History Music / Amnesiac

* SdrawkcabSpeech: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] on "Like Spinning Plates": the first verse features Thom singing the lyrics in reverse, but played backwards so that it sounds like he's singing them forwards (albeit heavily slurred), complimenting the reversed backing track of [[Music/HailToTheThief "I Will"]] that drives the song. The second verse, meanwhile, is sung normally with no extra treatments.

* LighterAndSofter: Ever so slightly compared to ''Music/KidA'', thanks to the more varied subjects covered here compared to its predecessor's focus on the darkest and most overtly personal songs from the 1999-2000 sessions. It's still a dour album, just not to as voyeuristic of a degree.

Upon release, the album was another commercial success for the band, topping the charts in the UK, Canada, and Finland and peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It would go on to be the 80th best-selling album of 2001 in the UK, and would be certified Platinum in both the UK, the EU, and Canada, as well as gold in the US, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, and Japan. While these numbers didn't equate to the same kind of gargantuan success that ''Kid A'' saw, and despite being received tepidly by those who expected Radiohead to return to the more rockist sound of their first three albums (particularly the arena-friendly style of ''Music/OKComputer''), ''Amnesiac'' received favorable reception, winning the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Best Recording Package. It would later be ranked at No. 320 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='=]s 2012-updated [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime "500 Greatest Albums"]] list and the No. 508 spot on ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic''[='s=] dynamic [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums "All Time Top Albums"]] list, generating multiple fan-favorite songs along the way.

Mostly recorded alongside its predecessor ''Music/KidA'' with the intent of releasing both as a double album (before being split in twain), the album is considered a companion piece-- if not a direct sequel-- to its [=Y2K=] counterpart. Lead singer Thom Yorke described it as "another take" on the album, as well as "a form of explanation." Sonically, the album could be considered as a "smoother version" of ''Kid A'', while just as experimental if not more so.

While not the gargantuan success of ''Kid A'' and despite being received tepidly by those who expected Radiohead to return to the more rockist sound of their first three albums (particularly the arena-friendly style of ''Music/OKComputer''), it received favorable reception, winning the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Best Recording Package, getting the #320 spot on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='=]s 2012-updated [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime "500 Greatest Albums"]] list, and generating multiple fan-favorite songs.

** The line "cut the kids in half" at the end of "Morning Bell/Amnesiac" appears to be a nod to one of the stories surrounding the Hebrew king Solomon in Literature/TheBible, in which the king responded to a custody dispute between two woman over a child they each claimed they birthed by offering to literally cut the kid in half and give each piece to one of the women-- the woman who protested the suggestion was granted custody.

* UncommonTime: Subverted with "Pyramid Song." It sounds arhythmic, but is actually a heavily syncopated, 4/4 bossanova rhythm played ''really'' slowly.

* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: The music video for "Knives Out" features lavish use of bright, vivid color in the set design and wardrobe, contrasting with dark, often frighteneing imagery and the desperate tone of the song itself.

* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: The music video for "Knives Out" features lavish use of bright, vivid color in the set design and wardrobe, contrasting with the desperate tone of the song itself.

Mostly recorded alongside its predecessor ''Music/KidA'' with the intent of releasing both as a double album (before being split in twain), the album is considered a companion piece-- if not a direct sequel-- to its [=Y2K=] counterpart. Lead singer Thom Yorke described it as "another take" on the album, as well as "a form of explanation." Sonically, the album could be considered as a "smoother version" of ''Kid A'', while just as experimental if not more so. Like its predecessor, ''Amnesiac'' displays influences from {{Jazz}}, {{Krautrock}}, ElectronicMusic, and ClassicalMusic, and coalesces them into a mold that is predominantly PostRock, but compared to ''Kid A'' it is more eclectic in its mixture, placing greater emphasis on its jazz and classical elements while still prominently featuring an electronic rock edge. Of the eleven tracks featured on ''Amnesiac'', only the closer, "Life on a Glasshouse", had recording sessions progress after the release of ''Kid A'', with Radiohead inviting the Humphrey Lyttleton Band to perform with them on the track in the waning months of the 20th century.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: The album, as mentioned above, takes influence from many different genres.

