-
Play on Mog
Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more
-
Play on Spotify
Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more
-
Play on Rdio
Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more
-
Play on Hype Machine
Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more
About This Track
“The National Anthem” is a song by the band Radiohead, the third track from the album Kid A (2000). The song is moored to a repetitive bassline, has a processed electronic production, and develops in a direction influenced by jazz.
In the album recording, the bass is played by lead singer Thom Yorke, who wrote the riff at age 16. The song is thought to have been previously attempted at recording sessions in 1994 and 1997, but according to Colin Greenwood, the band decided it was “too good to use it as a b-side for OK Computer singles”.
The free jazz-style brass section featured in this song creates a soundscape of chaos, and has been described as “a brass band marching into a brick wall” by one reviewer. In the recording sessions, band members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood conducted the session musicians as best they could, though Yorke lacks formal musical training, telling them to ‘go crazy’ with their instruments as if they were caught in a traffic jam. It should be noted that although the recording sounds chaotic, each instrument is soloing to the riff.
The jazz style arrangement was apparently influenced by Charles Mingus, one of Thom’s favorite composers, while the song also features an Ondes Martenot, played by Jonny Greenwood. That early electronic instrument was picked up by Jonny for several songs on Kid A and subsequent albums, inspired by the music of Olivier Messiaen which makes much use of it. Some also found “The National Anthem” reminiscent of the contemporary work of fellow UK bands Primal Scream and Spiritualized, with whom Radiohead had toured in 1998.
In the album recording, the bass is played by lead singer Thom Yorke, who wrote the riff at age 16. The song is thought to have been previously attempted at recording sessions in 1994 and 1997, but according to Colin Greenwood, the band decided it was “too good to use it as a b-side for OK Computer singles”.
The free jazz-style brass section featured in this song creates a soundscape of chaos, and has been described as “a brass band marching into a brick wall” by one reviewer. In the recording sessions, band members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood conducted the session musicians as best they could, though Yorke lacks formal musical training, telling them to ‘go crazy’ with their instruments as if they were caught in a traffic jam. It should be noted that although the recording sounds chaotic, each instrument is soloing to the riff.
The jazz style arrangement was apparently influenced by Charles Mingus, one of Thom’s favorite composers, while the song also features an Ondes Martenot, played by Jonny Greenwood. That early electronic instrument was picked up by Jonny for several songs on Kid A and subsequent albums, inspired by the music of Olivier Messiaen which makes much use of it. Some also found “The National Anthem” reminiscent of the contemporary work of fellow UK bands Primal Scream and Spiritualized, with whom Radiohead had toured in 1998.
Send Ringtones to Cell Similar Music
Play Radiohead RadioWith: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Sigur Rós, Portishead and more…
People who listen to this also like
| Track | Duration | Listeners | ||
| Radiohead - Kid A | 4:43 | 508,752 | ||
| Radiohead - Morning Bell | 4:34 | 457,339 | ||
|
|
Thom Yorke - Analyse | 4:03 | 269,746 | |
|
|
Thom Yorke - The Eraser | 4:55 | 281,648 | |
|
|
Muse - Citizen Erased | 7:19 | 406,970 | |
|
|
Muse - Micro Cuts | 3:38 | 400,847 |
Albums featuring this track
-
Kid A
Radiohead
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $7.99
- 7digital $8.99
- Juno $10.99
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $7.99
- eBay Search
-
The Best Of
Radiohead Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital $11.99
- Juno $13.49
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $9.85
- eBay Search
-
I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings
Radiohead Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes $7.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $11.99
- eBay Search
-
Album Box Set
Radiohead Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Radiohead Store
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Shouts
-
SequenceC wrote:
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
-
kissesneverdie wrote:
the bass, mixed with the sax, is the crazy person's eternal theme.
-
PorcusNewtonDoe wrote:
If insanity were ever beautiful, this would be a prime example.
-
Evacuant wrote:
Sounds like a bad trip.
-
emorockgirlie wrote:
one of the best songs live
-
I_Am_Kid_A wrote:
*Thom's bassline, he wrote it when he was 16 and even played it on the album ;-P
-
naccsa wrote:
god damn colin's bassline is heavy as fuck
-
flash_flem wrote:
Masterpiece
-
aworthlessjunk wrote:
Awesome song, no more.
-
matt1337c wrote:
Infectious bass line.
-
houghster27 wrote:
The bassline is so similar to hit the plane down by pavement. No bad thing.
-
forestXboy wrote:
Chills from the first lyric
-
Harry_01 wrote:
That track is so epic.
-
Nakkinak wrote:
Epic Sax Guy [2]
-
captainyodel wrote:
i kind of want to simulatneously cry and explode thinking about how excited i am...
-
captainyodel wrote:
fuck. yes. can we just skip through christmas, new years, single's awareness day, and all the other nonsense and get to the best day of 2012? seeing radiohead live is all i need.
-
Antoniux wrote:
Epic Sax Guy
-
guto013 wrote:
badass
-
Monolizador wrote:
Me gusta la parte de los elefantes.
-
Seraraffyp wrote:
This should be the UK's National Anthem. I'd like to see the Queen march out to this. [2] bet she'd show some swagger on that one, and for sure, she'd be amused.
Track Stats
3,394,594 Scrobbles
540,139 Listeners
Recent Listening Trend
Listening Now
Top Listeners
-
mirrortraffic
Top Listener
-
Sevenedge
Top Listener
-
AGirlCalledMari
Top Listener
-
Doollittle
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
anneslifka added The National Anthem to anneslifka’s library. 6 hours ago
-
Emil-1995 and gabriel_th loved Radiohead – The National Anthem. 7 hours ago
-
Stasya15 added The National Anthem to the playlist Radiohead. yesterday evening
-
Stasya15 added The National Anthem to Stasya15’s library. yesterday evening
-
starkraftdany added The National Anthem to his Loved Tracks. yesterday evening
-
discovalenti added The National Anthem to discovalenti’s library. yesterday evening
-
AnaTurner added The National Anthem to her Loved Tracks. yesterday evening
-
lastlentitudes added The National Anthem to lastlentitudes’s library. yesterday evening
-
Art_Ramone added The National Anthem to the playlist Лучшие песни Radiohead. yesterday afternoon
-
uterpendragon1 added The National Anthem to the playlist ALBUMS_3. yesterday morning
Related Journals
-
End Of Year Charts 2011
by darren86 |
25 Dec 2011
-
300 songs before you go deaf
by spree0220 |
30 Nov 2011
| 10 comments
-
Top 25: Platz 10 - 6
by VGKS |
21 Jul 2011
| 1 comment
