| "The National Anthem" | |
|---|---|
 Belgium promotional single cover | |
| Song by Radiohead | |
| from the album Kid A | |
| Released | 2000 |
| Recorded | 1997–2000 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 5:51 |
| Label | |
| Songwriter(s) | Radiohead |
| Producer(s) |
|
"The National Anthem" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, Kid A (2000). The song is set to a repeating bassline, and features horns playing free jazz, influenced by the jazz musician Charles Mingus.
Radiohead's singer, Thom Yorke, wrote the "National Anthem" bassline when he was 16. [2] In late 1997, Radiohead recorded drums and bass for the song, intending to develop it as a B-side for their third album, OK Computer (1997). Instead, they saved it for their next album, Kid A (2000). [3] [4]
Radiohead returned to "The National Anthem" in mid-1999 while recording in Gloucestershire. [4] Yorke played bass, [3] and his vocals were processed with a ring modulator. [5] Jonny Greenwood added ondes Martenot and sounds sampled from radio stations. [3] The guitarist Ed O'Brien said: "It's a very ill-disciplined way of recording ... You're adding things to the stew — as well as rejecting things — and then you come back to the song with fresh ears." [3]
In November 1999, [4] Radiohead recorded a horn section playing free jazz, inspired by the "organised chaos" of the live album Town Hall Concert by the jazz musician Charles Mingus. Yorke described Town Hall Concert as "just fucking chaos ... There's this incredible tension and it was the most formative record of the whole time." [6] Yorke and Greenwood directed the musicians to sound like a "traffic jam". According to Yorke, he jumped up and down so much during his conducting that he broke his foot. [7] Yorke said: "The running joke when we were in the studios was, 'Just blow. Just blow, just blow, just blow.'" [8]
An early demo of "The National Anthem" was included in the special edition of the 2017 OK Computer reissue OKNOTOK 1997 2017. [9]
Yorke said Radiohead tried to convey the feeling of angry people trapped in a lift or traffic. [10] MTV described the free jazz section as "a brass band marching into a brick wall". [8] Simon Reynolds of Spin wrote that it was "a strange, thrilling blast of kosmik highway music" that combined jazz with the Hawkwind song "Silver Machine" and the Can song "Mother Sky". [11] Cam Lindsey of Exclaim! wrote that the song is a "radical jazz-rock fusion". [12] David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the song "crusty funk". [13]
Many critics disliked the jazz elements. In his review of Kid A for the New Yorker , the novelist Nick Hornby described "The National Anthem" as "an unpleasant free-jazz workout, with a discordant horn section squalling over a studiedly crude bass line". [14] Mark Beaumont wrote that the "free-form jazz horns" produced a "Mingus-in-a-tumble-dryer racket". [15] Lorraine Ali, writing for Newsweek , described the song as "annoying pileup of squawking instruments". [16] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said the horn section "was a cornier-than-usual art-rock cliché, trying way too hard for a way-too-obvious gimmick". [17] Yorke described meeting a fan who told him that he could not understand the horns; Yorke concluded that some listeners did not want to hear such an angry sound on a record. [10]
Adam Downer of Sputnikmusic said that "by the end of the song, you're in awe of such a jam session" and named it a "recommended track". [18] Siobhan Kane of The Irish Times wrote that it "distills Radiohead's worldview, with those guitars and Yorke's evocative voice, all intelligence and deep emotion". [19] Cam Lindsey of Exclaim! cited it as the standout track on Kid A. [12] Reviewing the demo released on OKNOTOK 1997 2017, Record Collector wrote that the song "could very easily have resembled the sort of latterday U2 track chosen to soundtrack Goal of the Month reels ... That Radiohead had the self-awareness to sit on it rather than go for the drive-time jugular says so much about their intuitive good taste, and the prolonged success it would bring them." [9]
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.
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.
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Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numerous publications, including Rolling Stone.
Thomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. Rolling Stone described Yorke as one of the greatest and most influential singers of his generation.
Edward John O'Brien is an English guitarist, songwriter and member of the rock band Radiohead. He releases solo music under the name EOB.
Colin Charles Greenwood is an English bassist and a member of the rock band Radiohead. Along with bass guitar, Greenwood plays upright bass and electronic instruments.
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"Pyramid Song" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Amnesiac (2001), in May 2001. It features piano, strings, an unusual "shuffling" rhythm and lyrics inspired by the Egyptian underworld and ideas of cyclical time.
"Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the opening track of their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It features synthesiser, digitally manipulated vocals and unusual time signatures. The lyrics were inspired by the stress felt by the singer, Thom Yorke, while promoting Radiohead's album OK Computer (1997).
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