Radiohead and Philosophy

Since their breakthrough hit "Creep" in 1993, Radiohead has continued to make waves throughout popular and political culture with its views about the Bush presidency (its 2003 album was titled Hail to the Thief), its anti-corporatism, its pioneering efforts to produce ecologically sound road tours, and, most of all, its decision in 2007 to sell its latest album, In Rainbows, online with a controversial "pay-what-you-want" price. Radiohead and Philosophy offers fresh ways to appreciate the lyrics, music, and conceptual ground of this highly innovative band. The chapters in this book explain how Radiohead’s music connects directly to the philosophical phenomenology of thinkers like Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Heidegger, the existentialism of Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre, and the philosophical politics of Karl Marx, Jean Baudrillard, and Noam Chomsky. Fans and critics know that Radiohead is "the only band that matters" on the scene today — Radiohead and Philosophy shows why.

Brandon Forbes is a freelance writer based. George Reisch is the author of How the Cold War Transformed the Philosophy of Science and editor of Pink Floyd and Philosophy, Monty Python and Philosophy, and Bullshit and Philosophy. They both live in Chicago.