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''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
, released on 2 October 2000 by
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
. It was recorded with their producer,
Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). ...
, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and their hometown of Oxford. After the stress of promoting Radiohead's 1997 album '' OK Computer'', the songwriter,
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been descri ...
, wanted to depart from rock music. Drawing influence from
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
, ambient music,
krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
,
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and 20th-century classical music, Radiohead used instruments such as modular synthesisers, the
ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...
, brass and strings. They processed guitar sounds, incorporated samples and loops, and manipulated their recordings with software. Yorke wrote impersonal and abstract lyrics, cutting up phrases and assembling them at random. In a departure from industry practice, Radiohead released no singles or music videos and conducted few interviews and photoshoots. Instead, they released short animated "
blips BLIPS is an acronym for ''Bond Linked Issue Premium Structure'', or ''Bond Linked Investment Premium Strategy''. It is a type of tax shelter involving investors who take out bank loans that the government considers illegitimate. These loans are the ...
", and became one of the first major acts to use the internet for promotion. Bootlegs of early performances were shared on
filesharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include re ...
services, and ''Kid A'' was leaked before release. In 2000, Radiohead toured Europe in a custom-built tent without corporate logos. ''Kid A'' debuted at the top of the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and became Radiohead's first number-one album on the ''
Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
'' in the US, where it sold more than 207,000 copies in its first week. Its departure from Radiohead's earlier sound divided listeners, and some dismissed it as pretentious, deliberately obscure, or derivative. However, it later attracted acclaim; at the end of the decade, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' and the ''
Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time speci ...
'' ranked ''Kid A'' the greatest album of the 2000s, and in 2020 ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 20 on its updated list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Like ''OK Computer'', it won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It has been
certified platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
in Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the US and the UK. A second album of material from the sessions, ''
Amnesiac Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use o ...
'', was released eight months later. ''
Kid A Mnesia ''Kid A Mnesia'' is a reissue compiling the albums '' Kid A'' (2000) and '' Amnesiac'' (2001) by the English rock band Radiohead. It also includes a bonus disc, ''Kid Amnesiae'', comprising previously unreleased material. It was released on 5 N ...
'', an anniversary reissue compiling ''Kid A'', ''Amnesiac'' and previously unreleased material, was released in 2021.


Background

Following the critical and commercial success of their 1997 album '' OK Computer'', the members of Radiohead suffered burnout. The songwriter,
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been descri ...
, became ill, describing himself as "a complete fucking mess ... completely unhinged". He was troubled by new acts he felt were imitating Radiohead and became hostile to the music media. He told ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'': "I always used to use music as a way of moving on and dealing with things, and I sort of felt like that the thing that helped me deal with things had been sold to the highest bidder and I was simply doing its bidding. And I couldn't handle that." Yorke suffered from
writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
and could not finish writing songs on guitar. He became disillusioned with the "mythology" of rock music, feeling the genre had "run its course". He began to listen almost exclusively to the
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
of artists signed to the record label
Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...
, such as Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin and
Autechre Autechre () is an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all of Au ...
. Yorke said: "It was refreshing because the music was all structures and had no human voices in it. But I felt just as emotional about it as I'd ever felt about guitar music." He liked the idea of his voice being used as an instrument rather than having a leading role, and wanted to focus on sounds and textures instead of traditional songwriting. Yorke bought a house in Cornwall and spent his time walking the cliffs and drawing, restricting his musical activity to playing the grand piano he had recently bought. "
Everything in Its Right Place "Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, ''Kid A'' (2000). It features synthesiser, manipulated vocals, and lyrics inspired by the stress singer Thom Yorke experienced while ...
" was the first song he wrote. He described himself as a "shit piano player", with little knowledge of electronic instruments: "I remember this
Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
quote from years ago, that what keeps him going as a songwriter is his complete ignorance of the instruments he's using. So everything's a novelty. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get into computers and synths, because I didn't understand how the fuck they worked. I had no idea what ADSR meant." The guitarist Ed O'Brien had hoped Radiohead's fourth album would comprise short, melodic guitar songs, but Yorke said: "There was no chance of the album sounding like that. I'd completely had it with melody. I just wanted rhythm. All melodies to me were pure embarrassment." The bassist,
Colin Greenwood Colin Charles Greenwood (born 26 June 1969) is an English musician and the bassist for the rock band Radiohead. Along with bass guitar, Greenwood plays upright bass and electronic instruments. With his younger brother, the Radiohead guitari ...
, said: "We felt we had to change everything. There were other guitar bands out there trying to do similar things. We had to move on."


