terrifying", and according to Ed O'Brien, the marketing campaign aimed to dispel hype about the new album. In a departure from music industry practice, the band decided not to release any official singles from Kid A, although "Optimistic" and promotional copies of several other tracks received some radio play.
Radiohead and their fans had a large Internet presence by the late 1990s. As a result, Parlophone
(UK) and Capitol Records
(US) marketed the album in an unconventional way, promoting it partly through the Internet. Short films called "blips", set to the band's music, were distributed freely online and were shown between programmes on music channels. Capitol created the "iBlip", a Java applet
that could be embedded into fan sites, allowing users to pre-order the album and listen to streaming audio before its release. No advance copies were circulated, but the album was played under carefully controlled conditions for critics and at listening parties for fans, and it was previewed in its entirety on MTV2
.
The band made a brief tour of Mediterranean countries in early summer 2000, playing their new songs live for the first time. By the time the album's title was announced in mid-2000, concert bootlegs
were being shared on the peer-to-peer
service Napster
. Colin Greenwood said, "We played in Barcelona and the next day the entire performance was up on Napster
. Three weeks later when we got to play in Israel the audience knew the words to all the new songs and it was wonderful." A month before its release, the finished album appeared on Napster. In response, Yorke said "it encourages enthusiasm for music in a way that the music industry has long forgotten to do." Estimates suggested Kid A was downloaded without payment millions of times before its worldwide release, and some expected weaker sales.
European sales slowed on 2 October 2000, the day of official release, when 150,000 faulty CDs were recalled by EMI. However, Kid A debuted at number one in the album charts in the UK, US, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada. It was the first US number one in three years for any British act, and Radiohead's first US top 20 album. Some have suggested peer-to-peer distribution may have helped sales by generating word-of-mouth. Others credited the label for creating hype. However, the band believed measures against early leaks may not have allowed critics (who were supposed to rely on the CD copies) time to make up their minds.
In late 2000, the band toured Europe in a custom-built tent without corporate logos, playing mostly new songs. Radiohead also performed three concerts in North American theatres, their first in nearly three years. The small venues sold out rapidly, attracting celebrities, and fans who camped all night. In October the band appeared on Saturday Night Live
. The footage shocked some viewers who expected rock songs, with Jonny Greenwood playing electronic instruments, the in-house brass band improvising over "The National Anthem", and Yorke dancing spasmodically and stuttering in "Idioteque". Radiohead went to the US just after Kid As chart-topping debut and according to O'Brien, "Americans love success, so if you've got a Number One record they really, really like you." Yorke said "We were The Beatles
, for a week."
artists Autechre
and Aphex Twin
, along with others on Warp Records
; by 1970s Krautrock
bands such as Can
, Faust
and Neu!
; and by the jazz
of Charles Mingus
, Alice Coltrane
and Miles Davis
. During the recording period Radiohead drew inspiration from Remain in Light
(1980) by their early influence Talking Heads
, they attended an Underworld
concert which helped renew their enthusiasm in a difficult moment and band members listened to abstract hip hop
from the Mo'Wax label, including Blackalicious
and DJ Krush
.
"How to Disappear Completely" was inspired by singer Scott Walker
, who had previously inspired the band's 1993 hit single "Creep". The string orchestration for "How to Disappear" was influenced by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki
. Jonny Greenwood's use of the Ondes Martenot
on this and several other Kid A songs was inspired by Olivier Messiaen
, who popularised the early electronic instrument and was one of Greenwood's teenage heroes. "Idioteque" samples the work of Paul Lansky
and Arthur Kreiger, classical composers involved in computer music
. Thom Yorke also referenced electronic dance music
, saying the song was "an attempt to capture that exploding beat sound where you're at the club and the PA
's so loud, you know it's doing damage".
"Motion Picture Soundtrack" (a song written before "Creep") was an attempt to emulate the soundtrack of 1950s Disney films. Yorke recorded it alone on a pedal organ and other band members added sampled harp
and double bass
sounds. Jonny Greenwood described his interest in mixing old and new music technology, and during the recording sessions Yorke read Ian MacDonald
's Revolution in the Head
, which chronicles The Beatles' recordings with George Martin
during the 1960s. The band also sought to combine electronic manipulations with jam sessions in the studio, stating their model was the German group Can.
Radiohead have stated their lack of identification with progressive rock
. As such, Kid A includes no songs longer than six minutesWhile "Motion Picture Soundtrack" has a track length of over six minutes, the song itself is less than three and a half minutes long. See: lacuna (music)
. and has been sometimes characterised as post-rock
, due to a minimalist
style and focus on texture. Jonny Greenwood's guitar solos are less prominent on Kid A than on previous Radiohead albums; however, guitars were still used on most tracks. The instrumental "Treefingers" was at first a guitar solo by Ed O'Brien that was subsequently digitally processed to create an ambient sound. In addition, some of Yorke's vocals on Kid A are heavily modified by digital effects; Yorke's vocal effect on the title song was created with the ondes martenot, giving an effect comparable to vocoder
. The band's shift in style has been compared with U2
's Zooropa
(1993) and Passengers (1995) projects, and Talk Talk
's Laughing Stock (1991).
