Airbag/How Am I Driving?
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| Airbag/How Am I Driving? | ||
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| EP by Radiohead | ||
| Released | April 21, 1998 | |
| Recorded | 1996 - 1997 | |
| Genre | Alternative rock Art rock |
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| Length | 25:55 | |
| Label | Capitol 58701 | |
| Producer(s) | Nigel Godrich Radiohead |
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| Professional reviews | ||
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| Radiohead chronology | ||
| Running From Demons (1997) |
Airbag/How Am I Driving? (1998) |
Kid A (2000) |
Airbag/How Am I Driving? is an EP by Radiohead, released in 1998 specifically to the North American market, but is currently out of print. It includes most of the songs that had been issued as b-sides on Radiohead's CD singles from OK Computer in the previous year, and is effectively a sequel to that album. Despite its placement here, the song "Airbag" was never released as a single to radio stations. The same recording found on OK Computer also opens this EP, simply fading out rather than transition to "Paranoid Android."
The contents of Airbag/How Am I Driving? differ slightly from the EP No Surprises/Running from Demons, released a few months earlier only in Japan. Among other songs, Airbag includes "Meeting in the Aisle", which is both Radiohead's first released instrumental and first wholly electronic-sounding song, featuring programming by Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker of the group Zero 7. "Melatonin" is a synthesizer lullaby, and "A Reminder" builds up a minimalist texture prescient of Radiohead's later albums like Kid A and Amnesiac. Though still dominated by anthemic guitars, to some extent the b-sides compiled on this EP bridge the gap between the progressive-alternative OK Computer and Radiohead's experimental future sound, much as the My Iron Lung EP of 1994 had foreshadowed The Bends and OK Computer.
The Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP, although only 25 minutes long, gained the odd distinction of being nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance, up against full-length albums by other artists. This could be seen as a consolation for OK Computer's loss of the Grammy Album of the Year award the prior year.
[edit] Trivia
- The number 1426148550 (dialed from the U.S. as 011-44-1426-148550) is given on the EP cover (and by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who joked in concert that it is the number to call to report bad drivers). It was indeed a working number, and the voice on the other end, which simply said, "Hello?," was Yorke's. Fans could even leave a message, and some of the content was used in later productions. This number has been disconnected for years. Calling it, as of 15 December 2005, yields BT's standard "The number you have dialled has not been recognised" message.
- The song "Palo Alto" found here is notable for originally having been titled "OK Computer." At an early stage of writing what would become that album, the song was scrapped for its poor quality, but its title remained in the band's minds and the song was later retitled, apparently improved and recorded as a b-side. The sampled voices and crowds at the start of "A Reminder" are a recording from the Prague mass transit system. "Pearly*" and "Polyethylene" are fan favorites from this EP and among Radiohead's best known b-sides, but only rarely played live by the band.
[edit] Track listing
- "Airbag" – 4:46
- "Pearly*" – 3:33
- "Meeting in the Aisle" – 3:09
- "A Reminder" – 3:51
- "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)" – 4:22
- "Melatonin" – 2:09
- "Palo Alto" – 3:43
| Radiohead |
| Thom Yorke | Jonny Greenwood | Ed O'Brien | Colin Greenwood | Phil Selway |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Pablo Honey | The Bends | OK Computer | Kid A | Amnesiac | Hail to the Thief | TBA |
| EPs: Manic Hedgehog | Drill | Itch | My Iron Lung | No Surprises/Running from Demons | Airbag/How Am I Driving? | I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings | COM LAG (2plus2isfive) Singles: Creep | Anyone Can Play Guitar | Pop Is Dead | Stop Whispering | My Iron Lung | High and Dry/Planet Telex | Fake Plastic Trees | Just | Street Spirit (Fade Out) | Paranoid Android | Karma Police | No Surprises | Pyramid Song | Knives Out | There There | Go to Sleep | 2 + 2 = 5 DVDs: Live at the Astoria | 7 Television Commercials | Meeting People Is Easy | The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time |
| Related articles |
| Covers of Radiohead songs | Dead Air Space | Nigel Godrich | Stanley Donwood | Trivia |
| Other projects |
| Bodysong | The Eraser | Spitting Feathers |