Recording

Radiohead were building their own studio in Oxfordshire, which Yorke wanted to use as the German band Can had used their studio in Cologne, recording everything they played and then editing it down. However, the studio would not be complete until late 1999, so work began in Paris in January 1999. Radiohead worked with the ''OK Computer'' producer
Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). ...
and no deadline. Yorke, who had the greatest control, was still facing writer's block. His new songs were incomplete, and some consisted of little more than sounds or rhythms; few had clear verses or choruses. Yorke's lack of lyrics created problems, as these had provided points of reference and inspiration for his bandmates in the past. The group struggled with Yorke's new direction. According to Godrich, Yorke did not communicate much, and according to Yorke, Godrich "didn't understand why, if we had such a strength in one thing, we would want to do something else". The lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, feared "awful art-rock nonsense just for its own sake". His brother Colin did not enjoy Yorke's Warp influences, finding them "really cold". The other band members were unsure of how to contribute, and considered leaving. O'Brien said: "It's scary – everyone feels insecure. I'm a guitarist and suddenly it's like, well, there are no guitars on this track, or no drums." Radiohead experimented with electronic instruments including modular synthesisers and the
ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...
, an early electronic instrument similar to a theremin, and used software such as
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...
and
Cubase Cubase is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Steinberg for music and MIDI recording, arranging and editing. The first version, which was originally only a MIDI sequencer and ran on the Atari ST computer, was released in 1989. Cut-dow ...
to edit and manipulate their recordings. They found it difficult to use electronic instruments collaboratively; according to Yorke, "We had to develop ways of going off into corners and build things on whatever sequencer, synthesiser or piece of machinery we would bring to the equation and then integrate that into the way we would normally work." O'Brien began using sustain units, which allow guitar notes to be
sustain In sound and music, an envelope describes how a sound changes over time. It may relate to elements such as amplitude (volume), frequencies (with the use of filters) or pitch. For example, a piano key, when struck and held, creates a near-immedi ...
ed infinitely, combined with looping and
delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...
effects to create synthesiser-like sounds. In March, Radiohead moved to Medley Studios in Copenhagen for two weeks, which were unproductive. The sessions produced about 50 reels of tape, each containing 15 minutes of music, with nothing finished. In April, Radiohead resumed recording in a mansion in
Batsford Park Batsford Arboretum is a arboretum and botanical garden near Batsford in Gloucestershire, England, about 1½ miles north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh. It is owned and run by the Batsford Foundation, a registered charity, and is open to the public ...
, Gloucestershire. The lack of deadline and the number of incomplete ideas made it hard to focus, and the group held tense meetings. They agreed to disband if they could not agree on an album worth releasing. In July, O'Brien began keeping an online diary of Radiohead's progress. Radiohead moved to their new studio in Oxfordshire in September. In November, Radiohead held a live webcast from their studio, featuring a performance of new music and a DJ set. By 2000, six songs were complete. In January, at Godrich's suggestion, Radiohead split into two groups: one would generate a sound or sequence without acoustic instruments such as guitars or drums, and the other would develop it. Though the experiment produced no finished songs, it helped convince O'Brien of the potential of electronic instruments. On 19 April 2000, Yorke wrote on Radiohead's website that they had finished recording. Having completed over 20 songs, Radiohead considered releasing a double album, but felt the material was too dense. Instead, they saved half the songs for their next album, ''
Amnesiac Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use o ...
'', released the following year. Yorke said Radiohead split the work into two albums because "they cancel each other out as overall finished things. They come from two different places." He observed that deciding the track list was not just a matter of choosing the best songs, as "you can put all the best songs in the world on a record and they'll ruin each other". He cited the later Beatles albums as examples of effective sequencing: "How in the hell can you have three different versions of '
Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
' on the same record and get away with it? I thought about that sort of thing." Agreeing on the track list created arguments, and O'Brien said the band came close to breaking up: "That felt like it could go either way, it could break ... But we came in the next day and it was resolved." The album was
mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...
by Chris Blair in
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
, London.


Tracks

Radiohead worked on the first track, "
Everything in Its Right Place "Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, ''Kid A'' (2000). It features synthesiser, manipulated vocals, and lyrics inspired by the stress singer Thom Yorke experienced while ...
", in a conventional band arrangement in Copenhagen and Paris, but without results. In Gloucestershire, Yorke and Godrich transferred the song to a Prophet-5 synthesiser, and Yorke's vocals were processed in
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...
using a scrubbing tool. O'Brien and the drummer,
Philip Selway Philip James Selway (born 23 May 1967) is an English musician and the drummer of the English rock band Radiohead. Along with the other members of Radiohead, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Selway released his deb ...
, said the track helped them accept that not every song needed every band member to play on it. O'Brien recalled: "To be genuinely sort of delighted that you'd been working for six months on this record and something great has come out of it, and you haven't contributed to it, is a really liberating feeling." Jonny Greenwood described it as a turning point for the album: "We knew it had to be the first song, and everything just followed after it." Yorke wrote an early version of " The National Anthem" when the band was still in school. In 1997, Radiohead recorded drums and bass for the song, intending to develop it as a B-side for ''OK Computer,'' but decided to keep it for their next album. For ''Kid A'', Greenwood added ondes Martenot and sounds
sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
from radio stations, and Yorke's vocals were processed with a
ring modulator In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple ...
. In November 1999, Radiohead recorded a
brass section The brass section of the orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble consist of brass instruments, and is one of the main sections in all three ensembles. The British-style brass band contains only brass and percussion instruments. They contain ...
inspired by the "organised chaos" of ''
Town Hall Concert ''Town Hall Concert'' is a 1964 live album by the jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus. It was recorded in New York City at The Town Hall on April 4, 1964. "So Long Eric" is a 12-bar blues that got its name after Eric Dolphy informed Mingus ...
'' by the jazz musician Charles Mingus, instructing the musicians to sound like a "traffic jam". The strings on " How to Disappear Completely" were performed by the
Orchestra of St John's The Orchestra of St John's is an orchestra in the United Kingdom, founded in 1967 by John Lubbock. Originally called the Orchestra of St John's Smith Square, it was named after St John's, Smith Square in central London. The Orchestra has worked w ...
and recorded in
Dorchester Abbey The Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul, more usually called Dorchester Abbey, is a Church of England parish church in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, about southeast of Oxford. It was formerly a Norman abbey church and was built on the ...
, a 12th-century church about five miles from Radiohead's Oxfordshire studio. Radiohead chose the orchestra as they had performed pieces by
Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...
and
Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonicall ...
. Jonny Greenwood, the only Radiohead member trained in
music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
, composed the string arrangement by multitracking his ondes Martenot. According to Godrich, when the orchestra members saw Greenwood's score "they all just sort of burst into giggles, because they couldn't do what he'd written, because it was impossible – or impossible for them, anyway". The orchestra leader, John Lubbock, encouraged them to experiment and work with Greenwood's ideas. Concerts director Alison Atkinson said the session was "more experimental" than the orchestra's usual bookings. "
Idioteque "Idioteque" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, '' Kid A'' (2000). In 2008, the song was featured on '' Radiohead: The Best Of.'' A live version appears on the 2001 EP '' I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings ...
" samples two
computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...
pieces, Paul Lansky's "Mild und Leise" and Arthur Kreiger's "Short Piece". Both samples were taken from ''Electronic Music Winners'', a 1976 experimental music LP which Jonny Greenwood stumbled upon while the band was working on ''Kid A''. The track was built from a drum machine pattern Greenwood created with a modular synthesiser and a sample from "Mild und Leise". He gave the 50-minute recording to Yorke, who took a short section of it and used it to write the song. Yorke also referred to electronic dance music when talking about "Idioteque", and said that the song was "an attempt to capture that exploding beat sound where you're at the club and the PA's so loud, you know it's doing damage". "Motion Picture Soundtrack" was written before Radiohead's debut single " Creep", and a version of it was recorded on piano during the ''OK Computer'' sessions. Yorke recorded it on a pedal organ, influenced by the songwriter
Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
; the other band members added sampled
harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
and
double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
, attempting to emulate the soundtracks of 1950s
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
films. Radiohead also worked on several songs that were not completed until recording sessions for future albums, including " Nude", " Burn the Witch" and "
True Love Waits True Love Waits may refer to: *True Love Waits (organization), an international Christian organization promoting sexual abstinence until marriage. * True Love Waits (song), "True Love Waits" (song), a song by Radiohead * True Love Waits (album), ''T ...
".


