Karma Police
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| “Karma Police” | |||||
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| Single by Radiohead from the album OK Computer |
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| Released | 25 August 1997 30 June 1998 (United States) |
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| Format | CD, 7", 12" | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 4:21 | ||||
| Label | Parlophone | ||||
| Producer | Nigel Godrich | ||||
| Radiohead singles chronology | |||||
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| OK Computer track listing | |||||
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"Karma Police" is the second single from Radiohead's 1997 album OK Computer. It is Radiohead's most successful song worldwide, apart from "Creep." The song is perhaps best recognized for its piano riff, which is similar to The Beatles' "Sexy Sadie", and for its dark bass line. While the first single from OK Computer, the six-and-a-half-minute "Paranoid Android", received MTV promotion but was hardly played on radio, "Karma Police" became an alternative radio anthem; it was successful on US Modern Rock radio, hitting #14 on the chart. In the UK, however, the single peaked at #8.
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[edit] History
"Karma Police", like several other songs that would make up OK Computer, was debuted live in 1996, when the band briefly supported Alanis Morissette on an American tour. A live version of "Karma Police", performed with a Rhodes piano on The Late Show with David Letterman, is captured in the Radiohead documentary Meeting People Is Easy. Today the song is usually an audience singalong when performed at live concerts, often as an encore. As of 2006, it continues to be played by the band somewhat regularly, though not at each show. While recording OK Computer, Radiohead listened to late Beatles albums, among other music, such as Miles Davis, DJ Shadow and Ennio Morricone, for inspiration.
Radiohead members used to tell one another that they would call "the karma police" on them if they did something wrong. The joke was incorporated as the title of the song.[1] Thom Yorke explained the idea of the lyrics to The Independent in 2006, saying, "It's for someone who has to work for a large company. This is a song against bosses. Fuck the middle management!" He also said it was about those who are judgmental.[2] The sound at the end of the song was created by Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien by "feeding sound through a digital delay machine".[2]
[edit] Music video
The music video for the song was directed by Jonathan Glazer, previously responsible for Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" clip. The video premiered in August 1997 and featured Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke as well as Hungarian actor Lajos Kovács. Glazer won MTV's Director of the Year award in 1997 for his work on this, as well as Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity". Glazer however revealed in an interview that he considers this video to be a failed attempt.[3] "I regard 'Karma Police' as a complete failure, because I decided to do a very minimalist, subjective use of camera, and tried to do something hypnotic and dramatic from one perspective, and it was very hard to achieve and I feel that I didn't achieve it".
[edit] Covers
The song was covered in 2003 by Christopher O'Riley on his first Radiohead tribute album True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead. The song has also been covered by Panic at the Disco, The Dresden Dolls and Tori Amos. The song is also covered on the album Radiodread by the Easy Star All-Stars, sung by Citizen Cope.
[edit] Track listing
- CD1 CDNODATAS03
- "Karma Police" – 4:23
- "Meeting in the Aisle" – 3:08
- "Lull" – 2:28
- CD2 CDNODATA03
- "Karma Police"
- "Climbing Up the Walls (Zero 7 Mix)"
- "Climbing Up the Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix)"
[edit] References
- ^ melodymaker053197
- ^ a b Webb, Robert. "Story of the Song: 'Karma Police'" The Independent, 15 September 2006.
- ^ Glazer
[edit] External links
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