Kid A
Radiohead
2000
Album Summary
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with producer Nigel Godrich in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and their hometown of Oxford, England. Radiohead considered releasing the material as a double album, but decided it was too dense; a second album of material from the sessions, Amnesiac, was released eight months later. After the stress of promoting Radiohead's acclaimed 1997 album OK Computer, songwriter Thom Yorke wanted to diverge from rock music. Drawing influence from electronic music, ambient music, krautrock, jazz, and 20th-century classical music, Radiohead used instruments such as modular synthesisers, ondes Martenot, brass and strings. They processed guitar sounds, incorporated samples and loops, and manipulated their recordings with software such as Pro Tools and Cubase. Yorke wrote impersonal and abstract lyrics, cutting up phrases and assembling them at random. Kid A was widely anticipated. In a departure from industry practice, Radiohead released no singles or music videos and conducted few interviews and photoshoots. Instead, they became one of the first major acts to use the internet as a promotional tool; Kid A was made available to stream and was promoted with short animated films featuring music and artwork. Bootlegs of early performances were shared on filesharing services, and the album was leaked before release. In 2000, Radiohead toured Europe in a custom-built tent without corporate logos. Kid A debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, and became Radiohead's first number-one album on the Billboard 200 in the US, where it sold more than 207,000 copies in its first week. Its departure from Radiohead's earlier sound divided fans and critics, and some dismissed it as pretentious, deliberately obscure, or derivative. However, it later attracted acclaim; at the end of the decade, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the Times ranked Kid A the greatest album of the 2000s, and in 2020 Rolling Stone ranked it number 20 on its updated list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Like OK Computer, it won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It has been certified platinum in Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the US and the UK. Kid A Mnesia, an anniversary reissue compiling Kid A, Amnesiac and previously unreleased material, was released in 2021.
WikipediaOne of the greatest albums ever. Radiohead going experimental because they didn’t like their own rock sound anymore and not disappointing at all, this whole album is just an experience with beautiful songs. Everytime I hear this album my mind gets blown again. 10/10
This was released around the same time my first born entered this miserable world. Joan and I would often refer to her as Kid A. How we would laugh. The Radiohead theme would continue, as when Hail to the Thief was released, that same child had recently been kidnapped, never to be seen alive again, which was a welcome relief, as she was a right little prick. How we laughed. Police investigations came to a head in 2011. Several dismembered body parts belonging to my daughter had been found in the local woods. Imagine our faces when we were told this news as Radiohead released King of Limbs. We could barely hold back our laughter.
I have no clue why people like radiohead. this is as boring as it gets. yeah creep was a good song but it was a real one-off. 0/5.
Really good ! I was listening like three songs deep and I was like I get Radiohead now and I understand how artists like frank ocean are inspired by them and then that one track hit which he sampled in one of the interludes in nostalgia , ULTRA. Where the girl is like “what is a Radiohead?” 🤣🤣 And I was like damn bro i got the vision like that ?! Anyways crazy album to listen, lots of atmosphere, I feel like I’m in space like odyssey 3000! My favourite song first listen is The National Anthem that shit is nuts
With Kid A, Radiohead went directly from inventing and mastering a variant of modern prog rock with OK Computer to fully assimilating the innovations of Aphex Twin and harnessing them to a new form of pop music. It's one of the most astonishing one-two punches in all of rock history. Even more amazing is the subtlety and depth of human feeling Radiohead brings to electronica. Kid A is hypnotic and dreamlike. It also sounds gorgeous, which producer Nigel Godrich probably deserves a lot of the credit for. It's also brilliantly sequenced. I should mention that electronica is not the only influence here. There's Mingus, ambient, a brief appearance of guitar rock, and even an orchestra, but it's all subsumed and blended into as cohesive an artistic statement as I've ever heard. Stunning on every level.
Revolutionary, ambitious, emotional, raw. Beep boop noises make me want to break it down.
