Amnesiac (album)

{{see also|Kid A#Recording}}

Radiohead and their producer, Nigel Godrich, recorded Amnesiac during the same sessions as their previous album, Kid A, released in October 2000.{{cite web |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |date=July 2001 |title=Walking on thin ice |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-walking-on-thin-ice |url-access=subscription |access-date=10 March 2024 |work=The Wire}} The sessions took place from January 1999 to mid-2000 in Guillaume Studios in Paris, Medley Studios in Copenhagen, and Radiohead's newly built studio in Oxfordshire.{{Cite news |last=Rogers |first=Jude |author-link=Jude Rogers |date=2024-09-29 |title='It commemorates collective moments': Radiohead through the eyes of Colin Greenwood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/sep/29/radiohead-colin-greenwood-photography-how-to-disappear#comments |access-date=2024-09-29 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}{{cite journal |last=Cavanagh |first=David |date=October 2000 |title=I Can See the Monsters |journal=Q}}{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Andrew |date=1 October 2000 |title=Sound and fury |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/oct/01/life1.lifemagazine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110180556/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/oct/01/life1.lifemagazine |archive-date=10 November 2013 |access-date=19 May 2007 |website=The Observer |df=dmy-all}} The drummer, Philip Selway, said the sessions had "two frames of mind ... a tension between our old approach of all being in a room playing together and the other extreme of manufacturing music in the studio. I think Amnesiac comes out stronger in the band-arrangement way."{{cite magazine |last=Fricke |first=David |author-link=David Fricke |date=24 May 2001 |title=Radiohead warm up with Amnesiac |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radiohead-warm-up-with-amnesiac-20010524 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715085158/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radiohead-warm-up-with-amnesiac-20010524 |archive-date=15 July 2014 |access-date=14 July 2014 |df=dmy-all}}

The sessions drew influence from electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock, using synthesisers, ondes Martenot, drum machines, strings and brass. The strings, arranged by the guitarist Jonny Greenwood, were performed by the Orchestra of St John's and recorded in Dorchester Abbey, a 12th-century church close to Radiohead's studio.{{cite web|url=http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=66|title=Radiohead Revealed: The Inside Story of the Year's Most Important Album|date=29 March 2000|website=Melody Maker|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711130337/http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=66|archive-date=11 July 2007|url-status=dead|access-date=18 March 2007}}

Radiohead considered releasing the work as a double album, but felt it was too dense.{{cite web|title=Played in Full|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/archive/r/radiohead01/|last=Yago|first=Gideon|date=18 July 2001|publisher=MTV|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311144136/http://www.mtv.com/bands/archive/r/radiohead01/|archive-date=11 March 2008|access-date=14 July 2014|df=dmy-all}} The singer, Thom Yorke, said Radiohead split it into two albums because "they cancel each other out as overall finished things" and came from "two different places". He felt Amnesiac offered a "different take" on Kid A and "a form of explanation".{{cite web |last=Kot |first=Greg |date=31 July 2001 |title=It's difficult justifying being a rock band |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-07-31-0107310006-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212061753/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-07-31/features/0107310006_1_pink-floyd-amnesiac-thom-yorke |archive-date=12 December 2013 |access-date=27 March 2012 |website=Chicago Tribune |df=dmy-all}} The band members stressed that they saw Amnesiac not as a collection of Kid A B-sides or outtakes but an album in its own right.{{cite interview|last=Greenwood|first=Colin|interviewer=Chris Douridas|title=Interview with Ed & Colin|last2=O'Brien|first2=Ed|work=Ground Zero|publisher=KCRW|date=25 January 2001|subject-link1=Colin Greenwood|subject-link2=Ed O'Brien}} Yorke said the title was inspired by a Gnostic belief that the trauma of birth erases memories of past lives, an idea he found fascinating.

File:Humphrey Lyttelton blowing his trumpet.jpg (pictured 2006) and his band performed on "Life in a Glasshouse".|alt=]]"Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" began as an attempt to record another song, "True Love Waits". It features keyboard loops recorded during the OK Computer sessions;{{Cite web|last=Reed|first=Ryan|date=28 September 2021|title=In limbo: a primer for Radiohead's unheard Kid A Mnesia songs|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/radiohead-kid-a-mnesia-songs/|access-date=2022-01-13|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|language=en}} Radiohead disabled the erase heads on the tape recorders so that the tape repeatedly recorded over itself, creating a "ghostly" tape loop,{{cite web|last=Eshun|first=Kodwo|year=2002|title=The A-Z of Radiohead|url=http://www.culturelab.co.uk/site/templates/issue1/radioazitem_culturelab_noflash.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010703111201/http://www.culturelab.co.uk/site/templates/issue1/radioazitem_culturelab_noflash.html|archive-date=3 July 2001|access-date=1 April 2012|website=Culture Lab}} and manipulated the results in Pro Tools.{{Cite web|last=Sterner|first=Daniel|date=2019|title=Talk: Thom Yorke|url=https://www.elektronauts.com/talk/134|access-date=2021-04-12|website=Elektronauts}} Deciding that the arrangement did not fit "True Love Waits", Radiohead used it to create a new track. Yorke added a spoken vocal and used the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune to process it into melody. According to Yorke, Auto-Tune "desperately tries to search for the music in your speech, and produces notes at random. If you've assigned it a key, you've got music." The "True Love Waits" version of "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" was eventually released on the 2021 compilation Kid A Mnesia.{{cite web|last=DeVille|first=Chris|date=5 November 2021|title=Stream Radiohead's Kid Amnesiae featuring previously unreleased tracks from the Kid A & Amnesiac sessions|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2166235/radiohead-kid-amnesiae-previously-unreleased-tracks/music/|access-date=22 February 2022|website=Stereogum}}

Radiohead also used Auto-Tune on "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box" to process Yorke's vocals and create a "nasal, depersonalised" sound. For "You And Whose Army?", Radiohead attempted to capture the "soft, warm, proto-doowop sound" of the 1940s harmony group the Ink Spots. They muffled microphones with egg boxes and used the ondes Martenot's resonating palme diffuseur loudspeaker to treat the vocals. Unlike many tracks from the sessions, the band recorded it live. The guitarist Ed O'Brien said: "We rehearsed it a bit, not too much, then just went in and did it. It's just us doing our thing as a band."

