"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997), on 26 May 1997. The lyrics were written by singer Thom Yorke following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar. The song is over six minutes long and contains four sections. The title is taken from Marvin the Paranoid Android from the science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

"Paranoid Android" charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, Radiohead's highest-charting position in the UK to date. It received acclaim, with critics claiming it to be the band's magnum opus, comparing it to the songs "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" by the Beatles and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. It has appeared regularly on lists of the best songs of all time, including NMEs and Rolling Stones respective 500 Greatest Songs of All Time lists. Its animated music video, directed by Magnus Carlsson, was placed on heavy rotation on MTV, although the network censored portions containing nudity in the US. At the 1998 Brit Awards, the song was nominated for Best British Single. The track has been covered by artists in a variety of genres. It was included in the 2008 Radiohead: The Best Of.

Writing and recording

As with many other OK Computer tracks, "Paranoid Android" was recorded in St Catherine's Court, a 15th-century mansion near the village of St Catherine, near Bath, Somerset. It was produced by Nigel Godrich.

Inspired by the through-composed structure of the Beatles' 1968 song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", Radiohead fused parts from three different songs. Other inspirations included Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the work of the Pixies.

The first version was over 14 minutes long and included a long Hammond organ outro performed by Jonny Greenwood.Doheny, 2002. p. 62. The guitarist Ed O'Brien said: "We'd be pissing ourselves while we played. We'd bring out the glockenspiel and it would be really, really funny." The singer, Thom Yorke, sarcastically referred to this version as "a Pink Floyd cover".Footman, 2007. p. 54 Greenwood said later that the organ solo was "hard to listen to without clutching the sofa for support". Godrich said: "Nothing really happened with the outro. It just spun and spun and it got very Deep Purple and went off." An early extended version was included on the 2019 compilation MiniDiscs [Hacked].

Influenced by the editing of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, Radiohead shortened the song to six and a half minutes,Randall, 2004. pp. 150–151. replacing the organ solo with a shorter guitar solo.Kitts, 2002. p. 151. The bassist, Colin Greenwood, said the band "felt like irresponsible schoolboys ... Nobody does a six-and-a-half-minute song with all these changes. It's ridiculous."Randall, 2002. pp. 214–215. For the ending, Yorke recorded himself shouting gibberish into a Dictaphone. Godrich edited the parts together with tape. He said: "It's a very hard thing to explain, but it's all on 24-track and it runs through ... I was very pleased with myself. I sort of stood there and said, 'You guys have no idea what I've just done.' It was pretty clever."

The title is taken from Marvin the Paranoid Android from the science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Yorke said the title was a joke: "It was like, 'Oh, I'm so depressed.' And I just thought, that's great. That's how people would like me to be ... The rest of the song is not personal at all."

Composition

"Paranoid Android" is described as alternative rock, art rock, progressive rock and neo-prog. It has four distinct sections, potentially defining the track as a "rhapsody", each played in standard tuning, and a time signature, although several three-bar segments in the second section are played in timing.

The opening is played in the key of G minorGriffiths, 2004. p. 92. with a tempo of 82 beats per minute (BPM),Griffiths, 2004. p. 33. and begins with a mid-tempo acoustic guitar backed by shaken percussion before layered with electric guitar and Yorke's vocals.Footman, 2007. p. 51. The melody of the opening vocal lines spans an octave and a third.Tate, 2005. p. 175

The second section is in the key of A minor and begins about two minutes into the song. Although the second section retains the tempo of the first, it differs rhythmically.Griffiths, 2004. p. 52. Ending the second section is a distorted guitar solo by Jonny Greenwood, which lasts from 2:43 to 3:33.

The third section was written by Jonny Greenwood, and reduces the tempo to 62 BPM. The harmonies form a looped chord progression resembling a Baroque passacaglia, with the tonality split between C minor and D minor. This section uses multi-tracked, choral vocal arrangement and according to Dai Griffiths, a "chord sequence [that ordinarily] would sound seedy, rather like something by the band Portishead".Griffiths, 2004. p. 53.

The fourth and final section, which begins at 5:35, is a brief instrumental reprise of the second section that serves as a coda. After a second solo, a brief guitar riff is introduced, which Jonny Greenwood says "was something I had floating around for a while and the song needed a certain burn. It happened to be the right key and the right speed and it fit right in." Jonny Greenwood's solo tone during the solo is achieved by passing the guitar through a Mutronics Mutator rack unit. The song ends, as does the second section, with a short chromatically descending guitar motif.Tate, 2005. p. 144

