The King of Limbs
The King of Limbs is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download, followed by a physical release on 28 March through XL Recordings internationally and TBD Records in North America.
The King of Limbs
18 February 2011
May 2009 – January 2011
- Home of Drew Barrymore (Los Angeles, California)
- Radiohead studio (Oxfordshire)
37:34
Following the more conventional instrumentation of In Rainbows (2007), The King of Limbs saw Radiohead move further from standard song structures and recording methods. They developed it with their producer, Nigel Godrich, through sampling and looping. The singer, Thom Yorke, described it as "an expression of wildness and mutation". The artwork, by Yorke and his longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood, depicts nature and spirits inspired by fairy tales.
Radiohead released no singles from The King of Limbs, but released a music video for "Lotus Flower" featuring Yorke's dancing that inspired an internet meme. In 2012, they began an international tour, with several festival appearances. To perform the complex rhythms live, they enlisted a second drummer, Clive Deamer. The European tour was postponed after the temporary stage collapsed in Toronto's Downsview Park, killing the technician Scott Johnson and injuring three others.
Though its unconventional production and shorter length divided listeners, The King of Limbs was named one of the best albums of the year by publications including The Wire, NME and PopMatters. It was nominated in five categories at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Alternative Music Album. The download version sold more than 300,000 copies in two months, and the vinyl became a bestseller in the UK. The retail edition debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US Billboard 200, making it the first Radiohead album not to achieve gold certification in the US.
The King of Limbs was followed by the remix album TKOL RMX 1234567, the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement and the non-album singles "Supercollider" and "The Butcher".
Artwork and packaging[edit]
The King of Limbs artwork was created by Yorke with Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood.[32] As with previous Radiohead albums, Donwood worked as the band recorded nearby.[33] He painted oil portraits of the Radiohead members in the style of Gerhard Richter, but abandoned them as "I'd never painted with oils before and I'm not Gerhard Richter so it was just a series of painted disasters".[34] Instead, the music made Donwood think of "immense multicoloured cathedrals of trees, with music echoing from the branches whilst strange fauna lurked in the fog".[33] He and Yorke drew trees with eyes, limbs, mouths, and familiars,[33] creating "strange multi-limbed creatures" inspired by Northern European fairy tales.[35]
For the special edition of The King of Limbs, Donwood wanted to create something "in a state of flux".[33] He chose newspaper, which fades in sunlight, for its ephemeral nature.[35] This reflected the album's nature themes, mirroring the natural decay of living things.[33] Donwood took inspiration from weekend broadsheets[35] and underground 1960s newspapers and magazines such as Oz and International Times.[33] The special edition includes a sheet of artwork on blotting paper of the kind used to distribute LSD; Donwood said, "In theory, not that I would propose such an illegal thing, but somebody could ... And I don't think that's been done as a marketing thing before."[36] The special edition was nominated for the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the 54th Grammy Awards.[37]