Radiohead members never considered Hail to the thieftheir sixth opus released in 2003, as one of their big albums. Released from his quest for perfection, the quintet of Oxford found the spontaneity of his beginnings there. But the disc, deemed too long and less experimental than Kid has (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) suffered from comparison with the previous ones.
Hail to the thief However, a second life begins this year. In the spring, Thom Yorke, the leader of Radiohead, re -orchestrated the album for a rereading of Hamlet,, entitled Hamlet Hail to the Thief. By immersing yourself in the archives lively of the time, the singer has “Was shocked by the energy that emerged from it”. He therefore reached the album in the form of an ideal concert. Available in streaming, Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) Find the essence of a raging work which, without having musically revolutionized its time, helped to define its deleterious climate. To understand its political scope, you have to come back to the beginning of the century.
A commitment against George W. Bush?
September 20, 2001. In front of the United States Congress, US President George W. Bush (2001-2009) has his desire to engage in an endless war in response to September 11 attacks. “Our war against terror begins with Al-Qaida, but it (…) will not stop before each terrorist group of global scope is found, arrested and defeated.”
In Oxford, Thom Yorke, a young 33 -year -old dad, listening to BBC Radio 4, whose programs become one of the sources of inspiration for his new songs. The singer-songwriter blackens his keyword notebooks captured on the waves, which he mixes with fragments of personal texts cut-up.
An expression attracts his attention: “All hail to the thief” (“We greet you, thief”), a diversion of the anthem of the President of the United States Hail to the chief (Literally “Glory to the Chef”), which refers to the controversial election of one of the founding fathers, John Quincy Adams, in November 1824.
The slogan hail to the thief had also been chanted by democratic sympathizers, the day after the results of the 2000 presidential election in Florida who saw the Republican George W. Bush being proclaimed winner against Al Gore, after a recount of the disputed votes.
Should we give a literal sense for the Radiohead album? It would be abusive. “At every corner of New York, there is a tag“ Fuck Bush ”. It is not as if we were the only ones to think so ”Balance Thom Yorke during a private concert by the British rock group, recorded in Paris on July 3, 2003, for the arte program “Music Planet 2nite”.
Rather than a reference to “the stolen election” of November 2000, the singer prefers the poetic figure of the “soul thief” of The Divine Comedy From Dante, a demon with the body of damned but lively characters. In an interview given in 2003 to the American music magazine Spin, he associates the thief “To people who inflict incredible pain on others by being convinced to do good”.
“2+2 = 5”, “The Gloaming”, “I will” …
The sessions of Hail to the thief Start in Los Angeles at the time of the first anniversary of September 11. The album reflects the climate of generalized fear which then reigns. In the eyes of Thom Yorke, having created an evocative terror atmosphere counts more than a political subtext which risks freezing the work in its historical context.
The unpredictable “2+2 = 5” opens the disc. His punk accents and frantic tempo agree on borrowing from the anticipation novel 1984from George Orwell, who seem to foreshadow the post-truth of the Trump years. “You have not Been paying attention!” (“You haven’t been careful!”), Thom Yorke storm, targeting the collective resignation which paves the way for fascism.
This leitmotif returns to the lyrics of the electro track “The Gloaming” (“the twilight” in former Scottish English): “Your alarms Bells, They Should be Ringing” (“Your alarm bells should ring”). Built on a stammering beat, the title evokes the stubborn nature of reality. Thom Yorke uses the image of “Genius released from the bottle”an allegory of the climb of the extreme right.
The release of Hail to the thiefon June 9, 2003, followed the American invasion of Iraq (March 20 to 1er may). Multiplying anti -militarist diatribes on stage, Thom Yorke performs “I will”, a lullaby as dismal as lyrical expressing the dread inspired by “smart bombs”. According to Matthieu Thibaut, author of the book Radiohead (published in February 2024), the song refers to the bombing of the anti-aircraft shelter in Amiriya, in the capital Baghdad, which had cost hundreds of Iraqi civilians who took refuge there on February 13, 1991, during the First Gulf War (August 1990-February 1991).
In the climbing months to the Second Gulf War, in 2003, British musicians Damon Albarn, Brian Eno and the Massive Attack group challenged British Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997-2007), whose Labor government had chosen to intervene in Iraq alongside the United States. Radiohead is more discreet. Oxford’s quintet has always been wary of political recovery and media deformations of the causes it defended: free Tibet, the cancellation of third world debt and, above all, the fight against climate change.
On the situation in the Gaza Strip: a long silence
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Radiohead, however, remained outside the political arena. In July 2017, the Oxonians refused to give in to pressure from personalities like Roger Waters (ex-Pink Floyd), supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS). Now a concert in Tel Aviv, located on the Israeli Mediterranean coast, they invite musical projects promoting intercultural dialogue between Jews and Muslims, in which the multi-instrumentalist of the group Jonny Greenwood participates.
In a statement published Wednesday, September 3, on the announcement of a European tour of Radiohead after seven years of absence, BDS called to boycott the autumn concerts of the English group which he accuses of“Small genocide”. The movement requires that the group “Completely distant from Jonny Greenwood”. BDS criticizes him for his collaboration with the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa – notably accompanied by voices from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq – qualified as“Artwashing”.
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Last May, the BDS movement obtained the cancellation of two concerts that the duo was to give at the end of June in England, London and Bristol. Jonny Greenwood then reported “Credible threats”. Also in question, Thom Yorke’s radio silence since October 7.
Arrested by a member of the public who urged him to “Condemn the genocide to Gaza”during a solo concert in Melbourne (Australia), on October 30, 2024, Thom Yorke broke the silence until May 30, 2025. In a shared publication on Instagram and tinged with remorse, the British musician condemned “Netanyahu and his group of extremists” and in a hurry the international community of “Stop the massacre”without forgetting to recall the responsibility of Hamas and the fate of Israeli hostages. He distinguishes populations and their leaders there “Who hide behind the suffering of their people”. In “The Gloaming”, did he not sing: “Burry, that’s what you are, we are not like you”?
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If Ed O’Brien, guitarist of Radiohead, now takes up the slogan “Free Palestine”, the refusal of “Deliberate polarization” displayed by the author of “Karma Police” (OK COMPUTE1997) is all the less understood by a part of the public as some of its past positions seem, rightly or wrongly, want to say the opposite.
An “allegorical activism”
Would there be a misunderstanding? Although alternative rock is implicitly associated with activism, Radiohead is not a militant group. THE Protest Songs? Too risky or boring. Adepts of diagnostics rather than easy answers, the English favor what Michel Delville, author of the book Radiohead ok Computer (2015), names the “Allegorical activism”.
Evidenced byartwork of Hail to the thiefproduced by the English graphic designer Stanley Donwood. Cornering the visual universe of the group with Thom Yorke, the artist was inspired by the advertising saturation of the Los Angeles streets to paint road cards which he filled with picked words in the texts of Thom Yorke: “Figger vote” (“Trucked vote”); “Child Killer” (“Child killer”); “Grand Guignol”…
Brief Guide/Explanation to the Httt Era Artwork Series
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Apart from the map of the City of Angels, those of Baghdad (Iraq), Kabul (Afghanistan) or Grozny (Chechnya) all refer to wars “Against terrorism”. And inevitably recall current conflicts.
Behind this approach, “There is the idea of neutralizing the words, (…) to say:” It’s just wallpaper, just noise, it’s multicolored, it shines and I just pass in front “”explained Thom Yorke in August in an interview with BBC Radio 6 Music. Knowing the musical and thematic value of noise in the world of Radiohead, we say that Hail to the thief did not do much for nothing.
