Arc Symbols in Radiohead's albums and how form continuous narratives.
Radiohead are an incredibly interesting band to consider from a narrative perspective - that is, considering story rather than music tropes - because many of their albums are apparently sets of disconnected songs with obtuse meanings, that, on closer inspection, actually form narratively tight concept albums, that don't just explore a general theme, but tell a coherent story. That is to say, it is possible - and in fact in some cases desirable - to read many of Radiohead's albums as musical stories. Anthony Fantano compared Ok Computer to a musical in its narrative grandiosity, and he may be more correct than he realises.
In troper terms, Radiohead's albums make heavy use of arc symbols, call-backs, Foreshadowing, Book Ends, and Fridge Brilliance /Fridge Horror in order to tell coherent stories. Let's look at a specific examples; their masterpiece, Kid A(mnesiac).
Kid A/Amnesiac was originally written as a singular double album, and it shows. Despite often being viewed as two totally separate and [[Contested Sequel completely critically disparate] works, they are in fact a complete whole, with a narrative that does not make sense considering only one; Radiohead themselves acknowledged this by releasing the 20th Anniversary edition as a singular album, Kid Amnesiac.
Both albums make [[Arc Symbol constant references to water.] In particular, they both constantly reference drowning:
One of the possible takeaways from this is that either a metaphorical or literal drowning is an important part of the album's narrative. I'd argue it is, in fact, both.
Drowning serves as an excellent metaphor for the themes of disassociation that pervade Kid A. Thom referred to Kid A as portraying a terrible event, and Music/Amnesiac as portraying coping with its aftermath. This can be seen in that Kid A is a fairly 'cold, sterile' album. Its album cover is a picture of icy mountains, with fires far away in the distance. The entire album embodies the feeling of being completely disconnected from horrific events by the sheer trauma. The emotional coldness of being distanced and disassociated by the sheer overwhelming nature of what is happening to you. Comparable to being underwater, in a sense.
On the other hand, Music/Amnesiac is a much more emotional, vibrant album. Its album cover depicts a cartoon of a pathetic creature crying, and its artwork now shows the fires surrounding the camera. The horror that has unfolded around Kid A's central character has finally sunk in. It's notable that a recurring image in Kid A is *ice*; the idea of being frozen, cold. Perhaps another connotation of the references to water and drowning is this ice finally melting. Emotion freeing, being overwhelmed by the resultant flood. It's after the fact, they have begun to process emotions normally again, and they can work through their feelings about what has happened.Well, what happened?
Kid A and Amnesiac are complex albums. Both deal with a variety of very dark and apparently separate issues. Idioteque is commonly taken to be about climate change; Kid A (the song) about child abuse. Thom has suggested Kid A is about the first human clone. There are themes of political powerlessness, relationship breakdown, and childhood trauma.
I don't actually think Kid A and Amnesiac have definitive stories, per se. Thom isn't the sort of songwriter to write definite plots, and he's always refused to give clear answers on what exactly either album means, although notably he's rejected the idea that Motion Picture Soundtrack is about [[Driven to Suicide someone killing themselves] (I'll come back to that). However, I do think they form a very broad Character Arc, and the symbolism in each of the two albums shows what happens.
To be exact; Kid A deals with a character who progressively breaks down, culminating in an absolute emotional low point. They 'recover' somewhat in Amnesiac, but ultimately find themselves repeating the same mistakes again, and end up back where they started. This provides a neat explanation, btw, of what the [[Aesop Amnesia title of Amnesiac actually refers to].
Those mistakes seem to pertain to a romantic relationship. The lyrics of 'Morning Bell' are almost universally taken to describe an extremely messy divorce or breakup, and also contains another repetition of the child abuse theme. One possible interpretation of this is that the protagonist was abused as a child, and fears becoming like their abuser during their breakup. Hints of this can be seen in lyrics like this:
With this in mind, the representation of the protagonist as a crying Minotaur makes sense. They see themselves as a Tortured Monster, and hold immense guilt for how this breakup has impacted their family, especially their children. If you go ahead with the idea that Kid A represents the life of the first human clone, this makes even more sense. A clone likely didn't have a very happy childhood, and in fact the title Kid A is often taken to refer to the idea of depersonalising and dehumanising children in this way (note how that also refers to the idea of traumatic disassociation again). In particular, a grownup clone might fear they're becoming like the monsters who created them, by hurting their own children, repeating a generational cycle of abuse.
Motion Picture Soundtrack is very unambiguously about the aftermath of a failed relationship, which again, pretty much confirms the idea that Kid A is, at least partially, about a breakup. Many, many listeners interpret the end of the song as the protagonist committing suicide, and the untitled Hidden Track after to represent their afterlife. This is, I think, one theory that we can pretty definitively Joss.
