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Kid A is also the title song of the album ''Kid A'' is the fourth studio Album by British Rock Band Radiohead , released on October 2 2000 in the United Kingdom and on October 3 in the United States and Canada . It debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 , despite the band's refusal to release an official single or video, and there was speculation a unique marketing campaign (or even the early Leaking of all the tracks on the Internet) may have been responsible in building hype. More likely, it was a result of massive anticipation by the many who expected the follow-up album to Radiohead's widely loved '' OK Computer '' (1997) to be in the same musical vein. The fruit of a unique recording process, ''Kid A'''s musical content was to prove its most startling aspect. Rather than delivering another Classic Rock -styled effort, Radiohead moved from '' OK Computer '' even more drastically than they had moved on from their early style after "Creep" and '' The Bends '', this time producing minimalist Electronic soundscapes with Dada -style lyrics; taking influence from Krautrock , Avant-jazz and 20th Century Classical Music ; and scrapping their traditional three-guitar lineup in favor of experimentation with obscure instruments, notably the Ondes Martenot . The result was seen by critics as one of the most challenging pop albums ever to achieve such commercial success, but it baffled or polarized many, including old fans. In recent years the controversy over ''Kid A'' has subsided somewhat as it has been widely hailed in experimental music circles, honored by the establishment with Grammy nominations and magazine list placements (though not near the level of ''OK Computer'') and recognized by mainstream rock listeners for introducing them to various forms of underground music. It tends to be adored by fans for its stark emotional and/or political resonance, and it built Radiohead into perhaps the largest cult band in the world: outside the UK, they were more popular after ''Kid A'' than before it. RECORDING After the ''OK Computer'' tour, the group was close to disbanding due to creative pressures. However they remained together and not only saw the project through, they recorded the tracks for what would become their follow-up album, '' Amnesiac '' (2001), at the same time. need more detail about recording process, evolution of old songs which eventually ended up on album (motion picture, how to disappear), changing roles of band members with new instrumentation, inter-band tension, how all members eventually contributed, thom's writers block, disgust with own voice, new studio based songwriting process, open ended recording sessions ranging from copenhagen/paris/oxford/etc, some aborted for lack of inspiration, planned double album, decision not to release all songs from recording sessions at once, "near breakup" again over tracklist, sources in Ed o'brien's diary and thom yorke interviews of fall 2000 for much of this, etc MARKETING AND RELEASE After over a year of recording sessions, ''Kid A'' was finished in April 2000 , but postproduction and final mastering continued as a marketing plan was drawn up. Although "Optimistic" eventually received some radio play on rock stations, no singles were planned or officially released. Instead, the album was promoted, consciously and unconsciously, through the internet. This is where Radiohead's infamous relationship with Napster came into play. Live performances of the band were already being bootlegged and shared by fans on P2p services, including concerts from a brief European tour of that summer previewing the new songs that would make up ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac''. The band embraced this file sharing, amazed and gratified their audiences already knew the words to songs that had not yet seen commercial release, singing along enthusiastically to the new material just like the old. However, in July, three months prior to the release of ''Kid A'', MP3 tracks of the entire finished album mysteriously made their way onto the file sharing service. As detailed in a web posting of the time entitled "Did Napster Take Radiohead's New Album to Number 1?", millions of fans had possession of this music by the time the CD hit stores. The record industry assumed the album was now doomed to failure since fans already had the music for free. Instead, the opposite occurred and the band, which had never hit the US top 20 before, captured the number one spot in ''Kid A'''s debut week - apparently the result of non-fans downloading the album at no risk and realizing they liked it enough to support the band, or fans having time to absorb the music and get accustomed to Radiohead's more complex sound, now excited enough to buy it on release day. In the UK, ''Kid A'' also debuted at #1, as had the previous album, and it debuted equally high in many countries around the world. But with the record's absence of large scale airplay or any other factor that may have explained this stunning success in America, some declared this was proof of the promotional powers of file trading and of word-of-mouth generated through the internet. Others noted this simplified a complex issue, and even the word-of-mouth could just as easily have been generated outside the internet, as it had been when it propelled ''OK Computer'' to eventual gold status after a #22 American chart peak. Radiohead is on Parlophone/Capitol Records, which is a subsidiary of EMI, one of the world's largest record labels. The band thus has huge marketing muscle behind them, however invisible it may appear and however nonconformist their sound and image. When ''OK Computer'' came