''Hail to the Thief'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
. It was released on 9 June 2003 through
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a 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 1923 as the Parloph ...
internationally, and through
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
in the United States on 10 June. It was the last album released under Radiohead's record contract with
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, the parent company of Parlophone and Capitol.
After transitioning to a more electronic style on their albums ''
Kid A
''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Departing from their ...
'' (2000) and ''
Amnesiac'' (2001), which were recorded through protracted studio experimentation, Radiohead sought to work more spontaneously, combining electronic and rock music. They recorded most of ''Hail to the Thief'' in two weeks in Los Angeles with their longtime producer,
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters, Arcade Fire and ...
, focusing on live takes rather than
overdubs.
The singer,
Thom Yorke
Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the vocalist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. ''Rolling Stone'' desc ...
, wrote lyrics in response to the election of the US president
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and the unfolding
war on terror. He took phrases from political discourse and combined them with elements from fairy tales and children's literature. The title is a play on the American presidential anthem, "
Hail to the Chief
"Hail to the Chief" is a piece originally announcing arrival by boat at an island in a Scottish loch, but today it is best known as the personal anthem of the president of the United States, adapted by James Sanderson from an original Scottis ...
".
Following a high-profile
internet leak
An internet leak is the unauthorized release of information over the internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, a ...
of unfinished material ten weeks before release, ''Hail to the Thief'' debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
and number three on the
US ''Billboard'' 200 chart. It was
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 and Canada and gold in several countries. It was promoted with the singles "
There There", "
Go to Sleep" and "
2 + 2 = 5
2 + 2 = 5 or two plus two equals five is a mathematical falsehood which is used as an example of a simple logical error that is obvious to anyone familiar with basic arithmetic.
The phrase has been used in various contexts since 1728, and ...
", and short films, music videos and
webcasts streamed from Radiohead's website. ''Hail to the Thief'' received acclaim; it was the fifth consecutive Radiohead album nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...
, and won for the
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album. Yorke reworked the music for ''Hamlet Hail to the Thief'', a production of ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
'' that opened in Manchester in 2025.
Background
With their previous albums ''
Kid A
''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Departing from their ...
'' (2000) and ''
Amnesiac'' (2001), recorded simultaneously, Radiohead replaced their guitar-led
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
sound with a more
electronic style.
For the tours, they learned how to perform the music live, combining synthetic sounds with rock instrumentation.
The singer,
Thom Yorke
Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the vocalist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. ''Rolling Stone'' desc ...
, said: "Even with electronics, there is an element of spontaneous performance in using them. It was the tension between what's human and what's coming from the machines. That was stuff we were getting into."
Radiohead did not want to make a "big creative leap or statement" with their next album.
In early 2002, after the ''Amnesiac'' tour had finished, Yorke sent his bandmates CDs of
demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* Plural for Demo (computer programming ...
.
[ Promotional interview CD sent to British music press.] The CDs, titled ''The Gloaming'', ''Episcoval'' and ''Hold Your Prize'', comprised electronic music alongside piano and guitar sketches.
Radiohead had tried to record some of the songs, such as "I Will", for ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'', but were not satisfied with the results.
They spent May and June 2002 arranging and rehearsing the songs before performing them on their tour of Spain and Portugal in July and August.
Recording

In September 2002, Radiohead moved to
Ocean Way Recording
Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities, but O ...
in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
, Los Angeles, with their longtime producer,
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters, Arcade Fire and ...
.
The studio was suggested by Godrich, who had used it to produce records by
Travis and
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
and thought it would be a "good change of scenery" for Radiohead.
Yorke said: "We were like, 'Do we want to fly halfway around the world to do this?' But it was terrific, because we worked really hard. We did a track a day. It was sort of like holiday camp."
Godrich later said his clearest memory of the sessions was Yorke repeatedly saying how much he hated Los Angeles.
''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'' were created through a years-long process of recording and editing that the drummer,
Philip Selway, described as "manufacturing music in the studio". For their next album, Radiohead sought to capture a more immediate, "live" sound.