Music


Style and influences

''Kid A'' incorporates influences from electronic artists on
Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...
such as 1990s IDM artists
Autechre Autechre () is an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all of Au ...
and Aphex Twin; 1970s
Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
bands such as Can; the
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
of Charles Mingus,
Alice Coltrane Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few har ...
and
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
; and abstract hip hop from the Mo'Wax label, including
Blackalicious Blackalicious was an American hip-hop duo from Sacramento, California, made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel. They are noted for Gift of Gab's often tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's soulful p ...
and
DJ Krush , better known by his stage name DJ Krush, is a record producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples. Early life Ishi was born in ...
. Yorke cited ''
Remain in Light ''Remain in Light'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records. It was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia during July and Augus ...
'' (1980) by
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
as a "massive reference point".
Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
was another major influence, particularly her 1997 album ''
Homogenic ''Homogenic'' is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 20 September 1997 by One Little Indian Records. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B, and Markus Dravs, the album marked a styli ...
'', as was
the Beta Band The Beta Band were a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style was described as being "folktronica", although it was mainly a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experimen ...
. Radiohead attended an
Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...
concert which helped renew their enthusiasm in a difficult moment. The string orchestration for "How to Disappear Completely" was influenced by Polish composer
Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ' ...
. Jonny Greenwood's use of the
ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...
on this and several other ''Kid A'' songs was inspired by Olivier Messiaen, who popularised the instrument and was one of Greenwood's teenage heroes. Greenwood described his interest in mixing old and new music technology, and during the recording sessions Yorke read
Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...
's ''
Revolution in the Head ''Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties'' is a book by British music critic and author Ian MacDonald, discussing the music of the Beatles and the band's relationship to the social and cultural changes of the 1960s. The fir ...
'', which chronicles
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' recordings with
George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...
during the 1960s. The band also sought to combine electronic manipulations with jam sessions in the studio, stating their model was the German group Can. ''Kid A'' has been described as a work of electronica,
experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...
,
post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
,
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
, post-prog, ambient,
electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrum ...
, art rock, and
art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop art's ...
. Though guitar is less prominent than on previous Radiohead albums, guitars were still used on most tracks. "Treefingers", an ambient instrumental, was created by digitally processing O'Brien's guitar loops. Many of Yorke's vocals were manipulated with effects; for example, his vocals on the title track were simply spoken, then vocoded with the ondes Martenot to create the melody.


Lyrics

Yorke's lyrics on ''Kid A'' are less personal than on earlier albums, and instead incorporate abstract and surreal themes. He
cut up Cut Up is a Swedish death metal band formed by former members of Vomitory (band), Vomitory in 2014, and is currently signed to Metal Blade Records. Members * Erik Rundqvist – bass guitar, vocals * Andreas Björnson – guitar, vocals * And ...
phrases and assembled them at random, combining cliches and banal observations; for example, "Morning Bell" features repeated contrasting lines such as "Where'd you park the car?" and "Cut the kids in half". He cited
David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
's approach on ''Remain in Light'' as an influence: "When they made that record, they had no real songs, just wrote it all as they went along. Byrne turned up with pages and pages, and just picked stuff up and threw bits in all the time. And that's exactly how I approached ''Kid A''." Radiohead used Yorke's lyrics "like pieces in a collage ... reatingan artwork out of a lot of different little things". The lyrics are not included in the liner notes, as Radiohead felt they could not be considered independently of the music, and Yorke did not want listeners to focus on them. Yorke wrote "Everything in Its Right Place" about the depression he experienced on the ''OK Computer'' tour, feeling he could not speak. The refrain of "How to Disappear Completely" was inspired by
R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
singer
Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...
, who advised Yorke to relieve tour stress by repeating to himself: "I'm not here, this isn't happening". The refrain of "Optimistic" ("try the best you can / the best you can is good enough") was an assurance by Yorke's partner,
Rachel Owen Rachel Mary Owen (30 November 1968 – 18 December 2016) was a Welsh photographer, printmaker and lecturer on medieval Italian literature. She was married to Radiohead singer Thom Yorke. Life and career Owen was born in Cardiff, Wales. She ...
, when Yorke was frustrated with the band's progress. The title ''Kid A'' came from a filename on one of Yorke's sequencers. Yorke said he liked its "non-meaning", saying: "If you call
n album N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
something specific, it drives the record in a certain way."