(1993), whose lyrics were not officially released or published in its liner notes
. Thom Yorke, who wrote all the lyrics, explained this by saying the words could not be considered separately from the music. He said he used a vocal manipulation to distance himself from the title track's "brutal and horrible" subject matter, which he could not have sung otherwise. For at least some of the lyrics, Yorke cut up
words and phrases and drew them from a hat. Tristan Tzara
's similar technique for writing "dada
poetry" was posted on Radiohead's official web site during the recording. Post-punk
bands who influenced Radiohead, such as Talking Heads in their work with Brian Eno
, were also known to employ the technique.
According to Yorke, the album's title was not a reference to Kid A in Alphabet Land, a trading card set written by Carl Steadman
dealing with the work of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan
. Yorke suggested that the title could refer to the first human clone, but denied he had a concept
or story
in mind. On another occasion, Yorke said "Kid A" was the nickname of a sequencer. Yorke said, "If you call it something specific, it drives the record in a certain way. I like the non-meaning".
Band members read Naomi Klein
's anti-globalization
book No Logo
while recording the album, recommended it to fans on their website, and considered calling the album No Logo for a time. Yorke also cited George Monbiot's Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain
as an influence. Yorke and other band members were involved in the movement to cancel third world debt during this period, and they also spoke out on other issues. Some feel Kid A conveys an anti-consumerist
viewpoint, expressing the band's perception of global capitalism
. In 2005, music journalist Chuck Klosterman
wrote that Kid A was in fact an "unintentional but spooky foreshadowing of the events of the 11 September 2001 attacks" and the world's situation beyond that.
Yorke said the album was partly about "the generation that will inherit the earth when we've wiped evrything out". However, he has refused to explain his songwriting in political terms. Some songs were personal, inspired by dreams. Other lyrics were inspired by advice Yorke received from friends. The lyric "I'm not here, this isn't happening" in "How to Disappear Completely", were taken from Michael Stipe
's advice to Yorke about coping with the pressures of touring. The chorus of "Optimistic", "If you try the best you can, the best you can is good enough", was inspired by Yorke's partner, Rachel Owen. "Everything in Its Right Place" was a result of Yorke's inability to speak during his breakdown on the OK Computer tour.
s were initially released from Kid A, but 30-seconds-long short films called "blips" were set to its music. The blips were shown between segments on MTV
, occasionally as TV commercials for the album, and were distributed free from Radiohead's website. Each blip was made by one of two collectives: The Vapour Brothers or Shynola
. Most blips were animated, often inspired by Stanley Donwood
's album artwork, and have been seen as stories of nature reclaiming civilisation from uncontrollable biotechnology
and consumerism
. Characters in the blips included "sperm
monsters" and blinking, genetically modified killer teddy bear
s, the latter of which became a self-conscious logo for the album's advertising campaign. A more traditional video was released in late 2000: the band performing an alternate version of "Idioteque" in the studio. Several months later a video was released for "Motion Picture Soundtrack", which entirely consisted of material from the blips. Yorke described it as "the most beautiful piece of film that was ever made for our music".
The cover art, by Donwood and Tchock (an alias for Thom Yorke), is a computer rendering of a mountain range, with pixel
ated distortion near the bottom. It was a reflection of the war in Kosovo
in winter 1999. Donwood was affected by a photograph in The Guardian
, saying the war felt like it was happening in his own street. Influenced by Victorian era
military art depicting British colonial
subjects, Donwood also produced colourful oil painting
s, creating a sharp texture with knives and putty. The back cover is a digitally modified depiction of another snowscape with fires raging through fields. Kid A came with a booklet of Donwood and Tchock artwork, printed on both glossy paper and thick tracing paper
. Near the back is a large triptych
-style fold-out drawing.
Some of the artwork was seen to take a more explicitly political stance than the album's lyrics. The red swimming pool on the spine of the CD case and on the disc represents what Donwood termed "a symbol of looming danger and shattered expectations". It came from the graphic novel
Brought to Light
by Alan Moore
and Bill Sienkiewicz
, in which the CIA measures its killings through state-sponsored terrorism
by the equivalent number of 50-gallon swimming pools filled with human blood. This image haunted Donwood throughout the Kid A project. Early pressings of Kid A came with an extra booklet of artwork hidden under the CD tray. The booklet contained political references, including a demon
ic portrait of then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair
surrounded by warnings of demagoguery.
A special edition of Kid A was also released, in a thick cardboard package in the style of a children's book with a new cover and different oil paintings of apocalyptic landscapes and bear images. Although in the same style as the album art, these paintings were without digital distortion. The book included a page with statistics on world glacier
melt rates, paralleling the art's themes of environmental degradation. In 2006, Donwood and Tchock exhibited Radiohead album artwork in Barcelona, with a focus on Kid A. An art book documenting the work and Donwood's inspirations, called Dead Children Playing
, was also issued.
compared Kid A to Lou Reed
's Metal Machine Music
, implying that it was an attempt at "commercial suicide" in order to escape from a label contract. He summarised a common source of opposition to the album in a review for The New Yorker
, lamenting the change in musical style from The Bends
(1995) and OK Computer. In 2001, by contrast, Radiohead appeared on the cover of The Wire
, an avant-garde music
magazine that usually ignores trends in alternative rock
. The band earned a feature interview by Simon Reynolds
, championing Kid A and its follow-up, Amnesiac, and dismissing accusations that they lacked originality.
