2,141,856 plays (375,425 listeners)
“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.
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Kid A
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I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings
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2002-07-24: Coliseu de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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2002-08-07: Salamanca, Spain
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Shouts
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morkwa wrote:
beautifully insane...
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yaniv297 wrote:
SNL performance is amazing.
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silaczka wrote:
wow.
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blacknail wrote:
bassline owns the world...
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YukonCornelus wrote:
GREAT!
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rights_reserved wrote:
Everything in this song is perfect; the bassline, simplistic vocals, saxophone, steady drumming. I fell in love with this song when I first heard it a half hour ago.
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alexjgrant wrote:
Win
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Amnesius wrote:
I've been listening to all of Radiohead's discography/songography since 2002. But this song have been consistently dominating my listening times when the time is limited.
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Illumynatuz wrote:
Ridiculously cool.
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RIPELIVEJAM wrote:
ed's contribution to this is essential.
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messersebald wrote:
this bassline. period.
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torycrack wrote:
da da um da da, um da da da, mint!
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torycrack wrote:
on jools holland in 2000 they were pretty effing good
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capitanburbuja wrote:
hypnotic
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davidbowiegirl wrote:
Possible the best song on the planet Earth
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MarionetteDolly wrote:
I want to make love with Thom York <3
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xDanx1 wrote:
This is my Radiohead's favorite...Love it so much!
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yaghma wrote:
I am sincerely pissed I've never had sex to this song. (3)
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arielJasmine wrote:
pzow
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attackthestereo wrote:
wowowow..
Radiohead
The National Anthem
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Recent Activity
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BAD6UY, IRGUY17, Jeremy371 and 6 other people loved Radiohead – The National Anthem. 57 minutes ago
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CraigMcDerm0tt added The National Anthem to the playlist Top 10 Albums of the 2000s. 11 hours ago
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ethankoenig, Lucacomo9 and OnTheNebula loved Radiohead – The National Anthem. 12 hours ago
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Synesthetic1, PAULASHTON3, random_mood and 11 other people loved Radiohead – The National Anthem. yesterday evening
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c3time tagged The National Anthem with ‘3 stars’. Saturday evening
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LouFord21, yokama, rotemboim and 13 other people loved Radiohead – The National Anthem. Saturday evening
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