Most electronic elements were not
overdubbed
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...
, but recorded live in the studio.
The band integrated computers into their performances with other instruments. Yorke said "everything was about performance, like staging a play".
Radiohead tried to work quickly and spontaneously, avoiding procrastination and overanalysis.
Yorke was forced to write lyrics differently, as he did not have time to rewrite them in the studio.
For some songs, he returned to the method of
cutting up words and arranging them randomly he had employed for ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac''.
The lead guitarist,
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numer ...
, used the music programming language
Max
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
to manipulate the band's playing.
For example, he used it to process his guitar on "
Go To Sleep", creating a random stuttering effect. He also continued to use
modular synthesisers and the
ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...
, an early electronic instrument similar to a
theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...
''.''
After having used
effects pedals
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Common effects include distortion (music), distortion/overdrive, ...
heavily on previous albums, he challenged himself to create interesting guitar parts without effects.
Inspired by the
Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, Radiohead tried to keep the songs concise.
The opening track, "
2 + 2 = 5
2 + 2 = 5 or two plus two equals five is a mathematical falsehood which is used as an example of a simple logical error that is obvious to anyone familiar with basic arithmetic.
The phrase has been used in various contexts since 1728, and ...
", was recorded as a studio test and finished in two hours.
Radiohead struggled to record "
There There"; after rerecording it in their Oxfordshire studio, Yorke was so relieved to have captured it he wept, feeling it was their best work.
Radiohead had recorded an electronic version of "I Will" in the ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'' sessions, but abandoned it as "dodgy
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
".
They used components of this version to create "Like Spinning Plates" on ''Amnesiac''.
For ''Hail to the Thief'', they sought to "get to the core of what's good about the song" and not be distracted by production details or new sounds, settling on a stripped-back arrangement.
Radiohead recorded most of ''Hail to the Thief ''in two weeks,
with additional recording and
mixing at their studio in Oxfordshire, England, in late 2002 and early 2003.
The guitarist
Ed O'Brien
Edward John O'Brien (born 15 April 1968) is an English guitarist, songwriter, and member of the rock band Radiohead. He releases solo music under the name EOB.
O'Brien attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, where he formed Radiohead ...
told ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' that ''Hail to the Thief'' was the first Radiohead album "where, at the end of making it, we haven't wanted to kill each other".
However, mixing and sequencing created conflict. According to Yorke, "There was a long sustained period during which we lived with it but it wasn't completely finished, so you get attached to versions and we had big rows about it." According to Selway, "We started quickly. Then it... had more requirements."
Godrich estimated that a third of the album comprises rough mixes from the Los Angeles sessions.
Lyrics and themes
Yorke's lyrics were influenced by what he called "the general sense of ignorance and intolerance and panic and stupidity" following the
2000 election of the US president
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
.
He took words and phrases from discourse around the unfolding
war on terror, which he described as
Orwellian
''Orwellian'' is an adjective which is used to describe a situation, an idea, or a societal condition that 20th-century author George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and ...
euphemisms, and used them in the lyrics and artwork.
Yorke said the "emotional context of those words had been taken away" and that he was "stealing it back".
Though Yorke denied any intent to make a political statement,
he said: "I desperately tried not to write anything political, anything expressing the deep, profound terror I'm living with day to day. But it's just fucking there, and eventually you have to give it up and let it happen."
Yorke, a new father, adopted a strategy of "distilling" the political themes into "childlike simplicity".
He took phrases from
fairy tales
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the Folklore, folklore genre. Such stories typically feature Magic (supernatural), magic, Incantation, e ...
and
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
such as the tale of
Chicken Little,
and from children's literature and television he shared with his son, such as the 1970s TV series ''
Bagpuss
''Bagpuss'' is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast from 12 February to 7 May 1974. The title c ...
.''
Parenthood made Yorke concerned about the condition of the world and how it could affect future generations.
Greenwood said Yorke's lyrics embraced sarcasm, wit and ambiguity,
and expressed "confusion and escape, like 'I'm going to stay at home and look after the people I care about, buy a month's supply of food'."
