Nude (song)

Last updated

"Nude"
Nude (Front Cover).jpg
Single by Radiohead
from the album In Rainbows
B-side
  • "4 Minute Warning"
  • "Down Is the New Up"
Released31 March 2008
Recorded2005–2007
Genre Art rock
Length4:15
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Nigel Godrich
Radiohead singles chronology
"Jigsaw Falling into Place"
(2008)		"Nude"
(2008)		"Harry Patch (In Memory Of)"
(2009)

"Nude" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released in March 2008 as the second single from their seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007).

Contents

Radiohead first recorded "Nude" during the sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), but were not satisfied with the results. They performed it several times over the following decade and it became one of their best-known unreleased songs. The final version was rearranged around a bassline written by Colin Greenwood.

"Nude" was promoted with a music video and a competition inviting fans to create remixes using the separated stem tracks. Boosted by sales of the stems, "Nude" reached number 21 on the UK singles chart and number 37 on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it Radiohead's first US top-40 hit since their debut single, "Creep", in 1993.

History

"Nude" had working titles including "Failure to Receive Repayment Will Put Your House at Risk", "Big Ideas" and "(Don't Get Any) Big Ideas". [1] The final title derives from an early version of the chorus, which included the line "What do you look like when you're nude?" [2]

Radiohead recorded a version of "Nude" during the first sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), with their producer, Nigel Godrich. This version, inspired by Al Green, featured a Hammond organ, a "straighter" feel and different lyrics. The band members were initially pleased with the recording, but came to dislike it. [3]

The Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, first performed "Nude" in the late 1990s during a solo performance in Japan. [1] Radiohead performed it several times over the following decade and it became one of their best-known unreleased songs. [1] They and Godrich worked on "Nude" again during the sessions for their albums Kid A (2000) and Hail to the Thief (2003), but were not satisfied with the results. [3] In 2004, Yorke said he had considered asking Elvis Costello and the Attractions to record it, feeling they would do a better job, but that he did not have the courage. [4]

During the early sessions for Radiohead's seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), Colin Greenwood wrote a new bassline for the song. According to Godrich, this "transformed it from something very straight into something that had much more of a rhythmic flow". [3] The band also removed a chorus and wrote a new ending. [3] They performed the new arrangement, along with other new material, on their 2006 tour before recording three takes for In Rainbows. [5] The final take was used, with overdubs recorded in the Hospital Club in Covent Garden, London. [3] [6]

Yorke said he did not enjoy singing "Nude" when it was first written, as it was "too feminine, too high". After it was finished, he said: "Now I enjoy it exactly for that reason – because it is a bit uncomfortable, a bit out of my range, and it's really difficult to do. And it brings something out in me." [6] He said he also once felt the lyrics were too intimate and sweet, but now "seem to make sense". [7] In 2008, Godrich said that songs "have a window where they are really most alive – and you have to capture it", and that "Nude" had missed its window. By reinventing the song, Radiohead were able to "capture it again in a way that resonated for the people playing it". He said the song had not changed, only the performers. [3]

Composition

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
"Nude"
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Pitchfork described "Nude" as a "graceful and sorrowful" version of "sneering, knees-up" songs by the Kinks or Blur, or an inverse of Radiohead's 1998 single "No Surprises". [1] The lyrics address "suburban ennui, crushing boredom, unfulfilling go-nowhere lives". [1] The chord progression uses a double-tonic complex, suggesting the keys of both E major and its relative minor, C♯ minor. [8]

Music video

The music video for "Nude" was directed by Adam Buxton and Garth Jennings. [9] It premiered as part of a Radiohead webcast on December 31, 2007, one day before the retail release of In Rainbows. The video features Radiohead performing in slow motion with feathers filling the screen. [10] Buxton and Jennings filmed the video quickly, then edited it on laptop and uploaded it to YouTube. Colin Greenwood said: "It was so cool because we didn't have to go through three weeks of video commissioning and receiving dodgy scripts set on abandoned skyscrapers in downtown LA or something. If you go in thinking 'let's try it', it's really liberating." [9]

Release

"Nude" was released as a single on 31 March 2008. [11] Radiohead held a competition for fans to create remixes from the stem tracks of guitar, drums, bass, vocals and strings, available to purchase via iTunes. The entries were streamed on the Radiohead website. [12] A performance of "Nude" was included on the 2008 live video In Rainbows – From the Basement . [13]

