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. Both recordings are taken from the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (2011), and feature the additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.

"Staircase (song)" redirects here. For other songs, see Staircase (disambiguation).

"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

Both songs are taken from the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement (2011),[1] and feature the additional drummer and percussionist Clive Deamer.[2]

"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 the guitarist Jonny Greenwood.[3] The song criticises the Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper, with lyrics such as "the lunatics have taken over the asylum" and "we'll feed you to the hounds / to the Daily Mail".[4] Vulture described it as a "piano ballad that grows, bolstered by fury ... into a swaggering anthem".[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, the 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 by Jazz Monroe 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]

The Stereogum writer Chris Deville said that "The Daily Mail" was "among Yorke’s most powerful piano rockers", and described "Staircase" as "like a Hot Chip song descending into purgatory (in the best way)".[10] He speculated that The King of Limbs would be a fan favourite had it included the songs along with "Supercollider" and "The Butcher", also released that year.[11]

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

Charts
ChartPosition
UK Singles Chart[12] 71
US Alternative Digital Song Sales [13] 16
US Rock Digital Song Sales [14] 20

References
  1. Young, Alex (19 December 2011). "Check Out: Radiohead – "The Daily Mail" + "Staircase" (studio versions)". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  2. Frith, Holly (20 December 2011). "Radiohead unveil new tracks 'The Daily Mail' and 'Staircase' online - listen". Gigwise. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  3. O'Brien, Ed (13 December 2011). "Zane Lowe Sessions". Zane Lowe (Interview). Interviewed by Zane Lowe. BBC Radio 1.
  4. "Radiohead take festive pop at the Daily Mail". The Independent. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  5. "I Might Be Wrong: Every Radiohead Song, Ranked". Vulture. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  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. Deville, Chris (18 February 2021). "Radiohead's The King Of Limbs came out 10 years ago today". Stereogum. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  11. Deville, Chris (18 February 2021). "Radiohead's The King Of Limbs came out 10 years ago today". Stereogum. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  12. "Radiohead". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  13. "Radiohead Chart History (Alternative Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  14. "Radiohead Chart History (Rock Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
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