Radiohead – Kid A

Kid Ais the fourth studio album by the EnglishrockbandRadiohead, released on 2 October 2000 byParlophone. After having suffered amental breakdownpromoting Radiohead’s acclaimed 1997 albumOK Computer, songwriterThom Yorkeenvisioned a radical change in direction. The band replaced their guitar rock sound withsynthesisers,drum machines, theondes Martenot,string orchestrasandbrass instruments, and incorporated influences fromelectronic music,krautrock,jazz, and20th-century classical music. They recordedKid AwithOK ComputerproducerNigel Godrichin Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and their hometown Oxford, England. The sessions produced over 20 tracks, and Radiohead split the work into two albums:Kid A,andAmnesiac,released the following year.

Radiohead released no singles ormusic videosto promoteKid Aand conducted few interviews and photoshoots. Instead, they became one of the first major acts to use the internet as a promotional tool; the album was made available tostreamand was promoted with short animated films featuring music and artwork.Bootlegsof early performances were shared onfile sharingservices, and the album wasleakedbefore release.

Kid Adebuted at the top of the charts in Britain, where it wentplatinumin the first week, and it became Radiohead’s first number-one album in the United States. LikeOK Computer, it won aGrammyforBest Alternative Albumand was nominated forAlbum of the Year. Its departure from Radiohead’s earlier sound divided fans and critics, but it later attracted acclaim; at the turn of the decade,Rolling Stone,Pitchforkand theTimesrankedKid Athe greatest album of the 2000s. In 2012,Rolling Stoneranked it number 67 onits list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.