According to a diary kept by O'Brien, "Knives Out" took over a year to complete, as Radiohead had been tempted to over-embellish it.{{cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Ed |date=22 July 1999 |title=Ed's Diary |url=http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/edsdiary/index.php |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070413133839/http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/edsdiary/index.php |archive-date=13 April 2007 |access-date=19 May 2007 |df=dmy-all}} It was influenced by the guitar work of Johnny Marr of the Smiths.Mojo. May 2004 Yorke said "Knives Out" did not depart from Radiohead's earlier style, and "survived because it was too good to miss". "Dollars and Cents" was edited down from an eleven-minute jam, inspired by the krautrock band Can, who would record extensively and then edit their recordings.

"Like Spinning Plates" was the result of an attempt to record another song, "I Will", on synthesiser.{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=John |date=10 May 2003 |title='Bagpuss, Ex-Lax and the angriest song we've ever written' |journal=NME}} Dismissing this recording as "dodgy Kraftwerk", Radiohead reversed it and created a new song. Yorke said: "I was in another room, heard the vocal melody coming backwards, and thought, 'That's miles better than the right way round', then spent the rest of the night trying to learn the melody." Radiohead recorded "I Will" in a new arrangement for their next album, Hail to the Thief (2003).{{cite interview|title=Radiohead Hail to the Thief – Interview CD|year=2003}} Promotional interview CD sent to British music press.

For the final track, "Life in a Glasshouse", Jonny Greenwood wrote to the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, explaining that Radiohead were "a bit stuck".{{cite web|last=Reynolds |first=Simon |website=Q |date=April 2001 |access-date=27 March 2012 |title=Radiohead recruit new member |url=http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2001&cutting=110 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124151250/http://followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2001&cutting=110 |archive-date=24 November 2010 }} Lyttelton agreed to perform on the song with his band after his daughter showed him Radiohead's 1997 album OK Computer. According to Lyttelton, Radiohead "didn't want it to sound like a slick studio production but a slightly exploratory thing of people playing as if they didn't have it all planned out in advance". The recording session lasted seven hours, and left Lyttelton exhausted. "I detected some sort of eye-rolling at the start of the session, as if to say we were miles apart," he said. "They went through quite a few nervous breakdowns during the course of it all, just through trying to explain to us all what they wanted."

Amnesiac was described as experimental rock,{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/06/03/test-patterns-2/ | title=Test patterns | website=Chicago Tribune | date=3 June 2001 | access-date=12 November 2013 | author=Kot, Greg | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112140648/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-06-03/news/0106030465_1_thom-yorke-band-experiment | archive-date=12 November 2013 | df=dmy-all }} electronica{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/bv3n | title=Radiohead Amnesiac Review | publisher=BBC Music | access-date=20 February 2015 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925112342/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/bv3n | archive-date=25 September 2015 | df=dmy-all }} and alternative rock,{{cite web | url=https://www.stereogum.com/718782/amnesiac-turns-10-hear-covers-of-every-track/top-stories/lead-story/ | title=Amnesiac Turns 10! Hear Covers of Every Track ... | website=Stereogum | date=3 June 2011 | access-date=12 November 2013 | author=Lapatine, Scott | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112140824/http://www.stereogum.com/718782/amnesiac-turns-10-hear-covers-of-every-track/top-stories/lead-story/ | archive-date=12 November 2013 | df=dmy-all }} with elements of jazz.{{cite web|last=Kornhaber|first=Spencer|date=4 June 2021|title=The 2001 album that captured modern dread|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/06/radiohead-amnesiac-best-album-20-years/619099/|access-date=4 June 2021|website=The Atlantic}} Simon Reynolds described it as post-rock. Colin Greenwood said it contained "traditional Radiohead-type songs" alongside more experimental work,{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1440923/radioheads-amnesiac-fills-in-kid-a-picture/|title=Radiohead's Amnesiac Fills in Kid A Picture|last=vanHorn|first=Teri|date=23 February 2001|publisher=MTV|access-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716002738/http://www.mtv.com/news/1440923/radioheads-amnesiac-fills-in-kid-a-picture/|archive-date=16 July 2014|df=dmy-all}} and said that in both albums "the guitar becomes one more texture, difficult to separate from other textures". The Atlantic contrasted Amnesiac with "the surgical glint" of Kid A, with "swampy and foggy" arrangements and "uneasy" chords and rhythms. Uncut wrote that, whereas Kid A sounded futuristic, Amnesiac references music that predates rock, particularly the work of jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus and Chet Baker.{{Cite web |last=Dalton |first=Stephen |date=August 2011 |title=Radiohead: 'We were spitting and fighting and crying...' |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/radiohead-we-were-spitting-and-fighting-and-crying-73254/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318062952/https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/radiohead-we-were-spitting-and-fighting-and-crying-73254/ |archive-date=18 March 2023 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Uncut |language=en-GB}}

The first track, "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box", is an electronic song with synthesisers and metallic percussion. "Pyramid Song", a swung ballad with piano and strings, was inspired by the Mingus song "Freedom".{{cite web|website=Mojo |date=June 2001 |access-date=27 March 2012 |title=Happy now? |last=Kent |first=Nick |url=http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2001&cutting=121 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206154836/https://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2001&cutting=121 |archive-date=6 February 2012 |df=dmy }} Its lyrics were inspired by an exhibition of ancient Egyptian underworld art Yorke attended while the band was recording in Copenhagen and ideas of cyclical time discussed by Stephen Hawking and Buddhism. "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" is an abrasive electronic track.{{Cite web |last=Krueger |first=Jonah |date=2024-10-30 |title=Amnesiac is the key to Radiohead's discography: album review |url=https://consequence.net/2024/10/radiohead-amnesiac-album-review/2/ |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=Consequence |language=en-US}}

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Yorke said "You and Whose Army?" was "about someone who is elected into power by people and who then blatantly betrays them – just like Blair did". The song builds slowly on piano, before reaching a climax in the final minute. According to O'Brien, "In the Radiohead of old, on OK Computer, that break would have lasted four minutes. We would have carried on 'Hey Jude'-style."