Fuck. It's weird seeing one of the albums that actually changed me as a person here. Obviously this is a 5/5 album for me. It's one of the albums that I would have given as an example of what a 5/5 album looks like. For me, it felt like rock n' roll was on a linear path until this album, and then it could no longer go on that path, for better or for worse. While the radio was trying to shove Puddle of Mudd down my throat, I had this masterpiece to listen to. It just feels special, right from those first notes. Then these alien samples start to accompany the tones. Then Thom's voice pierces through. "Everything in its right place" This album manages to be so strange and so familiar at the same time. The only real problem I have with it is that I've listened to it so many times that it's hard to actively savor it. Every time I notice the album, another song has gone by. Still, every time I tune in, there are amazing things happening 5/5
I mean. This is already downloaded on my phone and in many of my playlists. Awesome album. Would give 8/5 stars if possible. "Motion Picture Soundtrack" alone is a beautiful song.
only marginally better than Our Kid Eh by the shirehorses. a proper headphones album, i've put the CD on in the car (shove your spotify) and it really doesn't work in that situation, but with headphones on this is a masterpiece.
What an absolutely transformative album. The first three tracks were too much noodle and clang for me to feel anything other than cold and sad indifference - a little too weird for me to really enjoy. How to Disappear Completely burrowed into my soul. Treefingers expanded through me. I wanted to just lay down with my eyes closed and listen, focus. I'm at a spa, floating, inside a computer at a perfect ambient temperature. I emerged on another plane. I was on the ride until Idioteque, which brought be back to my earthly body. Motion Picture Soundtrack is beautiful, and I was genuinely sad to find the end of the album. Had a nice sit in silence after, what can you even play to follow it?
Greater than the sum of its parts. It can be skeletal at times, but also larger than life. It's cold and dark, but conveys so much emotion through the movements of the music. Every little piece of the puzzle matters and was well thought out, from the swells of strings on How to Disappear Completely, to the transition between Optimistic to In Limbo. A 10/10 album experience. Favourite Tracks: all of them
The start of something different from Radiohead. Split their fan base massively. In truth, this is quite brilliant, uncommercial and unrepentant, more Radiohead than Radiohead. Still sounds fresh and novel, standing the test of time well, full of unusual time signatures, orchestrations and samples, it’s a modern classic. Top tracks: everything in its right place, the national anthem, how to disappear completely, optimistic, morning bell, motion picture soundtrack
I’ve been postponing this review for quite a while because this is one of my favorite records of all time and didn’t want to write a disservice to it, not that I think anyone is reading now that we are hundreds if not thousands doing this list, but now I have something really pressing from work so let’s procrastinate with this. here we go: The first time I listened to Kid A in full was when a friend of mine let me borrow the record back in 2000 so I could “burn” a copy of it. Man was I in awe. My previous contact with Radiohead was via MTV and I had listened to ok computer only like a year before and was still in awe of it also. To me kid A was something really different from everything I had ever heard before, it was hypnotic and I remember listening for hours and repeating it again and again, every track has its deep meaning and it’s place in the playlist of my life. Of course the first ones to make an impact were HTDC and Idioteque. The first with its melancholy and pain with that beautiful guitar and strings work, the amazing interpretation and the despairing story behind: the idea of searching “how to disappear completely and never be found”. Beautiful. Idioteque: the most comercial track from a singleless album, a stadium anthem from a band that does not like stadiums, I have memories of family trips pasted to this track as I was always with my discman while touring, the future of a genere in one song, I could never get tired of this song, really it was an obsession I guess now that I think about it. What to say about the national anthem? It’s better than all of the national anthems I’ve heard tbh, powerful AF, true jazz if you ask me. Kid A the song? A dream, in limbo? Optimistic? Sound landscapes that will take you somewhere else completely one after the other just like treefinger, same as morning bell with its plea: nobody wants to be a slave, release me, please… Did you know Motion Picture Soundtrack was in the works for many years prior its release? Beautiful and haunting, a suicide letter could not do it better (or worse?), search the demos if you can, my god do the band know how to find THE sound for a track even if it takes them years. Which brings me to other of the things that I love the most of this record: damn does it excel in starting and finishing, those few synth notes with distorted voices that break the silence from out of nowhere in Everything is in its Right Place? That’s how you start a great record god damn! Glorious track, they even started a movie with this song. But what about closing? Well, beautifully vanish the music not before saying your farewell: I will see you in the next life.
