"The Daily Mail" / "Staircase"
Single by Radiohead
from the album The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement
Released19 December 2011
Recorded2011
Genre
Length8:08
LabelTicker Tape Ltd.
Producer(s)
Radiohead singles chronology
"Supercollider" / "The Butcher"
(2011)		 "The Daily Mail" / "Staircase"
(2011)		 "Burn the Witch"
(2016)

"The Daily Mail" and "Staircase" are songs by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as a download on 19 December 2011. Both recordings are taken from the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (2011), and feature the additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.

Recording

Both songs are taken from the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (2011),[1] and feature the additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.[2]

"The Daily Mail" was written six years before release. When Radiohead decided to perform it for From the Basement, they completed the arrangement within a week, featuring a brass section arranged by the guitarist Jonny Greenwood.[3] The song criticises the Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper, with lyrics such as "the lunatics have taken over the asylum" and "we'll feed you to the hounds / to the Daily Mail".[4] Vulture described it as a "piano ballad that grows, bolstered by fury ... into a swaggering anthem".[5]

"Staircase" features "atmospheric" synthesisers and "busy, skittering" beats.[6] Radiohead worked on it before their eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), but it did not progress beyond the demo stages until after the album's release.[7]

Reception

Reviewing a performance on The Colbert Report, the Guardian writer Hadley Freeman wrote that "The Daily Mail" was "a funny idea" but "barely touches its nigh on unmissable target".[8] However, a 2020 Guardian article by Jazz Monroe named it the 39th-best Radiohead song: "It’s irresistible, suggesting an unlikely kinship between Radiohead and the venerable pop cynic Randy Newman: musical-theatre flair weaponised against tabloid hysteria."[9]

The Stereogum writer Chris Deville said that "The Daily Mail" was "among Yorke’s most powerful piano rockers", and described "Staircase" as "like a Hot Chip song descending into purgatory (in the best way)".[10] He speculated that The King of Limbs would be a fan favourite had it included the songs along with "Supercollider" and "The Butcher", also released that year.[11]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."The Daily Mail"3:37
2."Staircase"4:31
Total length:8:08

Charts

ChartPosition
UK Singles Chart[12] 71
US Alternative Digital Song Sales [13] 16
US Rock Digital Song Sales [14] 20

References

  1. ↑ Young, Alex (19 December 2011). "Check Out: Radiohead – "The Daily Mail" + "Staircase" (studio versions)". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Frith, Holly (20 December 2011). "Radiohead unveil new tracks 'The Daily Mail' and 'Staircase' online - listen". Gigwise. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  3. ↑ O'Brien, Ed (13 December 2011). "Zane Lowe Sessions". Zane Lowe (Interview). Interviewed by Zane Lowe. BBC Radio 1.
  4. ↑ "Radiohead take festive pop at the Daily Mail". The Independent. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "I Might Be Wrong: Every Radiohead Song, Ranked". Vulture. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "Radiohead Debut New Song 'Staircase'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Radiohead UK Arena Tour". BBC. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Freeman, Hadley (27 September 2011). "Radiohead deliver a few surprises on The Colbert Report". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Monroe, Jazz (23 January 2020). "Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked!". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  10. ↑ Deville, Chris (18 February 2021). "Radiohead's The King Of Limbs came out 10 years ago today". Stereogum. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  11. ↑ Deville, Chris (18 February 2021). "Radiohead's The King Of Limbs came out 10 years ago today". Stereogum. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  12. ↑ "Radiohead". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Radiohead Chart History (Alternative Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "Radiohead Chart History (Rock Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
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