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Kid A (Music)

 Kid A (Music)
type
TVTItem
 Kid A (Music)
label
Kid A (Music)
 Kid A (Music)
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KidA
 Kid A (Music)
comment
Everyone is so nearEveryone has got the fearIt's holding onIt's holding on"''Kid A is the fourth album by English Alternative Rock band Radiohead. Released in October 2000 through Parlophone Records in the UK and Capitol Records in the US, it marked a new stage of the band's sonic experimentation.The group had been dabbling in Electronic Music as early as "Planet Telex", the opening track from The Bends, and by their next album OK Computer, its influence on their sound had grown more prominent. Kid A, on the other hand, saw the band dive headfirst into electronica, using it as the structure of certain songs rather than purely for texture.This change was motivated by the band's burnout following the extensive promotion of OK Computer and the growing number of bands following their example, which — combined with Writer's Block — resulted in frontman Thom Yorke suffering a mental breakdown and becoming disenchanted with not only Radiohead's standard guitar-based music, but with the concepts of rock and melody as a whole. Listening to acts like Autechre and Aphex Twin drove Yorke to the realization that instrumental electronics could evoke the same emotions from him as guitars. This set the ethos of creating Kid A; among the many influences the band drew from in its production, the album can be best summed up as combining the abstract and artsy electronica of Björk's Homogenic with the disjointedly surreal and anxious lyricism of Talking Heads' Remain in Light and the lonesome, wintry vibe of David Bowie's Low.Upon release, Kid A was a commercial success despite its deliberately uncommercial direction and promotion. Utilizing unorthodox promoting tactics — for one, largely eschewing singles and music videosnote although promotional singles for "How to Disappear Completely", "Idioteque", "The National Anthem", and "Optimistic" were given out to radio stations for a series of short televised "blips", most of them animated — the album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 in the USA and went platinum in the UK during opening week, eventually getting Radiohead its second Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and second Album of the Year nomination. The album also topped the charts in the UK, Canada, France, Ireland, and New Zealand, ultimately becoming the 50th best-selling album of 2000 in the UK.While the band found Creative Differences over the album's direction, at one point agreeing to split up if no final product could be made, over 20 songs were ultimately produced over a grueling 18-month period. One half is included on Kid A, and the other is on Amnesiac, which came out seven months later as a loose companion piece.Just over 20 years later, the pair were re-released together as part of the anniversary release Kid A Mnesia, consisting of both albums and a third disc of outtakes in the vein of the OKNOTOK reissue of OK Computer.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_141a6acb
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Madness Mantra
 Kid A (Music) / int_141a6acb
comment
Madness Mantra: The Title Track off this album consists, for the most part, of Thom muttering lyrics such as "standing in the shadows at the end of my bed", vocoded through an ondes Martenot. Many of the rest of the lyrics invoke this with repeated phrases and themes of mental decay.
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Ambient
 Kid A (Music) / int_1c3b2513
comment
Ambient: "Treefingers" marks a brief foray into the genre, produced by sampling and slowing down guitar notes.
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New Sound Album
 Kid A (Music) / int_22093e9b
comment
New Sound Album: After the more straightforward Alternative Rock of their previous albums, this album is a Post-Rock piece with more simplified instrumentation and little use of guitar solos, choosing to emphasize sonic texture and soundscapes over conventional melody. It even dabbles in Electronic Music as well ("Everything In Its Right Place", the title track, "Treefingers", and "Idioteque").
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 Kid A (Music) / int_23b0d78
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Title Track
 Kid A (Music) / int_23b0d78
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Title Track: "Kid A".
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Non-Indicative Name
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comment
Non-Indicative Name: "The National Anthem" only sounds like a national anthem in an anxious dystopian sense.