Three points:- Kid A is probably actually Kid D in terms of Radiohead album rankings. Kid A is number one son Chris McCormick. This album is too old for Robert Plant's taste.
Fucking random noise and incomprehensible singing. Can't stand anything by Radiohead
enjoyed this a lot through headphones, speakers didn't deliver the same experience
I have not a bad thing to say about this album. It’s a beautiful collection of ambient music, punctuated with the perfect amount of noise. I have been reading a little about the critical response to this album, which is fairly hilarious. Radiohead got slammed for straying too far from their established sound *and* for not straying far enough and being derivative. It’s not the bravest, most revolutionary piece of music ever made, but it represents a real inflection point in their sound and it has aged really well over the past 20 years. I appreciate that they chose to openly challenge themselves musically and take their audience along for the ride. Not many artists are willing to do that at the height of their popularity. Fave songs: Idioteque, Kid A, The National Anthem
Giving it a 5 because there isn't an option for more. Ambitious, fearless and original.
An unforgettable masterpiece, produced by a band at the height of their powers and unconstrained by thoughts of satisfying their legions of fans. Each new release from Radiohead after "OK Computer" seemed designed to reduce the adoration and thin out their audience. "Kid A" saw me still staying on board.
Absolute shocker, as I had listened to it before. But the ATMOSPHERE. This album has such an exquisite sound scape, and while I do not think any individual song would be in my rotation normally, somehow the album will.
It's Kid, fricking A. What more do I need to say? I will say that this is an album everyone should experience at some point in their lives. Sure, you may be peeved of by the pretentious nature many people who praise this can come across, but it's totally worth it. I may have favorites, but each track on here embodies its own world to me, each with a unique atmosphere compared to the rest. For that reason, and its incredible production, is why I love this so much Favorites: Everything In Its Right Place, The National Anthem, How to Disappear Completely, Optimistic, Idioteque, Motion Picture Soundtrack
Trippy and spacey. Feels like floating. Never really listened to Radiohead aside from their big songs. Definitely a good listen. Will revisit!
One of the most important rock albums ever made, completely changing the trajectory of the band. An almost ethereal listen from start to finish.
This album was an experience. I wanted to lie down on my bed and close my eyes and be with it. It felt almost cinematic, like I was on a journey for this whole album it flowed so well, such interesting sound. This would be a great album to trip to honestly. Favourite songs: Everything in it's right place, Treefingers, Idioteque, Motion picture soundtrack
Familiar yet strange. Relentlessly atmospheric. Sterile, bulky and complex yet to the point and simple at the same time. Fav songs: Everything in its right place, Optimistic, Idiotheque
9/10, Seminal Radiohead album, and the best, what cemented them as the greatest modern band within recent memory
Mais um ótimo disco do Radiohead. produção impecável. Sem tantos hits, mas demonstra bem o caminho musical deles
So my next album is Kid A by Radiohead. It has been a long time since I've listened to this. I was reading about this and how many Radiohead fans of the day were so gobsmacked by OK Computer - that it wasn't what we had wanted. Then I was reading about Rockism, and how people believe guitar based rock and roll is the highest form of musical art. I remember how they released this on the Internet and I had many friends who purchased it online. I did my best at the time to appreciate it. It was not accessible at all, and I wanted it to be a certain way. And with age and wisdom I see that was not an especially fair thing to do to a band. And evidenced by how much I enjoyed 'Moon Shaped Pool' their most recent album - I should have been more open minded. They have proven themselves to a be a band that confounds expectations and still produce some great work. I'm already thinking about this album is not easy to jump into, and I'm only 2 songs in. I think it's something I will have to live with for a while to get what it's putting across. On a cold and snowy morning, listening to Kid A on the way into work is an interesting experience. It made my highway driving on I-95 feel more cinematic. I'm enjoying this album the deeper I get into the tracks. I listened to Moon Shaped Pool quite a lot in the last few years. And I listened to OK Computer endlessly. I can see this album being a bridge between those two worlds and it's sounding good to me. It feels like a Radiohead morning. I'm not sure what that means exactly. Maybe it's the gray weather, or maybe the snow, or perhaps the cube farm I'm sitting in. It might be the fluorescent lighting. It's helping to make sense of my world.