out, representatives for the label were quoted saying they wouldn't stop until Radiohead was the biggest band in the world, and the band professes to have great confidence in the small part of the conglomerate involved in promoting them. With ''Kid A'', that marketing muscle was employed in an innovative, under the radar way, with the aid of "blips" (see below) and also the internet. Major interviews were done, but just a few. The album was played in advance of release for rock critics, but only under carefully controlled situations. It was previewed on MTV, but only played through as a whole, with artsy graphics accompanying. In October the band appeared on Saturday Night Live performing two of their most uncompromising new songs. The performance was something of a shock to the TV audience, with lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's twiddling of electronic knobs, a brass band freely soloing over "The National Anthem," and Thom Yorke's spasmodic dancing and vocal stuttering in "Idioteque," signifiers that lacked all familiarity for an audience expecting rock n' roll. Yorke also appeared at the show's final credits with a sign saying, "Let Ralph {Link without Title} Debate," referring to the controversial Green Party candidate in the heat of American election season. In fall of 2000, band toured Europe in a circus-style tent free of all corporate logos. They also performed a mere three concerts in North America, their first in nearly 3 years; the venues were small theatres rather than stadiums, so they sold out instantly and attracted many celebrities. To some extent the album was also different enough from everything else out there at the time that it could market itself. scene. REACTION ''Kid A'' was frequently noted for requiring multiple listens to "understand," but even then it didn't inspire consensus. The album divided both fans and critics more than other albums of the time, and in contrast to ''OK Computer''. Many old fans felt wronged by ''Kid A'', as if they had wasted their money, suggesting that not everyone who bought it had heard it first. Some desired a continuation of the Pink Floydian sound of ''OK Computer'', or even a return to the anthemics of ''The Bends'' and ''Pablo Honey''. Others suggested Radiohead should have released their experimental work under a different name as U2 had done with Passengers , so as not to mislead the public. Nick Hornby , writer of the novel High Fidelity , compared it to Lou Reed 's '' Metal Machine Music '', an instrumental album of guitar feedback issued, according to legend, to get out of a label contract. Hornby summed up the opposition and unintentionally helped fuel the album's myth in a notorious review for '' The New Yorker '': "''Kid A'' demands the patience of the devoted; both patience and devotion become scarcer commodities once you start picking up a paycheck." Some rock listeners, disgusted by ''Kid A'''s electronic sound and lack of lyrical transparency, flocked to the nostalgic U2 comeback album released soon after, or the emotional Britpop debut of a band called Coldplay, said to be influenced by Radiohead. Finally, ''Kid A'' attracted another sort of criticism: that it wasn't as radical as advertised. Canadian post-rock collective Godspeed You Black Emperor! took issue with Radiohead's nonconformist stance given their major label backing, while underground electronic hero Aphex Twin , himself an influence on ''Kid A'', didn't get the big deal. People who had been listening to less commercial forms of music for ages didn't like the way Radiohead had "co-opted" them, and although always giving credit to their influences, was now being given all the credit themselves in reviews by a musically ignorant or closed minded mainstream media. Indie rock critics in 2000 and 2001 would often cite some lesser known album that was similar to what Radiohead was doing but supposedly much more interesting, Hood 's '' Cold House '' for example. These views, however, reflected the distinct minority of people who had actually heard music further off the radar than Radiohead. By the end of the year, the album was already appearing frequently in critics' top ten lists as praise for Radiohead's "experimentation" outweighed the reservations. Even among those who didn't particularly like it, ''Kid A'' garnered respect simply for not being "manufactured pop," though ironically it was Radiohead's most self-consciously manufactured, technology-based album to date. Those who did like it were usually effusive, calling it groundbreaking and postmodern, saying it was the future of music or defined the new millennium. ''Kid A'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, and won the awards for Best Alternative Album and Best Engineered Album in early 2001. In subsequent years as Radiohead's style has continued in a straight line from Kid A, making clear it wasn't just a publicity stunt, some fans who dismissed it have come to appreciate it. It is not widely liked outside Radiohead's fanbase, but that fanbase is ever larger as a result of it. Since 2000, ''Kid A'' has been cited by countless musicians as an inspiration or influence, and appeared on its share of lists. In 2005, two touchstones of the indie music press, Pitchfork Media and Stylus Magazine , nearly simultaneously named Kid A the best album of the past 5 years, above dozens of both mainstream and lesser known entries these sites promote. Later that year it appeared in the top half of Spin's list of 100 Best Albums of 1985-2004, which was topped by ''OK Computer''. At least in the world of Alternative Music , its canonization is nearly complete. SOUND AND INFLUENCES ''Kid A'' was considered a "difficult" album, but it offers a relatively