Yorke also took phrases from Dante's
''Inferno'', the subject of his 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 the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke; they announced their separation in 2015.
Life and ...
's PhD thesis.
Several songs, such as "2 + 2 = 5", "Sit Down. Stand Up", and "Sail to the Moon", reference Christian ideas of heaven and hell, a first for Radiohead's music. Other songs reference science fiction, horror and fantasy, such as the wolves and vampires of "A Wolf at the Door" and "We Suck Young Blood", the reference to the slogan "
two plus two equals five" of the dystopian novel ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also published as ''1984'') is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final completed book. Thematically ...
'' in "2 + 2 = 5", and the allusion to the giant of ''
Gulliver's Travels
''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...
'' in "Go to Sleep". He sometimes chose words for their sounds rather than meanings, such as the title "Myxomatosis" or the repeated phrase "the rain drops" on "Sit Down. Stand Up".

Radiohead struggled to choose a title.
They considered using ''The Gloaming'' (
meaning "twilight" or "dusk"), but this was rejected as too poetic
and "doomy"
and so became the album's subtitle.
They also considered the titles ''Little Man Being Erased'', ''The Boney King of Nowhere'' and ''Snakes and Ladders'', which became the alternative titles for "Go to Sleep", "There There" and "Sit Down. Stand Up".
The alternative titles were inspired by Victorian
playbills showcasing moralistic songs played in music halls.
The phrase "hail to the thief" was used by anti-Bush protesters as a play on "
Hail to the Chief
"Hail to the Chief" is a piece originally announcing arrival by boat at an island in a Scottish loch, but today it is best known as the personal anthem of the president of the United States, adapted by James Sanderson from an original Scottis ...
", the American presidential anthem. Yorke described hearing the phrase for the first time as a "formative moment".
Radiohead chose the title partly in reference to Bush,
but also in response to "the rise of
doublethink
Doublethink is a process of indoctrination in which subjects are expected to simultaneously accept two conflicting beliefs as truth, often at odds with their own memory or sense of reality. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocris ...
and general intolerance and madness ... like individuals were totally out of control of the situation ... a manifestation of something not really human".
The title also references the leak of an unfinished version of the album before its release,
and Yorke's insecurity over Radiohead's success.
Yorke worried that it would be construed solely as reference to the US election, but his bandmates felt it "conjured up all the nonsense and absurdity and jubilation of the times".
In 2025, Yorke said Jonny Greenwood had "begged him" not to use it.
Music
''Hail to the Thief'' incorporates
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
,
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...
,
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, wit ...
and
electronic rock
Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth 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 b ...
. It features more conventional rock instrumentation and less digital manipulation than Radiohead's previous albums ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'', with prominent use of live drums, guitar and piano, and Yorke's voice is less manipulated with effects.
The ''Spin'' critic Will Hermes found that ''Hail to the Thief'' "seesaws between the chill of sequencers and the warmth of fingers on strings and keys".
''Rolling Stone'' said ''Hail to the Thief'' was "more tuneful and song-focused"''.''
Several tracks use the "
Pixies-like" quiet-to-loud building of tension Radiohead had employed on previous albums.
Though Yorke described ''Hail to the Thief'' as "very acoustic",
he denied that it was a "guitar record".
It retains electronic elements such as synthesisers,
drum machines
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...
and
sampling.
Selway said the combination of rock and electronic music covered "the two hemispheres of the Radiohead brain".
Radiohead saw ''Hail to the Thief'' as a "sparkly, shiny pop record. Clear and pretty." O'Brien felt the album captured a new "swaggering" sound, with "space and sunshine and energy".
He said it was "less cerebral and more physical", with more of the "punky adolescent energy" of their second record, ''
The Bends'' (1995).

The opening track, "
2 + 2 = 5
2 + 2 = 5 or two plus two equals five is a mathematical falsehood which is used as an example of a simple logical error that is obvious to anyone familiar with basic arithmetic.
The phrase has been used in various contexts since 1728, and ...
