The Daily Mail / Staircase Explained

The Daily Mail" / "Staircase
Cover:Radiohead_daily_mail_staircase.jpg
Border:yes
Type:single
Artist:Radiohead
Released:19 December 2011
Recorded:2011
Length:8:08
Label:Ticker Tape Ltd.
Prev Title:Supercollider
Prev Title2:The Butcher
Prev Year:2011
The Daily Mail
Title2:Staircase
Next Title:Burn the Witch
Next Year: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 (2011), and feature the additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.

Recording

Both songs are taken from the live video (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]

Retrospectively, a Guardian article in 2020 by Jazz Monroe named it the 39th-best Radiohead song, writing that while it would not fit The King of Limbs, "It’s irresistible, suggesting an unlikely kinship between Radiohead and the venerable pop cynic Randy Newman: musical-theatre flair weaponised against tabloid hysteria."[9] In 2021, 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 the "Supercollider" / "The Butcher" single, also released that year.

Charts

Chart Position
UK Singles Chart[11] 71
US Alternative Digital Song Sales [12] 16
US Rock Digital Song Sales [13] 20

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Young, Alex . December 19, 2011 . Check Out: Radiohead – "The Daily Mail" + "Staircase" (studio versions) . August 21, 2013 . Consequence of Sound.
  2. Web site: Frith . Holly . December 20, 2011 . Radiohead unveil new tracks 'The Daily Mail' and 'Staircase' online - listen . August 21, 2013 . .
  3. O'Brien. Ed. Ed O'Brien. Zane Lowe. Zane Lowe Sessions. Zane Lowe. BBC Radio 1. 13 December 2011.
  4. News: Radiohead take festive pop at the Daily Mail. 2011-12-14. The Independent. 2018-04-19. en-GB.
  5. Web site: 2019-03-28. I Might Be Wrong: Every Radiohead Song, Ranked. 2021-07-02. Vulture. en-us.
  6. News: Radiohead Debut New Song 'Staircase'. Rolling Stone. 2017-11-24.
  7. Web site: Radiohead UK Arena Tour. BBC. December 14, 2011 . December 14, 2011.
  8. News: Freeman . Hadley . 27 September 2011 . Radiohead deliver a few surprises on The Colbert Report . 24 August 2020 . . 0261-3077.
  9. News: Monroe . Jazz . 2020-01-23 . Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked! . 2020-01-24 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  10. Web site: Deville. Chris. 2021-02-18. Radiohead's The King Of Limbs came out 10 years ago today. 2021-10-12. Stereogum. en.
  11. Web site: Radiohead . . August 21, 2013.
  12. Web site: Radiohead Chart History (Alternative Digital Song Sales). Billboard. 6 March 2021.
  13. Web site: Radiohead Chart History (Rock Digital Song Sales). Billboard. 6 March 2021.