Album Rating: 4.5
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide,[3] Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom.[4] Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead release to debut at number one in the United States.[5] This success was credited variously to a unique marketing campaign, the early Internet leak of the album,[6] and anticipation after the band's acclaimed 1997 album OK Computer.[7]
Kid A was recorded in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxford with producer Nigel Godrich. The album's songwriting and recording were experimental for Radiohead,[1] as the band replaced their earlier "anthemic" rock style with a more electronic sound.[8] Influenced by Krautrock,[9] jazz,[10] and 20th-century classical music,[11] Radiohead abandoned their three-guitar line-up for a wider range of instruments on Kid A, using keyboards, the ondes Martenot, and, on certain compositions, strings and brass.[9] Original artwork by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke, and a series of short animated films called "blips", accompanied the album.
The album won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album and was nominated for Album of the Year. It also received praise for introducing listeners to diverse forms of underground music.[1] Despite the band's new direction alienating some fans and critics,[1] Kid A received generally positive reviews from notable music publications.[12] Several publications have rated it as the best album of the 2000s and among the greatest of all time. To date the album has sold over four million copies worldwide.
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