", is a rock song that builds to a loud climax.
"Sit Down. Stand Up", an electronic song, was influenced by the jazz musician
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...
.
"Sail to the Moon" is a
lullaby
A lullaby (), or a cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies, they are used to pass down cultural knowl ...
-like piano
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
with shifting
time signature
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...
s. The lyrics allude to the Biblical story of
Noah's Ark,
and was written "in five minutes" for Yorke's infant son, Noah.
[Tate, pg. 183.] "Backdrifts" is an electronic song about "the slide backwards that's happening everywhere you look".
"
Go to Sleep" begins with an acoustic guitar riff that the bassist,
Colin Greenwood
Colin Charles Greenwood (born 26 June 1969) is an English bassist and a member of the rock band Radiohead. Along with bass guitar, Greenwood plays Double bass, upright bass and Electronic musical instrument, electronic instruments.
With his y ...
, likened to 1960s English folk music. "Where I End and You Begin" is a rock song with "walls" of ondes Martenot and a rhythm section influenced by
New Order.
According to Yorke, "We Suck Young Blood" is a "slave ship tune"
with a
free jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
break, and is "not to be taken seriously".
With ill-timed, "zombie-like" handclaps, the song satirises Hollywood culture and its "constant desire to stay young and fleece people, suck their energy".
"The Gloaming" is an electronic song with "mechanical" rhythms that Jonny Greenwood built from
tape loops.
Greenwood described it as "very old school electronica: no computers, just analogue synths, tape machines, and sellotape".
Yorke said it was "the most explicit protest song on the record", with lyrics about the rise of fascism and "intolerance and bigotry and fear, and all the things that keep a population down".
"
There There" is a rock song with layered percussion that builds to a loud climax. It was influenced by the bands
Can,
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...
and the Pixies.
Yorke described "I Will" as the angriest song he had ever written.
Its lyrics were inspired by news footage of the
Amiriyah shelter bombing
The Amiriyah Shelter Bombing was an aerial bombing attack that killed at least 408 civilians on 13 February 1991 during the Gulf War, when an air-raid shelter ("Public Shelter No. 25") in the Al-A'amiriya, Amiriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, ...
in the
Gulf War
, combatant2 =
, commander1 =
, commander2 =
, strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems
, page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
, which killed about 400 people, including children and families.
The
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
-influenced "A Punchup at a Wedding" expresses the helplessness Yorke felt in the face of world events, and his anger over a negative review of Radiohead's homecoming performance 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 p ...
, in 2001.
Yorke said the performance was "one of the biggest days in my life", and expressed dismay that "someone, just because they had access to a keyboard and a typewriter, could just totally write off an event that meant an awful lot to an awful lot of people".
For "Myxomatosis", a song built on a driving
fuzz bass
Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics), increases the susta ...
line, Radiohead sought to recreate the "frightening" detuned synthesiser sounds of 1970s and 80s
new wave bands such as
Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave music, new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977, the band gradually changed to an electronic music, electronic sound. They were the first band of the elect ...
.
Yorke said the lyrics were about mind control and media censorship. Jonny Greenwood described "Scatterbrain" as "simple and pretty" with chords that do not
resolve.
''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' described the final track, "A Wolf at the Door" as "a pretty song, with a sinister monologue".
Its lyrics were inspired by a party of unruly men Yorke encountered on a train journey. Yorke described its placement at the end of the album as "sort of like waking you up at the end ... It's all been a nightmare and you need to go and get a glass of water now."
Artwork
The ''Hail to the Thief'' artwork was created by the longtime Radiohead collaborator
Stanley Donwood
Dan Rickwood (born 29 October 1968), known professionally as Stanley Donwood, is an English artist and writer. Since 1994, he has created all the artwork for the rock band Radiohead with their singer, Thom Yorke, plus many of Yorke's other proj ...
,
who joined them during the recording in Hollywood.
Donwood initially planned to create artwork based on photographs of phallic
topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...
, but the idea was rejected by Yorke.