There are a couple of pieces of textual evidence that this isn't what happened, so bluntly laid out:-Thom dismissed the idea that the song is about suicide. Note that Thom usually doesn't actually comment directly on songs' meanings, so him saying this is pretty meaningful.-Amnesiac is very clearly a sequel to Kid A. They were initially a double album, their rerelease compiled them as a single album, and as noted, Thom described the narrative of Amnesiac as coming *after* Kid A. The repetitive use of symbolism in both albums implies that they revolve around the same character, which means logically they can't have died.-The most clearcut textual example of narrative in the whole pair of albums, I think; 'Pyramid Song' is about a Near-Death Experience involving attempted suicide by drowning. Kid A contains repeated references to drowning and water and ends with a suicidal protagonist. You do the math.
Essentially what I'm saying is that Kid A and Amnesiac pretty explicitly form a contiguous narrative that, while far from clear, has a few definite themes running through, epitomised by certain Arc Symbols:-Trauma, and its disassociative effects. As noted, the use of imagery with ice and water can be seen as metaphorically referring to the effects of disassociation; How to Disappear Completely is maybe one of the most explicit descriptions of depersonalisation in all of music; the idea of being dehumanised as just 'Kid A' of many; the idea of cloning; the heavy, heavy allusions to horrible childhood events.-Child abuse. Kid A and Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors are both songs Thom felt were too awful to record without heavily distorting his vocals. Kid A contains pretty explicit child abuse imagery; Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors is delivered in a childlike tone and voice and has lots of lines interpretable as such. It's not clear whether this child abuse is supposed to be sexual in nature, but the constant nightmarish use of subverted children's imagery - horrific crayon drawings, evil teddy bears, etc - and references to hurting children make it pretty clear that the central character of both albums had a *bad* childhood.-Monsters. For Kid A, the album adopted as its mascot the Modified Bear, a terrifying, child-eating teddy bear. It's pretty easy to interpret this as a physical representation of the protagonist's abuse trauma; it's also pretty easy to interpret the Minotaur as a representation of the protagonist themselves, seen through their self loathing as an inhuman monster. Doubly so if you consider the related ideas of cloning, depersonalisation, and abuse, and the idea that the protagonist feels guilty for the impact the breakup had on others.Distortion and destruction of nature. Kid A and Amnesiac have something very strongly resembling a Green Aesop. Idioteque is often taking as referring to climate change; numerous songs seem to rail against politicians and the indignities of capitalism. The album cover of Kid A is a painting of mountains - something beautiful and natural - made unnaturally sharp and 'digital', in a way that visually evokes the blunting of analogue waveforms. Note the Minecraft-esque clouds. This links back to the suggestion that the protagonist is a clone, and sees themselves as an inhuman monster for it; the idea that capitalism de-individuates people; the idea of disassociation, of feeling not like a person.-Water. Kid A builds up, as the protagonist's ice melts - that is, their disassociation slowly lifts - to their ultimate breakdown. Note how starkly explicit and emotional the lyrics of Motion Picture Soundtrack are in contrast to all the previous songs. Note the use of organic, warm organs and strings rather than cold, digital synths.More literally, it can be suggested that after the events of Kid A - implicitly involving a disastrous breakup and possibly other traumatic events - the protagonist jumps into a river. They briefly 'die', but are revived. The very first song on Amnesiac is titled after a dead fish and references the protagonist's life flashing in front of their eyes; Pyramid Song very explicitly describes a near-death experience during an attempted suicide by drowning.The protagonist recovers from their attempt, and - linking to the Amnesiac title - forgets what they had realised, and seems to re-enter into the same kind of doomed relationship from before. Note that Morning Bell, a song about the breakdown of the relationship, appears on both albums. Note the lyrics of "I Might Be Wrong":Open up, begin againLet's go down the waterfallThink about the good times and never look backNever look backIt can be interpreted from this that the protagonist starts dating the same person again; however, more broadly, the idea is of a vicious cycle, which also links back to the idea of generational abuse. Pyramid Song also refers to the idea of cycles in time. Also note the reference to water again, and the implication again of drowning.Seriously, if you don't get the point by now; 'the same ideas appear again and again on these two albums, and that isn't trivial or a coincidence. It is narratively meaningful.The final track on Amnesiac begins with this telling line:Once again, I'm in trouble with my only friend
So ultimately, what am I suggesting?
Radiohead are a band that uses Rock Opera narratives more than you might think. Albums that initially seem disconnected and oblique turn out to have pretty consistent themes and storylines. Their use of Arc Symbols clearly spells out stories, even if only in broad, thematic terms. Kid A, and Amnesiac, although often thought of as very different albums, form a complete whole; a single, cyclical story. It tells a story of trauma, disassociation, dehumanisation, capitalism, abuse, relationship breakdown, near-death experiences, misuse of science, and vicious cycles. It is a singular work in of itself.
If you guys like this essay, I'll happily elaborate on how I think the same idea of Arc Symbols, Foreshadowing and Rock Operas can be applied to Radiohead's other albums to tease out consistent narratives in them, and even show connections between them! Chow for now, though!