''Your royal highness's''

** "Pyramid Song" hard-cuts directly into "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" midway through the outro, giving the impression of both songs being a single piece.

* StylisticSuck: Humphrey Lyttleton stated that he and his eponymous band's part on "Life in a Glasshouse" was recorded specifically to sound unplanned and unrehearsed, emphasizing the exploratory side of jazz instead of the slick side that endures in popular memory.

* MythologyGag: "Knives Out" reprises the intro to [[Music/OKComputer "Paranoid Android"]], this time using it as the basis for the entire backing track. This earned a fair deal of criticism of the time, with some accusing Radiohead of running short on ideas.

* LoudnessWar: As was the trend among music at the time, ''Amnesiac'' is louder than Radiohead's previous output. It's also the first album in their discography with clipping problems, which would plague most of their future releases from this point forward. YMMV on whether or not it adds to or detracts from the music, as songs like "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" already make considerable use of clipping as a stylistic element.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: The album cover isn't too snazzy design-wise, but it's taken up a notch with the deluxe edition, which has only a red book with the crying minotaur drawn on it as the album cover art.

* {{Recut}}: An extended version of "Life in a Glasshouse" (billed as the "full-length version") is featured as a BSide to "Knives Out", clocking in at being roughly half a minute longer than the album version.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: It's subtle, but "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box". It actually stemmed from a typo by Thom, but due to it fitting the band decided to ThrowItIn.

->''After years of waiting\\

You realize''

* InTheStyleOf: Most of "You and Whose Army?" was modeled after the sound of jazz vocal group the Ink Spots.

* LoudnessWar: As was the trend among music at the time, ''Amnesiac'' is louder than Radiohead's previous output. It's also the first album in their discography with clipping problems, which would plague most of their future releases from this point forward.

* ShoutOut: The line "cut the kids in half" at the end of "Morning Bell/Amnesiac" appears to be a nod to one of the stories surrounding the Hebrew king Solomon in Literature/TheBible, in which the king responded to a custody dispute between two woman over a child they each claimed they birthed by offering to literally cut the kid in half and give each piece to one of the women-- the woman who protested the suggestion was granted custody.

->''I might be wrong\\
I might be wrong\\
I could have sworn I saw a light\\
coming home''
-->-- "I Might Be Wrong"

* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: The album art for ''Amnesiac'' plays itself off of visual motifs from the artwork for ''Music/KidA''; the front cover reuses the title font and features similar black-and-red ColorMotifs, while the artwork in the liner notes depicts the same forest fire seen in the liner notes for ''Kid A'', but from within the forest this time rather than from outside.

* RearrangeTheSong: The band rerecorded "Morning Bell" from ''Music/KidA'' with more emphasis on atmospherics as opposed to rhythm.

** "Pyramid Song" hard-cuts directly into "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" midway through the outro, giving the impression of both pieces being a single piece.
** Averted strangely with "Hunting Bears" / "I Might Be Wrong." They flow perfectly into each other, are in the same key, have the same tempo, harmonize perfectly when played on top of each other...but don't follow each other on ''Amnesiac''. Instead, "Hunting Bears" serves as more of a DarkReprise of "I Might Be Wrong," or an intro to "Like Spinning Plates."

-->''[[BeingWatched "There's someone listening in."]]''

** "You and Whose Army" starts out as a 1, gradually reaching a 2.

* IntercourseWithYou: A case could be made for "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy".

* SiameseTwinSongs: Averted strangely with "Hunting Bears" / "I Might Be Wrong." They flow perfectly into each other, are in the same key, have the same tempo, harmonize perfectly when played on top of each other...but don't follow each other on ''Amnesiac''. Instead, "Hunting Bears" serves as more of a DarkReprise of "I Might Be Wrong," or an intro to "Like Spinning Plates."

* ContractualPurity: Discussed and criticized throughout "Life in a Glasshouse".

* ContractualPurity: Criticized throughout "Life in a Glasshouse".