Radiohead signed to EMI in 1991 and released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in 1993; their debut single, "Creep", became a worldwide hit. Radiohead's popularity and critical standing rose with the release of The Bends in 1995. Radiohead's third album, OK Computer (1997), brought them international fame; noted for its complex production and themes of modern alienation, it is acclaimed as a landmark record and one of the best albums in popular music.
Radiohead's fourth album, Kid A (2000), marked a dramatic change in style, incorporating influences from electronic music, jazz, classical music and krautrock. Though Kid A divided listeners, it later attracted wide acclaim. It was followed by Amnesiac (2001), recorded in the same sessions. Hail to the Thief (2003), with lyrics addressing the War on Terror, was Radiohead's final album for EMI.
Radiohead self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), as a download for which customers could set their own price, to critical and chart success. Their eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), an exploration of rhythm, was developed using extensive looping and sampling. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) prominently featured Jonny Greenwood's orchestral arrangements. Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Selway, and O'Brien have released solo albums; in 2021, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debuted a new band, the Smile.
By 2011, Radiohead had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. Their awards include six Grammy Awards and four Ivor Novello Awards, and they hold five Mercury Prize nominations, the most of any act. Seven Radiohead singles have reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart: "Creep" (1992), "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (1996), "Paranoid Android" (1997), "Karma Police" (1997), "No Surprises" (1998), "Pyramid Song" (2001), and "There There" (2003). "Creep" and "Nude" (2008) reached the top 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone named Radiohead one of the 100 greatest artists of all time, and Rolling Stone readers voted them the second-best artist of the 2000s. Five Radiohead albums have been included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time lists. Radiohead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiohead
Studio albums
Pablo Honey (1993)
The Bends (1995)
OK Computer (1997)
Kid A (2000)
Amnesiac (2001)
Hail to the Thief (2003)
In Rainbows (2007)
The King of Limbs (2011)
A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
knives.out
Radiohead Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He's not coming back
Look into my mouth
I'm not coming back
So knives out
Cut him up
Don't look down
If you'd been a dog
They would have drowned you at birth
Look into my mouth
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
So knives out
Cut him up
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
I want you to know
He's not coming back
His blood is frozen
Still there is no point letting it go to waste
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
The lyrics to Radiohead's song "Knives Out" are dark and haunting, as they depict a violent and disturbing scene. The singer tells the listener that the person they are waiting for is not coming back and that they themselves are not returning either. The second stanza indicates that if the person at the center of the story were a dog, they would not have been spared from drowning at birth. The violence of the scene continues to escalate as the singer instructs the listener to cut up the absent person, shove their body parts in their mouth, squash another person's head, catch a mouse, and put it all in a pot.
Line by Line Meaning
I want you to know
I need you to understand
He's not coming back
He won't return
Look into my mouth
Pay attention to my words
I'm not coming back
I won't return either
So knives out
Get ready for action
Cut him up
Hurt him badly
Don't look down
Don't feel sorry
Shove it in your mouth
Live with the consequences
If you'd been a dog
You'd be treated differently
They would have drowned you at birth
They would have killed you when you were young
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
Trust me, this is true
Squash his head
Crush his skull
Put him in the pot
Dispose of him
His blood is frozen
He's lifeless
Still there is no point letting it go to waste
Might as well use what we have
Catch the mouse
Take care of the small things
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLIN CHARLES GREENWOOD, EDWARD JOHN O'BRIEN, JONATHAN RICHARD GUY GREENWOOD, PHILIP SELWAY, PHILIP JAMES SELWAY, THOMAS YORKE, THOMAS EDWARD YORKE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ryansample6016
Lyrics:
I want you to know
He's not coming back
Look in to my eyes
I'm not coming back
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Don't look down
Shove it in your mouth
If you'd been a dog
They would've drowned you at birth
Look into my eyes
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
So knives out
Cook him up
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
I want you to know
He's not coming back
He's bloated and frozen
Still there's no point in letting it go to waste
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
@Mario10KoC
I want you to know
He's not coming back
Look in to my eyes
I'm not coming back
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Don't look down
Shove it in your mouth
If you'd been a dog
They would've drowned you at birth
Look into my eyes
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
So knives out
Cook him up
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
I want you to know
He's not coming back
He's bloated and frozen
Still there's no point in letting it go to waste
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
@Panquernic
If you really need some sort of explaination of this video here is my interpretation. (English as a second language so bare with me). First of all you have to know a bit of the style and themes of Michel Gondry(the director). The song's lyrics and the video's story are quite a bit separate.
This is a continuous shot so some shots are static to give time for things out of shot to come to place.
What happens on the TV is a memory.
First of all we have a trip, a train and a happy couple on the train. We have photos and drawings depicting the couple. Then we se the Guy on the low bed looking worried and the camera turns to the Girl who is clearly sick (And on an Operation bed.) The doctor comes in with some bad news as Thom grabs his head.
They operate on her, she suffers. The camera pans to the TV again, He puts her photograph in his heart (maybe when he falls in love with her, or maybe is the moment of "you will never leave my heart/I will never forget you" and is not a memory.) then they start fighting.
Then he is in the low bed again and his feet are being cooked and he thinks they're about to eat his feet? (This is the part that seems most out of place from the "story" and seems to parallel the lyrics a bit more. Still quite dreamlike.)
The room becomes chaos, she continues to suffer, they do all kinds of tests.
The train now has extremities like feet, hands, etc...
They fight in the train, he asks her to marry him and this is the moment where she falls ill. He then presses Rewind back to where they didn't fight.
There is a shot of the diamond on the bed under a spotlight, this could have many interpretations and I think each should have its own.
She's gone, most probably died.
Then he's singing as a skeleton, he has no body left (nobody left?) he's singing from his heart (which has replaced his mind) and the photograph (the memory of her) floats away.
Then Thom is the microphone, which is a mouse, this simply relates to the lyrics and again is one of those dreamlike elements that gondry loves.
@nakiinflame1824
"Knives Out"
I want you to know
He's not coming back
Look into my eyes
I'm not coming back
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Don't look down
Shove it in your mouth
If you'd been a dog
They would've drowned you at birth
Look into my eyes
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
So knives out
Cook him up
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
I want you to know
He's not coming back
He's bloated and frozen
Still there's no point in letting it go to waste
So knives out
Catch the mouse
Squash his head
Put him in the pot
@epickipkip
I wouldn't be very surprised if one day Thom Yorke would just walk up the stage and say "to be honest guys, there is no real meaning behind our music. We just like weird things."
@michelsena2076
It`s like an artist says the same thing, we just don`t give a fuck, that`s art dude
@theskoolmustard00
I'd laugh.
Radiohead's music means a lot to me but if they came out saying that I'd laugh
@nolandoubleu9179
That's exactly how the Paranoid Android video is. There's no meaning to it. Just a bunch of weird stuff, I love it though. The song itself if amazing.
@EphixXion
Every song and every video has its meaning and its backstory, and yes even the paranoid android one. The execution is most of the time just very artfull and hard to comprehend.
Radioheads music and videos are as far away from meaningless as the sun is from the earth
@exxusdrugstore300
Contemporary music?
@alejandrocoronado5414
Fun fact, the female actor in this is actually the wife to the main illustrator from the gorillaz, Jamie Hewlet
@SomeKidNamedAfan
That's really fuckin cool
@juanbadilla2232
¿¡"female" actor?! 😮🤦♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@zackzallie8735
oh man i wish there was a word for a ''female actor''