Airbag / How Am I Driving?
1998 EP by Radiohead
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Airbag / How Am I Driving? is an EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released in April 1998 in North America. It collects most of the B-sides from singles released from Radiohead's third album, OK Computer (1997), plus the OK Computer song "Airbag". It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance.
- Canned Applause (Didcot)
- St Catherine's Court (Bath)
| Airbag / How Am I Driving? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP by | ||||
| Released | 21 April 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1996–1997 | |||
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 25:34 | |||
| Label | Capitol 58701 | |||
| Producers | Nigel Godrich, Radiohead | |||
| Radiohead chronology | ||||
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Songs
Airbag / How Am I Driving? collects most of the OK Computer B-sides, excluding "Lull" (from the "Karma Police" single) and "How I Made My Millions" (from the "No Surprises" single).[1] Only one had been previously released in North America.[2]
"Meeting in the Aisle" is a "spaced out" instrumental with "orchestral" drones, drum machine and bass guitar.[2] Radiohead did not perform it until 2012 on the King of Limbs tour.[3] The two-part "Polyethylene" begins with softly strummed guitar before a climactic ending.[2] "Palo Alto" features "hummable pop" verses and a "thunderous" chorus.[2] Its initial title was "OK Computer" before this became the album title.[4]
Reception
Airbag / How Am I Driving? debuted at number 56 on the Billboard 200,[6] selling 20,000 copies in its first week.[7] It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance.[8]
In Pitchfork, Ryan Schreiber wrote: "If OK Computer was at the top of your 'best of' list last year, and you had wished for just a few more tracks in that same anti-technology, self-loathing vein that Radiohead so perfectly executes, Airbag goes off on impact." Schreiber expressed surprise that the "impossibly brilliant" final track, "Palo Alto", was not included on OK Computer and felt it would have made a strong single.[2]
In 2016, Rolling Stone included "Palo Alto" on its list of "20 insanely great Radiohead songs only hardcore fans know". The Rolling Stone writer James Montgomery noted that the city Palo Alto later housed Facebook and Google, and wrote that the song was "very much about the oppressive emptiness of the wide-open tomorrow ... [Yorke] knew we were doomed."[9]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Philip Selway, Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Airbag" | 4:46 |
| 2. | "Pearly*" | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Meeting in the Aisle" | 3:09 |
| 4. | "A Reminder" | 3:51 |
| 5. | "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)" | 4:22 |
| 6. | "Melatonin" | 2:09 |
| 7. | "Palo Alto" | 3:43 |
| Total length: | 25:34 | |
Personnel
Radiohead |
ProductionPackaging
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[10] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
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‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||