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No Surprises
"No Surprises" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the fourth and final single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997), in 1998.
The singer, Thom Yorke, wrote "No Surprises" while Radiohead were on tour with R.E.M. in 1995. It features glockenspiel and a "childlike" sound inspired by the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Yorke described it as a "fucked-up nursery rhyme", with a gentle mood and harsh lyrics conveying dissatisfaction with social or political order.
The music video, directed by Grant Gee, features Yorke wearing a helmet as it fills with water. It was inspired by 1960s science fiction, underwater escape acts, and the lyric "a job that slowly kills you", with Gee aiming for a video that would convey the feeling of "murderous seconds".
"No Surprises" reached number four on the UK singles chart. In 2011, NME named it the 107th-best track of the preceding 15 years.
The Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, wrote "No Surprises" while Radiohead were touring with R.E.M. in 1995. Yorke presented the song to both bands in a dressing room in Oslo on 3 August 1995 as a sketch called "No Surprises Please". Later, the lyrics were rewritten and a glockenspiel melody was added. The original lyrics referred to a girl who does not "take off her dress when she bleeds in the bathtub", which the journalist Tim Footman felt echoed the menstruation motifs of the songwriter Bill Callahan.
Yorke said the "childlike guitar sound set the mood for the whole album" and that Radiohead was aiming for a mood similar to the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Radiohead wanted to recreate the atmosphere of a song by Marvin Gaye or the Louis Armstrong song "What a Wonderful World".
Radiohead recorded many versions of "No Surprises", but felt they could not improve on the first take. Hoping to achieve a slower tempo than could be played well on their instruments, the producer, Nigel Godrich, had the band record the song at a faster tempo, then slowed the playback for Yorke to overdub his vocals onto, creating an "ethereal" effect.
The bassist, Colin Greenwood, said that "No Surprises" was Radiohead's "stadium-friendly" song. He said the concept was to frighten OK Computer listeners with "Climbing Up the Walls", then comfort them "with a pop song with a chorus that sounds like a lullaby". Yorke told Q: "If you play it right, it is fucking dark. But it's like acting. It's on the edge of totally hamming it up but you're not. It's just the words are so dark. When we play it, we have to play it so slow. It only sounds good if it's really fragile."
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No Surprises
"No Surprises" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the fourth and final single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997), in 1998.
The singer, Thom Yorke, wrote "No Surprises" while Radiohead were on tour with R.E.M. in 1995. It features glockenspiel and a "childlike" sound inspired by the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Yorke described it as a "fucked-up nursery rhyme", with a gentle mood and harsh lyrics conveying dissatisfaction with social or political order.
The music video, directed by Grant Gee, features Yorke wearing a helmet as it fills with water. It was inspired by 1960s science fiction, underwater escape acts, and the lyric "a job that slowly kills you", with Gee aiming for a video that would convey the feeling of "murderous seconds".
"No Surprises" reached number four on the UK singles chart. In 2011, NME named it the 107th-best track of the preceding 15 years.
The Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, wrote "No Surprises" while Radiohead were touring with R.E.M. in 1995. Yorke presented the song to both bands in a dressing room in Oslo on 3 August 1995 as a sketch called "No Surprises Please". Later, the lyrics were rewritten and a glockenspiel melody was added. The original lyrics referred to a girl who does not "take off her dress when she bleeds in the bathtub", which the journalist Tim Footman felt echoed the menstruation motifs of the songwriter Bill Callahan.
Yorke said the "childlike guitar sound set the mood for the whole album" and that Radiohead was aiming for a mood similar to the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Radiohead wanted to recreate the atmosphere of a song by Marvin Gaye or the Louis Armstrong song "What a Wonderful World".
Radiohead recorded many versions of "No Surprises", but felt they could not improve on the first take. Hoping to achieve a slower tempo than could be played well on their instruments, the producer, Nigel Godrich, had the band record the song at a faster tempo, then slowed the playback for Yorke to overdub his vocals onto, creating an "ethereal" effect.
The bassist, Colin Greenwood, said that "No Surprises" was Radiohead's "stadium-friendly" song. He said the concept was to frighten OK Computer listeners with "Climbing Up the Walls", then comfort them "with a pop song with a chorus that sounds like a lullaby". Yorke told Q: "If you play it right, it is fucking dark. But it's like acting. It's on the edge of totally hamming it up but you're not. It's just the words are so dark. When we play it, we have to play it so slow. It only sounds good if it's really fragile."