Karma Police

Last updated

"Karma Police"
KarmaPolice.jpg
Single by Radiohead
from the album OK Computer
B-side
  • "Meeting in the Aisle"
  • "Lull"
Released25 August 1997 (1997-08-25)
Genre
Length4:24
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Radiohead singles chronology
"Paranoid Android"
(1997)		"Karma Police"
(1997)		"Lucky"
(1997)
Audio sample

Steve Huey from AllMusic described "Karma Police" as "haunting, mystifying, and exquisite", labelling it "one of the cornerstones of one of the greatest albums of the '90s". [9] The Daily Record declared it a "superb song". [25] A reviewer from Music Week rated it four out of five, picking it as one of the "standout tracks" from OK Computer. [26] Rolling Stone placed "Karma Police" at position 279 on its ranking of the 500 greatest songs of all time in both 2021 and 2024. [3] [4] The song possesses a near perfect rating of 95 on Album of the Year. [27]

Music video

Yorke in the video Karma Police video.png
Yorke in the video

The "Karma Police" music video was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who previously directed the video for Radiohead's 1996 single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)". [28] The video is shot from the perspective of the driver of a car pursuing a man along a dark road, with Yorke in the back seat. The man falls to his knees and the car reverses, revealing that it is leaking fuel. The man produces matches from his pocket and ignites the trail of fuel. Yorke vanishes and the car is engulfed in flames.

Glazer initially pitched the concept to the American musician Marilyn Manson for his 1997 single "Long Hard Road Out of Hell". Manson wanted a video similar to David Lynch's 1997 film Lost Highway , which opens with a shot of a road rushing beneath the camera. [28] After Manson rejected the concept, the video commissioner Dilly Gent recommended it to Radiohead for "Karma Police". [28] According to Manson's collaborator Randy Sosin, after Manson saw the video, "Manson was like, 'Fuck that.' But, you know, a good idea is a good idea." [29]

Glazer said he wanted to "shoot something very simple ... Where the whole narrative could be contained within a single sentence." [28] The running man was played by the Hungarian actor Lajos Kovács. Kovács developed cramp during the running shots, and had to have injections in his leg to keep running. He also badly burnt his thumb during repeated takes lighting the book of matches behind his back. [28]

The video premiered in August 1997. Glazer won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction in 1997 for his work on "Karma Police" as well as Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity". [30] In 2001, Glazer said he regarded the video as a failure, "because I decided to do a very minimalist, subjective use of camera, and tried to do something hypnotic and dramatic from one perspective, and it was very hard to achieve and I feel that I didn't achieve it". [31] He described his video for the 1998 Unkle single "Rabbit in Your Headlights", featuring Yorke on vocals, as a more successful "partner" to the "Karma Police" video. [31]

Track listings

All songs written by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood and Philip Selway.

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [52] Platinum80,000‡
Italy (FIMI) [53] Platinum50,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [54] Platinum600,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiohead discography</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky (Radiohead song)</span> 1997 single by Radiohead

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References

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Bibliography