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Easter Egg
 Kid A (Music) / int_29a39f6
comment
Easter Egg: Early pressings of this album had an extra booklet of art and text hidden under the CD tray, with much of this text consisting of lyrics that would later appear on Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, and the bonus disc of Kid A Mnesia. Pressings with the hidden booklet usually use a black tray to more thoroughly hide it, though it's possible to see it through the spindle holes and in the sides of the case.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_34f6774c
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Concept Album
 Kid A (Music) / int_34f6774c
comment
Concept Album: Alongside companion piece Amnesiac, from common interpretation. The theorizing stems mostly from Thom's suggestion that the former could be about the first human clone, but he denies any intentional meaning. The two albums are clearly counterparts with similar themes (they were recorded at the same time) and it doesn't hurt the concept album theory that the genetically modified bear characters recurred throughout the "blips" of Kid A and Amnesiac, and a track on Amnesiac was named after them ("Hunting Bears"). Thom has also said that "something traumatic" happened during Kid A and that Amnesiac is "trying to piece together what has happened". Both albums feature artwork of forest fires; for Kid A, it's in the distance, while Amnesiac's perspective is from within the forest. Does Amnesiac really? Can't find it. Thom has used this analogy though.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_38da8916
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Uncommon Time
 Kid A (Music) / int_38da8916
comment
Uncommon Time: "Everything in Its Right Place" is in 10/4. "Morning Bell" is either in 5/4 or two bars of 4/4 followed by one bar of 3/4. "Idioteque" uses 4/4, 7/8, 6/8, and 10/8. "In Limbo" uses polyrhythms, with several time signatures at once.
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Looped Lyrics
 Kid A (Music) / int_3a03b27c
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Looped Lyrics: "The National Anthem".
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White and Red and Eerie All Over
 Kid A (Music) / int_3d275ba0
comment
White and Red and Eerie All Over: Invoked on the album cover and in the liner notes (both the standard and hidden booklets) to create an atmosphere of overbearing dread reflective of the music and the mental state the band were in at the time. This provides an interesting contrast with the later Amnesiac, which makes more prominent use of Red and Black and Evil All Over.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_40cc0c7e
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Bittersweet Ending
 Kid A (Music) / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: "Motion Picture Soundtrack", which offers a gentle, ethereal release for the album sound-wise that's juxtaposed with extremely bleak lyrics about lost love that may insinuate suicide.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_415b3315
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Stylistic Suck
 Kid A (Music) / int_415b3315
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Stylistic Suck: The outro to "Optimistic" is very notably looped in a shoddy manner at its halfway point.
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Would Hurt a Child
 Kid A (Music) / int_479d4e5a
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Would Hurt a Child: "Morning Bell" includes a repeated plea to "cut the kids in half."
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 Kid A (Music) / int_47b97b31
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Album Closure
 Kid A (Music) / int_47b97b31
comment
Album Closure: The album ends with a Hidden Track after a minute's silence past "Motion Picture Soundtrack"'s final note, representing the "next life" to which it was referring. Then there is yet more silence.
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The Stinger
 Kid A (Music) / int_48081842
comment
The Stinger: The last 20 seconds of "Optimistic" turns the song's melodic structure into a jazzy piece, with the centerpiece being a drum solo.
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Synth-Pop
 Kid A (Music) / int_48df825a
comment
Synth-Pop: "Idioteque" is arguably an example of this, being much more melodic and danceable in its use of Electronic Music than the rest of the album (despite its heavy use of Uncommon Time).
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Special Effect Failure
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comment
With many of the 3D models, it's a mix of this and Special Effect Failure, which is likely why they seldom showed the 3D bears clearly in the blips and redesigned them when they revisited the "blip" concept for Amnesiac.
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Scenery Gorn
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comment
Scenery Gorn: Parts of the album artwork incorporate this to varying degrees, especially the blips. Stick figures bleed to death in the snow, genetically modified bears jump off a diving board into a pool of blood, and distant fires rage across frigid, mountainous landscapes. There is a strong general implication that the world is falling to pieces.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_4ae690ca
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Laughing Mad
 Kid A (Music) / int_4ae690ca
comment
Laughing Mad: Invoked on "Idioteque"
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 Kid A (Music) / int_515eeccc
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Sampling
 Kid A (Music) / int_515eeccc
comment
Sampling: "Idioteque" uses samples from Paul Lansky's "Mild und Liese" and Arthur Krieger's "Short Piece". The former sample was actually so important to the song that the band went and emailed Lansky himself to make sure that it was okay with him. The harp glissandos and double bass sounds from "Motion Picture Soundtrack" were sampled and added by the other band members, though where they got them from is unclear. Jonny compared the moment they appear in the song with a moment in a 1950s Disney film where the colour fades slightly. Other samples floating through the album include the distant-sounding snippet of an orchestral performance that appears after the noisy conclusion of "The National Anthem", all of "Treefingers" (which was created by Thom sampling guitar improvisations by Ed and processing them until they didn't sound like a guitar), and the looped jam at the end of "Optimistic".