Several American critics gave the album positive reviews, with Spin
naming Radiohead "Band of the Year" and USA Today
calling Kid A "the most eccentric album ever to debut at No. 1, setting Radiohead apart from an army of lock-stepping pop and rock acts." Robert Christgau
gave the album an A−; he wrote, "this [Kid A] is an imaginative, imitative variation on a pop staple: sadness made pretty. Alienated masterpiece nothing- it's dinner music". French publications Les Inrockuptibles
and Magic gave Kid A highly favourable reviews. Readers of Les Inrocks also voted it album of the year. However, in the UK, Kid A disappointed and infuriated some critics who expected the band to be "rock saviours". Melody Maker
had said months in advance of the album, "If there's one band that promises to return rock to us, it's Radiohead". The album was later given a negative review in the magazine. NME described the album as "scared to commit itself emotionally", though giving it a 7/10.
Despite the lack of consensus, by the end of 2000 the album was appearing frequently in critics' top ten lists as praise for Radiohead's experimentation appeared to outweigh reservations. In 2001, Kid A received a Grammy
nomination for Album of the Year and for Best Engineered Album
, and it won Best Alternative Album. In 2004, the album was ranked number 428 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
. In 2005, two popular indie music publications, Pitchfork Media
and Stylus Magazine
, independently named Kid A the best album of the past five years. Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and The Times
would all go on to rank Kid A as the greatest album of the 2000s. In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME
organised a poll of 40,000 people worldwide who voted for the 100 best albums ever and Kid A was placed at #95 on the list.
(*) designates unordered lists.
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
or music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead release to debut at number one in the United States. This success was credited variously to a unique marketing campaign, the early Internet leak
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
of the album, and anticipation after the band's 1997 album, OK Computer
OK Computer
OK Computer is the third studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 16 June 1997 on Parlophone in the UK and 1 July 1997 by Capitol Records in the US. It marks a deliberate attempt by the band to move away from the introspective guitar-oriented sound of their previous...
.
Kid A was recorded in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
with producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...
. The album's songwriting and recording were experimental for Radiohead, as the band replaced their earlier "anthemic" rock style with a more electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
sound. Influenced by Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and 20th century classical music
20th century classical music
20th century classical music was without a dominant style and highly diverse.-Introduction:At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius were pushing the bounds of Post-Romantic Symphonic writing...
, Radiohead abandoned their three-guitar line-up for a wider range of instruments on Kid A, using keyboards, the Ondes martenot
Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
, and, on certain compositions, strings
String orchestra
A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...
and brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
. Kid A also contains more minimal and abstract lyrics than the band's previous work. Singer Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
has said the album was not intended as "art", but reflects the music they listened to at the time. Original artwork by Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood is the pen name of English artist Dan Rickwood. Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art...
and Yorke, and a series of short animated films called "blips", accompanied the album.
Kid A has been considered one of the most challenging pop
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
records to have commercial success. The album won a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Alternative Album
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative rock genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
and was nominated for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
. It also received praise for introducing listeners to diverse forms of underground music
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
. Despite the band's new direction alienating some fans and critics, Kid A received generally positive reviews from notable music publications. It was subsequently listed by multiple publications as one of the best albums of recent years, and in 2009 was ranked No. 1 in lists of the best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
.
Background
By 1998, the attention Radiohead had received from OK Computer had become a strain, particularly for singer Thom YorkeThom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
. His feeling of disconnection with the "speed" of the modern world, which inspired songs on OK Computer, had intensified on the 1997–1998 "Running from Demons" world tour. As documented in Grant Gee
Grant Gee
Grant Gee is a film director and cinematographer currently living in Brighton. He was born in Plymouth and studied Geography at St Catherine's College, Oxford....
's 1999 film Meeting People Is Easy
Meeting People Is Easy
Meeting People Is Easy, first released on 30 November 1998, is a rockumentary by Grant Gee following British alternative rock band Radiohead on their exhaustive world tour following the success of their 1997 album OK Computer...
, Radiohead unveiled new songs on the tour, including what was then known as "How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found", but the band had difficulty recording them.
While Yorke was receiving praise for his music, he became openly hostile to the media. He believed his songs had become part of a constant background noise he described as "fridge buzz". Yorke felt that "all the sounds you made, that made you happy, have been sucked of everything they meant", and he suffered depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
as he struggled to write new music. Yorke said that in late 1998, "Every time I picked up a guitar I just got the horrors. I would start writing a song, stop after 16 bars
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
, hide it away in a drawer, look at it again, tear it up, destroy it". Radiohead members decided to continue; bassist Colin Greenwood
Colin Greenwood
Colin Charles Greenwood , is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead...
adding, "we felt we had to change everything".
Recording and production
Ed O'Brien
Edward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
wanted to strip the band's style down to direct, three-minute guitar pop songs, while Yorke felt their past efforts with rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
had "missed the point". Yorke said he had "completely had it with melody. I just wanted rhythm". Yorke had been a DJ and part of a techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
band at Exeter University, and began to listen almost exclusively to electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, saying, "I felt just as emotional about it as I'd ever felt about guitar music". He liked the idea of his voice being used as an instrument rather than having a leading role in the album.
