Subterranean Homesick Alien
| "Subterranean Homesick Alien" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Radiohead | |
| from the album OK Computer | |
| Released | 27 May 1997 |
| Recorded | July 1996 – 6 March 1997 |
| Studio | St Catherine's Court, Bath, England |
| Genre | Jazz[1] |
| Length | 4:27 |
| Label | |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) |
|
"Subterranean Homesick Alien" is a song by English rock band Radiohead from their seventh studio album OK Computer (1997). Its title references the Bob Dylan song "Subterranean Homesick Blues" from Dylan's fifth album Bringing It All Back Home (1965),[1] of which critics have noted.[2]
Background
[edit]"Subterranean Homesick Alien" takes inspiration from multiple things, the most prominent being a poem Thom Yorke wrote in college where Yorke imagined himself as if he were an alien observing humanity, "If you're an alien from another planet, how would you see these people?" was the idea according to Yorke.[3][4] Another idea for song arose after Yorke hit a bird while driving home.[1] It was originally a "folky" acoustic duo by Yorke and Jonny Greenwood titled "Uptight".[1]
Composition and lyrics
[edit]Radiohead used electric keyboards to emulate the sound used in Bitches Brew, a 1970 jazz album by Miles Davis.[5][6] The New York Times mostly likens it to "Pharaoh's Dance" from Bitches Brew.[7]
Recording
[edit]The song's instrumentation features a guitar with effect pedals played by Jonny Greenwood and a Fender Rhodes piano played by Thom Yorke.[7]
Release and reception
[edit]"Subterranean Homesick Alien" was released on Radiohead's 1997 album OK Computer. When ranking Radiohead's 40 best songs for the Guardian, it was placed number 22, stating: "Plunged into a shimmering dreamscape, Yorke observes a fleet of aliens surveying humanity." and "Radiohead exist to petition for the second option; here, however, was sweet ambiguity".[8] Marc Hogan ranked it number 17 in his ranking of every Radiohead song, writing "Yorke's man-who-fell-to-earth observations of “uptight” life on the third planet does justice to the title's nod to Dylan — one of the few artists whose music thrives more on inscrutability than Radiohead's".[2] In Consequence of Sound's ranking of every Radiohead song, it was ranked 37, Nina Carcoran wrote the track's commentary, writing that it "drips each of its notes like a spoonful of honey, letting guitar lines and keys backstroke through an ocean of reverb in a beautiful ode to outer space and the ever-present feelings of nostalgia and longing".[9] Author Dai Griffiths stated it "'fucked with' in solidly earnest, industrial-music fashion. On the other hand, there’s a tendency – Alanis Morissette was the first, so far as I know — for female singers to perform the slower, 'torch songs' faithfully."[10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Wawzenek, Bryan (11 February 2022). "Radiohead Bring Jazz to Mars on 'Subterranean Homesick Alien'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ^ a b Hogan, Marc (28 March 2019). "I Might Be Wrong: Every Radiohead Song, Ranked". Vulture. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ^ AltPress. "5 ways Radiohead's 'OK Computer' shaped alternative music". Alternative Press Magazine. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
- ^ Footman 2007, p. 59–60.
- ^ Moran, Caitlin (July 1997), "Everything was just fear", Select, p. 87
- ^ Footman 2007, p. 62.
- ^ a b Aaron, Charles (2017-06-23). "Before and After 'OK Computer'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ^ Monroe, Jazz (23 January 2020). "Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked!". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
- ^ "Ranking: Every Radiohead Song from Worst to Best". Consequence. 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ^ Griffiths 2004, p. 107.
Sources
[edit]- Footman, Tim (2007). Welcome to the Machine: OK Computer and the Death of the Classic Album. New Malden: Chrome Dreams. ISBN 978-1-84240-388-4.
- Griffiths, Dai (2004). OK Computer. 33⅓ series. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1663-2.