I'm a bit late to the Radiohead party but after repeated listenings its slowing worming its way into my head. I think OK Computer is more accessible, and Kid A is a shift towards a more experimental sound, but it is equally good if you give it a chance. I like the Mingus influence in The National Anthem and Everything in its right place is a pretty good song to kick off the album.
I’m not sure where to start with this one. Is it a good album? Sure, yes, absolutely. See my rating. Is it the game changing, greatest record of all time that a lot of people like to say it is? I don’t think so. There’s an argument to made (and Radiohead fans, in my experience, usually don’t want to hear it) that there were other bands operating in very similar spaces as Kid A long before Radiohead. They just ended up being the right band, at the right time, with the right level of success to make an experimental album like Kid A a hit, especially coming off the success of OK Computer. Again, I think this is a good record. I don’t want to come off as down playing the quality of this release. I’m just not sure it deserves its reputation as a “game changing, no one has ever done anything like this” record. As an example, “Djed”, the 20 minute opener from Tortoise’s 1996 classic album Millions Will Never Die blends many of the same elements (glitchy electronica, jazz, krautrock, ambient and minimalism) and, in my opinion, makes for a more interesting listen than a lot of Kid A. (See also: Stereolab’s Dots and Loops LP from 1998) I’ll skip talking about the Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada influence that you’ll see in other reviews on this page. I have the feeling that if you were in tune to other experimental rock and electronic music in the late 90’s (or prior to hearing Kid A) you probably heard this record and thought, “What’s the big deal? They’re just doing what half the bands I listen to have been doing for years.” If you were coming at it from a more traditional rock perspective, without preexisting knowledge of experimental rock or IDM, I can see this record blowing minds. That said, I’m sure there are people who fall into the former category who also had their minds blown by Kid A and people who see Kid A as their gateway to experimental music. For that, Kid A’s greatest success was in its impact rather than its songs, I think. It proved that experimental rock could be successful in the mainstream.
Some amazing tracks such as everything and national anthem but a lot of it leaves me cold - gimme the Bends any day of the week
A lot of cool stuff on it but also too many tracks that don't really go anywhere.
Totally not my favourite Radiohead album but its very well crafted and recorded. Easy to put this on in the background and just blend right into it.
I wish I could be as "into" this as I feel like I'm supposed to be. Like - is this cool and I'm not cool because I don't think it's cool? Or is the music inherently not cool, and that's what makes it cool - unless I think it's cool, then I'm a loser? What drives a band to never play their most popular song in public again because too many people liked it? It must be that cool = not cool? Regardless, based purely on it's musical merits, I like this album. Admittedly, some of it is too "out there" for me, but a lot of it is quite good. I especially liked Iditoteque and Morning Bell. I at least appreciate the rest of it. Overall, it's pretty cool (or it's not). I don't know.
Everybody loves Kid A. And, in the grand scheme of things I guess I do too. But I think it's in the middle-third of Radiohead records. At the time of its release it was so important for me to see a guitar-based band eschew all that for a completely electronic sound. Because they had hooked me with OK Computer and The Bends and there was no turning back for me. So they pried open my mind. They pried open a lot of minds at the end of the 90s, a decade that saw rock music go from the fresh/raw grunge revolution to the gaping yawn of new-metal and Nickleback. Radiohead made it feel like there had been a fork in the road and a lot of bands chose the wrong path so far back that they'd never be able to backtrack and catch up. If that makes sense. I love this record for that. There are beautiful sounds that I find calming but Annie has confirmed that this record actually sounds like anxiety. She's probably right. One other important note: this was recorded at the same time as Amensiac. Kid A is an objectively better record, but I prefer Amnesiac more. They could have been a double LP together. But instead were released about a year apart. Interesting choice and one that honestly gave people the ability to digest the monumental change without feeling overwhelmed or glossing over tracks that would've seemed like filler on a double LP.