Work began on Kid A with OK Computer producer Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...
, without a deadline from the label. Yorke, who had the greatest control within the band, was still facing writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
. His new songs were incomplete, and some consisted of little more than a drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
rhythm and lyric fragments he had drawn from a hat. The band rehearsed briefly and began recording at a studio in Paris, but rejected their work after a month and moved to Medley Studios in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
for two weeks. Some music from early 1999 was incorporated into the album, often unrecognisable from its original form ("In Limbo", originally known as "Lost at Sea", dates from this time). According to band members, the period was largely unproductive.
O'Brien began to keep an online studio diary of the band's progress. He later described Radiohead's change in style during this period: "If you're going to make a different-sounding record, you have to change the methodology. And it's scary—everyone feels insecure. I'm a guitarist and suddenly it's like, well, there are no guitars on this track, or no drums". Drummer Phil Selway
Phil Selway
Philip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...
also found it hard to adjust to the recording sessions.
In April 1999 recording resumed in a Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
mansion before moving to the band's long-planned studio in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, which was completed in September 1999. In line with Yorke's new musical direction, the band members began to experiment with different instruments, and to learn "how to be a participant in a song without playing a note". The rest of the band gradually grew to share Yorke's passion for synthesised sounds. They also used digital tools like Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
and Cubase to manipulate their recordings. O'Brien said, "everything is wide open with the technology now. The permutations are endless". By the end of the year, six songs were complete, including the title track.
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...
, the only Radiohead member trained in music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
, composed a string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangement for "How to Disappear Completely", which he recorded with the Orchestra of St. John's in Dorchester Abbey
Dorchester Abbey
Dorchester Abbey is a Church of England parish church in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, about southeast of Oxford. It was formerly a Norman abbey church and was built on the site of a Saxon cathedral.-History:...
. He played ondes Martenot
Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
on the track, as well as on "Optimistic
Optimistic (song)
"Optimistic" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, the sixth track on their 2000 album Kid A.-Release:No singles were released from Kid A, but promos of several songs from the album, including "Optimistic", were sent to radio stations...
" and "The National Anthem
The National Anthem
"The National Anthem" is the third track from the rock band Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A. The song is moored to a repetitive bassline, has a processed electronic production, and develops in a direction influenced by jazz...
". Yorke played bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
on "The National Anthem" (known during the sessions as "Everyone"), a track Radiohead had once attempted to record as a B-side for OK Computer. Trying it again for Kid A, Yorke wanted it to feature a Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
-inspired horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
, and he and Jonny Greenwood "conducted" the jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians to sound like a "traffic jam". Jonny Greenwood and his brother Colin also began experimenting with sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
their own and other artists' music. One such sample yielded the basic track for "Idioteque
Idioteque
"Idioteque" is the eighth track from the British rock band Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A. It was seen as a departure for the rock band, as the song is driven by electronic beats. The song has been played at nearly every concert since 2000...
", which Yorke sang over. Despite their change in direction, Colin Greenwood still described Radiohead as being a rock band. Jonny Greenwood summarised their recording sessions for Kid A:
I don't remember much time playing keyboards. It was more an obsession with sound, speakers, the whole artifice of recording. I see it like this: a voice into a microphoneMicrophoneA microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
onto a tape, onto your CD, through your speakers is all as illusory and fake as any synthesizer—it doesn't put Thom in your front room—but one is perceived as 'real' the other, somehow 'unreal'... It was just freeing to discard the notion of acousticAcoustic musicAcoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
sounds being truer.
Radiohead finished recording during the spring of 2000, having completed almost 30 new songs. Preferring to avoid a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
, the band saved many of the songs for their next release, the 2001 album Amnesiac
Amnesiac
Amnesiac was generally well-received by critics. It was also ranked as one of the best albums of the year by several publications. The Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll ranked it number 6 on their top 10 albums of the year. Alternative Press declared it the #1 album of the year...
. Yorke obsessed over potential running orders and the band argued over the track list, reportedly bringing them close to a break-up. It was eventually decided that Kid A would begin with "Everything in Its Right Place". Yorke felt the song, which was written on a piano and computer, was most representative of the new record, and initially wanted to release it as a single. Final mixing
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
was completed by Godrich, and mastering
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
of Kid A took place at London's Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
under Chris Blair.
Marketing and release
After finishing the record, the band, with their label, drew up a marketing plan. One EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
executive praised the music but described "the business challenge of making everyone believe" in it. However, there was considerable media interest; Kid A was described as "the most highly anticipated rock record since Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
's In Utero". Thom Yorke found the situation "terrifying", and according to Ed O'Brien, the marketing campaign aimed to dispel hype about the new album. In a departure from music industry practice, the band decided not to release any official singles from Kid A, although "Optimistic" and promotional copies of several other tracks received some radio play.