Artwork

The ''Kid A'' artwork and packaging was created by Yorke with Stanley Donwood, who has worked with Radiohead since their 1994 EP ''
My Iron Lung ''My Iron Lung'' is the third EP and fifth single 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. T ...
''. Donwood painted on large canvases with knives and sticks, then photographed the paintings and manipulated them with
Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...
. While working on the artwork, Yorke and Donwood became "obsessed" with the
Worldwatch Institute The Worldwatch Institute was a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C., founded by Lester R. Brown. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Su ...
website, which was full of "scary statistics about ice caps melting, and weather patterns changing"; this inspired them to use an image of a mountain range as the cover art. Donwood said he saw the mountains as "some sort of cataclysmic power". Donwood was inspired by a photograph taken during the
Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the wa ...
depicting a square metre of snow full of the "detritus of war", such as military equipment and cigarette stains. He said: "I was upset by it in a way war had never upset me before. It felt like it was happening in my street." The red swimming pool on the album spine and disc was inspired by the 1988 graphic novel ''
Brought to Light ''Brought to Light: Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action'' is an anthology of two political graphic novels, published originally by Eclipse Comics in 1988. The two stories are ''Shadowplay: The Secret Team'' by Alan Moo ...
'' by
Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...
and
Bill Sienkiewicz Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz ( ; born May 3, 1958) is an American artist known for his work in comic books—particularly for Marvel Comics' ''New Mutants'', ''Moon Knight,'' and '' Elektra: Assassin''. Sienkiewicz's work in the 1980 ...
, in which the number of people killed by
state terrorism State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which a state conducts against another state or against its own citizens.Martin, 2006: p. 111. Definition There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper def ...
is measured in swimming pools filled with blood. Donwood said this image "haunted" him during the recording of the album, calling it "a symbol of looming danger and shattered expectations". Yorke and Donwood cited a Paris exhibition of paintings by
David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
as another influence. Yorke and Donwood made many versions of the album cover, with different pictures and different titles in different typefaces. Unable to pick one, they taped them to cupboards of the studio kitchen and went to bed. According to Donwood, the choice the next day "was obvious". In October 2021, Yorke and Donwood curated an exhibition of ''Kid A'' artwork at Christie's headquarters in London.


Promotion

Radiohead minimised their involvement in promotion for ''Kid A'', conducting few interviews or photoshoots. Though "Optimistic" and promotional copies of other tracks received radio play, Radiohead released no
singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...
from the album. Yorke said this was to avoid the stress of publicity, which he had struggled with on ''OK Computer'', rather than for artistic reasons. No advance copies of ''Kid A'' were circulated, but it was played under controlled conditions for critics and fans. Radiohead were careful to present it as a cohesive work rather than a series of separate tracks. Rather than give EMI executives their own copies, they had them listen to the album in its entirety on a bus from Hollywood to Malibu. Rob Gordon, the vice president of marketing at Capitol Records, the American subsidiary of Radiohead's label EMI, praised the album but said promoting it would be a "business challenge". Promotional copies of ''Kid A'' came with stickers prohibiting broadcast before September 19. At midnight, it was played in its entirety by the London radio station Xfm. MTV2,
KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The st ...
, and WXRK also played the album in its entirety. Rather than agree to a standard magazine photoshoot for '' Q'', Radiohead supplied digitally altered portraits, with their skin smoothed, their irises recoloured, and Yorke's drooping eyelid removed. The ''Q'' editor Andrew Harrison described the images as "aggressively weird to the point of taking the piss ... All five of Radiohead had been given the aspect of gawking aliens." Yorke said: "I'd like to see them try to put these pictures on a poster." ''Q'' projected the images onto the
Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
, placed them on posters and billboards in the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
and on the
Old Street Roundabout Old Street Roundabout is a road junction in Central London, England. Historically a square roundabout, it is now a three-way junction. It is among access points of the Inner Ring Road for the adjoining St Luke's south part of Islington and ...
, and had them printed on key rings, mugs and mouse mats, to "turn Radiohead back into a product". Instead of releasing traditional music videos for ''Kid A'', Radiohead commissioned dozens of 10-second videos featuring Donwood artwork they called "
blips BLIPS is an acronym for ''Bond Linked Issue Premium Structure'', or ''Bond Linked Investment Premium Strategy''. It is a type of tax shelter involving investors who take out bank loans that the government considers illegitimate. These loans are the ...
", which were aired on music channels and distributed online. ''Pitchfork'' described them as "context-free animated nightmares that radiated mystery", with "arch hints of surveillance". Five of the videos were serviced as exclusives to MTV, and "helped play into the arty mystique that endeared Radiohead to its core audience", according to '' Billboard''. Much of the promotional material featured pointy-toothed bear characters created by Donwood. The bears originated in stories Donwood made for his young children about teddy bears who came to life and ate the "grown-ups" who had abandoned them.