Instead, the cover art is a roadmap of Hollywood, with words and phrases taken from roadside advertising in Los Angeles, such as "God", "TV" and "oil". Donwood said advertising was designed to be attractive, but that there was something "unsettling" about being sold something. He took the advertising slogans out of context to "remove the imperative" and "get to the pure heart of advertising".
Other words in the artwork were taken from Yorke's lyrics
and political discussion surrounding the war on terror.
Among them is "
Burn the Witch", the title of a song Radiohead did not complete until their ninth album, ''
A Moon Shaped Pool'' (2016).
Other artworks included with the album refer to cities relevant to the war,
including New York, London, Grozny and Baghdad. Early editions contained a fold-out road map of the cover.
Comparing the cover to the more subdued palettes of his prior Radiohead artworks, Donwood described the bright, "pleasing" colours as "ominous because all these colours that I've used are derived from the petrol-chemical industry ... We've created this incredibly vibrant society, but we're going to have to deal with the consequences sooner or later."
The essayist Amy Britton interpreted the artwork as an allusion to the Bush administration's "
road map for peace
The roadmap for peace or road map for peace ( ''Mapa had'rakhim'', ''Khāriṭa ṭarīq as-salāmu'') was a plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict proposed by the Quartet on the Middle East. The principles of the plan, originally ...
" plan for the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about Territory, land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation ...
. Joseph Tate likened it to the paintings of the artist
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...
and saw it as a portrayal of "capitalism's glaring visual presence: an oppressive sameness of style and colour that mirrors
globalisation
Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
's reduction of difference".
Internet leak
On 30 March 2003, ten weeks before release, an unfinished version of ''Hail to the Thief'' was
leaked online. The leak comprised rough edits and unmixed songs from January that year. On Radiohead's forum, Jonny Greenwood wrote that the band were "pissed off", not with downloaders but because of the "sloppy" release of unfinished work. Colin Greenwood said the leak was "like being photographed with one sock on when you get out of bed in the morning". However, he expressed dismay at the
cease-and-desist
A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other ...
orders sent by label
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
to radio stations and fan sites playing the leaked tracks, saying: "Don't record companies usually pay thousands of dollars to get stations to play their records? Now they're paying money to stations not to play them."
EMI decided against moving the release date earlier to combat the leak. The EMI executive Ted Mico said the leak had generated media coverage, and that EMI was confident that ''Hail to the Thief'' would sell.
The leak partly influenced Radiohead's decision to self-release their next album, ''
In Rainbows'' (2007), online, terming it "their leak date".
["The way we termed it was "our leak date." Every record for the last four – including my solo record – has been leaked. So the idea was like, ''we'll'' leak it, then." ]
Release
''Hail to the Thief'' was released on 9 June 2003 by
Parlophone Records
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a 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 1923 as the Parloph ...
in the UK and a day later by
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
in the US.
The CD was printed with
copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, is any measure to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.
Copy protection is most commonly found on vid ...
in some regions; the Belgian consumer group
Test-Achats received complaints that it would not play on some CD players. A compilation of ''Hail to the Thief'' B-sides, remixes and live performances, ''
Com Lag (2plus2isfive)'', was released in April 2004.
''Hail to the Thief'' reached number one in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks,
selling 114,320 copies in its first week. In the US, it entered at number three on the
''Billboard'' 200, selling 300,000 copies in its first week, more than any previous Radiohead album. By 2008, it had sold over a million copies in the US. It is
certified
Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...
platinum in the UK
[ Note: reader must define search parameter as "Radiohead".] and Canada.
Promotion
According to the ''
Guardian
Guardian usually refers to:
* Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
* ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper
(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:
Places
* Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...
'' critic
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...
, ''Hail to the Thief's'' marketing campaign was "by
adioheadstandards ... a promotional blitzkrieg".
In April 2003, promotional posters spoofing talent recruitment posters appeared in Los Angeles and London with slogans taken from the lyrics of "We Suck Young Blood". The posters included a phone number spelling the
phoneword
Phonewords are mnemonic phrases represented as alphanumeric equivalents of a telephone number. In many countries, the digits on the telephone keypad also have letters assigned. By replacing the digits of a telephone number with the correspondin ...