Radiohead and their fans had a large Internet presence by the late 1990s. As a result, Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
(UK) and Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
(US) marketed the album in an unconventional way, promoting it partly through the Internet. Short films called "blips", set to the band's music, were distributed freely online and were shown between programmes on music channels. Capitol created the "iBlip", a Java applet
Java applet
A Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
that could be embedded into fan sites, allowing users to pre-order the album and listen to streaming audio before its release. No advance copies were circulated, but the album was played under carefully controlled conditions for critics and at listening parties for fans, and it was previewed in its entirety on MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
.
The band made a brief tour of Mediterranean countries in early summer 2000, playing their new songs live for the first time. By the time the album's title was announced in mid-2000, concert bootlegs
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
were being shared on the peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
service Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
. Colin Greenwood said, "We played in Barcelona and the next day the entire performance was up on Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
. Three weeks later when we got to play in Israel the audience knew the words to all the new songs and it was wonderful." A month before its release, the finished album appeared on Napster. In response, Yorke said "it encourages enthusiasm for music in a way that the music industry has long forgotten to do." Estimates suggested Kid A was downloaded without payment millions of times before its worldwide release, and some expected weaker sales.
European sales slowed on 2 October 2000, the day of official release, when 150,000 faulty CDs were recalled by EMI. However, Kid A debuted at number one in the album charts in the UK, US, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada. It was the first US number one in three years for any British act, and Radiohead's first US top 20 album. Some have suggested peer-to-peer distribution may have helped sales by generating word-of-mouth. Others credited the label for creating hype. However, the band believed measures against early leaks may not have allowed critics (who were supposed to rely on the CD copies) time to make up their minds.
In late 2000, the band toured Europe in a custom-built tent without corporate logos, playing mostly new songs. Radiohead also performed three concerts in North American theatres, their first in nearly three years. The small venues sold out rapidly, attracting celebrities, and fans who camped all night. In October the band appeared on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. The footage shocked some viewers who expected rock songs, with Jonny Greenwood playing electronic instruments, the in-house brass band improvising over "The National Anthem", and Yorke dancing spasmodically and stuttering in "Idioteque". Radiohead went to the US just after Kid As chart-topping debut and according to O'Brien, "Americans love success, so if you've got a Number One record they really, really like you." Yorke said "We were The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, for a week."
Sound and influences
Kid A is influenced by 1990s IDMIntelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
artists Autechre
Autechre
Autechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both natives of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are one of the most prominent acts signed to Warp Records, a label known for its pioneering electronic music and through which all Autechre albums...
and Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
, along with others on Warp Records
Warp Records
Warp, commonly referred to as Warp Records, is a pioneering independent British record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the more enduring artists in electronic music....
; by 1970s Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
bands such as Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, Faust
Faust (band)
Faust are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with record producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner.-History:Faust...
and Neu!
Neu!
Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
; and by the jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
of Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...
and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
. During the recording period Radiohead drew inspiration from Remain in Light
Remain in Light
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American New Wave band Talking Heads, released on 8 October 1980 on Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in the Bahamas and the United States between July and August 1980 and was produced by the quartet's long-time collaborator...
(1980) by their early influence Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, they attended an Underworld
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
concert which helped renew their enthusiasm in a difficult moment and band members listened to abstract hip hop
Alternative hip hop
Alternative hip hop is a sub-genre of hip hop music. Allmusic defines it as follows: -Origin:...
from the Mo'Wax label, including Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
and DJ Krush
DJ Krush
, better known as DJ Krush, is a producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples.-Biography:...
.
"How to Disappear Completely" was inspired by singer Scott Walker
Scott Walker (singer)
Scott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
, who had previously inspired the band's 1993 hit single "Creep". The string orchestration for "How to Disappear" was influenced by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
. Jonny Greenwood's use of the Ondes Martenot
Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
on this and several other Kid A songs was inspired by Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
, who popularised the early electronic instrument and was one of Greenwood's teenage heroes. "Idioteque" samples the work of Paul Lansky
Paul Lansky
Paul Lansky is an American electronic-music or computer-music composer who has been producing works from the 1970s up to the present day .-Biography:...
and Arthur Kreiger, classical composers involved in computer music
Computer music
Computer music is a term that was originally used within academia to describe a field of study relating to the applications of computing technology in music composition; particularly that stemming from the Western art music tradition...
. Thom Yorke also referenced electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, saying the song was "an attempt to capture that exploding beat sound where you're at the club and the PA
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
's so loud, you know it's doing damage".
"Motion Picture Soundtrack" (a song written before "Creep") was an attempt to emulate the soundtrack of 1950s Disney films. Yorke recorded it alone on a pedal organ and other band members added sampled harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
sounds. Jonny Greenwood described his interest in mixing old and new music technology, and during the recording sessions Yorke read Ian MacDonald
Ian MacDonald
Ian MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...
's Revolution in the Head
Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties
Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties is a 1994 book by British music critic and author Ian MacDonald detailing every record The Beatles ever produced...
, which chronicles The Beatles' recordings with George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
during the 1960s. The band also sought to combine electronic manipulations with jam sessions in the studio, stating their model was the German group Can.
Radiohead have stated their lack of identification with progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. As such, Kid A includes no songs longer than six minutesWhile "Motion Picture Soundtrack" has a track length of over six minutes, the song itself is less than three and a half minutes long. See: lacuna (music)
Lacuna (music)
In music, a lacuna is an intentional, extended passage in a musical work during which no notes are played. A lacuna acts as "negative music" to induce a state of serenity in the listener through its contrast to "normal" music consisting of sounded notes...