Internet

Though Radiohead had experimented with internet promotion for ''OK Computer'' in 1997, by 2000 online music promotion was not widespread, with record labels still reliant on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and radio. Donwood wrote that EMI was not interested in the Radiohead website, and left him and the band to update it with "discursive and random content". To promote ''Kid A'', Capitol created the "iBlip", a
Java applet Java applets were small applications written in the Java programming language, or another programming language that compiles to Java bytecode, and delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. The user launched the Java applet from a ...
that could be embedded in fan sites. It allowed users to
stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
the album, and included artwork, photos and links to order ''Kid A'' on
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
. It was used by more than 1000 sites, and the album was streamed more than 400,000 times. Capitol also streamed ''Kid A'' through Amazon, MTV.com and
heavy.com Heavy is a news aggregation platform based in New York City. It operates through its flagship website, Heavy.com, and Spanish-language platform, AhoraMismo.com. The website specializes in "5 Fast Facts" posts, which aggregate facts about trending ...
, and ran a campaign with the
peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...
filesharing service
Aimster Madster (initially called Aimster) was a peer-to-peer file sharing service. It was released in Napster's wake in August 2000 shut down in December 2002 as a result of a lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America. Origin According to ...
, allowing users to swap iBlips and Radiohead-branded Aimster skins. Three weeks before release, ''Kid A'' was leaked online and shared on the peer-to-peer service Napster. Asked whether he believed Napster had damaged sales, Capitol president Ray Lott likened the situation to unfounded concern about
home taping "Home Taping Is Killing Music" was the slogan of a 1980s anti-copyright infringement propaganda campaign by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), a British music industry trade group. With the rise in cassette recorder popularity, the BPI fea ...
in the 1980s and said: "I'm trying to sell as many Radiohead albums as possible. If I worried about what Napster would do, I wouldn't sell as many albums." Yorke said Napster "encourages enthusiasm for music in a way that the music industry has long forgotten to do".


Tour

Radiohead rearranged the ''Kid A'' songs to perform them live. O'Brien said, "You couldn't do ''Kid A'' live and be true to the record. You would have to do it like an art installation ... When we played live, we put the human element back into it." Selway said they "found some new life" in the songs when they came to perform them. In mid-2000, months before ''Kid A'' was released, Radiohead toured the Mediterranean, performing ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'' songs for the first time. Fans shared concert bootlegs online. Colin Greenwood said: "We played in Barcelona and the next day the entire performance was up on Napster. Three weeks later when we got to play in Israel the audience knew the words to all the new songs and it was wonderful." Later that year, Radiohead toured Europe in a custom-built tent without corporate logos, playing mostly new songs. The tour included a homecoming show in
South Park, Oxford South Park is a park on Headington Hill in east Oxford, England. It is the largest park within Oxford city limits. A good view of the city centre with its historic spires and towers of Oxford University can be obtained at the park's highest ...
, with supporting performances by
Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...
(who performed on ''Amnesiac''), Beck and Sigur Rós. According to the journalist Alex Ross, the show may have been the largest public gathering in Oxford history. Radiohead also performed three concerts in North American theatres, their first in nearly three years. The small venues sold out rapidly, attracting celebrities, and fans camped overnight. In October, Radiohead performed on the American TV show ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
;'' the performance shocked viewers expecting rock songs, with Jonny Greenwood playing electronic instruments, the house brass band improvising over "The National Anthem", and Yorke dancing erratically to "Idioteque". ''Rolling Stone'' described the ''Kid A'' tour as "a revelation, exposing rock and roll humanity" in the songs. In November 2001, Radiohead released '' I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings'', comprising performances from the ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'' tours.


Sales

''Kid A'' reached number one on Amazon's sales chart, with more than 10,000 pre-orders. It debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, selling 55,000 copies in its first day – the biggest first-day sales of the year and more than every other album in the top ten combined. ''Kid A'' also debuted at number one on the US ''
Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
'', selling more than 207,000 copies in its first week. It was Radiohead's first US top-20 album, and the first US number one in three years for any British act. ''Kid A'' also debuted at number one in Canada, where it sold more than 44,000 copies in its first week, and in France, Ireland and New Zealand. European sales slowed on 2 October 2000, the day of release, when EMI recalled 150,000 faulty CDs. By June 2001, ''Kid A'' had sold 310,000 copies in the UK, less than a third of ''OK Computer'' sales. It is
certified platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Japan and the US.