It’s alright. I’ve heard this one a couple times before and I really want to like it because of the hype as well as my liking for Radiohead. I would expect the album known to be the most experimental Radiohead album (I think) to be at least ONE OF my favorites. But it’s one of my least favorites. I just find it fairly boring. I’m not in love with all of the sounds which could have been it’s saving grace. I’m sure it fits a certain situation perfectly but I haven’t been there yet haha. Hahaha robot sounds hahahaha
I expected to hate this album. And there were times when I started to feel the hate flow through me. But, somehow, Radiohead managed to bring it back around before it got too bad. Is it pretentious? Hell yes. SO very pretentious. Is it repetitive? ||: Yes. :|| Is it a noisy mess sometimes? Again, absolutely. But, for some reason, it's still not totally off-putting. In fact, a lot of the album is actually engaging and fun. So, while I didn't love it, I certainly didn't hate it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it was pretty alright on balance.
Hot take as a Radiohead fan but the hype around this album has well eclipsed its musical worth. That’s not to say I hate this album - it still contains several of my fav RH tracks and sees the band continuing the radical experimentation started on OKC on their way through to In Rainbows. Mostly brilliant technically, though the mix of synths and guitars is a bit lopsided and makes the album feel a little bit short of gelling as a sum of its parts. Rather, the issue is that I’m tired of hearing about it. I’m tired of the never-ending Pitchfork/Stereogum/Reddit rehash of how Kid A is such a great album when there’s never any deeper level of discourse about it. I don’t understand why the music community collectively wanks over this specific LP so hard when its predecessor was much more daring and Rainbows was a much more well-realized album as opposed to Thom Yorker’s First Go at a Synthesizer (Plus Some Guitars). This album has become such a sticking point for entry into the band as a whole as well, and it makes me a little sad I see people put off by the circlejerking over this album as it just completely crowds out any wider discourse on the actual music or band itself. Maybe I’m just a salty Amnesiac fan who gets mad that the sister LP to this release gets completely shafted when it’s the much more expressive and organized released, who knows? But in any case, can we please collectively agree to put any further discussion of this album on ice until we have some actually meaningful things to say about it?
I wanted to love this album. I came away not hating it. I found myself getting distracted during the album when I should have been listening. It was a bit “noodle” for my taste and didn’t really speak to me in any meaningful way
It almost feels unfair that I should be rating this album, because I honestly don't get Radiohead. Kid A was the big one kicking about when I was at university, and so I know it almost through osmosis. Didn't get the appeal then, don't get the appeal now. I fundamentally think I'm hardwired to dislike this band.
My heart sank. I don’t know what it is about me and Radiohead but I just don’t get the hype, and especially not for this album. I don’t even like the Mark & Lard’s The Shirehorses spoof album “Our Kid Eh” which has very little Radiohead related content. Go figure.
Oh boy is this album bad. After the first couple of songs my thought was "This is dog shit." Then the album continued and it improved but only slightly. Thankfully the album was only about 50 minutes. I do not know what was so special about this album. Now it is absolutely better than some of the albums that have received a 1, but even though I would describe it as dog shit, it is still lesser than a 2. No need to listen to this album.
I will never like Radiohead, you can’t make me! Fuck this boring, self-indulgent drivel. I hate it.
I once visited an art museum with a group from a class that I was taking. We stopped in front of this 10'x10' canvas that was painted black: no texture, no variants in shading.....just black. Our guide, as well as many in the group, waxed poetic about this important piece of art and blah blah blah. The truth is that they saw it for what it was but didn't have the guts to say so because they didn't want to appear to others as "not getting it". Anybody who gives this album more than zero stars is just like the group of sheep who don't want to call out a black square as being nothing more than a black square. This album was 45 minutes of hipster wet dream.