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 Kid A (Music) / int_5313c266
type
Bookends
 Kid A (Music) / int_5313c266
comment
Book Ends: The title track, the second song on the album, opens with the line "I slip away; I slipped on a little white lie." "Motion Picture Soundtrack", the closing song on the album, ends its second verse with the line "they fed us on little white lies." Both the opening and closing tracks are the only ones to be completely devoid of guitar. Every other song features the instrument, oftentimes in unconventional ways (e.g. "Treefingers" being made from manipulated guitar sounds), but not the ones that open and close the album.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_55180ce
type
Snow Means Death
 Kid A (Music) / int_55180ce
comment
Snow Means Death: Invoked in the album art and liner notes, which feature a combination of abstract polar landscapes and unnerving, violence-implying imagery in tandem with the songs' apocalyptic lyrics. The fact that the art was inspired by a 1999 photograph of bloody footprints in the snow during the Kosovo War aids in this.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_56b53152
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Green Aesop
 Kid A (Music) / int_56b53152
comment
Green Aesop: The packaging for the album's promotional singles (handed out exclusively to radio stations) each feature◊ a text blurb describing instances of how global warming has caused sections of the polar ice caps to melt between 1978 and 1999, along with a second passage blaming the phenomenon on human complacency and indifference towards the environment.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_59f4d283
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Ominous Music Box Tune
 Kid A (Music) / int_59f4d283
comment
Ominous Music Box Tune: The title track centers around a music box-esque melody that sounds tranquil on its own, but its contrasted with processed vocals about mental instability and child abduction.
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 Kid A (Music) / int_5e835a41
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Gratuitous Panning
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comment
Gratuitous Panning: The synth lines and distorted vocal parts in "Everything in Its Right Place" appear in various and alternating channels over the chorus of the song's runtime; very few elements are placed at the center of the mix at any point.
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Drone of Dread
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comment
Drone of Dread: "In Limbo" manages to do this with a human voice, featuring Thom mumbling indistinctly in the background in just the right way to create a lingering, unsettling buzz.
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Non-Appearing Title
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comment
Non-Appearing Title: The majority of the tracks on the album qualify, including "Kid A", "The National Anthem", "How To Disappear Completely", "In Limbo", "Idioteque", and "Motion Picture Soundtrack".
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Driven to Suicide
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comment
Driven to Suicide: "Motion Picture Soundtrack" — maybe. The first and last lines sort of intertwine; the first line ("red wine and sleeping pills") could mean that the narrator is trying to kill themselves note  the combination of these drugs can be lethal when enough is consumed . The last line ("I will see you in the next life") could mean that the narrator is dying and will finally find his lover in the afterlife. Furthermore, the song's Hidden Track is bookended by a minute of silence, as if in mourning.
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Epic Rocking
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comment
Epic Rocking: "How to Disappear Completely" and "The National Anthem" are almost 6 minutes long, and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" is 7 minutes long (although two of those are silence).
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Arc Words
 Kid A (Music) / int_7464705c
comment
Arc Words: Interestingly enough, the lyrics for most tracks on this album, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief became this. Lyrics from all three albums appeared cryptically (and usually slightly altered) in the Radiohead website's "maze" section. Phrases that would appear in Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, and the bonus disc in Kid A Mnesia appeared in this album's hidden booklet. For example, you can see the phrase "You and your cronies", which later became a lyric in "You and Whose Army?".
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Divided for Publication
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comment
Divided for Publication: Kid A and Amnesiac were recorded simultaneously and at one point planned for release as a double album; however, Radiohead ultimately opted to release the two as separate albums six months apart.
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Real Life Writes the Plot
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comment
Real Life Writes the Plot: As documented in Meeting People is Easy, Thom Yorke suffered a major case of this during the OK Computer tour, which led to a long period of writer's block and the urge to seek a different approach. The words to "How to Disappear Completely" stem from this period.
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Moment of Silence
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Moment of Silence: "Motion Picture Soundtrack" features a minute of silence between the main song and the Hidden Track, with an additional minute of silence following that, both times tying into the lyrics that allude to suicide.
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Siamese Twin Songs
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comment
Siamese Twin Songs: "Optimistic" → "In Limbo".
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Off with His Head!
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comment
Off with His Head!: "Idioteque":
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Breather Episode
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comment
Breather Episode: "Treefingers" is a calm ambient interlude that's sandwiched between a depressing ballad concluding the more emotionally strenuous first half and a straight-up hard rocker that kicks off the mostly less grueling but still very much dour second half.
