High and Dry / Planet Telex
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"High and Dry" and "Planet Telex" are songs by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their second album, The Bends (1995). They were released as a double A-side single on 27 February 1995 by Parlophone and Capitol Records.
"High and Dry" was recorded as a demo during the sessions for Radiohead's first album, Pablo Honey (1993), and remastered for The Bends. It is credited as an influence on the bands Travis and Coldplay. "Planet Telex" developed from studio experimentation with drum loops. Two music videos were produced for "High and Dry".
Recording
Radiohead's songwriter, Thom Yorke, performed an early version of "High and Dry" with another band, Headless Chickens, while attending the University of Exeter in the late 1980s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He said the lyrics were about "some loony girl I was going out with", but became "mixed up with ideas about success and failure".<ref name=":1">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 1993, Radiohead recorded a demo at Courtyard Studios, Oxfordshire, with their live engineer, Jim Warren.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They dismissed it as "too Rod Stewart".<ref name=":1" /> However, the demo was rediscovered and remastered for inclusion on their second album, The Bends (1995).<ref name=":0" /> In 2006, Yorke said "High and Dry" was "very bad" and that Radiohead's record label at the time, EMI, had pressured him into releasing it.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Radiohead wrote and recorded "Planet Telex" in a single session at RAK Studios while working on The Bends. It developed from experiments with a drum loop taken from another song, the B-side "Killer Cars", to which Radiohead added piano processed with multiple delay effects. The band had recently returned from a restaurant, and Yorke recorded his vocals drunk, slumped in a corner. According to the producer, John Leckie, "We had the whole thing down within a couple of hours, which was really refreshing and fun to do."<ref name=":2" /> The original title was "Planet Xerox", but Radiohead were denied permission to use the Xerox trademark.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>
Music videos
The first music video for "High and Dry" was directed by David Mould and features Radiohead performing at the Vasquez Rocks outside Los Angeles. For the American market, Radiohead's American record label, Capitol, commissioned a new video set in a roadside diner, inspired by the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. It was directed by Paul Cunningham. After MTV objected, the video was edited to remove a shot of an exploding car.<ref name=":2" />
Critical reception
Pete Stanton from Smash Hits gave "High and Dry" four out of five, writing: "It has a Suede-ish vibe to it, minus the whining, and is a mellow-but-not-boring track."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2017, Pitchfork credited "High and Dry" and another Bends song, "Fake Plastic Trees", for influencing the "airbrushed" post-Britpop of Coldplay and Travis.<ref name="Pitchfork">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Irish Times said that "High and Dry" had "essentially invented Coldplay".<ref name=":22">Template:Cite news</ref>
Track listing
Personnel
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- John Leckie – production (except "High and Dry"), mixing ("Maquiladora")
- Nigel Godrich – engineering (except "High and Dry")
- Steve Osborne – remixing ("Planet Telex (Hexidecimal Mix)")
- Chris Brown – engineering ("Maquiladora")
- Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie – mixing ("Planet Telex", "High and Dry", "Killer Cars")
Artwork
Charts
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Weekly charts
| Chart (1995–1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite Ryan</ref> | 62 |
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 70 |
| Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | 15 |
| Italy Airplay (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 6 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1996) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 84 |
| Chart (2001) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
120 |
Certifications
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