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The Daily Mail / Staircase

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"Staircase (song)" redirects here. For other songs, see Staircase (disambiguation).

"The Daily Mail" / "Staircase"
Single by Radiohead
from the album The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement
Released19 December 2011
Recorded2011
Genre
Length8:08
LabelTicker Tape Ltd.
Producer(s)
Radiohead singles chronology
"Supercollider" / "The Butcher"
(2011) 		"The Daily Mail" / "Staircase"
(2011) 		"Burn the Witch"
(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 The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (2011), and feature the additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.

Recording

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Both songs are taken from the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (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

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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.[10]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."The Daily Mail"3:37
2."Staircase"4:31
Total length:8:08

Charts

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

References

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