accessible melange of experimental music styles, in comparison with the original sources. Major influences come from glitch and ambient and Arthur Krieger. Bjork , PJ Harvey , R.E.M. and Beck 's then-recent genre-bending albums may also have been influential; Radiohead not only sees these artists as their closest contemporaries within so-called Alternative Rock , but all are personal friends of Thom Yorke. The album's style as a whole has been characterized as Art Rock , or more often Post Rock , a term popularized by Simon Reynolds in the 1990s to describe a new generation of bands whose experiments with ambience, orchestral music and jazz were inspired more by the spirit of Punk and Post Punk than by Progressive Rock . Radiohead, like these bands, tended to prefer evoking a mood with a minimalist groove to displays of technical virtuosity. ''Kid A'' is a distinct change from Radiohead's first three albums in that it features less of Jonny Greenwood 's guitar solos, and some of Thom Yorke 's vocals have been treated or distorted by digital effects, mostly lacking the impressive falsetto runs for which he was known. While it disappointed some fans, ''Kid A'' deployed these diverse sounds in a generally melodic way, and brought Radiohead acclaim from those attracted to the musical directions the band was exploring. Many critics saw the album as a parallel to U2 's Zooropa , in terms of the band's radical evolution in musical style, although at least one track, "Treefingers," which manipulated a guitar sound to create ambient music, was more likely to have been influenced by the groundbreaking solo work of Brian Eno , U2's producer. A more fruitful point of comparison might be Talk Talk , a band that abandoned its success with mainstream pop to explore texture with albums such as Laughing Stock , which helped inspire the creation of the term "post rock" in the first place (however, as Talk Talk became more and more acoustic, while Radiohead became more electronic as their music's complexity increased, the comparison only goes so far). On the other hand, ''Kid A'' does have antecedents in non-German prog rock, with bands like King Crimson, for example, having produced similar blends of jazz and rock to "The National Anthem" 30 years earlier. But Radiohead's lack of identification with most prog rock was reaffirmed by Kid A, which may challenge pop listeners, but still includes no song over 6 minutes. LYRICS AND MEANING Besides its lack of singles, ''Kid A'' hints at an anti-consumerist viewpoint in its music, portraying the evils of global capitalism and the demagoguery of Western leaders obliquely in some of its lyrics, and directly in a booklet hidden under the CD tray in early pressings. Some members of the band were reading Naomi Klein's bestseller '''' around this time. However, according to older interviews they have held similar political beliefs since even before their career as Radiohead, and certainly since ''OK Computer''. Such books likely put them into words, rather than inspiring them in the first place. In the '00s Radiohead has been active in environmental and anti-war causes, but has never articulated one particular radical agenda, such as Anarchism or Communism , seeming to focus in their music on the failings of the postmodern capitalist world rather than how they can be redressed. In Chuck Klosterman's recent book "Killing Yourself To Live" he puts forth a theory that Kid A could be a soundtrack to all the happenings of September 11th and beyond, despite the fact that Kid A was written over a year before the events of September 11th. However its artwork, at least, was partially influenced by the 1999 war in Kosovo. The album's increased critical reputation since its initial release may well be due to shadow cast by the events of 9/11 and their aftermath. Whereas beforehand the apocalyptic future of ''Kid A'' seemed right out of art rock science fiction (its evocation of chaos and violence only applying to the Third World ), its lyrics now seemed frighteningly real, even prophetic to some listeners. According to one early interview with Thom Yorke, the title "Kid A" referred to the first human clone, leading to confusion among some fans as they tried to piece together a concept or narrative between the songs, involving such a character. In subsequent interviews Yorke denied this was a serious subtext for the whole album, but more an idea he had knocking around, which made a good title (as with "OK Computer," whose title references the novel '' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy '' without being an album "about" it). Yorke has been quoted agreeing with Bjork, his friend who said her songs are like "kids" to be sent out into the world. Yorke's own first child was also born shortly after the album's release, perhaps inspiring its title and some of its lyrics. He has also said "Kid A" was the nickname of one of the synthesizers used on the album. Yorke has often denied ''Kid A'''s lyrics had any meaning beyond their sound, claiming to have drawn many of them from a hat, and even hosting Tristan Tzara 's instructions for making dada poems on Radiohead's official website. One product of Radiohead's evolution after '' OK Computer '' has been Yorke's increasing refusal to commit to his lyrics or explain them in interviews, with the whole arrangement and production instrumental in expressing whatever meaning is there, or the intent of the song being something other than any defined "meaning." Most often, when he does comment on the ideas behind his recent songs, Yorke cites Global Warming and a fear of no future for his children. This becomes slightly more explicit on later albums, but it could be presaged on ''Kid A'', both