Radiohead sucks, and whoever built this list apparently thinks the sun shines out of Thom Yorks ass.
Straight bitch behavior lol. This could almost be considered white noise. Average Radiohead song: Whiiineeee and moaaaannnnn, moaaaninggggggg, sad violinnnnn, whiningggggg, why doesn't this girl like meeeeee, mooaanninnggg, im going to disappeaaaaarrrr, cuz i'm noothinnggggggg, whinnnning, moaninging!
I remember where I was on October 2nd, 2000 at midnight: buying this album in a record store on Massachusetts St. in Lawrence. Then back to my room mate Andrew's room to listen to the album 2 times in a row in total silence. My favorite track off this and perhaps my favorite Radiohead track of all time is The National Anthem. When that kicks in it's fucking go time.
What’s not to like about Radiohead 💕 definite throwback to college stoner listening party vibes. #SoEdgy 🤣
Experimental/alternative rock. Great use of ambience and space, but some tracks suffer from a lack of forward momentum and could benefit from delving into post-rock timbre. 9/10
Not my favorite Radiohead album. But one of the best and most innovative albums ever produced.
Es war die perfekteste Weiterentwicklung und Häutung einer an sich schon in olympischen Höhen regierenden Rockband, die mit Kid A ein verstörendes, flirrendes und tieftrauriges Meisterwerk geschaffen hat. So artifiziell war seither keines ihrer Alben mehr, kehrten sie doch nach Besteigung dieses eisig-knisternden Gipfels quasi auf bekannte und weite Weiden ihres seit OK Computer abgesteckten Gebietes zurück. Man kann Kid A als Kind seiner Zeit bezeichnen, in der Elelectronic Acts wie Múm und DNTL zunehmende Popularität erlangten, Elektroclash die Grenzen zwischen Indie/Electro verwischten und Thom Yorke kurz darauf ein Boiler Room Set vom Stapel riss. Und doch ist Kid A mehr als nur das; viel weiter draußen, weiter weg kann man sich nicht dem Gefallen-wollen entziehen und dabei so abseitig-wunderschön klingen. Bspw. wäre „Idioteque“ von seiner Anlage her ein Kandidat für den dancefloor, aber ich tippe auf einen Haufen dürrer Fledermäuse, der sich hierzu fahl im Takt wiegen würde. Natürlich wurde die Gitarre nicht verbannt, nur nutzt Johnny Greenwood ein flächigeres Farbspiel und sprengt damit das Spektrum seiner Blues-orientierten Riffs. Dazwischen brummelt, fiept, knarzt und droned es vor sich hin und hin und wieder brechen Sonnenstrahlen durch vereiste Geäst. Ich verscharre in kalter Erde für die Ewigkeit 5 ganze Punkte
Tää on mun hyllyn timantteja ollut lapsuusiän, ei voi antaa kuin vitosen :) tätä on corollassa popiteltu :DD
Uno de mis grupos británicos favoritos. Discazo de rock alternativo con mucha electrónica de por medio.
Altogether gorgeous and moving and there's so many GOOD sounds it feels like an electronic dreamland. The ending track ;-; beautiful! Better than OK Computer, in my opinion.
One of the greatest albums of all time. How To Disappear Completely may be the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard. Absolutely brilliant songwriting and performances on every track.
No puedo ser objetivo, es un abrazo en el frío el disco más "inorgánico" de Radiohead es el más humano.
Enorm gevarieerd album met de typische Radiohead-sound, al zij het iets elektronischer. Ik was blij dat deze tevoorschijn kwam deze ochtend, zeer verdiende rating!
5.0 + The Pitchfork review sums up the awesomeness of this album better than I ever could. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6656-kid-a/
If I could give this more than 5 stars I would. My favorite radiohead album (I think). I love the rhythms, I love the melodic track/s (optimistic). The whole thing is excellent
This is just so good, it just carries the right tone and is fairly easily divorced from it's initial meaning - perfect for projecting your own mood onto and letting it carry you. Maybe another elusive 5 star