"to thief", which connected callers to a recording welcoming them to the "''Hail to the Thief'' customer care hotline".
In May, planes trailing ''Hail to the Thief'' banners flew over the California
Coachella Festival
Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorad ...
.
"There There" was released as the
lead single
A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
A similar term, "debut ...
on 21 May. The ''Guardian'' described the choice of a more conventional rock song as "diplomatic" following the divided response to ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac.'' Yorke asked the ''Bagpuss'' creator,
Oliver Postgate
Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English Animation, animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''Bagpuss'', ''Pingwings' ...
, to create its music video, but he declined as he was retired.
Instead, a
stop-motion animated video was created by
Chris Hopewell. The video debuted on the
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...
Jumbotron
A jumbotron, sometimes referred to as jumbovision, is a video display using large-screen television technology (video wall).
The original technology was developed in the early 1980s by Mitsubishi Electric and Sony, which coined JumboTron as a ...
in New York on 20 May, and received hourly play that day on
MTV2
MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision.
The channel launched initially as an all-music ...
.
"
Go to Sleep" and "
2 + 2 = 5
2 + 2 = 5 or two plus two equals five is a mathematical falsehood which is used as an example of a simple logical error that is obvious to anyone familiar with basic arithmetic.
The phrase has been used in various contexts since 1728, and ...
" were released as singles on 18 August and 17 November. ''Rolling Stone'' suggested that EMI chose the singles to "retrench Radiohead as a big rock band" and compete with acts such as
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
and
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
.
On May 26, Radiohead launched radiohead.tv, where they streamed short films, music videos and live webcasts from their studio at scheduled times. Visitors late for streams were shown a
test card
A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off).
Used since the ear ...
with "1970s-style" intermission music.
Yorke said Radiohead had planned to broadcast the material on their own television channel, but this was cancelled due to "money, cutbacks, too weird, might scare the children, staff layoffs, shareholders". The material was released on the 2004 DVD ''
The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time''. Radiohead also relaunched their website, featuring digital animations on the themes of mass-media culture and 24-hour cities.
Critical reception
''Hail to the Thief'' has a score of 85 out of 100 on review aggregate site
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, indicating "universal acclaim".
Neil McCormick
Neil McCormick (born 31 March 1961) is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster. He has been the chief music critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'' since 1996, and presented a music interview show for Vintage TV (TV channel), Vintage TV i ...
, writing for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', called it "Radiohead firing on all cylinders, a major work by major artists at the height of their powers". Chris Ott of
''Pitchfork'' wrote that Radiohead had "largely succeeded in their efforts to shape pop music into as boundless and possible a medium as it should be" and named it the week's "Best New Music".
The ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
'' critic
Ethan Brown said that ''Hail to the Thief'' "isn't a protest album, and that's why it works so well. As with great Radiohead records past, such as ''Kid A'', the music – restlessly, freakishly inventive – pushes politics far into the background." Andy Kellman of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "despite the fact that it seems more like a bunch of songs on a disc rather than a singular body, its impact is substantial", concluding that Radiohead had "entered a second decade of record-making with a surplus of momentum".
In ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi
* '' ...
'',
Peter Paphides
Peter Paphides (born 1969 as Panayiotakis Paphides or Panayiotis Paphides) is a British journalist and broadcaster.
Early life
Paphides was born in Birmingham to a Greek Cypriot father, Chris, and a Greek mother, Victoria. He has an elder bro ...
wrote that ''Hail to the Thief'' "coheres as well as anything else in their canon".
James Oldham of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' saw ''Hail to the Thief'' as "a good rather than great record... The impact of the best moments is dulled by the inclusion of some indifferent electronic compositions."
The ''
Q'' writer
John Harris felt that it "comes dangerously close to being all experimentalism and precious little substance".
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...
of ''The Guardian'' wrote that while "you could never describe ''Hail to the Thief'' as a bad record", it was "neither startlingly different and fresh nor packed with the sort of anthemic songs that once made
adioheadthe world's biggest band". He felt the political lyrics and bleak mood put Radiohead in danger of self-parody.