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Always a Bigger Fish
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Always a Bigger Fish: "Optimistic":
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Kid A (Music) / int_88ebc539
 Kid A (Music) / int_8a205817
type
Phrase Salad Lyrics
 Kid A (Music) / int_8a205817
comment
Phrase Salad Lyrics: Some of the lyrics came from Thom picking random words and phrases out of a hat. This is especially evident on "Morning Bell", although the song does have a thematic basis in the dissolution of a marriage, and most of the imagery connects to this. The title track, which was apparently created by Jonny on the piano while Thom talked through what he was playing, Jonny processing his voice with an ondes Martenot to produce the melody. There's definite Pied Piper imagery in the song and futuristic elements: "Idioteque":
 Kid A (Music) / int_8a205817
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_8a205817
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_8a205817
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bc590a
type
Post-Rock
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bc590a
comment
Post-Rock: The album borrows a lot of stylistic elements from this genre (namely the focus on timbre and texture over melody and lyrics), to the point where Wikipedia, this wiki, and a number of other sources outright classify it as post-rock (alongside a myriad of other genres).
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bc590a
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1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bc590a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
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Kid A (Music) / int_8bc590a
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bf8adfa
type
Just Before the End
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bf8adfa
comment
Just Before the End: Incorporated to different extents by the album artwork, the website, and the blips.
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bf8adfa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_8bf8adfa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
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Kid A (Music) / int_8bf8adfa
 Kid A (Music) / int_8d718b9e
type
Bears Are Bad News
 Kid A (Music) / int_8d718b9e
comment
Bears Are Bad News: The album's promotional campaign introduced the "modified bear"◊ logo, which would evidently become the band's official mascot.
 Kid A (Music) / int_8d718b9e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_8d718b9e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
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Kid A (Music) / int_8d718b9e
 Kid A (Music) / int_8fdd02ae
type
"Untitled" Title
 Kid A (Music) / int_8fdd02ae
comment
"Untitled" Title: The Hidden Track that closes the album is usually referred to as "Untitled", most significantly as it's separated from "Motion Picture Soundtrack" on streaming services, against the band's wishes of keeping them together.
 Kid A (Music) / int_8fdd02ae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_8fdd02ae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_8fdd02ae
 Kid A (Music) / int_9dab0a6e
type
Continuity Nod
 Kid A (Music) / int_9dab0a6e
comment
Continuity Nod: OK Computer had a track called "Exit Music (for a Film)", while Kid A has a track called "Motion Picture Soundtrack".
 Kid A (Music) / int_9dab0a6e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_9dab0a6e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_9dab0a6e
 Kid A (Music) / int_a0d3818f
type
Digital Piracy Is Okay
 Kid A (Music) / int_a0d3818f
comment
Digital Piracy Is Okay: When bootlegs of early live performances of the album's songs made their way to the internet, the members of the band were both surprised and pleased when fans at concerts already knew the words to these new songs that had only been played once or twice previous. Colin Greenwood told a BBC reporter:
 Kid A (Music) / int_a0d3818f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_a0d3818f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_a0d3818f
 Kid A (Music) / int_a6254a7a
type
Loudness War
 Kid A (Music) / int_a6254a7a
comment
Loudness War: Reviewers at the time commented on how much louder and more compressed the album was compared to OK Computer before it, in particular describing "Everything in Its Right Place" as sounding as if it's playing directly behind the listener. Indeed, the album comes in at an average dynamic range of 7, compared to its predecessor's 8, with audible clipping on the Title Track.
 Kid A (Music) / int_a6254a7a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_a6254a7a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_a6254a7a
 Kid A (Music) / int_aa809887
type
Blipvert
 Kid A (Music) / int_aa809887
comment
Blipvert: The "blips" used to advertise the album, natch.
 Kid A (Music) / int_aa809887
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_aa809887
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_aa809887
 Kid A (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
type
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming
 Kid A (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
comment
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The double-10" release of the album (double-LP on most reissues by XL Recordings) names each side after one of the first four letters of the Greek alphabet.
 Kid A (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
 Kid A (Music) / int_af19b864
type
Custody Battle
 Kid A (Music) / int_af19b864
comment
Custody Battle: "Morning Bell" is about divorce, with a suggested solution being "cut the kids in half". The line itself is likely a reference to 1 Kings 3:16-28, which is about the custody of a child, but not in the context of divorce. Thom explained the song is about a ghost he had in his house.
