“Cinematic” is often used to describe Radiohead’s music. Not because it fits neatly onto a screen, which it does, but also because Thom Yorke’s songwriting details how larger problems disrupt intimate human connections. His words can be both a metaphor and the actual thing that’s affecting one’s life.
This or that won’t affect us because it’s happening somewhere else on a scale we can’t control. Convincing, but everything connects, and each time we give in to cynicism, it chips away at the spirit or what it means to be human. That’s the cinematic part of Radiohead’s music. By zooming so far out, Yorke homes in on the things keeping us up at night. Now, if you can write like that and you play in a band with multiple musical geniuses, you too will enjoy epic TV moments just like Radiohead. Check out three of their best below.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Burn The Witch” from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (Season 6, Episode 2)
The title says everything you need to know about this show. And when you want music for a dystopian soundtrack, few do it any better than Radiohead. Ominous strings drive Thom Yorke’s dark tale as the handmaids plan their revolt. The orchestration was composed by guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who has become one of the great modern classical composers. Based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, the authoritarian nightmare in The Handmaid’s Tale shares prescience with Yorke’s own dire warnings, beginning with OK Computer.
“Street Spirit (Fade Out)” from ‘Yellowjackets’ (Season 2 Finale)
One of Yorke’s saddest (and most beautiful) songs is “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”, which closes The Bends. It also appears in the Season 2 finale of Yellowjackets. Yorke sings: “I can feel death / Can see its beady eyes.” There’s no escape, just as the girls cannot escape the wilderness. It always takes what it wants. Meanwhile, Ed O’Brien plays a cycling chord sequence, seemingly without resolution. Like one who cannot avoid circling the drain.
“Let Down” from ‘The Bear’ (Season 1 Finale)
Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto and his friends and family always operate under a cloud of doom in The Bear. Even with the excitement of opening a new restaurant, despair lurks as Radiohead’s “Let Down” plays over the final episode of Season 1. Yorke sings about the disappointment of travel, the taking off and landing, and how joy always seems fleeting. Someone or something will always let you down. Carmy has many obstacles in The Bear, but the biggest impediment is himself.
Photo by Andy Wilshire/Nasty Little Man PR
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