Airbag/How Am I Driving?

Infobox Album | Name = Airbag/How Am I Driving?
Type = EP
Artist = Radiohead


Released = April 21 1998
Recorded = 1996 - 1997
Genre = Alternative rock
Art rock
Length = 25:33
Label = Capitol 58701
Producer = Nigel Godrich
Radiohead
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fnv1z8oa1yv4~T1 link]
* Pitchfork (9.2/10) [http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21230/Radiohead_Airbag_How_Am_I_Driving link]
Last album = "No Surprises/Running from Demons"
(1997)
This album = "Airbag/How Am I Driving?"
(1998)
Next album = "Kid A"
(2000) |

"Airbag / How Am I Driving?" is an EP by Radiohead, released in 1998 specifically to the North American market. It includes most of the songs that had been issued as b-sides on Radiohead's CD singles from "OK Computer" in the previous year, and is effectively a sequel to that album. Despite its placement here, the song "Airbag" was never released as a single to radio stations. The same recording found on "OK Computer" also opens this EP, simply fading out rather than transitioning to "Paranoid Android." It debuted at number 56 on the Billboard 200, [cite book |last=Randall |first=Mac |authorlink= |title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story |publisher=Omnibus Press |date=2004 |pages=181 |isbn=1844491838] selling 20,000 copies in its first week. [Citation |last=Basham |first=David |title=Got Charts? Busta's New Beginning; Radiohead Might Have Been Wrong |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1451349/20011206/rhymes_busta.jhtml |publisher=MTV |date=2001-12-06 |accessdate=2008-07-11]

The contents of "Airbag/How Am I Driving?" differ slightly from the EP "No Surprises/Running from Demons," released a few months earlier only in Japan. Among other songs, "Airbag" includes "Meeting in the Aisle," which is Radiohead's first instrumental,Citation |last=Goh |first=Daryl |title=Just like honey |url=http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/19/music/17458885&sec=music |publisher="Malaysia Star" |date=2007-04-19 |accessdate=2008-07-11] featuring programming by Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker of the group Zero 7. "Melatonin" is a synthesizer lullaby, and "A Reminder" builds up a minimalist texture prescient of Radiohead's later albums like "Kid A" and "Amnesiac." The sampled voices and crowds at the start of the latter song are a recording from the Prague mass transit system. The female voice of the metro's automated announcement system states "Finish getting on and getting off, the doors are closing" and that the next stop will be Jiřího z Poděbrad. "Pearly*" and "Polyethylene" are fan favorites from this EP and among Radiohead's best known b-sides, but only rarely played live by the band. An early version of the song "Palo Alto" had been entitled "OK Computer." Though still dominated by anthemic guitars, to some extent the b-sides compiled on this EP bridge the gap between the progressive-alternative "OK Computer" and Radiohead's experimental future sound, much as the "My Iron Lung EP" of 1994 had foreshadowed "The Bends" and "OK Computer."

On the EP cover, the number 1426148550 is given. It was indeed a working U.K. telephone number, and the voice on the other end, which simply said, "Hello?" was Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's. Fans could even leave a message, and some of the content was used in later productions. This number has been disconnected for years. Calling it, as of 2008, yields BT's standard "The number you have dialed has not been recognised" message. Yorke, in concerts at the time, joked that it is the number to call to report bad drivers.

The "Airbag/How Am I Driving?" EP, although only 25 minutes long, gained the distinction of being nominated for a 1999 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance, up against full-length albums by other artists. [Citation |last=Sherman |first=Heidi |title=The Miseducation of the Recording Industry |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/laurynhill/articles/story/5924650/the_miseducation_of_the_recording_industry |publisher="Rolling Stone" |date=1999-01-05 |accessdate=2008-07-11]

The EP was re-issued in the Netherlands and the U.K. in early 2007. Before its re-release, the EP had been a highly sought-after item by Radiohead fans outside of North America.

Track listing

# "Airbag" – 4:46
# "Pearly*" – 3:33
# "Meeting in the Aisle" – 3:09
# "A Reminder" – 3:51
# "Polyethylene [Parts 1 & 2] " – 4:22
# "Melatonin" – 2:09
# "Palo Alto" – 3:43

"All songs written by Radiohead."

Personnel

* Thom Yorke – vocals, Guitar
* Jonny Greenwood – Lead Guitar, Piano, Organ
* Ed O'Brien – Guitar, Backing Vocals
* Colin Greenwood – Bass
* Phil Selway – drums

References