Critical reception

''Kid A'' was widely anticipated; '' Spin'' described it as the most anticipated rock record since
Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
's ''
In Utero ''In Utero'' is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana. It was released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albin ...
''. According to Andrew Harrison, the editor of '' Q'', journalists expected it to provide more of the "rousing, cathartic, lots-of-guitar, Saturday-night-at-
Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
big future rock moments" of ''OK Computer''. Months before its release, Pat Blashill of '' Melody Maker'' wrote: "If there's one band that promises to return rock to us, it's Radiohead." After ''Kid A'' had been played for critics, many bemoaned the lack of guitar, obscured vocals, and unconventional song structures, and some called the album "a commercial suicide note". ''The Guardian'' wrote of the "muted electronic hums, pulses and tones", predicting that it would confuse listeners. In ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'',
Jim Irvin Jim Irvin is an English singer, songwriter, music journalist and podcast host. Early life Born James Lawrence Irvin and raised in west London. Career Furniture Irvin was the singer in the English new wave band Furniture, who released singles ...
wrote that "upon first listen, ''Kid A'' is just awful ... Too often it sounds like the fragments that they began the writing process with – a loop, a riff, a mumbled line of text, have been set in concrete and had other, lesser ideas piled on top." The ''Guardian'' critic
Adam Sweeting Adam Sweeting is a British rock critic and writer. Sweeting started writing in 1979 for publications such as ''Beat Instrumental'', ''Trouser Press'', Australian magazine ''RAM''Adam Sweeting. "Have Faith and Go to the Pictures". '' RAM Magazine ...
wrote that "even listeners raised on
krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
or
Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...
will find ''Kid A'' a mystifying experience", and that it pandered to "the worst cliches" about Radiohead's "relentless miserabilism". Several critics felt ''Kid A'' was pretentious or deliberately obscure. The ''
Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' bemoaned the lack of conventional song structures and panned the album as "deliberately abstruse, wilfully esoteric and wantonly unfathomable ... The only thing challenging about ''Kid A'' is the very real challenge to your attention span." In the ''
New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...
'', the novelist Nick Hornby wrote that it was "morbid proof that this sort of self-indulgence results in a weird kind of anonymity rather than something distinctive and original". The ''Melody Maker'' critic Mark Beaumont called it "tubby, ostentatious, self-congratulatory, look-ma-I-can-suck-my-own-cock whiny old rubbish ... About 60 songs were started that no one had a bloody clue how to finish." Alexis Petridis of ''The Guardian'' described it as "self-consciously awkward and bloody-minded, the noise made by a band trying so hard to make a 'difficult' album that they felt it beneath them to write any songs". ''Rolling Stone'' published a piece by Michael Krugman and Jason Cohen mocking ''Kid A'' as humourless, derivative and lacking in songs. They wrote: "Because it was decided that Radiohead were Important and Significant last time around, no one can accept the album as the crackpot art project it so obviously is." Some critics felt the electronic elements were unoriginal. In the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Howard Hampton dismissed Radiohead as a "rock composite" and wrote that ''Kid A'' "recycles
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
's dark-side-of-the-moon solipsism to Me-Decade perfection". Beaumont said Radiohead were "simply ploughing furrows dug by
DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996. Biography Early years (1989–1995) DJ Sh ...
and Brian Eno before them"; the ''Irish Times'' felt the ambient elements were inferior to Eno's 1978 album ''
Music For Airports Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
'' and its "scary" elements inferior to Scott Walker's 1995 album ''
Tilt Tilt may refer to: Music * Tilt (American band), a punk rock group, formed in 1992 * Tilt (British band), an electronic music group, formed in 1993 * Tilt (Polish band), a rock band, formed in 1979 Albums * ''Tilt'' (Cozy Powell album), 1981 * ...
''. '' Select'' wrote: "What do they want for sounding like the Aphex Twin circa 1993, a medal?"
Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Ble ...
wrote that the "mastery of Warp-style electronic effects" appeared "clumsy and dated". In an ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' editorial'','' James Oldham wrote that the electronic influences were "mired in compromise", with Radiohead still operating as a rock band, and concluded: "Time will judge it. But right now, ''Kid A'' has the ring of a lengthy, over-analysed mistake." Rob Mitchell, the co-founder of Warp, felt ''Kid A'' represented "an honest interpretation of arpinfluences" and was not gratuitously electronic. He predicted it might one day be seen in the same way as
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's 1977 album '' Low'', which alienated some Bowie fans but was later acclaimed.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave ''Kid A'' a favourable review, but wrote that it "never is as visionary or stunning as ''OK Computer'', nor does it really repay the intensive time it demands in order for it to sink in". The ''NME'' review was also positive, but described some songs as "meandering" and "anticlimactic", and concluded: "For all its feats of brinkmanship, the patently magnificent construct called ''Kid A'' betrays a band playing one-handed just to prove they can, scared to commit itself emotionally." In ''Rolling Stone'',
David Fricke David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. I ...
called ''Kid A'' "a work of deliberately inky, often irritating obsession ... But this ''is'' pop, a music of ornery, glistening guile and honest ache, and it will feel good under your skin once you let it get there." '' Spin'' said ''Kid A'' was "not the act of career suicide or feat of self-indulgence it will be castigated as", and predicted that fans would recognise it as Radiohead's "best and bravest" album. ''Billboard'' described it as "an ocean of unparalleled musical depth" and "the first truly groundbreaking album of the 21st century". Robert Christgau wrote that ''Kid A'' was "an imaginative, imitative variation on a pop staple: sadness made pretty". ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' called it "oblique oblique oblique ... Also incredibly beautiful." Brent DiCrescenzo of ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' gave ''Kid A'' a perfect score, calling it "cacophonous yet tranquil, experimental yet familiar, foreign yet womb-like, spacious yet visceral, textured yet vaporous, awakening yet dreamlike". He concluded that Radiohead "must be the greatest band alive, if not the best since you know who". The piece was one of the first ''Kid A'' reviews posted online; shared widely by Radiohead fans, it helped popularise ''Pitchfork'' and became notorious for its "obtuse" writing. At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which aggregates ratings from critics, ''Kid A'' has a score of 80 based on 24 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". It was named one of the best albums of 2000 by publications including the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', ''Spin'', ''Melody Maker'', ''Mojo'', ''NME'', ''Pitchfork'', ''Q'', the ''Times'', ''Uncut'', and the ''Wire''. At the 2001 Grammy Awards, ''Kid A'' was nominated for Album of the Year and won for Best Alternative Album.