 Kid A (Music) / int_af19b864
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_af19b864
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_af19b864
 Kid A (Music) / int_b53077b3
type
Take That!
 Kid A (Music) / int_b53077b3
comment
Take That!: The additional artwork booklet that was hidden under the CD tray of early pressings includes a demonic-looking portrait of Tony Blair and Room Full of Crazy styled text warning about demagoguery and betrayal.
 Kid A (Music) / int_b53077b3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_b53077b3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_b53077b3
 Kid A (Music) / int_bb225804
type
Indecipherable Lyrics
 Kid A (Music) / int_bb225804
comment
Indecipherable Lyrics: Invoked with the title track, in which Thom's vocals are distorted with a vocoder to distance himself from the song's subject matter. However, this example has since been subverted as the song lyrics have been discovered.
 Kid A (Music) / int_bb225804
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Kid A (Music) / int_bb225804
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_bb225804
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd2812b5
type
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd2812b5
comment
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: How the album ends. The final song "Motion Picture Soundtrack" has an ethereal, heavenly atmosphere (what with the harps and such) and bows out on the line "I will see you in the next life". Additionally, the Hidden Track that plays after this is considered to represent that "next life".
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd2812b5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd2812b5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_bd2812b5
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd4264a3
type
Slasher Smile
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd4264a3
comment
Slasher Smile: A caricature of Tony Blair is drawn this way in the album's hidden booklet. It's every bit as unsettling as it sounds. The image mapped on a sphere, or other round object, is the image on the adjacent page of tracing paper.
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd4264a3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_bd4264a3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_bd4264a3
 Kid A (Music) / int_bda474d2
type
Last Note Nightmare
 Kid A (Music) / int_bda474d2
comment
Last Note Nightmare: All of the album probably invokes this at some point. Idioteque most prominently, perhaps, with a screeching sound resembling violins crossed with static. "How to Disappear Completely" also has one of these. It's a gently melodic song for a while, with an ondes Martenot backing that builds up during the piece, and then partway through the last chorus it collapses into random slides while the singer continues into the chaos... which then, in turn, shuts down again and is replaced with a strong, pure chord for the final repeat. "In Limbo" ends with a horrifying, electronically modified Thom screaming "come back" as it fades into nothingness, alongside jittery feedback. "Morning Bell" also deserves a mention with Jonny Greenwood's shrieking, coin-generated guitar outro. The only aversions are "Everything in Its Right Place", "Treefingers", and "Motion Picture Soundtrack". In fact, the latter's Hidden Track can only be described as Last Note Sweet Dreams Fuel.
 Kid A (Music) / int_bda474d2
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_bda474d2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_bda474d2
 Kid A (Music) / int_c3ae004a
type
Re-Cut
 Kid A (Music) / int_c3ae004a
comment
Re-Cut: The streaming release of the album cuts up "Motion Picture Soundtrack" and the unnamed Hidden Track at the end of it into two separate tracks, despite the band stating that the pair are supposed to be viewed as a single piece.
 Kid A (Music) / int_c3ae004a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_c3ae004a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_c3ae004a
 Kid A (Music) / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Kid A (Music) / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: According to Stanley Donwood, the red swimming pool that appears on the disc and in the booklet is a reference to the Alan Moore / Bill Sienkiewicz comic Brought to Light, in which the CIA measures the deaths caused by its state-sponsored terrorism by using the equivalent number of 50-gallon swimming pools filled with human blood. Donwood found the image horrifying, and was haunted by it throughout the Kid A / Amnesiac sessions. Much of the artwork, especially the color scheme, was inspired by a Guardian front page photograph he saw during the Kosovo war. "It was of a square metre of snow and it was full of the detritus of war, all military stuff and fag ["cigarette" for non-British readers] stains.◊ I was upset by it in a way war had never upset me before. It felt like it was happening in my street."note Andrew Testa "Bloody footprints in the snow, Kosovo, 1999". He worked for The Guardian at the time Donwood would've seen it and it matches the description. "How to Disappear Completely" pays homage to both U2 (the "Liffey" that Thom floats down runs through U2's hometown of Dublin) and R.E.M. (saying "I'm not here, this isn't happening" was a meditative exercise that R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe recommended to Thom Yorke). "Optimistic" mentions Animal Farm in one line. One "Treefingers" blip features a parody of BBC1's famous "Test Card F" test pattern with a blinking Modified Bear in place of the original Carol Hesse photograph and "TESTSPECIMENS" in place of the channel logo. The line "cut the kids in half" at the end of "Morning Bell" appears to be a nod to one of the stories surrounding the Hebrew king Solomon in The Bible, in which the king responded to a custody dispute between two woman over a child they each claimed they birthed by offering to literally cut the kid in half and give each piece to one of the women— the woman who protested the suggestion was granted custody. One line in the hidden booklet namedrops the PlayStation.
