Editing Kid A (section)

== Background ==
Following the critical and commercial success of their 1997 album ''[[OK Computer]]'', the members of Radiohead suffered [[Occupational burnout|burnout]].<ref name="ZORIC">{{cite news |last=Zoric |first=Lauren |date=22 September 2000 |title=I think I'm meant to be dead&nbsp;... |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,,371289,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=18 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102235438/http://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0%2C%2C371289%2C00.html |archive-date=2 January 2014 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The songwriter, [[Thom Yorke]], became ill, describing himself as "a complete fucking mess ... completely unhinged".<ref name="ZORIC" /> He was troubled by new acts he felt were imitating Radiohead<ref name="REYNOLDS">{{cite web |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |date=July 2001 |title=Walking on thin ice |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-walking-on-thin-ice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122183234/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-walking-on-thin-ice |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 January 2021 |access-date=10 March 2024 |work=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]}}</ref> and became hostile to the music media.<ref name="ZORIC" /><ref name="NME">{{cite web|title=Radiohead: ''Kid A''|url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-radiohead-2944-317559|date=23 December 2000|website=[[NME]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304065902/https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-radiohead-2944-317559|access-date=4 May 2020|archive-date=4 March 2020}}</ref> He told ''[[The Observer]]'': "I always used to use music as a way of moving on and dealing with things, and I sort of felt like that the thing that helped me deal with things had been sold to the highest bidder and I was simply doing its bidding. And I couldn't handle that."<ref name="SMITH" />

Yorke suffered from [[writer's block]] and could not finish writing songs on guitar.<ref name="monsters">{{cite journal |last=Cavanagh |first=David |author-link=David Cavanagh |date=October 2000 |title=I can see the monsters |journal=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |pages=96–104}}</ref> He became disillusioned with the "mythology" of rock music, feeling the genre had "run its course".<ref name="SMITH">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Andrew |date=1 October 2000 |title=Sound and fury |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/oct/01/life1.lifemagazine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110180556/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/oct/01/life1.lifemagazine |archive-date=10 November 2013 |access-date=19 May 2007 |website=[[The Observer]] |df=dmy-all}}</ref> He began to listen almost exclusively to the [[electronic music]] of artists signed to the record label [[Warp Records|Warp]], such as [[Aphex Twin]] and [[Autechre]], and said: "It was refreshing because the music was all structures and had no human voices in it. But I felt just as emotional about it as I'd ever felt about guitar music."<ref name="ZORIC" /> He liked the idea of his voice being used as an instrument rather than having a leading role, and wanted to focus on sounds and textures instead of traditional songwriting.<ref name="REYNOLDS" /> Yorke considered changing the band's name, saying he did not "want to be answerable to what we'd done before".<ref name="Yamasaki-2000" />

Yorke bought a house in [[Cornwall]] and spent his time walking the cliffs and drawing, restricting his musical activity to playing the grand piano he had recently bought.<ref name="Dazed-2013">{{Cite web|date=12 February 2013|title=Splitting atoms with Thom Yorke|url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/15601/1/splitting-atoms-thom-yorke|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418233341/http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/15601/1/splitting-atoms-thom-yorke|archive-date=18 April 2016|access-date=9 July 2016|website=[[Dazed]]|df=dmy-all}}</ref> "[[Everything in Its Right Place]]" was the first song he wrote.<ref name="Dazed-2013" /> His lack of knowledge of electronic instruments inspired him, as "everything's a novelty ... I didn't understand how the fuck they worked. I had no idea what [[ADSR envelope|ADSR]] meant."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Fricke|first=David|date=14 December 2000|title=People of the Year: Thom Yorke of Radiohead|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/people-of-the-year-thom-yorke-of-radiohead-194004/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105201537/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/people-of-the-year-thom-yorke-of-radiohead-194004/|archive-date=5 January 2019|access-date=2019-01-05|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref> The guitarist [[Ed O'Brien]] had hoped Radiohead's fourth album would comprise short, melodic guitar songs, but Yorke said: "There was no chance of the album sounding like that. I'd completely had it with melody. I just wanted rhythm. All melodies to me were pure embarrassment."<ref name="monsters" /> The bassist, [[Colin Greenwood]], said other guitar bands were trying to do similar things, and so Radiohead had to change and move on.<ref name="COLIN">{{cite web|last=Kot|first=Greg|year=2000|title=Radiohead sends out new signals with 'Kid A'|url=http://www.nigelgodrich.com/press5.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313120012/http://nigelgodrich.com/press5.htm|archive-date=13 March 2016|access-date=18 March 2007|website=Nigelgodrich.com}}</ref>