Legacy

In the years following its release, ''Kid A'' attracted acclaim. In 2005, ''Pitchfork'' wrote that it had "challenged and confounded" Radiohead's audience, and subsequently "transformed into an intellectual symbol of sorts ... Owning it became 'getting it'; getting it became 'anointing it'." In 2015,
Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Ble ...
of ''Rolling Stone'' likened Radiohead's change in style to Bob Dylan's controversial move to rock music, writing that critics now hesitated to say they had disliked it at the time. He described ''Kid A'' as the "defining moment in the Radiohead legend". A year later, '' Billboard'' argued that ''Kid A'' was the first album since Bowie's ''Low'' to have moved "rock and electronic music forward in such a mature fashion". In an article for ''Kid A's'' 20th anniversary, the ''
Quietus Titus Fulvius Junius Quietus (died 261) was a Roman usurper against Roman Emperor Gallienus. History Quietus was the son of Fulvius Macrianus and a noblewoman, possibly named Junia. According to ''Historia Augusta'', he was a military tribu ...
'' suggested that the negative reviews had been motivated by
rockism Rockism and poptimism are two ideological arguments about popular music prevalent in mainstream music journalism. Rockism is the belief that rock music is dependent on values such as authenticity and artfulness, and that such values elevate ...
, the tendency among music critics to venerate rock music over other genres. In a 2011 ''Guardian'' article about his critical ''Melody Maker'' review, Beaumont wrote that though his opinion had not changed, "''Kid A'' status as a cultural cornerstone has proved me, if not wrong, then very much in the minority ... People whose opinions I trust claim it to be their favourite album ever." In 2014, Brice Ezell of ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' wrote that ''Kid A'' is "more fun to think and write about than it is to actually listen to" and a "far less compelling representation of the band's talents than '' The Bends'' and '' OK Computer''". In 2016, Dorian Lysnkey wrote in ''The Guardian'': "At times, ''Kid A'' is dull enough to make you fervently wish that they'd merged the highlights with the best bits of the similarly spotty ''Amnesiac'' ... Yorke had given up on coherent lyrics so one can only guess at what he was worrying about." Radiohead denied that they had set out to create "difficult" music. Jonny Greenwood argued that the tracks were short and melodic, and suggested that "people basically want their hands held through 12 '
Mull Of Kintyre The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (formerly ''Cantyre'') in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second ...
's". Yorke said: "We're actually trying to communicate but, somewhere along the line, we just seemed to piss off a lot of people ... What we're doing isn't that radical." He recalled that the band had been "white as a sheet" before early performances on the ''Kid A'' tour, thinking they had been "absolutely trashed". At the same time, the reaction motivated them: "There was a sense of a fight to convince people, which was actually really exciting." He regretted having released no singles, feeling it meant much of the early judgement of the album came from critics. ''
Grantland ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed e ...
'' credited ''Kid A'' for pioneering the use of internet to stream and promote music, writing: "For many music fans of a certain age and persuasion, ''Kid A'' was the first album experienced primarily via the internet – it's where you went to hear it, read the reviews, and argue about whether it was a masterpiece ... Listen early, form an opinion quickly, state it publicly, and move on to the next big record by the official release date. In that way, ''Kid A'' invented modern music culture as we know it." In his 2005 book '' Killing Yourself to Live'', critic
Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for ''Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...
interpreted ''Kid A'' as a prediction of the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. Speaking at Radiohead's induction to the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
2019,
David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
of
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
, one of Radiohead's formative influences, said: "What was really weird and very encouraging was that 'Kid A''was popular. It was a hit! It proved to me that the artistic risk paid off and music fans sometimes are not stupid." In 2020, '' Billboard'' wrote that the success of ''Kid A,'' despite its "challenging" content, established Radiohead as "heavy hitters in the business for the long run".


Accolades

In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Kid A'' number 20 on its updated " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, describing it as "a new, uniquely fearless kind of rock record for a new, increasingly fearful century ... tremains one of the more stunning sonic makeovers in music history." In previous versions of the list, ''Kid A'' ranked at number 67 (2012) and number 428 (2003). In 2005, '' Stylus'' and ''Pitchfork'' named ''Kid A'' the best album of the previous five years, with ''Pitchfork'' calling it "the perfect record for its time: ominous, surreal, and impossibly millennial". In 2006, ''Time'' named ''Kid A ''one of the 100 best albums, calling it "the opposite of easy listening, and the weirdest album to ever sell a million copies, but ... also a testament to just how complicated pop music can be". At the end of the decade, ''Rolling Stone'', ''Pitchfork'' and the ''
Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time speci ...
'' ranked ''Kid A'' the greatest album of the 2000s. ''The Guardian'' ranked it second best, calling it "a jittery premonition of the troubled, disconnected, overloaded decade to come. The sound of today, in other words, a decade early." In 2021, ''Pitchfork'' readers voted ''Kid A'' the greatest album of the previous 25 years. In 2011, ''Rolling Stone'' named "Everything in Its Right Place" the 24th-best song of the 2000s, describing it as "oddness at its most hummable". "Idioteque" was named one of the best songs of the decade by ''Pitchfork'' and ''Rolling Stone'', and ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it #33 on its 2018 list of the "greatest songs of the century so far". (*) designates unordered list


