Radiohead - Idioteque

"Ice age coming, ice age coming.
We're not scaremongering. This is really happening."

Album: Kid A [4th album]
Recorded: Paris, Copenhagen & Oxford
Genre: Art Rock, IDM
Album Release: October 2nd 2000
Length: 5:10
Producer: Nigel Godrich and Radiohead
Vocals: Thom Yorke [age 31]
Label: Parlophone Records

Official Audio


Live at Glastonbury 2003

Charts

Spotify: Over 50 million
YouTube Music: Over 10 million
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2021): #48
Pitchfork 200 Best Songs of the 2000s (2009): #8

Credits

Samples a riff from 'Mild und Leise' by Paul Lansky (1976)

Details

• The song is about global warming and people dancing as the worlds burns. The title 'Idioteque' is a mash up of idio (idiot) and teque (discotheque).
• While it's true that the Kid A marked a distinct change in direction for Radiohead, it was this song in particular where that difference is most keenly felt. The band, led in this case by Jonny Greenwood, incorporated synthesisers and sampling techniques into their sound to create music which is more IDM than their traditional alternative rock.
  
• Thom Yorke composed the lyrics by randomly pulling phrases out of a hat and stitching them together.
• There is a cover version by Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls.
  

Artwork