. and has been sometimes characterised as post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
, due to a minimalist
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
style and focus on texture. Jonny Greenwood's guitar solos are less prominent on Kid A than on previous Radiohead albums; however, guitars were still used on most tracks. The instrumental "Treefingers" was at first a guitar solo by Ed O'Brien that was subsequently digitally processed to create an ambient sound. In addition, some of Yorke's vocals on Kid A are heavily modified by digital effects; Yorke's vocal effect on the title song was created with the ondes martenot, giving an effect comparable to vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
. The band's shift in style has been compared with U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's Zooropa
Zooropa
Zooropa Based on the pronunciations of "zoo" and "Europa". is the eighth studio album by rock band U2. Produced by Flood, Brian Eno, and The Edge, it was released on 5 July 1993 on Island Records. Inspired by the band's experiences on the Zoo TV Tour, Zooropa expanded on many of the tour's themes...
(1993) and Passengers (1995) projects, and Talk Talk
Talk Talk
Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....
's Laughing Stock (1991).
Lyrics
Kid A was the first Radiohead album since the band's debut, Pablo HoneyPablo Honey
Pablo Honey is the debut studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released in February 1993. The album was produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie and was recorded at Chipping Norton Studio and Courtyard Studio, Oxfordshire from September to November 1992...
(1993), whose lyrics were not officially released or published in its liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
. Thom Yorke, who wrote all the lyrics, explained this by saying the words could not be considered separately from the music. He said he used a vocal manipulation to distance himself from the title track's "brutal and horrible" subject matter, which he could not have sung otherwise. For at least some of the lyrics, Yorke cut up
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
words and phrases and drew them from a hat. Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, composer and film director, he was known best for being one of the founders and central figures of the anti-establishment Dada movement...
's similar technique for writing "dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
poetry" was posted on Radiohead's official web site during the recording. Post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
bands who influenced Radiohead, such as Talking Heads in their work with Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, were also known to employ the technique.
According to Yorke, the album's title was not a reference to Kid A in Alphabet Land, a trading card set written by Carl Steadman
Carl Steadman
Carl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
dealing with the work of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
. Yorke suggested that the title could refer to the first human clone, but denied he had a concept
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
or story
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
in mind. On another occasion, Yorke said "Kid A" was the nickname of a sequencer. Yorke said, "If you call it something specific, it drives the record in a certain way. I like the non-meaning".
Band members read Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
's anti-globalization
Anti-globalization movement
The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalisation movement, is critical of the globalization of corporate capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or...
book No Logo
No Logo
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by Canadian author Naomi Klein. First published by Knopf Canada in January 2000, shortly after the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference protests in Seattle had generated media attention around such issues, it became one of the most influential books...
while recording the album, recommended it to fans on their website, and considered calling the album No Logo for a time. Yorke also cited George Monbiot's Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain
Captive State
Captive State is a book written by The Guardian contributor and author George Monbiot which examines the growth of corporate power in the UK and the negative impact that this has had on democracy and local communities....
as an influence. Yorke and other band members were involved in the movement to cancel third world debt during this period, and they also spoke out on other issues. Some feel Kid A conveys an anti-consumerist
Anti-consumerism
Anti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against the equating of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions...
viewpoint, expressing the band's perception of global capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. In 2005, music journalist Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman
Charles John "Chuck" Klosterman is an American author and essayist who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, and The Washington Post, and has written books focusing on American popular culture....
wrote that Kid A was in fact an "unintentional but spooky foreshadowing of the events of the 11 September 2001 attacks" and the world's situation beyond that.
Yorke said the album was partly about "the generation that will inherit the earth when we've wiped evrything out". However, he has refused to explain his songwriting in political terms. Some songs were personal, inspired by dreams. Other lyrics were inspired by advice Yorke received from friends. The lyric "I'm not here, this isn't happening" in "How to Disappear Completely", were taken from Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe
John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...
's advice to Yorke about coping with the pressures of touring. The chorus of "Optimistic", "If you try the best you can, the best you can is good enough", was inspired by Yorke's partner, Rachel Owen. "Everything in Its Right Place" was a result of Yorke's inability to speak during his breakdown on the OK Computer tour.
Videos and blips
No conventional music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s were initially released from Kid A, but 30-seconds-long short films called "blips" were set to its music. The blips were shown between segments on 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....
, occasionally as TV commercials for the album, and were distributed free from Radiohead's website. Each blip was made by one of two collectives: The Vapour Brothers or Shynola
Shynola
Shynola is the collective name of a group of, then, four visual artistsbased in London who have collaborated on a variety of projects,most notably a number of acclaimed music videos for several pioneering artists....
. Most blips were animated, often inspired by Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood is the pen name of English artist Dan Rickwood. Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art...
's album artwork, and have been seen as stories of nature reclaiming civilisation from uncontrollable biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
and consumerism
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
. Characters in the blips included "sperm
Sperm
The term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...
monsters" and blinking, genetically modified killer teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
s, the latter of which became a self-conscious logo for the album's advertising campaign. A more traditional video was released in late 2000: the band performing an alternate version of "Idioteque" in the studio. Several months later a video was released for "Motion Picture Soundtrack", which entirely consisted of material from the blips. Yorke described it as "the most beautiful piece of film that was ever made for our music".