Reissues

After a period of being out of print on vinyl, EMI
reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or Single (music), single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New aud ...
d a double LP of ''Kid A'' on 19 August 2008 along with ''OK Computer, Amnesiac'' and '' Hail to the Thief'' as part of the "From the Capitol Vaults" series. In August 2009, EMI reissued ''Kid A'' in a two-CD "Collector's Edition" and a "Special Collector's Edition" containing an additional DVD. Both versions feature live tracks, taken mostly from television performances. Radiohead, who left EMI in 2007, had no input into the reissue and the music was not remastered. The "Collector's Editions" were discontinued after Radiohead's back catalogue was transferred to
XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six albu ...
in 2016. In May 2016, XL reissued ''Kid A'' on vinyl, along with the rest of Radiohead's back catalogue. An early demo of "The National Anthem" was included in the special edition of the 2017 ''OK Computer'' reissue ''
OKNOTOK 1997 2017 ''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 Rec ...
.'' In February 2020, Radiohead released an extended version of "Treefingers", previously released on the soundtrack for the 2000 film '' Memento'', to digital platforms. On November 5, 2021, Radiohead released ''
Kid A Mnesia ''Kid A Mnesia'' is a reissue compiling the albums '' Kid A'' (2000) and '' Amnesiac'' (2001) by the English rock band Radiohead. It also includes a bonus disc, ''Kid Amnesiae'', comprising previously unreleased material. It was released on 5 N ...
,'' an anniversary reissue compiling ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac''. It includes a third album, ''Kid Amnesiae'', comprising previously unreleased material from the sessions. Radiohead promoted the reissue with singles for the previously unreleased tracks " If You Say the Word" and "
Follow Me Around "Follow Me Around" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 1 November 2021 as the second single from their compilation album ''Kid A Mnesia''. It was recorded during the joint sessions for Radiohead's fourth and fifth studio alb ...
". ''
Kid A Mnesia Exhibition ''Kid A Mnesia Exhibition'' is a 2021 exploration game published by Epic Games for macOS, Windows and PlayStation 5. It serves as a digital exhibition of music and artwork created for the Radiohead albums ''Kid A'' (2000) and ''Amnesiac'' (2 ...
'', an interactive experience with music and artwork from the albums, was released on November 18 for PlayStation 5,
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
and
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
.


Track listing

All songs written by
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
, except "
Idioteque "Idioteque" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, '' Kid A'' (2000). In 2008, the song was featured on '' Radiohead: The Best Of.'' A live version appears on the 2001 EP '' I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings ...
", which samples "Mild und Leise" by Paul Lansky and "Short Piece" by Arthur Kreiger. # "
Everything in Its Right Place "Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, ''Kid A'' (2000). It features synthesiser, manipulated vocals, and lyrics inspired by the stress singer Thom Yorke experienced while ...
" – 4:11 # "Kid A" – 4:44 # " The National Anthem" – 5:51 # " How to Disappear Completely" – 5:56 # "Treefingers" – 3:42 # "Optimistic" – 5:15 # "In Limbo" – 3:31 # "
Idioteque "Idioteque" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, '' Kid A'' (2000). In 2008, the song was featured on '' Radiohead: The Best Of.'' A live version appears on the 2001 EP '' I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings ...
" – 5:09 # "Morning Bell" – 4:35 # "Motion Picture Soundtrack" – 7:01 #* Untitled hidden track – 0:52 Note: Track 10 ends at 3:20; includes an untitled hidden track from 4:17 until 5:09, followed by 1:51 of silence. On streaming services, the hidden track is listed as a separate track.


Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. Production *
Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). ...
 – production, engineering, mixing * Radiohead – production * Gerard Navarro – production assistance, additional engineering * Graeme Stewart – additional engineering *
Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
 – artwork * Tchock – artwork * Chris Blair – mastering Additional musicians *
Orchestra of St John's The Orchestra of St John's is an orchestra in the United Kingdom, founded in 1967 by John Lubbock. Originally called the Orchestra of St John's Smith Square, it was named after St John's, Smith Square in central London. The Orchestra has worked w ...
 – strings ** John Lubbock – conducting ** Jonny Greenwood – scoring * Horns on "The National Anthem" ** Andy Bush – trumpet ** Steve Hamilton – alto saxophone ** Martin Hathaway – alto saxophone **
Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...
 – tenor saxophone **
Mark Lockheart Mark Lockheart (born 31 March 1961) is a British jazz tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Loose Tubes big band during the 1980s. Career After the demise of Loose Tubes, Lockheart formed jazz/folk quartet Perfect Houseplants with Huw Warr ...
 – tenor saxophone ** Stan Harrison – baritone saxophone ** Liam Kerkman – trombone ** Mike Kearsey – bass trombone *
Henry Binns Sir Henry Binns, KCMG (27 June 1837 – 6 June 1899) was Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal from 5 October 1897 – 8 June 1899. Life Born into a Quaker family (the Binns family) in Sunderland, County Durham on 27 June 1837, he was the ...
 – rhythm sampling on "The National Anthem"


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


Notes


References


Further reading

*
Ed's Diary:
Ed O'Brien's studio diary from ''Kid A''/''Amnesiac'' recording sessions, 1999–2000 (archived at Green Plastic) * Marzorati, Gerald.

. ''The New York Times''. 1 October 2000. Retrieved on 4 November 2010. *
All Things Reconsidered: The 10th Anniversary of Radiohead's 'Kid A'
(a collection of articles).
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
. November 2010. Retrieved on 4 November 2010.


External links

* {{Authority control 2000 albums Albums produced by Nigel Godrich Ambient albums by English artists Capitol Records albums Electronic albums by English artists Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album Parlophone albums Post-rock albums by English artists Radiohead albums