Theology of Radiohead's "National Anthem"

One of my teachers says that Nirvana marks the turning upside down of an attitude towards music. Music, according to him, must be satirical after Nirvana. The rock and roll classics - the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc. - were happily unaware of their music. Now, alternative music, like a modern Don Quixote, fails to achieve such blissful unawareness precisely because they are trying to be blissfully unaware like the great classics. Sure, there may be exceptions to what my teacher says, but for the most part I think he's right. And many bands really have not noticed this shift and continue their desperate attempt to be blissfully unaware of their own greatness (sort of like Don Quixote).

Radiohead is among the few artists who have effectively and confidently understood the nature of the times. Perhaps one of the most profound examples of this is the third track off of their 2000 album Kid A, "The National Anthem."

This track is highly satirical; it is perhaps a commentary on the myth of progress which has thrived in the west for the past few centuries - that myth which manufactures an optimism towards a progress which the 20th century has proved to be an illusion. Patriotism, the confidence that man is progressing, and that going to war is a totally necessary step to achieving a human utopia, is viewed in hindsight as a morbid optimism. 

"The National Anthem" pushes an optimistic, major tune (the optimism/myth of progress) and slowly transforms the optimism to a chaotic minor (reality). 

Here are five examples:

1) The bass groove that runs throughout the song begins in the key of D hitting the major 3rd (F#) but then shifts to the minor 3rd (F) transforming the tune from a happy groove to a twisted groove. Augustine and Aquinas were both keen to point out that evil is simply a perversion of good. And the scariest, most wicked characters in stories and movies are often clowns, dolls, little children - those things that are supposedly innocent. They are the things that absolutely frighten us, perhaps more than a dragon or a transparently wicked monster. The song is built on this morbid bassline.

2) Thom Yorke's vocal line reaches up at first to the same F# (major 3rd), almost like an attempt to sing along to this deceptively happy tune, but as the song progresses this note slowly slips to the F (minor 3rd), as the singer - sort of a main character experiencing this morbidly optimistic tune - becomes aware of the perversion (first at 1:50).

3) The horns and trumpets carry this theme more obviously. Trumpets and horned instruments are generally supposed to be happy, reminding you of a parade, a celebration, or a national anthem. But Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have intentionally arrange the brass instruments to sound like "a traffic jam." This is one of the most effective methods in which they let the song slip into morbid optimism. 

4) Another obvious example is the background radio. When Radiohead performs this song live, Jonny actually plays a live radio station or t.v. channel over the sound system (at least I think that's what they do), tweaking it throughout the performance. This is the link between the morbid optimism of the song to the morbid optimism of political propaganda. This is important for Radiohead, as Thom Yorke often ends his shows saying things like "no more idiots in charge."

5) As the chaos of the song escalates, Thom Yorke transitions from singing a haunting "so alone" to screaming "turn it off!" This song builds gradually, but surely reaches its climax and sputters into chaos.

Theology:

Irony is when something functions the opposite of how it is supposed to function. In this song the major bass line and vocal line, the trumpets, the lyrics, and the radio sounds in the background all function the opposite of how they are intended to function. All of these are supposed to function to create a mood of triumph and happiness. But as they are tweaked in a sort of perversion, the function powerfully to create a mood of morbidity. 

In the same way, the pharisees' self-righteousness functions the opposite of how they intended it to function. All of their righteousness is in the end precisely their wickedness. It is the same with King Sennacherib in Isaiah 37; he will be "brought low" precisely because he exalted himself. And Jesus lowness and humility is precisely his glory, righteousness, and exaltation (Phil 2).

This is a pervasive biblical concept: "The first shall be last and the last shall be first." 

Radiohead has created a masterpiece. This song exemplifies the depravity of humanity; it is a perverted depravity; it is a dent in a fender; it is the sort of depravity that takes good things (parades, major keys, etc.) as the pharisees took good things (prayers, knowledge of Scripture, etc.,) and twists them to be used for wickedness. This is propaganda and hypocrisy.