Radiohead research

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments), Colin Greenwood (bass), Phil Selway (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Ed O’Brien (guitar, backing vocals). They have also worked with producer Nigel Godrich and cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. The band are seen as rather alternative and didn't follow the norm of modern pop culture. Their music is very deep though seems rather eerie at the same time and clearly is directed to maybe an older audience - with lyrics that have a deep and mature meaning. The band also have a big emphasis on creating very bizarre and seemingly strange music videos, though scratch under the skin of them and most times they reveal a very harsh and meaningful message. Looking at the promotional images of the band on Google Images, you are greeted with something different to what would usually be portrayed in order to entice people. You receive many similar images of just each band member lined up possessing very expressionless faces. These are also usually accompanied with a bland or black and white filter - unlike very eye catching and vivid images of other groups. This is almost highlight their vow to not follow the norm of pop and to be them with having the music matter most.

In 1992, Radiohead released their debut single named "creep". Soon after, it became a worldwide hit due the release of the band’s debut album, Pablo Honey in 1993. Their popularity and critical standing rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, dubbed "The bends" in 1995. Following this, Radiohead’s third and arguably best album, OK Computer in 1997, propelled them to international fame; with an expansive sound and themes of modern alienation, it is often acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s and one of the best albums of all time. The group’s next album Kid A (2000) marked a dramatic evolution in Radiohead’s style, as they incorporated influences from experimental electronic music, 20th-century classical music, krautrock, and jazz. Despite initially dividing fans and critics, Kid A was later named the best album of the decade by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the Times.

Overall, Radiohead have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. Their work places highly in both listener polls and critics lists of the best music of the 1990s and 2000s. In 2005, they were ranked 73rd in Rolling Stone’s list of “The Greatest Artists of All Time” though In 2009, Rolling Stone readers voted the group the second best artist of the 2000s.

A moon shaped pool is Radiohead's most recent album, and adopts many strings and vocals in the songs. This album was released worldwide across many digital music services and to immense success. Radiohead recorded A Moon Shaped Pool in southern France with longtime producer Nigel Godrich. It includes several songs written some years earlier like "True love waits" dates to at least 1995, "Burn the Witch" to 2000 and "Present Tense" to 2008.A Moon Shaped Pool was acclaimed by critics and appeared in many publications' lists of the year's best albums. It was the fifth Radiohead album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize, and was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song (for "Burn the Witch") at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. It also topped the charts in several countries, becoming Radiohead's sixth number-one album in the UK and a bestseller on vinyl. It was certified goldin the UK on 24 June 2016.

"Burn the Witch"	3:40
2.	"Daydreaming"	6:24
3.	"Decks Dark"	4:41
4.	"Desert Island Disk"	3:44
5.	"Ful Stop"	6:07
6.	"Glass Eyes"	2:52
7.	"Identikit"	4:26
8.	"The Numbers"	5:45
9.	"Present Tense"	5:06
10.	"Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief"	5:03
11.	"True Love Waits"

The song Burn the Witch and its accompanying video have a dark undertone to them, that is evident once watching said video."Burn the Witch" was released on 3 May 2016 as the lead single from their ninth studio album A moon shaped pool (2016). Radiohead developed the song for over a decade, first working on it during the sessions for their fourth album, Kid A (2000). It features a string selection playing col legno battuto, producing a percussive sound, arranged by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood.

"Burn the Witch" was accompanied by a stop-motion animated music video that pays homage to the 1960s British children's television programme Camberwick Green and the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man. Some critics interpreted the lyrics and video as a warning against groupthink and authoritarianism.The song received positive reviews and was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. In an interview with Billboard, the animator behind the video, Virpi Kettu, discussed the motives behind “Burn the Witch”. Interestingly, she believes the video was intended to be happier than the song. “They wanted the video to contrast with what they’re playing and to wake people up a bit,” Kettu explained. She also said that the band wanted the video to raise awareness about Europe’s refugee crisis and the “blaming of different people, the blaming of Muslims and the negativity” currently engulfing European politics. 

Verse 1:

Stay in the shadows

Cheer at the gallows

This is a round-up

While “shadows” are often associated with unsavory activities, the authority figure that lends its voice to the song actually wishes its subjects to remain anonymous, to steer clear of any potentially revolutionary limelight. It also prefers them to be unenlightened, trapped in Plato's Cave and staring at shadows on walls instead of seeing the “light.“ Meanwhile, it urges the people to cheer on the punishment of disobedient peers who have been "rounded up,” thereby ensuring conformity.

Pre chorus

This is a low-flying panic attack

Sing the song on the jukebox that goes

This seems to be a reference to the popular saying: “Flying under the radar”, meaning “untraceable” or “invisible”. The people are severely panicking (so much that it is a “panic attack”) but they don’t even know it.

Low-flying attacks were historically carried out by bombers, flying low to avoid radar. This is a play on words; instead of a bombing attack it’s a a panic attack, one that the sufferer is not aware of until it’s upon him.

Could refer to use of drones by law enforcement, and/or technologies sometimes believed to induce panic in the subject without their being aware of the source, such as infrasound/ultrasound and microwave radiation, used for crowd control.

Chris Hopewell is an English Music Video director who has directed videos for Radiohead and several other bands. His video for Radiohead's "There There" received an award for art direction at the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards. Also, he directed the Burn The Witch video which could be the reason to went on to become so popular. This was his return to directing with the spooky stop-motion folktale, and it took Hopwell and the rest of the team 14 days to animate it. 

The video is greatly related to the 1973 film "Wicker man" which is a horror in which a policeman visits a suspicious island upon receiving reports of a dead girl. He investigates the island and is greeted by its inhabitants who are constantly performing weird acts - all related to paganism. The ending of the film then reveals to us a large wicker man set up on the coast of the island, where the people in the town capture the policeman and place him in it, followed by lighting it with fire; burning him and several animals trapped inside. The film was very famous at the time due to its bizarre move from usual horrors at the time, though its excellence was enhanced by the fact it was directed by Robin Hardy. This famous film was mixed with the children's tv show trilogy of Camberwick green, Trumpton and Chigley. The original Trumptonshire trilogy - Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley - was created using stop motion animation and actual 3D scaled down models. The entire trilogy consisted of 39 x 15-minute episodes. All 39 episodes were first broadcast on BBC1, airing before the midday news. The original footage had to be located – some footage was found in the family's attic and some deep in the archives of BBC Worldwide in Perivale. Due to this, the stop motion animation and similar character looks mixed with the theme of The Wicker man equated to an eerie and peculiar  music video.