No Surprises

"No Surprises"
Single by Radiohead
from the album OK Computer
B-side
  • "Palo Alto"
  • "How I Made My Millions"
Released1998
RecordedJuly 1996
StudioCanned Applause (Didcot, England)
GenreDream pop[1]
Length3:49
Label
Songwriter(s)Radiohead
Producer(s)
Radiohead singles chronology
"Lucky"
(1997)
"No Surprises"
(1998)
"Pyramid Song"
(2001)
Audio sample
Music video
"No Surprises" on YouTube

"No Surprises" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the fourth and final single from their third studio album, OK Computer (1997), in 1998. It was also released as a mini-album in Japan, titled No Surprises / Running from Demons.

The singer, Thom Yorke, wrote "No Surprises" while Radiohead were on tour with R.E.M. in 1995. It features glockenspiel and a "childlike" sound inspired by the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Yorke described it as a "fucked-up nursery rhyme", with a gentle mood and harsh lyrics conveying dissatisfaction with social or political order.

The music video, directed by Grant Gee, features Yorke wearing a helmet as it fills with water, inspired by the 1960s science fiction and underwater escape acts. Inspired by the lyric "a job that slowly kills you", Gee conceived a video that would convey the feeling of "murderous seconds".

"No Surprises" reached number four on the UK singles chart. In 2011, NME named "No Surprises" the 107th-best track of the preceding 15 years.

  1. ^ Boult, Adam (18 November 2011). "Poll: Which is the greatest Radiohead album?". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2024.