 Kid A (Music) / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_c75df49a
 Kid A (Music) / int_cdfe12c3
type
Nothing Is Scarier
 Kid A (Music) / int_cdfe12c3
comment
Nothing Is Scarier: To this day, nobody knows what the horrible thing that this album represented to Thom was, or the horrible thing that inspired the title track. Although "Treefingers" is soothing out of context, the atmosphere it establishes within context makes it a very offsetting listen along with the rest of the tracks.
 Kid A (Music) / int_cdfe12c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_cdfe12c3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_cdfe12c3
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce2969d8
type
Spiritual Antithesis
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce2969d8
comment
Spiritual Antithesis: To Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective. Both albums came out within the same decade, are considered among the greatest albums of that decade, and sport an experimental, electronic-infused sound that emphasizes texture and timbre over traditional melody and lyricism. However, the two are polar opposites beyond those similarities, with Kid A coming out in the first year of the decade and featuring a haunting, minimalist sound with lyrics of apocalypse and personal crisis, and Merriweather Post Pavilion coming out in the last year of the decade and featuring a lushly dense and layered sound with more wistfully abstract lyrics covering broadly romantic themes.
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce2969d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce2969d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_ce2969d8
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce90c792
type
No Title
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce90c792
comment
No Title: The Hidden Track that closes the album lacks an official title; "Genchildren" is a popular fanmade one, stemming from the user who posted the initial leak of the album.
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce90c792
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_ce90c792
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_ce90c792
 Kid A (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
type
Cerebus Syndrome
 Kid A (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
comment
Cerebus Syndrome: Kid A is even bleaker than OK Computer before it, with heavily introspective lyrics that reflect the burnout the band faced from the pressures that OK Computer and its fame brought.
 Kid A (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
 Kid A (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
type
One-Word Title
 Kid A (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
comment
One-Word Title: "Treefingers", "Optimistic", and "Idioteque".
 Kid A (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
 Kid A (Music) / int_da264b9c
type
Word-Salad Horror
 Kid A (Music) / int_da264b9c
comment
Word-Salad Horror: A lot of the lyrics, as well as most of the text included in the album's hidden booklet. Word of God states that the album's propensity for this trope was directly inspired by the techniques David Byrne used to form the lyrics on Talking Heads' seminal 1980 album Remain in Light; the members of Radiohead were fans of Talking Heads, to the point where their name came from a track off of True Stories, so the adoption of the American band's lyric-writing methods seems to bring things full-circle.
 Kid A (Music) / int_da264b9c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_da264b9c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_da264b9c
 Kid A (Music) / int_db26451e
type
Limited Lyrics Song
 Kid A (Music) / int_db26451e
comment
Limited Lyrics Song: Several songs only have a few lines repeated several times, most conspicuously, the first three.
 Kid A (Music) / int_db26451e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_db26451e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_db26451e
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbc664dd
type
Album Title Drop
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbc664dd
comment
Album Title Drop: Happens in "Everything in Its Right Place". During the voice loops before the lyrics start, "Kid A" can clearly be heard.
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbc664dd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbc664dd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_dbc664dd
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
type
Lyrical Dissonance
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
comment
Lyrical Dissonance: On the surface, "Kid A" sounds like a quiet lullaby, but the lyrics are decidedly the opposite, being a series of eerie Madness Mantras.
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
 Kid A (Music) / int_e085feeb
type
Broken Record
 Kid A (Music) / int_e085feeb
comment
Broken Record: Most tracks on the album revolve around repeating certain phrases ad infinitum. "The National Anthem" in particular only has a handful of lines, most of which are repeated several times. "How to Disappear Completely" repeats "I'm not here; this isn't happening" several times. "Idioteque" repeats most of its lines two or three times. "Morning Bell" has "Cut the kids in half" repeated three times, most conspicuously. And so on.
