The Daily Mail / Staircase

"The Daily Mail" and "Staircase" are songs by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as a download on 19 December 2011.[1] Both recordings are taken from the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (2011),[2] and feature additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.[3]

"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)

Recording

"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 guitarist Jonny Greenwood.[4] The song attacks the Daily Mail newspaper, with lyrics such as "the lunatics have taken over the asylum" and "we'll feed you to the hounds, to the Daily Mail".[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

Reviewing a performance on The Colbert Report, Guardian writer Hadley Freeman wrote that "The Daily Mail" was "a funny idea" but "barely touches its nigh-on unmissable target".[8] However, a 2020 Guardian article named it the 39th best Radiohead song: "It’s irresistible, suggesting an unlikely kinship between Radiohead and the venerable pop cynic Randy Newman: musical-theatre flair weaponised against tabloid hysteria."[9]

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

Charts
ChartPosition
UK Singles Chart[10] 71

References
  1. NME (19 December 2011). "Radiohead make new tracks 'The Daily Mail' and 'Staircase' available to hear for free online". NME. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  2. Young, Alex (19 December 2011). "Check Out: Radiohead – "The Daily Mail" + "Staircase" (studio versions)". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  3. Frith, Holly (20 December 2011). "Radiohead unveil new tracks 'The Daily Mail' and 'Staircase' online - listen". Gigwise. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  4. O'Brien, Ed (13 December 2011). Zane Lowe (Interview). Interviewed by Zane Lowe. BBC Radio 1. Missing or empty |title= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. "Radiohead take festive pop at the Daily Mail". The Independent. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  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. "Radiohead". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
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