{"id":18220,"date":"2026-01-30T06:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roglacup.com\/klaus62\/?p=18220"},"modified":"2026-01-30T06:59:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:59:24","slug":"morning-song-radiohead-electioneering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roglacup.com\/klaus62\/2026\/01\/30\/morning-song-radiohead-electioneering\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning song #Radiohead #Electioneering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For as long as they\u2019ve been in the spotlight, the members of Radiohead<\/a> have never been shy about sharing their political opinions. But their songs mostly offer mere glances of those thoughts. For instance, while there is a thread of anti-capitalist sentiment on OK Computer<\/em><\/a>, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to wrangle an honest-to-goodness message song on the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closest candidate might be \u201cElectioneering,\u201d which seems more direct in its political approach. It certainly has a blunt musical approach, with scratching electric guitar work from Jonny Greenwood<\/a> and hurtling percussion from Phil Selway (plus a cowbell!). Unlike everything else on OK Computer<\/em>, this hard rocker could have likely been at home on 1993\u2019s Pablo Honey<\/em><\/a> \u2013 although it might even be too blunt for Radiohead\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a title like \u201cElectioneering,\u201d defined as the act of working hard to get elected, it\u2019s not surprising that Thom Yorke<\/a>\u2019s lyrics had political inspirations. The singer revealed the multiple newsworthy events that influenced them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was thinking of the Poll Tax riots<\/a> when I wrote this \u2013 the moment when the horses broke through the barriers and everyone started smashing windows,\u201d Yorke told Select<\/em><\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s also from watching too many MPs on telly \u2013 you just get that feeling of, \u2018Whoa, I\u2019ve seen this once too many times.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the grinding jangle of the music, Yorke mixes political footballs and battle armor \u2013 \u201cRiot shields, voodoo economics \/ It\u2019s just business, cattle prods and the I.M.F.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 while taking on the persona of one of those \u201cMPs on telly.\u201d He repeats the phrase, \u201cI trust I can rely on your vote<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the singer isn\u2019t merely playing the part of a politician. As much as the outside world was influencing \u201cElectioneering,\u201d Radiohead\u2019s own experiences also played a role in the song\u2019s creation. To the British rockers, the burdens of record promotion seemed similar to the campaign trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you have to promote your album for a longer period, in the United States for example, you fly around from city to city for weeks to meet journalists and record company people,\u201d guitarist Ed O\u2019Brien told Humo<\/em><\/a> magazine. \u201cAfter a while you feel like a politician who has to kiss babies and shake hands all day long \u2026 If Tony Blair can behave as a pop star, why shouldn\u2019t we feel a bit like politicians?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cElectioneering\u201d was one of the first songs that Radiohead completed for OK Computer<\/em>, recording it at the band\u2019s Canned Applause studio in Oxford, before sessions moved to St. Catherine\u2019s Court (where the majority of the album\u2019s tracks were captured). It also made appearances during Radiohead\u2019s 1996 tour, although in a slightly different form. The end of the song featured Yorke and O\u2019Brien singing a refrain of \u201cDoin\u2019 it all<\/em>\u201d over and over in a bouncy bit of resolution. That \u201cfeel good\u201d moment was left off the album version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posted from: https:\/\/diffuser.fm\/radiohead-electioneering\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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