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' wrote that while its melodies and guitar work are "never as elegiac and lyrical" or "articulate and demented" as those of ''OK Computer'', it flowed better. He later awarded it an "honourable mention". ''Hail to the Thief'' was the fifth consecutive Radiohead album nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...
, and earned Godrich and the engineer Darrell Thorp the 2004
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album.
Legacy
In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Hail to the Thief'' the 89th-best album of the 2000s, writing that "the dazzling overabundance of ideas makes ''Hail to the Thief'' a triumph". In 2025, ''
GQ'' named ''Hail to the Thief'' the eighth-best Radiohead album, saying it was "stranded between their band's avant-garde run of ''OK Computer'', ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac,'' and the late-career brilliance that started with ''
In Rainbows'' ''...'' The uncharitable caricature that's sometimes fixed to their music – Thom Yorke warbling vaguely political sentiments over fiddly drum patterns and melodies – probably was born here, given the lyrical focus on the war on terror."
Radiohead have criticised ''Hail to the Thief''. In 2006, Yorke said: "I'd maybe change the playlist. I think we had a meltdown when we put it together ... We wanted to do things quickly, and I think the songs suffered." In 2008, Yorke posted an alternative track listing on Radiohead's website, omitting "Backdrifts", "We Suck Young Blood", "I Will" and "A Punchup at a Wedding".
O'Brien said Radiohead should have cut the album to ten songs and that its length had alienated some listeners; Colin Greenwood said several songs were unfinished and that the album was "a holding process".
Jonny agreed that it was too long, and said: "We were trying to do what people said we were good at ... But it was good for our heads. It was good for us to be doing a record that came out of playing live."
In 2013, Godrich said: "I think there's some great moments on there – but too many songs ... As a whole I think it's charming because of the lack of editing. But personally it's probably my least favourite of all the albums ... It didn't really have its own direction. It was almost like a homogeny of previous work. Maybe that's its strength."
In 2023, approaching its 20th anniversary, Selway described ''Hail to the Thief'' as a bridge between ''Kid A, Amnesiac'' and Radiohead's subsequent album, ''
In Rainbows.
'' He said its combination of electronic and rock music captured "two very distinctive characters of Radiohead ... That's what was lovely about it."
''Hamlet Hail to the Thief''
Yorke reworked ''Hail to the Thief'' for ''Hamlet Hail to the Thief,'' a production of ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
'' by the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
that opened at
Aviva Studios, Manchester, in April 2025. It is scheduled to run until May, followed by the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespea ...
in
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
in June. It is directed by
Christine Jones and
Steven Hoggett
Steven Hoggett (born 30 November 1971) is a British choreographer and movement director. He has won an Olivier Award as well as an Obie Award, has been nominated four times for a Drama Desk Award and three times for a Tony Award.
Early life
...
and stars
Samuel Blenkin as
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew of the usurping King Claudius, Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At ...
.
Yorke said ''Hail to the Thief'' "chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia" of ''Hamlet''.
He said the production had been a "healthy" way for Radiohead to revisit the album, which the band members felt unsatisfied with, and "claim back the original sentiment".
The music is performed by a five-piece band isolated in sound booths.
''The Guardian'' gave ''Hamlet Hail to the Thief'' four out of five, writing: "Yorke's arrangements are tremendous ... ''Hamlet Hail to the Thief'' works as a lucid, angsty revenge tragedy, played with clarity and verve."
''Pitchfork'' described it as "an absorbing, heart-racing and thrilling production that gracefully utilises this music to co-exist within powerful dramatic depictions of grief, fear, madness, and death". ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote that it was "a compelling spectacle", and that the two singers provided "an ethereal beauty more than worthy of Yorke himself ... But it feels like a little Shakespeare has been added to Radiohead's music, rather than the other way around. The production can take a place in the pantheon of flawed but worthwhile undertakings, like those bloated concept albums of the 1970s that were forerunners to ''Hail to the Thief''."