"I Might Be Wrong" combines a "venomous" guitar riff with a "trance-like metallic beat". Colin Greenwood's bassline was inspired by the Chic bassist Bernard Edwards. The lyrics were influenced by advice given to Yorke by his partner, Rachel Owen: "Be proud of what you've done. Don't look back and just carry on like nothing's happened. Just let the bad stuff go." "Knives Out", described as the most conventional song,{{cite news |last=Merryweather |first=David |date=24 July 2001 |title=Single review: Radiohead – 'Knives Out' |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/5182/reviews/1723- |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508033751/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/5182/reviews/1723- |archive-date=8 May 2019 |access-date=2018-08-10 |work=Drowned in Sound}} features "drifting" guitar lines, "driving" percussion, a "wandering" bassline, "haunting" vocals and "eerie" lyrics.{{cite news|date=7 October 2010|title=Tricks or Treats: Radiohead – "Knives Out"|work=Consequence of Sound|url=https://consequence.net/2010/10/tricks-or-treats-radiohead-knives-out/|access-date=10 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810111414/https://consequence.net/2010/10/tricks-or-treats-radiohead-knives-out/|archive-date=10 August 2018|url-status=live}}

"Morning Bell/Amnesiac" is an alternative version of "Morning Bell" from Kid A; The Atlantic described it as a blend of "cosiness and nausea". O'Brien said that Radiohead often record and abandon different versions of songs, but that this version was "strong enough to bear hearing again"."Planet Sound", Channel 4 Teletext, 19 May 2001 Yorke wrote that it was included "because it came from such a different place ... Because we only found it again by accident after having forgotten about it. Because it sounds like a recurring dream."{{cite web |url=http://www.spinwithagrin.com/answer.asp?show=all|title=Spin With a Grin | publisher=Radiohead |access-date=1 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030215175803/http://www.spinwithagrin.com/answer.asp?show=all|archive-date=15 February 2003 }} He said the lyrics for "Dollars and Cents" were "gibberish", but were inspired by the notion that "people are basically just pixels on a screen, unknowingly serving this higher power which is manipulative and destructive".

File:Ondes martenot.jpg, an early electronic instrument. Its resonating palme diffuseur loudspeaker (pictured centre) was used to treat the vocals on "You and Whose Army?".]]

"Hunting Bears" is a short instrumental on electric guitar and synthesiser.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HSuhm6DRGgC&pg=PA167|title=Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely|date=8 November 2010|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-00491-8|pages=156–167|author=Marianne Tatom Letts|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226222209/https://books.google.com/books?id=3HSuhm6DRGgC&pg=PA167|archive-date=26 December 2016|df=dmy-all}} "Life in a Glasshouse" features the Humphrey Lyttelton Band playing in the style of a New Orleans jazz funeral.{{cite web|title=The chairman – Humphrey Lyttelton|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/interviews/humph_transcript2.shtml|publisher=BBC|date=31 January 2001|access-date=1 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414233610/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/interviews/humph_transcript2.shtml|archive-date=14 April 2009|df=dmy-all}} According to Lyttelton, the song starts with "ad-libbed, bluesy, minor-key meandering, then it gradually gets so that we're sort of playing real wild, primitive, New Orleans blues stuff". The lyrics were inspired by a news story Yorke read of a celebrity's wife so harassed by paparazzi that she papered her windows with their photographs.

The Amnesiac artwork was created by Yorke and the longtime Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radioheads-secret-weapon-20060612|title=Radiohead's Secret Weapon|last=Goodman|first=Elizabeth|date=12 June 2006|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=3 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303164717/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radioheads-secret-weapon-20060612|archive-date=3 March 2018|url-status=live}} For inspiration, Donwood explored London taking notes, likening the city to the labyrinth of Greek mythology.{{cite web|last=Pricco|first=Evan|date=3 September 2010|title=A Stanley Donwood Interview|url=http://www.juxtapoz.com/Evan+Pricco/26583-a-stanley-donwood-interview-part-2|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211211238/http://www.juxtapoz.com/Evan%2BPricco/26583-a-stanley-donwood-interview-part-2|archive-date=11 December 2010|access-date=1 April 2012|website=Juxtapox.com}} He scanned blank pages of old books and superimposed onto them photos of fireworks and Tokyo tower blocks, copies of Piranesi's Imaginary Prisons drawings, and lyrics and phrases printed by Yorke on a broken typewriter.{{Cite book|last=Donwood|first=Stanley|title=There Will Be No Quiet|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2019|isbn=9781419737244|pages=79|author-link=Stanley Donwood}}

The cover depicts a book cover with a weeping minotaur. The minotaur, a motif of the Amnesiac artwork, represents the "maze" Yorke felt he had become lost in during his depression after OK Computer; Donwood described it as a "tragic figure".{{Cite magazine|last=Vozick-Levinson|first=Simon|date=2021-11-03|title='Some sort of future, even if it's a nightmare': Thom Yorke on the visual secrets of Kid A and Amnesiac|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-pictures/radiohead-kid-a-amnesiac-artwork-1252016/|access-date=2021-11-03|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}} Figures included in the album booklet include faceless terrorists, self-serving politicians and corporate executives. Yorke said they represented "the abstracted, semi-comical, stupidly dark, false voices that battled us as we tried to work".{{cite web |last1=Donwood |first1=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Donwood |last2=Yorke |first2=Thom |author-link2=Thom Yorke |date=4 November 2021 |title='We had a fierce anger and suspicion': Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood on Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/04/thom-yorke-and-stanley-donwood-kid-a-amnesiac-art |access-date=13 March 2022|website=The Guardian }}

For the special edition, Donwood designed a package with a hardback CD case in the style of a mislaid library book. He imagined that "someone made these pages in a book and it went into drawer in a desk and was forgotten about in the attic ... And visually and musically the album is about finding the book and opening the pages." The special edition won a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package at the 44th Grammy Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=&title=&year=2001&genre=All|title=2001 Grammy Award Winners|website=Grammy.com|access-date=1 May 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923073724/http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=&title=&year=2001&genre=All|archive-date=23 September 2012|df=dmy-all}}

Radiohead announced Amnesiac on their website in January 2001, three months after the release of Kid A.{{Cite magazine |last=Saraceno |first=Christina |date=2001-01-04 |title=Radiohead Reveal New Album Details |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-reveal-new-album-details-67145/ |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109012109/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-reveal-new-album-details-67145/ |archive-date=9 January 2019 |access-date=2019-01-08}} It was released in Japan on 30 May by EMI,{{cite magazine |last=Nakamoto |first=Koji |date=May 2001 |title=Radiohead |magazine=Buzz |language=ja |pages=14–15}} in the UK on 4 June by Parlophone and in the US on 5 June by Capitol, both subsidiaries of EMI.{{cite book |last=Randall |first=Mac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GU9QmQEpLoYC |title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story: The Radiohead Story |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85712-695-5 |edition=3rd |location=London, England |page=283}} Amnesiac debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. On the US Billboard 200, it debuted at number two, with sales of 231,000, surpassing the 207,000 first-week sales of Kid A.{{Cite magazine |last=Martens |first=Todd |date=14 June 2001 |title=Staind Fends Off Radiohead, St. Lunatics at No.1 |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/79431/staind-fends-off-radiohead-st-lunatics-at-no-1 |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606155233/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/79431/staind-fends-off-radiohead-st-lunatics-at-no-1 |archive-date=6 June 2013 |access-date=8 July 2013 |df=dmy-all}} It is certified gold in Japan for shipments of 100,000 copies.{{cite web |title=RIAJ > The Record > July 2001 > Page 8 > Certified Awards (May 2001) |url=http://www.riaj.or.jp/issue/record/2001/2001_7.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928075748/http://www.riaj.or.jp/issue/record/2001/2001_7.pdf |archive-date=28 September 2013 |access-date=21 August 2013 |website=Recording Industry Association of Japan |language=ja |df=dmy-all}} By October 2008, Amnesiac had sold more than 900,000 copies worldwide.{{cite web |last=Michaels |first=Sean |date=16 October 2008 |title='In Rainbows outsells last two Radiohead albums' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/oct/16/radiohead-album-sales |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228152828/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/oct/16/radiohead-album-sales |archive-date=28 February 2014 |access-date=19 April 2013 |website=The Guardian |df=dmy-all}} In July 2013, it was certified platinum in the UK for sales of more than 300,000.

Radiohead released no singles from Kid A, as Yorke wanted to avoid the stress of publicity he had struggled with on OK Computer. He regretted the choice, feeling it meant much of the early judgement of the album came from critics, and said Amnesiac would have more promotion.{{Cite web |last=Archive-Sorelle-Saidman |title=Radiohead Plan Singles, Videos For Amnesiac, Yorke Says |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1435893/radiohead-plan-singles-videos-for-amnesiac-yorke-says/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425121726/http://www.mtv.com/news/1435893/radiohead-plan-singles-videos-for-amnesiac-yorke-says/ |archive-date=25 April 2019 |access-date=2019-04-25 |website=MTV News |language=en}} "Pyramid Song" was released as a single in May,{{cite web |author=Kessler, Ted |date=12 September 2005 |title=Radiohead: Pyramid Song: This is our favourite Radiohead single in recent memory ... |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/5064 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017154745/http://www.nme.com/reviews/5064 |archive-date=17 October 2007 |access-date=2007-04-22 |website=NME |df=dmy-all}} followed by "Knives Out" in July, backed by music videos. Two videos were created for "I Might Be Wrong", which was released as a promotional single in June.{{cite book|last=Rose|first=Phil|title=Radiohead: Music for a Global Future|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2019|isbn=978-1442279292|pages=116}}

Radiohead reworked "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and "Like Spinning Plates" for a computer-animated video directed by Johnny Hardstaff. The video premiered on November 29, 2001, at an animation festival at the Centre For Contemporary Arts, Glasgow. It features imagery of killer whales swimming under UV light, a machine taking shape and conjoined babies spinning in a centrifuge.{{Cite web|date=2001-11-30|title=Cel mates|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-824-1369041|access-date=2021-09-11|website=NME|language=en-GB}} The video received little airplay from MTV, who felt it was "of a sensitive nature" and would only broadcast it with a warning. Hardstaff said: "The irony is that you can't move on MTV for bland R&B and the empty boasts of 'artists' effectively fixated with their own flaccid showbiz cocks, but any piece of film with an ounce of real emotion isn't going to get seen."{{Cite journal|last=Sherburne|first=Philip|date=May 2003|title=Sound and vision: Radiohead reinvents the music video|url=https://citizeninsane.eu/media/usa/etc/06/pt_2003-05_res.htm|journal=RES|publisher=RES Media Group|pages=53}}

File:Thom_yorke_radiohead2.jpg

Radiohead first performed Amnesiac songs on the Kid A tour, which began in June 2000.{{cite web|last=Oldham|first=James|date=24 June 2000|title=Radiohead – Their Stupendous Return|url=http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=75|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311100912/http://followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?cutting=75&year=2000|archive-date=11 March 2016|access-date=15 May 2007|website=NME}} They rearranged the electronic tracks using rock instrumentation.{{cite magazine|last=Fricke|first=David|author-link=David Fricke|date=27 June 2003|title=Bitter prophet: Thom Yorke on Hail to the Thief|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bitter-prophet-thom-yorke-on-hail-to-the-thief-20030626|url-status=live|access-date=15 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318111404/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bitter-prophet-thom-yorke-on-hail-to-the-thief-20030626|archive-date=18 March 2017}} For example, "Like Spinning Plates" was rearranged as a piano ballad.{{cite web|last=LeMay|first=Matt|date=17 December 2001|title=Radiohead: I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6657-i-might-be-wrong-live-recordings-ep/|access-date=19 March 2012|website=Pitchfork}} Yorke said: "Even with electronics, there is an element of spontaneous performance in using them ... It was the tension between what's human and what's coming from the machines. That was stuff we were getting into, as we learned how to play the songs from Kid A and Amnesiac live."

On 10 June 2001, Radiohead recorded a concert for a special hour-long episode of the BBC show Later... with Jools Holland, including a performance of "Life in a Glasshouse" with the Humphrey Lyttelton Band.{{cite news|date=10 June 2001|title=Radiohead album topples Shaggy|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1381866.stm|access-date=4 October 2021}} The Amnesiac tour began on 18 June 2001, with Radiohead's first North American tour in three years. It comprised performances in west coast amphitheatres in June, followed by performances in the east and midwest in August.{{Cite magazine |last=Pakvis |first=Peter |date=21 June 2001 |title=Radiohead take Amnesiac on tour |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radiohead-take-amnesiac-on-tour-20010621 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517021226/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radiohead-take-amnesiac-on-tour-20010621 |archive-date=17 May 2014 |access-date=27 July 2014 |df=dmy-all}} The openers were the Beta Band and Kid Koala.{{Cite news |last=Pareles |first=Jon |date=2001-08-09 |title=Rock review: singing of loners but playing to the crowd |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/09/arts/rock-review-singing-of-loners-but-playing-to-the-crowd.html |access-date=2024-02-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Capitol avoided traditional promotion for the tour and instead disseminated information to Radiohead's large online fanbase.{{cite news |date=19 August 2001 |title=How Radiohead took America by stealth |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/19/uk.theobserver |access-date=16 July 2023 |issn=0029-7712}} Tickets sold out within minutes. The Observer described this as "the most sweeping conquest of America by a British group" since Beatlemania, succeeding where bands such as Oasis had failed.

Radiohead hoped to tour the US using a custom-built tent as they had for the Kid A tour in Europe, but met opposition from Clear Channel Entertainment and Ticketmaster, which Yorke said had a monopoly on American live music. Radiohead considered abandoning touring in the US, but felt this would have been a defeat. They instead chose unusual venues, such as Grant Park in Chicago and the bank of the Hudson River in New York. The German DJ Christoph de Babalon supported them in Europe.{{cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Alex |date=August 20, 2001 |title=The Rest Is Noise: The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution |url=https://www.therestisnoise.com//2004/04/mahler_1.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214053947/http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/mahler_1.html |archive-date=14 February 2008 |access-date=2016-08-02 |magazine=The New Yorker |df=dmy}} Recordings from the Kid A and Amnesiac tours were released on I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings in November 2001.

{{Music ratings

| MC = 75/100{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/amnesiac/radiohead |title=Reviews for Amnesiac by Radiohead |website=Metacritic |access-date=30 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022041904/http://www.metacritic.com/music/amnesiac/radiohead |archive-date=22 October 2012 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/amnesiac-mw0000001712 |title=Amnesiac – Radiohead |website=AllMusic |access-date=23 November 2021 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123143859/http://www.allmusic.com/album/amnesiac-mw0000001712 |archive-date=23 November 2021 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev2score = C+{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2001/06/08/amnesiac |title=Amnesiac |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=8 June 2001 |access-date=23 May 2012 |last=Browne |first=David |author-link=David Browne (journalist) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028094408/http://ew.com/article/2001/06/08/amnesiac-2/ |archive-date=28 October 2020 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev3 = The Guardian

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jun/01/shopping.artsfeatures1?INTCMP=SRCH |title=Relax: it's nothing like Kid A |work=The Guardian |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |date=1 June 2001 |access-date=4 October 2011 |last=Thomson |first=Graeme |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715011509/http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jun/01/shopping.artsfeatures1?INTCMP=SRCH |archive-date=15 July 2014 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev4 = Los Angeles Times

| rev4score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-03-ca-5711-story.html |title=Traditional Radiohead Meets More Spirited Electronica |work=Los Angeles Times |date=3 June 2001 |access-date=26 November 2015 |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Hilburn |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127053352/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/03/entertainment/ca-5711 |archive-date=27 November 2015 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev5 = NME

| rev5score = 8/10{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/artistKeyname/5134 |title=Radiohead : Amnesiac |magazine=NME |date=30 May 2001 |access-date=22 July 2014 |last=Segal |first=Victoria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124147/http://www.nme.com/reviews/artistKeyname/5134 |archive-date=4 March 2016}}

| rev6 = Pitchfork

| rev6score = 9.0/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6659-amnesiac/ |title=Radiohead: Amnesiac |website=Pitchfork |date=4 June 2001 |access-date=18 March 2017 |last=Schreiber |first=Ryan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217061239/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6659-amnesiac/ |archive-date=17 December 2016 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev7 = Q

| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |title=No Kidding |magazine=Q |issue=178 |date=July 2001 |last=Eccleston |first=Danny |page=118}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/amnesiac-20010529 |title=Amnesiac |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=29 May 2001 |access-date=7 February 2013 |last=Pareles |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Pareles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619194952/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/amnesiac-20010529 |archive-date=19 June 2013 |df=dmy-all }}

| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev9score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Radiohead |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/671 671–72] }}

| rev10 = Spin

| rev10score = 7/10{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ea8eQMnU_iIC&pg=PA123 |title=Bangers and Mash |magazine=Spin |volume=17 |issue=7 |issn=0886-3032 |date=July 2001 |access-date=23 July 2014 |last=Frere-Jones |first=Sasha |author-link=Sasha Frere-Jones |pages=123–24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227000111/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ea8eQMnU_iIC&pg=PA123 |archive-date=27 December 2016 |df=dmy-all }}

}}

After Radiohead's previous album, Kid A, had divided listeners, many hoped Amnesiac would return to their earlier rock sound.{{Cite web |last=Petridis |first=Alexis |author-link=Alexis Petridis |date=1 July 2001 |title=Relax: it's nothing like Kid A |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jun/01/shopping.artsfeatures1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111180513/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jun/01/shopping.artsfeatures1 |archive-date=11 November 2018 |access-date=11 November 2018 |website=The Guardian}} The Guardian titled its review "Relax: it's nothing like Kid A". However, Rolling Stone saw Amnesiac as a further distancing from Radiohead's earlier style, and Pitchfork found that it was nothing like their 1995 album The Bends. Stylus wrote that although Amnesiac was "slightly more straightforward" than Kid A, it "solidified the postmillennial model of Radiohead: less songs and more atmosphere, more eclectic and electronic, more paranoid, more threatening, more sublime".{{cite web |last=Powell |first=Mike |date=18 January 2005 |title=The Top 50 albums, 2000–2005 |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1430 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306095656/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1430 |archive-date=6 March 2005 |access-date=1 April 2007 |website=Stylus Magazine}} Yorke felt Amnesiac was no more accessible than Kid A and would have elicited the same reactions had it been released first. In 2020, the Guardian wrote that "the impenetrable Amnesiac debunked industry rumours that Radiohead were primed for a bankable comeback".{{Cite news |last=Monroe |first=Jazz |date=23 January 2020 |title=Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/23/radioheads-40-greatest-songs-ranked |access-date=24 January 2020 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

On the review aggregate site Metacritic, Amnesiac has a rating of 75 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times felt that Amnesiac, compared to Kid A, was "a richer, more engaging record, its austerity and troubled vision enriched by a rousing of the human spirit". The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis, who had disliked Kid A, felt that Amnesiac returned Radiohead to "their role as the world's most intriguing and innovative major rock band ... [It] strikes a cunning and rewarding balance between experimentation and quality control. It's hardly easy to digest but nor is it impossible to swallow." He criticised the electronic tracks "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and "Like Spinning Plates" as self-indulgent, but praised the album's "haunting musical shifts and unconventional melodies". Stylus wrote that it was "an excellent disc", but was not as "exploratory or interesting" as Kid A.

Some dismissed Amnesiac as a collection of Kid A outtakes. The Pitchfork founder, Ryan Schreiber, wrote that its "questionable sequencing ... does little to hush the argument that the record is merely a thinly veiled B-sides compilation". Another Pitchfork writer, Scott Plagenhoef, felt the sequencing worked by creating tension, heightening the power of the more experimental tracks. However, he felt the more conventional marketing created a sense of "ordinariness" compared to Kid A and the impression that Radiohead had bowed to pressure from their record label.

Some critics felt Amnesiac was less cohesive than Kid A. The AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that it "often plays as a hodgepodge", and that both albums "clearly derive from the same source and have the same flaws ... The division only makes the two records seem unfocused, even if the best of both records is quite stunning." Another AllMusic critic, Sam Samuelson, said Amnesiac was a "thrown-together" release that might have been better packaged with the live album I Might Be Wrong as a "complete Kid A sessions package".{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r559193}} Schreiber, however, felt the "highlights were undeniably worth the wait, and easily overcome its occasional patchiness".

Reviewing the 2009 reissue of Amnesiac for Pitchfork, Plagenhoef wrote: "More than Kid A – and maybe more than any other LP of its time – Amnesiac is the kickoff of a messy, rewarding era ... disconnected, self-aware, tense, eclectic, head-turning – an overload of good ideas inhibited by rules, restrictions, and conventional wisdom."{{cite web |last=Plagenhoef |first=Scott |date=26 August 2009 |title=Radiohead: Amnesiac: Special Collectors Edition |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13407-amnesiac-special-collectors-edition/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605073742/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13407-amnesiac-special-collectors-edition/ |archive-date=5 June 2012 |access-date=2 June 2012 |website=Pitchfork |df=dmy-all}} Writing about Amnesiac for its 20th anniversary in 2021, The Atlantic wrote that it might be Radiohead's best work: "Listening to it 20 years after its release, the album's grumpy wisdom — its dignity in the face of dread — feels more moving than ever." In 2024, Consequence wrote that Amnesiac was less universal than OK Computer and less focused and cohesive than Kid A, but was a "rosetta stone for understanding Radiohead as a whole", with its combination of ballads, rock, electronica and strings.

Amnesiac was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Music Prize, losing to PJ Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, for which Yorke provided guest vocals.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/12/september11.usa5|title=PJ Harvey wins Mercury prize – after witnessing Pentagon attack|date=12 September 2001|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825151639/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/12/september11.usa5|archive-date=25 August 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} It was the fourth consecutive Radiohead album nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album,{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1451914/20020124/creed.jhtml|title=Got Charts? Creed, Eminem, No Doubt, 'NSYNC Have Something in Common|last=Basham|first=David|date=24 January 2002|publisher=MTV News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403203135/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1451914/20020124/creed.jhtml|archive-date=3 April 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=26 November 2011|df=dmy-all}} and the special edition won a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package at the 44th Grammy Awards.

The Los Angeles Times,{{Cite web |last=Cromelin |first=Richard |date=2001-12-23 |title=The consensus top 10, plus one |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-23-ca-cromelin23-story.html |access-date=2025-02-02 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Q,{{cite news|title=The Best 50 Albums of 2001|magazine=Q|date=December 2001|pages=60–65}} The Wire,{{Cite magazine |title=2001 Rewind: 50 Records of the Year |date=January 2002 |magazine=The Wire |issue=215 |page=40 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35049/spread/40 |url-access=subscription |via=Exact Editions |access-date=23 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711024559/https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35049/spread/40 |archive-date=11 July 2018 |url-status=live }}{{subscription required}} Rolling Stone,{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rolling.htm#2001 |title=Rolling Stone (USA) End Of Year Lists |website=Rocklist |access-date=21 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723004927/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rolling.htm |archive-date=23 July 2010 }} Kludge,{{cite web|last=Perez|first=Arturo|title=Top 10 Albums of 2001|url=http://www.kludgemagazine.com/articles.php?id=88|website=Kludge|access-date=24 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040722004951/http://www.kludgemagazine.com/articles.php?id=88|archive-date=22 July 2004}} The Village Voice,{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres01.php|title=Pazz & Jop 2001: Album Winners|website=The Village Voice|access-date=7 October 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234415/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres01.php|archive-date=2 December 2013|df=dmy-all}} and Alternative Press{{cite journal|title=A.P. CRITICS POLL: THE 25 BEST ALBUMS OF 2001|date=February 2002|issue=#163|journal=Alternative Press}} named Amnesiac one of the best albums of 2001. In 2005, Stylus named it the best album of the preceding five years. In 2009, Pitchfork ranked Amnesiac the 34th-best album of the 2000s{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7709-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-50-21/2/|title=The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 50–21|website=Pitchfork|date=1 October 2009|access-date=2 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016153340/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7709-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-50-21/2/|archive-date=16 October 2009|df=dmy-all}} and Rolling Stone ranked it the 25th.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-albums-of-the-2000s-20110718/radiohead-amnesiac-20110715|title=Radiohead, 'Amnesiac'|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=18 July 2011|access-date=21 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228171617/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-albums-of-the-2000s-20110718/radiohead-amnesiac-20110715|archive-date=28 February 2014|df=dmy-all}} It is included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,{{cite book|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition|author1=Robert Dimery|author2=Michael Lydon|date=23 March 2010|publisher=Universe|isbn=978-0-7893-2074-2}} and number 320 in the 2012 edition of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/radiohead-amnesiac-19691231|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Radiohead, 'Amnesiac'|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=2 May 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604063614/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/radiohead-amnesiac-19691231|archive-date=4 June 2012|df=dmy-all}} "Pyramid Song" was ranked among the best tracks of the decade by Rolling Stone,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-songs-of-the-aughts-20110617/mary-j-blige-family-affair-20110617|title=Mary J. Blige, 'Family Affair' - 100 Best Songs of the 2000s|magazine=Rolling Stone |date=17 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423045042/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-songs-of-the-aughts-20110617/mary-j-blige-family-affair-20110617|archive-date=23 April 2015|url-status=live|access-date=8 May 2015|df=dmy-all}} NME{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/list/150-best-tracks-of-the-past-15-years/248648/page/2|title=150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years|website=NME|date=6 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629013747/http://www.nme.com/list/150-best-tracks-of-the-past-15-years/248648/page/2|archive-date=29 June 2015|url-status=live|access-date=8 May 2015|df=dmy-all}} and Pitchfork.{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7691-the-top-500-tracks-of-the-2000s-100-51/5/|title=The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s: 100-51|date=19 August 2009|website=Pitchfork|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822115324/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7691-the-top-500-tracks-of-the-2000s-100-51/5|archive-date=22 August 2009|url-status=live|access-date=11 August 2012|df=dmy-all}}

Radiohead left EMI after their contract ended in 2003.{{cite news |last=Nestruck |first=Kelly |date=8 November 2007 |title=EMI stab Radiohead in the back catalogue |work=The Guardian |publisher= |location=London |url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2207489,00.html |access-date=22 November 2007}} In 2007, EMI released Radiohead Box Set, a compilation of albums recorded while Radiohead were signed to EMI, including Amnesiac. After a period of being out of print on vinyl, Amnesiac was reissued as a double LP on 19 August 2008 as part of the "From the Capitol Vaults" series, along with other Radiohead albums.{{cite web |date=10 July 2008 |title=Coldplay, Radiohead to be reissued on vinyl |url=https://www.nme.com/news/coldplay/37969 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216012653/http://www.nme.com/news/coldplay/37969 |archive-date=16 February 2012 |access-date=2 November 2011 |website=NME |df=dmy}}

On 25 August, EMI reissued Amnesiac in a two-CD "Collector's Edition" and a "Special Collector's Edition" containing an additional DVD. The first CD contains the original studio album; the second CD collects B-sides from Amnesiac singles and live performances; the DVD contains music videos and a live television performance. Radiohead had no input into the reissues and the music was not remastered.{{cite magazine

|first=Sean

|last=McCarthy

|title=The Best Re-Issues of 2009: 18: Radiohead: Pablo Honey / The Bends / OK Computer / Kid A / Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief

|url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117848-the-best-re-issues-of-2009

|magazine=PopMatters

|date=18 December 2009

|access-date=29 August 2011

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220175703/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117848-the-best-re-issues-of-2009/

|url-status=live

|archive-date=20 December 2009

}} The EMI reissues were discontinued after Radiohead's back catalogue was transferred to XL Recordings in 2016.{{cite magazine |last=Christman |first=Ed |date=4 April 2016 |title=Radiohead's Early Catalog Moves From Warner Bros. to XL |url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/radioheads-early-catalog-warner-bros-xl/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=6 May 2017}} In May 2016, XL reissued Radiohead's back catalogue on vinyl, including Amnesiac.{{cite web |last=Spice |first=Anton |date=6 May 2016 |title=Radiohead to reissue entire catalogue on vinyl |url=http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/radiohead-reissue-entire-catalogue-vinyl/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826093045/http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/radiohead-reissue-entire-catalogue-vinyl/ |archive-date=26 August 2016 |access-date=6 May 2017 |website=The Vinyl Factory}}

An early demo of "Life in a Glasshouse", performed by Yorke on acoustic guitar, was released on the 2019 compilation MiniDiscs [Hacked].{{cite web|last1=Larson|first1=Jeremy D|last2=Greene|first2=Jayson|date=12 June 2019|title=The best, weirdest, and most revealing moments on Radiohead's OK Computer sessions leak|url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/radiohead-ok-computer-leak-best-songs/|access-date=12 June 2019|website=Pitchfork}} On November 5, 2021, Radiohead released Kid A Mnesia, an anniversary reissue compiling Kid A and Amnesiac. It includes a third album, Kid Amnesiae, comprising previously unreleased material from the sessions.{{Cite web|last=Trendell|first=Andrew|date=2021-11-04|title=Radiohead – Kid Amnesiae review: a haunting secret history of two classic records|url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/radiohead-kid-amnesiae-review-3087188|access-date=2021-11-04|website=NME|language=en-GB}} Radiohead promoted the reissue with two digital singles, the previously unreleased tracks "If You Say the Word" and "Follow Me Around".{{Cite magazine|last=Martoccio|first=Angie|date=2021-11-01|title=Radiohead's 'Follow Me Around' is a holy grail for fans. 20 years later, it's here|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-follow-me-around-video-guy-pearce-1251279/|access-date=2021-11-01|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}} Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, an interactive experience with music and artwork from the albums, was released on 18 November for PlayStation 5, macOS and Windows.{{Cite web|last=Tarantola|first=A.|date=9 September 2021|title=Radiohead and Epic Games team up for a virtual Kid A Mnesia exhibit|url=https://www.engadget.com/radiohead-and-epic-games-team-up-for-the-kid-a-mnesia-exhibit-215738766.html|access-date=2021-09-10|website=Engadget|language=en-US}}

{{Track listing

|headline=Amnesiac track listing

| all_writing = Radiohead

| title1 = Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box

| length1 = 4:00

| title2 = Pyramid Song

| length2 = 4:49

| title3 = Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors

| length3 = 4:07

| title4 = You and Whose Army?

| length4 = 3:11

| title5 = I Might Be Wrong

| length5 = 4:54

| title6 = Knives Out

| length6 = 4:15

| title7 = Morning Bell/Amnesiac

| length7 = 3:14

| title8 = Dollars and Cents

| length8 = 4:52

| title9 = Hunting Bears

| length9 = 2:01

| title10 = Like Spinning Plates

| length10 = 3:57

| title11 = Life in a Glasshouse

| length11 = 4:31

| total_length = 43:57

}}

Adapted from the Amnesiac liner notes.{{cite AV media notes|title=Amnesiac|others=Radiohead|year=2001|publisher=Parlophone|type=booklet}}

{{div col}}

• Colin Greenwood
• Jonny Greenwood
• Ed O'Brien
• Philip Selway
• Thom Yorke

• The Orchestra of St John's – strings {{small|("Pyramid Song", "Dollars and Cents")}}
• John Lubbock – conducting
• The Humphrey Lyttelton Band {{small|("Life in a Glasshouse")}}
• Humphrey Lyttelton – trumpet, bandleader
• Jimmy Hastings – clarinet
• Pete Strange – trombone
• Paul Bridge – double bass
• Adrian Macintosh – drums

• Nigel Godrich – production, engineering
• Radiohead – production
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – engineering {{small|("Life in a Glasshouse")}}
• Gerard Navarro – engineering assistance
• Graeme Stewart – engineering assistance
• Bob Ludwig – mastering

• Stanley Donwood – pictures, design
• Thom Yorke (credited as "Tchocky") – pictures

{{div col end}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{certification Table Top|caption=Sales certifications for Amnesiac}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Argentina|type=album|title=Amnesiac|artist=Radiohead|award=Gold|relyear=2001|certyear=2001|certref={{cite web|url=http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110706084844/http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP |archive-date= 6 July 2011 |title=Discos de oro y platino |access-date=24 April 2018 |publisher=Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas |language=es |url-status=dead }}}}

{{certification Table Entry|relyear=2001|certyear=2001|type=album|region=Australia|award=Gold}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Amnesiac|artist=Radiohead|relyear=2001|certyear=2001|type=album|region=Belgium|award=Gold}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Amnesiac|artist=Radiohead|relyear=2001|type=album|region=Canada|award=Platinum}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Amnesiac|artist=Radiohead|relyear=2001|certyear=2001|type=album|region=France|award=Gold|access-date=August 25, 2022}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=アムニージアック|artist=レディオヘッド|relyear=2001|certyear=2001|type=album|region=Japan|award=Gold |certmonth=5 |access-date=5 October 2019}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Amnesiac|artist=Radiohead|relyear=2001|type=album|region=United Kingdom|award=Platinum|id=480-1730-2|refname="BPI"|salesamount=331,000|salesref={{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/galleries/albums-turning-20-years-old-in-2021/?31992|title=Albums turning 20 years old in 2021|website=Official Charts|access-date=2 January 2023}}}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Amnesiac|artist=Radiohead|relyear=2001|type=album|region=United States|award=Gold|salesamount=1,020,000|salesref={{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickdesantis/2016/05/10/radioheads-digital-album-sales-visualized/#40b286fd3a87|title=Radiohead's Digital Album Sales, Visualized|last=DeSantis|first=Nick|date=10 May 2016|work=Forbes|access-date=29 August 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190222204347/https://www.forbes.com/#40b286fd3a87|archive-date=22 February 2019|url-status=live}}}}

{{Certification Table Summary}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Europe|title=Amensiac|artist=Radiohead|type=album|award=Platinum|certyear=2010|access-date=4 July 2019}}

{{certification Table Bottom}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.radiohead.com Official Radiohead website]
• {{Discogs master|type=album|2507|name=Amnesiac}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070413133839/http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/edsdiary/index.php Ed's Diary:]}} Ed O'Brien's studio diary from Kid A / Amnesiac recording sessions, 1999–2000 (archived at Green Plastic)

{{Radiohead}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2001 albums

Category:Parlophone albums

Category:Radiohead albums

Category:Albums produced by Nigel Godrich

Category:Post-rock albums by English artists

Category:Electronica albums by British artists