''The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time'' is a collection of 24 short films from the English rock band Radiohead. It was directed and edited by Chris Bran of the Vapour Brothers. It was released on DVD on 1 December 2004. The DVD release contains all four episodes of the original broadcast from ''Radiohead Television'', an online television station, featuring unheard songs, live studio performances and interviews. ''The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time'' is named after a collage by German artist

John Heartfield John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a 20th century German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. ...

Background

Episodes of ''The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time'' were originally developed to be a programme on a regular television channel, or even on Radiohead's own channel. "This was originally meant to be four episodes shown on our very own television channel,” Radiohead frontman

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 ...

explained on the band's website. Instead, the group went on to create an internet TV channel Radiohead Television in conjunction with the release of their 2003 album '' Hail to the Thief''. Along with the episodes for ''The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time'', other clips including promotional videos, webcast footage from live performances, as well as webcast footage from the studio were broadcast. On 10 May 2003, a two-minute trailer went live with the promotional video for Radiohead's single "

There There "There There" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the lead single from their sixth album, '' Hail to the Thief'' (2003), on 26 May 2003. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Canada and Port ...

". The site fully launched on 26 May with a 30-minute show. All four episodes were shown on Radiohead Television, where they could be watched for free in QuickTime format. Programming started on the hour, with visitors who did not get to the site on time faced with a test card and 1970s-style intermission music. After running for several months this website was replaced with an advertisement for the DVD.

Release

The DVD cover features original artwork by long-time collaborators Stanley Donwood and

, under the alias "Dr. Tchock", plus sleeve notes written by Yorke. Several of the short films were shown as interval entertainment at Jonny Greenwood's performances at the 2005 Ether Festival. The DVD was self-released, as Radiohead's contract with record label

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

(Parlophone/Capitol) was fulfilled after '' COM LAG (2plus2isfive)''. It was initially available to order through the band's website. In January 2020, Radiohead released it free on their website.

Episodes

Some of the sections of ''The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time'' were created by Chris Bran, Stanley Donwood and Radiohead, while others were directed by fans who submitted videos that were selected for inclusion by the band. Producers Rick Hind and Ajit N. Rao created two segments by The Tripti Ensemble Crew, one called "When an Angel Tries to Sell you Something", and another called "Freak Juice". The DVD also features interviews with

and Ed O'Brien as part of a feature entitled "My Showbiz Life". Yorke's voice is altered to an unnaturally deep pitch, whilst O'Brien responds to questions by emitting braying noises.

Chieftan Mews

Each of the four episodes is introduced and closed by commentary from Chieftan Mews, a digital composite character played by Radiohead 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). ...

. Chieftan Mews also "sings" (actually just reading the lyrics) a humorous cover of "

No Surprises "No Surprises" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as the fourth and final single from their third studio album, ''OK Computer'' (1997), on 12 January 1998. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. It featur ...

" at the end of the DVD, and makes a brief cameo in the 2007 Thumbs Down webcast.

Episode One

#The Cat Girl (directed by Ebba Erikzon) #The Slave (directed by James Field) #When an Angel Tries to Sell You Something (directed by Rick Hind and Ajit N. Rao) #Skyscape (directed by Vernie Yeung) #Sit Down. Stand Up. (directed by Ed Holdsworth)

Episode Two

#Lament (directed by Cath Elliot) #The Big Switch (directed by Chris Levitus) #The Scream (directed by Paulo Neves) #Inside of My Head (directed by Ashley Dean) #De Tripas Y Corazon (directed by Juan Pablo Etcheverry)

Episode Three

#Listen to Me Wandsworth Road (directed by Ebba Erikzon) #Hypnogoga (directed by Louise Wilde) #And Murders of Crows (directed by Paul Rains) #Freak Juice Commercial (directed by Rick Hind and Ajit N. Rao) #"Running" (directed by Hannah Wise an
Chinacake Productions
#Push Pulk / Spinning Plates (directed by Johnny Hardstaff)

Episode Four

#Dog Interface (directed by Juan Pablo Etcheverry) #HYTTE (directed by Gary Carpenter) #Momentum (directed by Camella Kirk) #Chickenbomb (directed by Vernie Yeung) #Welcome to My Lupine Hell (directed by Ashley Dean) #The Homeland Hodown (directed by

Jason Archer and Paul Beck Jason Archer and Paul Beck are a team of American music video directors, and animators. They specialize in the animation rotoscoping technique which have been used on their work for the films ''Waking Life'' and ''A Scanner Darkly (film), A Scanner ...

)

Jason Archer Jason Archer (born July 31, 1973) is an American artist living in Austin, Texas. He is the creator of a variety artworks as a director, animator, painter, and muralist both collaborative and solo. His work includes political satire and Texas ins ...

#I Might Be Wrong (directed by

Sophie Muller Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 '' Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's so ...

) # The National Anthem (directed by

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., h ...

)

References

External links

Vapour Brothers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time, The Radiohead video albums British non-fiction web series 2004 video albums