The style of the song was likened to Queen by Rolling Stones Mark Kemp, while other critics, including David Browne of Entertainment Weekly, Jon Lusk of the BBC and Simon Williams of NME wrote about its similarity to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Lyrics "Paranoid Android" is categorised by three distinct moods written in what Yorke referred to as three different states of mind. The lyrics tie in with a number of themes common in OK Computer, including insanity, violence, slogans, and political objection to capitalism.Footman, 2007. pp. 144–150. Yorke's lyrics were based on an unpleasant experience at a Los Angeles bar during which he was surrounded by strangers who were high on cocaine. Yorke was frightened by a woman who became violent after someone spilled a drink on her. He characterised the woman as "inhuman", and said "There was a look in this woman's eyes that I'd never seen before anywhere. ... Couldn't sleep that night because of it." The woman inspired the line "kicking squealing Gucci little piggy" in the song's second section. Yorke, referring to the line "With your opinion, which is of no consequence at all", said that "Again, that's just a joke. It's actually the other way around – it's actually my opinion that is of no consequence at all."

Music video Yorke said that many people suggested Radiohead make another "moody and black and dark" music video for "Paranoid Android", similar to the video for their single "Street Spirit". However, Radiohead wanted an entertaining and "sick" video instead. Yorke said: "We had really good fun doing this song, so the video should make you laugh."

Radiohead commissioned the Swedish animator Magnus Carlsson to make the video. Radiohead were fans of his animated series Robin. Jonny Greenwood described Robin as "affectionate" and "vulnerable", while Yorke said he found Robin "quite the vulnerable character, but he's also violently cynical and quite tough and would always get up again". At first, Carlsson sought to work on a video for "No Surprises" and was uncertain as to how to approach "Paranoid Android". To conceive the video, he locked himself in his office for over 12 hours to stare out of the window, listen to the song on repeat and jot down visual ideas.Randall, 2004. pp. 166–167. According to Yorke, the band did not send Magnus the lyrics as they did not want the video to be too literal. The concept for the video was based entirely on the song's sound.Footman, 2007. p. 160.

Summary

Like Robin, the "Paranoid Android" video is drawn in a simplistic style that emphasises bold colours and clear, strong lines. It features Robin and his friend Benjamin venturing into the world, running into miserable EU representatives, bullying pub patrons, a prostitute, kissing leathermen, a drug addict, deranged businessmen, mermaids, and an angel who plays table tennis with Robin.

The band appears in cameo at a bar, where they drink while watching a man with a head coming out of his belly dancing on their table.Tate, 2005. pp. 58–59, p. 68. However, in this cameo only the versions of Yorke and Jonny Greenwood resemble themselves; O'Brien said "If you freeze-frame it on the video, the guy with the five strands of hair slicked back, that's Colin. It looks nothing like him."Randall, 2000. p. 168. Colin Greenwood said "there was no way that we could appear in it to perform in it because that would be so Spinal Tap" and that having animations that did not resemble the band members allowed the video to be "twisted and colourful which is how the song is anyway".

Reception Yorke was pleased with the video, saying that it "is really about the violence around [Robin], which is exactly like the song. Not the same specific violence as in the lyrics, but everything going on around him is deeply troubling and violent, but he's just drinking himself into oblivion. He's there, but he's not there. That's why it works. And that's why it does my head in every time I see it."

While the single did not receive significant radio play in the US, MTV placed its video on high rotation. The version most often shown was edited to remove the mermaids' bare breasts. Colin Greenwood said, "We would've understood if they had a problem with some guy chopping his arms and legs off, but I mean, a woman's breasts! And mermaids as well! It's fucked up." MTV Europe played the video uncut for two weeks because the channel's official censor was ill and unable to work. After that time the channel ran the cut version of the video. A later US version of the video has the mermaids wearing bathing suits.

Evan Sawdey of PopMatters described the video as "bizarre yet fitting", and Melody Maker said it represented a stunning "psycho-cartoon". Adrian Glover of Circus called the animation incredible and the video "really cool". The MTV vice president of music Lewis Largent told Spin: "You can watch 'Paranoid Android' a hundred times and not figure it all out."

Artwork

Stanley Donwood worked with Yorke to design the artwork for most of the "Paranoid Android" releases,Footman, 2007. p. 126 although both the images and design were ultimately credited to "dumb computers". The cover illustration accompanying the single depicts a hand-drawn dome that contains the phrase "God loves his children, yeah!", the last line of the song, written above on the uppermost plane. Images from the OK Computer artwork reappear, including a pig and two human figures shaking hands. Writer Tim Footman suggested that these images are borrowed from Pink Floyd, respectively corresponding to the Animals and Wish You Were Here cover.Footman (2007). p. 52

The two versions of the single have different messages on the reverse. Both the CD1 and Japanese releases state:

Written on the back of the CD2 single is:

Release

While Colin Greenwood said the song was "hardly the radio-friendly, breakthrough, buzz bin unit shifter [radio stations] have been expecting", Capitol supported Radiohead's choice for "Paranoid Android" as the lead single from OK Computer. Radiohead chose it to prepare listeners for the musical direction of the album.