The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time

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The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time
The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time.jpg
Video by
Radiohead
Released1 December 2004 (2004-12-01)
Recorded2004
Length110 minutes
Director Chris Bran
Radiohead chronology
Meeting People Is Easy
(1998)		The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time
(2004)		 Radiohead: The Best Of
(2008)

The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time is a collection of 24 short films by the English rock band Radiohead. It accompanies their 2003 album Hail to the Thief , and comprises music videos, live performances, webcast footage and videos submitted by fans. The material was first broadcast on Radiohead's website in 2003 and released on DVD on 1 December 2004.

Contents

Content

The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time comprises 24 short films that accompany Radiohead's 2003 album Hail to the Thief . [1] It was created with the filmmaker Chris Bran and Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood. [2] The title comes from a collage by the German artist John Heartfield. [3]

The films comprise music videos, live performances, webcast footage from Radiohead's studio and videos submitted by fans. [4] It includes a performance of "Morning Mr Magpie" by Thom Yorke on acoustic guitar, a song later released on Radiohead's 2011 album The King of Limbs . [5] [6] In the "My Showbiz Life" segments, Yorke and the guitarist Ed O'Brien answer "inane" questions about their celebrity lives; Yorke's voice is lowered with a pitch shifter, and O'Brien gives answers by "braying like a donkey". [2]

The episodes are hosted by the character Chieftain Mews, [3] who has since appeared in Radiohead's promotional material. [3] [7] The journalist Mac Randall described Mews as "a 21st-century Max Headroom" who "intones non-sequiturs". [2] Yorke credited his creation to Bran. [3]

The New York Times described The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time as "part scrapbook, part video demo reel ... an analogue lovefest of grainy images, strobing and hand-drawn animation, as the fans reflect the vertigo and anomie of the songs". [8] The Guardian described the films as "impressionistic, surreal, and frequently inspired". [9]

Release

Radiohead planned to broadcast the material on their own television channel. [2] The plans were cancelled, according to Yorke, due to "money, cutbacks, too weird, might scare the children, staff layoffs, shareholders". [10] They initially streamed the material on loop on a website, Radiohead Television, that debuted in May 2003 and ran until 2004. [2]

From December 2004, Radiohead sold copies of the DVD through their website. [2] Reviewing the DVD, The A.V. Club said few of the videos had "multi-viewing appeal", but praised "The Slave", "The Homeland Hodown" and the performance of "Morning Mr Magpie" as standouts. [1] In January 2020, Radiohead made The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time available to stream free on their website. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 Modell, Josh (27 December 2004). "Radiohead: The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Randall, Mac (2011). Exit Music – The Radiohead Story. Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0857126955.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Yes I am entering Miss World". The Guardian . 21 November 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
  4. ↑ "Hail to the mischief makers!". NME . 6 May 2003. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  5. ↑ Lewis, Luke (26 February 2011). "Radiohead's royal return". NME .
  6. ↑ "Ranking: every Radiohead song from worst to best". Consequence . 28 June 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  7. ↑ Yoo, Noah (April 2021). "Radiohead Join TikTok, Reveal New Chieftain Mews Video". Pitchfork . Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  8. ↑ Pareles, Jon (2 January 2005). "Pop music: playlist; 2004: The ones that got away". The New York Times . Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  9. ↑ "The Must List". The Guardian . 26 November 2004. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  10. ↑ "Radiohead new material this year". Xfm . 12 October 2004. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  11. ↑ "9 essential artefacts from the Radiohead Public Library". Crack . 21 January 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2020.