Street Spirit (Fade Out)

"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. It is the final track on their second album, The Bends, released in 1995. It was released as a single and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, Radiohead's highest chart position up to that point. It has been covered by Peter Gabriel and the Darkness. In 2008, the song was featured on Radiohead: The Best Of.

"Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Single by Radiohead
from the album The Bends
Released22 January 1996 (1996-01-22)
Recorded1994
GenreAlternative rock[1]
Length4:13
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Radiohead
Producer(s)John Leckie
Radiohead singles chronology
"Just"
(1995)		 "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
(1996)		 "The Bends"
(1996)
Music video
"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" on YouTube

Composition

Songwriter Thom Yorke said "Street Spirit" was inspired by the American band R.E.M. and the 1991 novel The Famished Road by Ben Okri.[2] The song is in A minor with an arpeggiated guitar part. It had the working title "Three-Headed Street Spirit".[3]

Music video

The music video for "Street Spirit" was filmed over two nights in a desert outside Los Angeles. It was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who said: "That was definitely a turning point in my own work. I knew when I finished that, because [Radiohead] found their own voices as an artist, at that point, I felt like I got close to whatever mine was, and I felt confident that I could do things that emoted, that had some kind of poetic as well as prosaic value. That for me was a key moment."[4]

Reception

In 2018, Pitchfork wrote that the song "channels a sense of capitalist dread that even class-conscious Britpop artists repressed".[5]

Covers

Peter Gabriel recorded a cover of "Street Spirit" for his Scratch My Back project in 2010,[6] hoping that Radiohead would return the compliment by recording a version of his 1982 song "Wallflower" for his album And I'll Scratch Yours.[7] According to Gabriel, Radiohead ceased communication after he sent it and backed out of the project.[8] Gabriel said his rendition was "pretty extreme", and had since heard that the band did not like it.[9]

In 2012, the Darkness released a cover of "Street Spirit" on their album Hot Cakes.[10] In 2020, System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan released a cover with M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine as a part of his covers project These Grey Men.[11]

Track listing

CD 1
  1. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" – 4:13
  2. "Talk Show Host" – 4:41
  3. "Bishop's Robes" – 3:25

CD 2
  1. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" – 4:13
  2. "Banana Co." – 2:20
  3. "Molasses" – 2:27

Personnel

Charts
Chart (1996) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] 57
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[13] 21
Ireland (IRMA)[14] 25
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[15] 28
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[16] 26
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[17] 7
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[18] 5

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[19] Silver 200,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. "90 greatest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songs of the 1990s". cleveland.com. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  2. Thom Yorke "Chipping Away - Brian Draper talks to Thom Yorke", Third Way Magazine', October 11, 2004.
  4. Kaufman, Anthony (12 June 2001). "Shooting the "Beast"; Jonathan Glazer Tames the Gangster Genre". indieWIRE. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
  5. "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". Pitchfork. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  6. "Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back (CD, Album) at Discogs", Discogs.com, Portland, OR. Retrieved on 25 January 2015.
  7. Bassett, Jordan (12 February 2010). "Peter Gabriel: 'Thom Yorke won't respond to my cover of 'Street Spirit'". NME. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  8. Young, Alex."Radiohead’s Thom Yorke “disses” Peter Gabriel, preps “something” in April", Consequenceofsound.net, Chicago, IL, 15 February 2010. Retrieved on 25 January 2015.
  9. Rogers, Jude (2 June 2010). "Peter Gabriel: 'It doesn't have anything to do with witchcraft!'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  10. Nelson, Michael."The Darkness - 'Street Spirit' (Radiohead Cover)", Stereogum.com, New York, 9 August 2012. Retrieved on 25 January 2015.
  11. Blistein, Jon (23 January 2020). "System of a Down's John Dolmayan taps Tom Morello for cover of Radiohead's 'Street Spirit'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  12. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3027." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  13. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (30.3. – 5.4. '96)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 30 March 1996. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  14. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Street Spirit (Fade Out)". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  15. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 15, 1996" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  16. "Dutchcharts.nl – Radiohead – Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  17. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  18. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  19. "British single certifications – Radiohead – Street Spirit (Fade Out)". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
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