in the lyric "ice age coming" (many scientists suggest current warming could trigger a more catastrophic ice age, though the line could also be an allusion to the Clash's "London Calling") and in the artwork showing iced over landscapes. Graphic artist Stanley Donwood, who with Yorke designed and painted the album's cover and booklet, has described his work as conveying environmental disaster. Themes of genetic modification, more than cloning, are also present, with Radiohead's ironic logo during this "no logo" period being a "modified bear" with preternatural blinking eyes (see below, Blips section). Yorke is both a Vegan and an opponent of agricultural bioengineering. That his imagined apocalypse would be brought on by climate change and genetic modification is a possibility. There is also speculation the title refers to a pamphlet, entitled "Kid A in Alphabet Land," by Freudian philosopher '' by George Orwell, a favorite author of the band. The song "In Limbo" references the British shipping report. Some have seen Biblical allusions (such as the line "cut the kids in half" in "Morning Bell," which has also been widely heard as a song about divorce, though Yorke says it's about ghosts) and parallels between ''Kid A'' and '' The Inferno ''; Yorke's longtime partner is a Dante scholar. He has said it was her own words to him that inspired the chorus of "Optimistic": "if you try the best you can, the best you can is good enough." ARTWORK AND BLIPS No singles were released from ''Kid A'', and hence no videos. However, in place of these Radiohead commissioned a series of television commercial length (mostly 30 second) films set to music from the album, which they dubbed "blips". Some blips were directed by The Vapour Brothers (Tim and Chris Bran, who also directed a web-only video of " I Might Be Wrong "). Blips, which were mostly animated, were also directed by Shynola , a collective which went on to create the award-winning "Pyramid Song" video for ''Amnesiac''. Blips were shown occasionally on MTV as between-segments programming, but mostly distributed free on the Internet. They were originally available on Radiohead's official website, and are now available from a variety of unofficial fan sites (see sites at bottom of Radiohead article). As expressed in an essay by Joseph Tate, the blips continued from Stanley Donwood's artwork (which often directly inspired their look and imagery, if not including his own collaboration) to tell fragmented, allegorical stories of nature reclaiming civilization from out of control technology, and global capitalism gone wrong, represented often by genetically modified killer Teddy Bear s. Ironically, the bears ended up being a sort of commercial "logo" for the album and the band, appearing at the end of the blips and on official T-shirts and posters. The Kid A cover art, by Donwood and/or Yorke, is a rendering of mountain range, with some pixelated distortion near the bottom of the image. The back cover depicts a beautiful snowscape with fires raging through forests, the whole thing tarnished by digital effects. The album comes with a thick booklet which contains various drawings and other art in the same vein, printed on both glossy paper and thick tracing paper. No lyrics are printed (the same goes for Amnesiac , although that booklet has some fragments of lyrics from the album among other text). Near the back there is also a large triptych-style foldout drawing. The first million or so copies of ''Kid A'' came with a small booklet of artwork underneath the CD tray (which is now available online as a PDF file). In December 2000, a "special edition" package of ''Kid A'' was released, containing the same music but encased in a thick cardboard "children's book" with a unique cover and different oil paintings of apocalyptic landscapes and "modified bears." Although in the same style as the album art, this time they were without digital manipulation. An essay on these 10 paintings from the special edition book, and their possible implications, is available in the book ''The Music and Art of Radiohead'' (2005) and includes interviews with Donwood. Although no videos were widely released to promote ''Kid A'', and music television outlets that wanted them to play were stuck with either blips or filmed concert performances, Radiohead did film a sort of video featuring a performance of Idioteque in a studio. This is not to be confused with either Saturday Night Live version, or the version found on ''Kid A'', as it is a different recording. The video features striking camera angles and showcases Thom Yorke's bizarre dancing. An official, but not widely released, video was also made for Motion Picture Soundtrack. Yorke described it as his favorite piece of film the band had ever done, but it was made up entirely of edited together blips that had been previously available. There is a Latin American release of a video for "The National Anthem". The video was the result of a contest made by MTV Latin America, in which contestants were asked to make an animated video for "The National Anthem". However, it is certainly not official. Countless live performances of songs from ''Kid A'' have also been played on music outlets and widely available on the Internet, many of them filmed and sanctioned by the band or label. They still do not exactly function as "videos." TRACK LISTING
# "Everything In Its Right Place" – 4:11 # "Kid A" – 4:44 # " The National Anthem " – 5:50 # "How to Disappear Completely" – 5:55 # " Treefingers " – 3:42 # "Optimistic" – 5:16 # "In Limbo" – 3:31 # " Idioteque " – 5:09 # "Morning Bell" – 4:29 # "Motion Picture Soundtrack" – 7:01 TRIVIA
CLIPS EXTERNAL LINKS
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