Editing Radiohead (section)

=== Themes and lyrics ===
{{Further|Thom Yorke#Lyrics}}
Yorke is Radiohead's lyricist.<ref name="ROSS" /> Though his early lyrics were personal, from ''Kid A'' on, he experimented with [[Cut-up technique|cutting up]] words and phrases and assembling them at random.<ref>{{cite web |last=Eccleston |first=Danny |date=October 2000 |title=(Radiohead article) |url=http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=89&PHPSESSID=c033bc19e81ba698894f33e264541fc4 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311024424/http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=89&PHPSESSID=c033bc19e81ba698894f33e264541fc4 |archive-date=11 March 2007 |access-date=18 March 2007 |work=Q Magazine}}</ref> He does not write biographically, saying he instead writes "spasmodic" lyrics based on imagery and taken from external sources such as television.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dean |first=Jonathan |date=7 July 2019 |title=Thom Yorke interview: the Radiohead frontman on his new solo album, Anima, why he struggles if he can't make music, and Billie Eilish |language=en |work=The Sunday Times |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thom-yorke-interview-radiohead-anima-billie-eilish-2wnwqmxdw |access-date=8 July 2019 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hunter-Tilney |first=Ludovic |date=30 August 2023 |title=A Thom Yorke painting: yours for a song |work=[[Financial Times]] |url=https://www.ft.com/content/353d0eb7-db21-4741-9fef-0232efaa369a |access-date=1 September 2023}}</ref> He deliberately uses [[Cliché|cliches]], [[idiom]]s and other common expressions,<ref name="Kearney-2016">{{Cite magazine |last=Kearney |first=Ryan |date=31 May 2016 |title=The Radiohead Racket |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/133773/radiohead-racket |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |issn=0028-6583 |access-date=4 August 2021}}</ref> suggesting "a mind consumed by meaningless data".<ref name="Pitchfork-2">{{cite web |title=Radiohead: ''A Moon Shaped Pool'' album review |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21907-a-moon-shaped-pool/ |access-date=11 May 2016 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]}}</ref> The ''[[The New Republic|New Republic]]'' writer Ryan Kearney speculated that Yorke's use of common expressions, which he described as "Radioheadisms", was an attempt "to sap our common tongue of meaning and expose the vapidity of everyday discourse".<ref name="Kearney-2016" />

According to Yorke, many of his lyrics are motivated by anger, expressing his political and environmental concerns<ref>{{Cite episode |title='Everything In Its Right Place' interview outtake: "Another outtake from my @Radiohead interview on @npratc with Thom and Ed. What's The King of Limbs about?" |url=http://tvider.com/view/66328 |access-date=7 October 2011 |series=All Things Considered |network=[[NPR]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010004818/http://tvider.com/view/66328 |archive-date=10 October 2011}}</ref> and written as "a constant response to [[doublethink]]".<ref>{{cite web |last=Sweet |first=Jay |date=8 August 2006 |title=Thom Yorke, Dancing in the Dark |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2006/08/thom-yorke.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027181555/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2006/08/thom-yorke.html |archive-date=27 October 2017 |access-date=4 May 2015 |website=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]}}</ref> The ''[[GQ]]'' critic Josiah Gogarty wrote of "the uncharitable caricature that's sometimes fixed to [Radiohead's] music – Thom Yorke warbling vaguely political sentiments over fiddly drum patterns and melodies", which he argued began with ''Hail to the Thief'' and its references to the war on terror.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gogarty |first=Josiah |date=20 March 2025 |title=Every Radiohead album, ranked |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/radiohead-albums-ranked |access-date=28 March 2025 |website=[[British GQ]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> ''Pitchfork'' wrote that Yorke's lyrics on ''A Moon Shaped Pool'' were less cynical, conveying wonder and amazement.<ref name="Pitchfork-2" />