Artwork
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
ated distortion near the bottom. It was a reflection of the war in Kosovo
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
in winter 1999. Donwood was affected by a photograph in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, saying the war felt like it was happening in his own street. Influenced by Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
military art depicting British colonial
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
subjects, Donwood also produced colourful oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
s, creating a sharp texture with knives and putty. The back cover is a digitally modified depiction of another snowscape with fires raging through fields. Kid A came with a booklet of Donwood and Tchock artwork, printed on both glossy paper and thick tracing paper
Tracing paper
Tracing paper is a type of translucent paper. It is made by immersing uncut and unloaded paper of good quality in sulphuric acid for a few seconds. The acid converts some of the cellulose into amyloid form having a gelatinous and impermeable character. When the treated paper is thoroughly washed...
. Near the back is a large triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
-style fold-out drawing.
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Brought to Light
Brought to Light
Brought to Light: Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action is an anthology of two political graphic novels, published originally by Eclipse Comics in 1988. Both are based on material from lawsuits filed by the Christic Institute against the US Government...
by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Bill Sienkiewicz
Bill Sienkiewicz
Boleslav Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz [pronounced sin-KEV-itch] is an Eisner Award-winning American artist and writer best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin...
, in which the CIA measures its killings through state-sponsored terrorism
State terrorism
State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...
by the equivalent number of 50-gallon swimming pools filled with human blood. This image haunted Donwood throughout the Kid A project. Early pressings of Kid A came with an extra booklet of artwork hidden under the CD tray. The booklet contained political references, including a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
ic portrait of then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
surrounded by warnings of demagoguery.
A special edition of Kid A was also released, in a thick cardboard package in the style of a children's book with a new cover and different oil paintings of apocalyptic landscapes and bear images. Although in the same style as the album art, these paintings were without digital distortion. The book included a page with statistics on world glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
melt rates, paralleling the art's themes of environmental degradation. In 2006, Donwood and Tchock exhibited Radiohead album artwork in Barcelona, with a focus on Kid A. An art book documenting the work and Donwood's inspirations, called Dead Children Playing
Dead Children Playing
Dead Children Playing is a picture book by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke featuring artwork that has been used on English alternative rock band Radiohead's albums between 1996 and 2003, and on Thom Yorke's album The Eraser...
, was also issued.
Reception
Kid A received considerable attention, being greeted with strongly positive critical reaction, but it initially alienated some listeners. Novelist Nick HornbyNick Hornby
Nick Hornby is an English novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy, and for the football memoir Fever Pitch. His work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was...
compared Kid A to Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
's Metal Machine Music
Metal Machine Music
Metal Machine Music, subtitled *The Amine β Ring, is the fifth solo album by Lou Reed. It was originally released as a double album by RCA Records in 1975...
, implying that it was an attempt at "commercial suicide" in order to escape from a label contract. He summarised a common source of opposition to the album in a review for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, lamenting the change in musical style from The Bends
The Bends
The Bends is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. The Bends was produced by John Leckie at EMI's studios in London, and engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to produce all future albums by the band...
(1995) and OK Computer. In 2001, by contrast, Radiohead appeared on the cover of The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
, an avant-garde music
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
magazine that usually ignores trends in alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
. The band earned a feature interview by Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
, championing Kid A and its follow-up, Amnesiac, and dismissing accusations that they lacked originality.
Several American critics gave the album positive reviews, with Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
naming Radiohead "Band of the Year" and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
calling Kid A "the most eccentric album ever to debut at No. 1, setting Radiohead apart from an army of lock-stepping pop and rock acts." Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album an A−; he wrote, "this [Kid A] is an imaginative, imitative variation on a pop staple: sadness made pretty. Alienated masterpiece nothing- it's dinner music". French publications Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables...
and Magic gave Kid A highly favourable reviews. Readers of Les Inrocks also voted it album of the year. However, in the UK, Kid A disappointed and infuriated some critics who expected the band to be "rock saviours". Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
had said months in advance of the album, "If there's one band that promises to return rock to us, it's Radiohead". The album was later given a negative review in the magazine. NME described the album as "scared to commit itself emotionally", though giving it a 7/10.
Despite the lack of consensus, by the end of 2000 the album was appearing frequently in critics' top ten lists as praise for Radiohead's experimentation appeared to outweigh reservations. In 2001, Kid A received a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for Album of the Year and for Best Engineered Album
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
The Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Engineered Record - Non-Classical...
, and it won Best Alternative Album. In 2004, the album was ranked number 428 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
. In 2005, two popular indie music publications, Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
and Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
, independently named Kid A the best album of the past five years. Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
would all go on to rank Kid A as the greatest album of the 2000s. In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
organised a poll of 40,000 people worldwide who voted for the 100 best albums ever and Kid A was placed at #95 on the list.