Reissues
Radiohead left EMI after their contract ended in 2003.
In 2007, EMI released ''
Radiohead Box Set'', a compilation of albums recorded while Radiohead were signed to EMI, including ''Hail to the Thief''.
After a period of being
out of print
An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book that is ...
on vinyl, ''Hail to the Thief'' was reissued as a double LP on 19 August 2008 as part of the "From the Capitol Vaults" series, along with other Radiohead albums. On 31 August 2009, EMI reissued ''Hail to the Thief'' in a 2-CD "Collector's Edition" and a 2-CD 1-DVD "Special Collector's Edition". The first CD contains the original album; the second CD collects B-sides and live performances previously compiled on the ''Com Lag (2plus2isfive)'' EP; the DVD contains music videos and a live television performance. Radiohead had no input into the reissue and the music was not remastered.
''Pitchfork'' named the "Collector's Edition" the week's "best new reissue" and "Gagging Order" the best B-side included in the bonus material.
''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' wrote that the bonus content was all "worth hearing, though the live tracks stand out".
The EMI reissues 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 run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group.
It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...
in 2016. In May 2016, XL reissued Radiohead's back catalogue on vinyl, including ''Hail to the Thief''.
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from the ''Hail to the Thief'' liner notes.
Radiohead
*
Thom Yorke
Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the vocalist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. ''Rolling Stone'' desc ...
– voice, words, guitar, piano,
laptop
A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...
*
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numer ...
– guitar,
analogue systems,
ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...
, laptop,
toy piano
The toy piano, also known as the ( in German), is a small piano-like musical instrument. Most modern toy pianos use round metal rods, as opposed to strings in a regular piano, to produce sound. The U.S. Library of Congress recognizes the toy pia ...
,
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...
*
Colin Greenwood
Colin Charles Greenwood (born 26 June 1969) is an English bassist and a member of the rock band Radiohead. Along with bass guitar, Greenwood plays Double bass, upright bass and Electronic musical instrument, electronic instruments.
With his y ...
– bass,
string synth,
sampler
*
Ed O'Brien
Edward John O'Brien (born 15 April 1968) is an English guitarist, songwriter, and member of the rock band Radiohead. He releases solo music under the name EOB.
O'Brien attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, where he formed Radiohead ...
– guitar,
effects
Effect may refer to:
* A result or change of something
** List of effects
** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality
Pharmacy and pharmacology
* Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug
** Therapeutic effect, ...
, voice
*
Philip Selway – drums, percussion
Additional personnel
*
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters, Arcade Fire and ...
– recording, editing, operation, mixing
*Darrell Thorp –
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
, backing up, cataloguing
*Plank – instrument maintenance and rebuilding
*Graeme Stewart –
tape loops on "The Gloaming", engineering of preliminary sessions
*
Stanley Donwood
Dan Rickwood (born 29 October 1968), known professionally as Stanley Donwood, is an English artist and writer. Since 1994, he has created all the artwork for the rock band Radiohead with their singer, Thom Yorke, plus many of Yorke's other proj ...
– painting, packaging
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Footnotes
Sources
*Bendat, Jim. ''Democracy's Big Day: The Inauguration of our President 1789–2009''.
iUniverse Star, 2008. .
*Britton, Amy. ''Revolution Rock: The Albums Which Defined Two Ages''.
AuthorHouse
AuthorHouse, formerly known as 1stBooks, is a self-publishing company based in the United States. AuthorHouse uses print-on-demand business model and technology.
History
Originally called 1stBooks, the company was founded in Bloomington, In ...
, 2011. .
*Forbes, Brandon W. ''Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive''.
Open Court, 2009.
*Tate, Joseph. ''The Music and Art of Radiohead''.
Ashgate Publishing
Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham (Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in ...
, 2005. .
External links
Official Radiohead website*
{{Authority control
2003 albums
Radiohead albums
Albums produced by Nigel Godrich
Capitol Records albums
Parlophone albums
Electronic rock albums by English artists
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical