Killer Cars

There's something about Killer Cars that makes it sound different from almost everything else Radiohead recorded during that era. It's not just the title or the lyrics, but that song vibe that feels like it was written in motion, as if the frantic drumbeat and sharp riffs were a reflection of a city that never sleeps. The version that ended up as the B-side of High and Dry and Planet Telex has a pulse that never stops: Jonny Greenwood's guitar weaves with Phil Selway's percussion in a loop that seems to escape any traditional measure, and Colin Greenwood's bass anchors everything with a line that sounds like a warning. But the most curious thing is how the lyrics, which speak of that everyday fear that a car ride could end in tragedy, clash with the energetic sound: as if the band had decided to turn terror into something danceable.

The song was born live before it was in the studio. Radiohead first performed it in 1993, at Chicago Metro, in an acoustic version that today only exists in the reissue of Creep and the Japanese CD Itch. By the time they recorded it in the studio, two years had passed and the band was immersed in the sessions for The Bends. According to accounts, the final version was put together in a single take at London's RAK Studios, with Nigel Godrich at the helm of the recording and Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade mixing. Thom Yorke recorded the vocals in a state he himself described as "drunk and slumped in a corner," and the result is that voice that sounds both desperate and resigned. The original title, Planet Xerox, was scrapped because the brand didn't give permission, but the echo of that idea of repetition and copying remains, in the loop that never quite closes. There's another, quieter version called Mogadon —mixed with a news broadcast in the background— that gives the song an unexpected twist, as if the band had wanted to see what would happen if they removed the urgency from the fear.