 Kid A (Music) / int_e085feeb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_e085feeb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_e085feeb
 Kid A (Music) / int_e5e48344
type
Instructional Title
 Kid A (Music) / int_e5e48344
comment
Instructional Title: "How to Disappear Completely", named after an actual how-to book about how to start a new identity.
 Kid A (Music) / int_e5e48344
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_e5e48344
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_e5e48344
 Kid A (Music) / int_e680af6f
type
Grief Song
 Kid A (Music) / int_e680af6f
comment
Grief Song: "In Limbo":
 Kid A (Music) / int_e680af6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_e680af6f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_e680af6f
 Kid A (Music) / int_e91cc721
type
In the Style of
 Kid A (Music) / int_e91cc721
comment
In the Style of: Hard as it may be to imagine, the arrangement of "Motion Picture Soundtrack" was inspired by the soundtracks of 1950's Disney films.
 Kid A (Music) / int_e91cc721
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_e91cc721
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_e91cc721
 Kid A (Music) / int_ee9bf817
type
Sanity Slippage Song
 Kid A (Music) / int_ee9bf817
comment
Sanity Slippage Song: "How to Disappear Completely":
 Kid A (Music) / int_ee9bf817
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_ee9bf817
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_ee9bf817
 Kid A (Music) / int_f1dcdabc
type
Hidden Track
 Kid A (Music) / int_f1dcdabc
comment
The only aversions are "Everything in Its Right Place", "Treefingers", and "Motion Picture Soundtrack". In fact, the latter's Hidden Track can only be described as Last Note Sweet Dreams Fuel.
 Kid A (Music) / int_f1dcdabc
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_f1dcdabc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_f1dcdabc
 Kid A (Music) / int_f3cf057b
type
Fading into the Next Song
 Kid A (Music) / int_f3cf057b
comment
Fading into the Next Song: The phasing synth sound at the end of "Kid A" continues into the very beginning of "The National Anthem", "Optimistic" transitions seamlessly into "In Limbo" through a shoddy, jazzy loop, and the heavily processed, screechy violin-like loop at the end of "Idioteque" leads into "Morning Bell".
 Kid A (Music) / int_f3cf057b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_f3cf057b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_f3cf057b
 Kid A (Music) / int_f4a3140c
type
Survival Mantra
 Kid A (Music) / int_f4a3140c
comment
Survival Mantra: "I'm not here, this isn't happening" from "How to Disappear Completely". The phrase was actually given to Thom by Michael Stipe to serve this purpose, and Stipe himself would use it as the basis for R.E.M.'s "Disappear" a year later. Stipe later recounted in a 2019 interview how after remembering the basis for "Disappear", he called up Thom to apologize for stealing the concept, to which Thom responded by claiming that it was more R.E.M.'s song after hearing Stipe recite the lyrics to "Disappear".
 Kid A (Music) / int_f4a3140c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_f4a3140c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_f4a3140c
 Kid A (Music) / int_fa77309d
type
Alternate Album Cover
 Kid A (Music) / int_fa77309d
comment
Alternate Album Cover: CD re-pressings on XL Recordings use the first page of the hidden booklet as the tray art, in place of the CGI mountain range from the original release.
 Kid A (Music) / int_fa77309d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_fa77309d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_fa77309d
 Kid A (Music) / int_fb6e2ef7
type
Single Stanza Song
 Kid A (Music) / int_fb6e2ef7
comment
Single Stanza Song: The title track.
 Kid A (Music) / int_fb6e2ef7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_fb6e2ef7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
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Kid A (Music) / int_fb6e2ef7
 Kid A (Music) / int_name
type
ItemName
 Kid A (Music) / int_name
comment
 Kid A (Music) / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Kid A (Music) / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Kid A (Music) / int_name
 Kid A (Music) / int_name
itemName
Kid A (Music)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Album Title Drop / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
British Music / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Concept Album / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Content Leak / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Creepy Awesome / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Creepy Monotone / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Easter Egg / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Evolving Music / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Fading into the Next Song / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Fake-Out Fade-Out / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Longest Song Goes Last / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Millennium Bug / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
New Sound Album / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Post-Rock / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Progressive Rock / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Purple Prose / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Radio Friendliness / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Refrain from Assuming / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Something Something Leonard Bernstein / int_b616c936
 Kid A (Music)
hasFeature
Uncommon Time / int_b616c936