Acclaim
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian The Guardian The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format... |
UK | Albums of the decade | 2009 | 2 |
| Hot Press Hot Press Hot Press is a fortnightly music and political magazine based in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it had a circulation of 19,215 during 2007... |
Ireland | The 100 Best Albums Ever | 2006 | 47 |
| Mojo Mojo (magazine) MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music... |
UK | The 100 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime 1993–2006 | 2006 | 7 |
| NME NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
UK | The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever | 2006 | 65 |
| Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock... |
US | Top 200 Albums of the 2000s | 2009 | 1 |
| Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... |
US | The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time | 2004 | 428 |
| The 100 Best Albums of the Decade | 2009 | 1 | ||
| Spin Spin (magazine) Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard... |
US | Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years | 2005 | 48 |
| Stylus Stylus Magazine Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog.... |
US | The 50 Best Albums of 2000–2004 | 2005 | 1 |
| Time Time (magazine) Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong... |
US | The All-Time 100 Albums | 2006 | * |
| The Times The Times The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International... |
UK | The 100 best pop albums of the Noughties | 2009 | 1 |
| Sputnik Music Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites... |
US | Top 100 Albums of the Decade | 2010 | 2 |
(*) designates unordered lists.
Track listing
All tracks written by Radiohead except where noted.- "Everything in Its Right PlaceEverything in Its Right Place"Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, written by lead singer Thom Yorke in 1999. It was recorded with producer Nigel Godrich in Batsford later the same year...
" – 4:11 - "Kid A" – 4:44
- "The National AnthemThe National Anthem"The National Anthem" is the third track from the rock band Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A. The song is moored to a repetitive bassline, has a processed electronic production, and develops in a direction influenced by jazz...
" – 5:51 - "How to Disappear Completely" – 5:56
- "Treefingers" – 3:42
- "OptimisticOptimistic (song)"Optimistic" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, the sixth track on their 2000 album Kid A.-Release:No singles were released from Kid A, but promos of several songs from the album, including "Optimistic", were sent to radio stations...
" – 5:15 - "In Limbo" – 3:31
- "IdiotequeIdioteque"Idioteque" is the eighth track from the British rock band Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A. It was seen as a departure for the rock band, as the song is driven by electronic beats. The song has been played at nearly every concert since 2000...
" (Radiohead, Paul LanskyPaul LanskyPaul Lansky is an American electronic-music or computer-music composer who has been producing works from the 1970s up to the present day .-Biography:...
) – 5:09 - "Morning Bell" – 4:35
- "Motion Picture Soundtrack" – 6:59
Personnel
Radiohead- Colin GreenwoodColin GreenwoodColin Charles Greenwood , is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead...
– bass guitar, sampler - Jonny GreenwoodJonny GreenwoodJonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...
– guitar, ondes MartenotOndes MartenotThe ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
, keyboards, sampler, string arrangements - Ed O'BrienEd O'BrienEdward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
– guitar, programming - Phil SelwayPhil SelwayPhilip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...
– drums, percussion, programming - Thom YorkeThom YorkeThomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
– vocals, guitar, piano, organ, bass guitar, programming
Additional musicians
- Andy Bush – trumpet
- Andy Hamilton – tenor saxophone (credited as "tenor horn")
- Steve Hamilton – alto saxophone (credited as "alto horn")
- Stan Harrison – baritone saxophone (etc.)
- Martin Hathaway – alto saxophone
- Mike Kearsey – bass trombone
- Liam Kerkman – trombone
- Mark LockheartMark LockheartMark Lockheart is a British jazz tenor saxophonist who came to prominence as a member of the Loose Tubes big band during the 1980s....
– tenor saxophone - The Orchestra of St. Johns – strings
Technical personnel
- John Lubbock – conductor
- Paul LanskyPaul LanskyPaul Lansky is an American electronic-music or computer-music composer who has been producing works from the 1970s up to the present day .-Biography:...
– sample of "Mild und Leise" on "Idioteque" - Arthur Kreiger – sample of "Short Piece" on "Idioteque"
- Nigel GodrichNigel GodrichNigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...
– producer, engineering, mixing - Henry BinnsZero 7Zero 7 is a British musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. The group members began their musical careers as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, Simple Things was released in 2001 and received critical acclaim...
– sampling - Chris Blair – mastering
- Graeme Stewart – engineering
- Gerard Navarro – engineering
Charts
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| Australia | 2 |
| Austria | 5 |
| Belgium (Dutch) | 3 |
| Belgium (French) | 4 |
| Canada | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| German Long-play Chart | 4 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| Italy | 3 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Switzerland | 8 |
Further reading
- Ed's Diary: Ed O'Brien's studio diary from Kid A/Amnesiac recording sessions, 1999–2000 (archived at Green Plastic)
- Marzorati, Gerald. "The Post-Rock Band". The New York Times. 1 October 2000. Retrieved on 4 November 2010.
- "All Things Reconsidered: The 10th Anniversary of Radiohead's 'Kid A'" (a collection of articles). PopMattersPopMattersPopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
. November 2010. Retrieved on 4 November 2010.
External links
- Album online on Radio3Net a radio channel of Romanian Radio Broadcasting CompanyRomanian Radio Broadcasting CompanyThe Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company , informally referred to as Radio Romania , is the public radio broadcaster in Romania. It operates four national radio channels, and, under the Radio România Regional umbrella, eleven regional radio stations. The four national radio channels are: Radio...