Early versions of "Nude", recorded in the OK Computer period, were included in the special edition of the 2017 OK Computer reissue OKNOTOK 1997 2017 [2] and the 2019 compilation MiniDiscs [Hacked] . [14] Pitchfork wrote that the solo acoustic demo from Yorke on MiniDiscs [Hacked] was "spectral and difficult to make out, but therein lies its allure: it allows you to trace its journey from this demo to the song we know". [14]

Reception

"Nude" reached number 21 on the UK singles chart, outperforming the previous In Rainbows single, "Jigsaw Falling into Place". In the US, it reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Radiohead's second top-40 hit after their debut single, "Creep", reached number 34 in 1993. It was also the first Radiohead song to make the Billboard Pop 100. [15] Sales included sales of the remix stems, boosting the single's chart performance. [16]

In 2020, the Guardian writer Jazz Monroe named "Nude" the seventh-greatest Radiohead song, writing: "After kicking around in Radiohead lore for more than a decade, 'Nude' ... found stunning form, first by channelling Björk – choppy coos, weeping strings – and then in a finale as bright and penetrating as dawn." [17]

Charts

Chart (2008)Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [18] 52
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [19] 12
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia) [20] 16
Canada (Canadian Hot 100) [21] 8
Denmark (Tracklisten) [22] 11
European Hot 100 Singles ( Billboard ) [23] 30
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) [24] 7
France (SNEP) [25] 76
Ireland (IRMA) [26] 18
Italy (FIMI) [27] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [28] 8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [29] 23
Norway (VG-lista) [30] 4
Portugal Digital Songs ( Billboard ) [31] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [32] 25
UK Singles (OCC) [33] 21
UK Indie (OCC) [34] 1
US Billboard Hot 100 [35] 37

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [36] Gold40,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Track listings

7"
  1. "Nude"
  2. "4 Minute Warning" [11]
CD
  1. "Nude" – 4:17
  2. "Down Is the New Up" [11] – 5:00
  3. "4 Minute Warning" – 4:05

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. They comprise Thom Yorke ; brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien ; and Philip Selway. They have worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.

<i>OK Computer</i> 1997 studio album by Radiohead

OK Computer is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 21 May 1997. With their producer, Nigel Godrich, Radiohead recorded most of OK Computer in their rehearsal space in Oxfordshire and the historic mansion of St Catherine's Court in Bath in 1996 and early 1997. They distanced themselves from the guitar-centred, lyrically introspective style of their previous album, The Bends. OK Computer's abstract lyrics, densely layered sound and eclectic influences laid the groundwork for Radiohead's later, more experimental work.

<i>Kid A</i> 2000 studio album by Radiohead

Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Departing from their earlier sound, Radiohead incorporated influences from electronic music, krautrock, jazz and 20th-century classical music, with a wider range of instruments and effects. The singer, Thom Yorke, wrote impersonal and abstract lyrics, cutting up phrases and assembling them at random.

<i>Amnesiac</i> (album) 2001 studio album by Radiohead

Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 30 May 2001 by EMI. It was recorded with the producer Nigel Godrich in the same sessions as Radiohead's previous album Kid A (2000). Radiohead split the work in two as they felt it was too dense for a double album. As with Kid A, Amnesiac incorporates influences from electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock. The final track, "Life in a Glasshouse", is a collaboration with the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band.

<i>The Bends</i> (album) 1995 studio album by Radiohead

The Bends is the second studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. It was produced by John Leckie, with extra production by Radiohead, Nigel Godrich and Jim Warren. The Bends combines guitar songs and ballads, with more restrained arrangements and cryptic lyrics than Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paranoid Android</span> 1997 single by Radiohead

"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997), on 26 May 1997. The lyrics were written by singer Thom Yorke following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar. The song is over six minutes long and contains four sections. The name is taken from Marvin the Paranoid Android from the science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

<i>My Iron Lung</i> 1994 EP by Radiohead

My Iron Lung is the third EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 26 September 1994 by Parlophone Records in the UK and by Capitol Records in the US. It was produced by Radiohead, John Leckie and Nigel Godrich. It marked Radiohead's first collaborations with Godrich and the artist Stanley Donwood, who have worked on every Radiohead release since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karma Police</span> 1997 single by Radiohead

"Karma Police" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 25 August 1997 as the second single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997). It reached number one in Iceland and number eight on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, it reached number 14 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was included on Radiohead: The Best Of (2008).

