041: Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (2003)
“I kind of don’t [think it works]. In a way that’s the criticism I would have of it. It didn’t really have its own direction. It was almost like a homogeny of previous work. Maybe that’s its strength?”
—Nigel Godrich
The 2003 Radiohead album Hail to the Thief was widely praised as a great album upon its initial release, but starting a few years later it became a consistent target of criticism from the band and fans alike. In this episode, John leads a discussion with Will, Mike, and Phil in which they try to make the case that this album, in which Radiohead largely consolidates the different approaches of its post-Bends work into something new and yet still something recognizably Radiohead, deserves a significantly better reputation than as “the Radiohead album with too many songs.” Come for the serious discussion of Radiohead’s take on the Iraq War and society’s failings, stay for the recurring sex jokes and Homestar Runner references.
Miscellany
John made a reference during his personal history to not listening to an early version of Hail to the Thief from before the album’s release. In late March 2003, an unfinished (without proper mixing and editing) version of the album leaked without the band’s consent, and John very deliberately went out of his way to not hear anything from this early version.
John made a slight mistake in reference to the statistical analysis regarding sadness in Radiohead songs (linked below): according to the study, “We Suck Young Blood” is tied with “True Love Waits” as the saddest song, but only before lyrics are accounted for. After lyrics are accounted for it falls out of the top ten (“True Love Waits” remains the champion)
Despite Mike’s claims to the contrary, there are only two guitars on “There There.” And he should know this, because he’s seen them perform it live twice. We’ll chalk it up to Radiohead’s remarkable ability to make two guitars sound like three, because it’s impossible that Mike wouldn’t know what he’s talking about.
During the “Sit Down, Stand Up” discussion two references were made to backwards masking outside the context of that song. The first refers to an instance of backwards masking at the beginning of the song “Empty Spaces” off the Pink Floyd album The Wall. The second (“Satan eats cheez whiz”) references a parody of backwards masking found in the Weird Al Yankovic song “Nature Trail to Hell.”
For our listeners who fall outside of the X-ennial window, the mention of “Strong Mad” in the “Myxomatosis” discussion refers to a character from the Homestar Runner website, a Flash-based mainstay of the internet from around the time this album was released. This was edited out of the episode, but after Mike responded to the mention with “Intruder Alert!!” John became paralyzed with laughter and needed a minute before he could continue.
Just before we recorded this, Radiohead’s official website underwent a major revamp, and as part of this they made available an incredible amount of rare footage and difficult-to-find material. It’s linked below and it’s absolutely worth visiting if you are interested in the band.
Other links
2013 Stereogum write-up on Hail to the Thief (Stereogum)
Thom Yorke's proposed alternate track listing for Hail to the Thief (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
John McFerrin (host)
Phil Maddox (moderator)
Mike DeFabio
Chris Willie Williams
Rich Bunnell (guest appearance)
Amanda Rodgers (guest appearance)
Hail to the Thief tracklist
2 + 2 = 5
Sit Down, Stand Up
Sail to the Moon
Backdrifts
Go to Sleep
Where I End and You Begin
We Suck Young Blood
The Gloaming
There There
I Will
A Punchup at a Wedding
Myxomatosis
Scatterbrain
A Wolf at the Door
Other clips used
Radiohead:
I Get Louder
Fitter Happier
The National Anthem (from I Might Be Wrong)
Airbag
Paranoid Android
Cuttooth
Creep
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
No Surprises
Everything in Its Right Place
Pyramid Song
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
33.3 Recurring
The Gloaming (Live from the Basement)
The Gloaming (DJ Shadow Remix)
Like Spinning Plates
I Will (Los Angeles Version)
Others:
Talking Heads - Radio Head
Joan Baez - All the Pretty Little Horses
Simon Gale and His Music - Flying Over San Jose
The Mothers of Invention - Who Are the Brain Police?
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - God Bless Our Dead Marines
Can - Mushroom
Tim Curry - I Will
Procol Harum - Cerdes (Outside the Gates of)
T. Rex - Left Hand Luke & the Beggar Boys
Songs we mentioned but didn’t clip
Radiohead:
Idioteque
Fake Plastic Trees
Electioneering
My Iron Lung
Planet Telex
Just
High and Dry
True Love Waits
The Tourist
Optimistic
You and Whose Army
Knives Out
Climbing Up the Walls
Paperbag Writer
Others:
Peter Gabriel - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
The Kinks - 20th Century Man
Steely Dan - Two Against Nature
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are a-Changin’
The Clash - Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
Pink Floyd - Empty Spaces
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Nature Trail to Hell
Sparks - Missionary Position
U2 - The Fly
Procol Harum - The Thin End of the Wedge
The Beatles - I Will
A Perfect Circle - Disillusioned
Genesis - That’s All
Fear - New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones
Fear - Let’s Have a War
Jeff Beck - Scatterbrain
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
R.E.M. - Belong
The Grateful Dead - Dire Wolf
Atoms for Peace - Amok
Hail to the Thief personnel
Thom Yorke – voice, words, guitar, piano, laptop
Jonny Greenwood – guitar, analogue systems, ondes Martenot, laptop, toy piano, glockenspiel
Colin Greenwood – bass, string synth, sampler
Ed O'Brien – guitar, effects, voice
Philip Selway – drums, percussion
Nigel Godrich – recording, editing, operation, mixing
Darrell Thorp – engineering, backing up, cataloguing
Plank – instrument maintenance and rebuilding
Graeme Stewart – tape loops on "The Gloaming", engineering of preliminary sessions
Stanley Donwood – painting, packaging
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Radiohead - Backdrifts (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Hail to the Thief and other albums by Radiohead at the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon [affiliate link]. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.