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

The English rock band Radiohead have released nine studio albums, one live album, five compilation albums, one remix album, nine video albums, seven EPs, 32 singles, and 48 music videos. Their debut album, Pablo Honey, released in February 1993, reached number 22 in the UK, receiving platinum certifications in the UK and US. Their debut single, "Creep", remains their most successful, entering the top 10 in several countries. Their second album, The Bends, released in March 1995, reached number four in the UK and is certified triple platinum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Surprises</span> 1998 single by Radiohead

"No Surprises" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the fourth and final single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997), in 1998. It was also released as a mini-album in Japan, titled No Surprises / Running from Demons.

<i>The Eraser</i> 2006 studio album by Thom Yorke

The Eraser is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, the longtime producer for Yorke's band Radiohead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">There There</span> 2003 single by Radiohead

"There There" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the lead single from their sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), on 21 May 2003. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Canada and Portugal, and number 14 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song appears on Radiohead: The Best Of (2008).

<i>In Rainbows</i> 2007 studio album by Radiohead

In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed by a retail release internationally through XL Recordings on 3 December 2007 and in North America through TBD Records on 1 January 2008. It was Radiohead's first release after their recording contract with EMI ended with their album Hail to the Thief (2003).

"I Promise" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released in 2017. Radiohead performed it several times in 1996 while touring in support of Alanis Morissette. They recorded it during the sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), but felt it was not strong enough to release. In June 2017, "I Promise" was included on the OK Computer reissue OKNOTOK 1997 2017 and released as a download with a music video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reckoner</span> 2007 song by Radiohead

"Reckoner" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007). It was produced by Nigel Godrich and developed while Radiohead were working on another song, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses".

"True Love Waits" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. Radiohead worked on it for over two decades before releasing it on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burn the Witch (Radiohead song)</span> 2016 single by Radiohead

"Burn the Witch" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016). It features a string section playing with guitar plectrums, producing a percussive sound, with lyrics warning against groupthink and authoritarianism. Radiohead first worked on the song during the sessions for their fourth album, Kid A (2000).

<i>OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017</i> 2017 compilation by Radiohead

OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017 is a reissue of the 1997 album OK Computer by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released in June 2017, the album's 20th anniversary, following the 2016 acquisition of Radiohead's back catalogue by XL Recordings from EMI.

"Man of War" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 22 June 2017 on the compilation OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pitchfork's Guide to Radiohead's In Rainbows | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 Atkins, Jamie (22 June 2017). "OK Computer – OKNOTOK 1997—2017". Record Collector . Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thomson, Graeme (3 July 2011). "The Music Producers". The Word . Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ Simonart, Serge (May 2004). "Radiohead". Rolling Stone .
  5. ↑ Pareles, Jon (2 July 2006). "With Radiohead, and Alone, the Sweet Malaise of Thom Yorke". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 Paytress, Mark (1 January 2008). "Chasing Rainbows". Mojo .
  7. ↑ Engelshoven, Tom (17 December 2007). "De prijs van Radiohead". Oor . Argo Media.
  8. ↑ Osborn, Brad (2016). Everything in its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead. Oxford University Press.
  9. 1 2 Dombal, Ryan (28 March 2008). "Radiohead". Pitchfork . Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  10. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (2 January 2008). "'Nude' Radiohead video hits web, EMI airs dirty laundry". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 "Radiohead announce new single details". NME . 12 March 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
  12. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (1 April 2008). "Radiohead launch 'Nude' remix contest". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  13. ↑ "Revisiting Radiohead's In Rainbows: From the Basement". Far Out . 26 June 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  14. 1 2 Larson, Jeremy D; Greene, Jayson (12 June 2019). "The best, weirdest, and most revealing moments on Radiohead's OK Computer sessions leak". Pitchfork . Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  15. ↑ "Artist Chart History - Radiohead". Billboard.com. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  16. ↑ Molanphy, Chris (10 April 2008). "Countin' down the drum stems! Remixable single gives Radiohead a hit". Idolator . Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  17. ↑ Monroe, Jazz (23 January 2020). "Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked!". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  18. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  19. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  20. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  21. ↑ "Radiohead Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  22. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude". Tracklisten. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  23. ↑ "Radiohead – Chart Search" Billboard European Hot 100 Singles for Radiohead. Retrieved 2 May 2015. [ dead link ]
  24. ↑ "Radiohead: Nude" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  25. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  26. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Nude". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  27. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  28. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  29. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  30. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude". VG-lista. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  31. ↑ "Portugal Digital Songs: Apr. 19, 2008". Billboard . Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  32. ↑ "Radiohead – Nude". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  33. ↑ "Radiohead: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  35. ↑ "Radiohead Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  36. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Radiohead – Nude". Music Canada . Retrieved 16 December 2022.