Spectre (song)

Radiohead were approached by the James Bond production team to write the theme for the upcoming Bond film Spectre (2015).{{Cite news |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=8 June 2017 |title=19 things we learned hanging out with Radiohead |work=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/19-things-we-learned-hanging-out-with-radiohead-w486278 |access-date=8 June 2017}} The director, Sam Mendes, and the James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, were both Radiohead fans.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.amazon.com/Sound-007-Mat-Whitecross/dp/B0B8L83SWF |title=The Sound of 007 |date=October 2022 |type=documentary |language= |publisher=Amazon Prime |trans-title= |location= |time=1:06:00 |access-date=8 October 2022 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format= |id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= |people=}} In July 2015, the bookmaker William Hill suspended bets after a customer placed £15,000 at ten-to-one odds on Radiohead, suspecting insider knowledge.{{Cite news |date=2015-07-29 |title=Nobody does it, better: Bond theme betting suspended after punter tries to put £15,000 on Radiohead |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/29/bond-theme-betting-suspended-15000-radiohead-ellie-goulding |access-date=2017-11-20 |issn=0261-3077}}

Radiohead first submitted "Man of War", an unreleased song written in the 1990s, which the singer, Thom Yorke, had once described as an homage to Bond themes.{{Cite journal|date=18 November 1995|title=Turn Your Radiohead On!|journal=NME}}{{Cite news |last=Geslani |first=Michelle |date=22 June 2017 |title=Radiohead share video for previously unreleased song 'Man of War' — watch |language=en-US |work=Consequence of Sound |url=https://consequence.net/2017/06/radiohead-share-video-for-previously-unreleased-song-man-of-war-watch/ |access-date=29 July 2017}} The Spectre team liked "Man of War", but rejected it when they discovered it had not been written for the film and was therefore ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.{{cite interview |last=Mendes |first=Sam |subject-link=Sam Mendes |interviewer=Miranda Sawyer |title=Sam Mendes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09clppp |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Sound and Vision |publisher=BBC Radio 6 Music |location= |date=5 November 2017}}

Radiohead suspended work on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), to record another song for the film, "Spectre".{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=8 June 2017 |title=19 Things We Learned Hanging Out With Radiohead |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/19-things-we-learned-hanging-out-with-radiohead-w486278 |access-date=8 June 2017}} However, the production team instead used "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith.{{cite web|author=|date=25 December 2015|title=Radiohead reveal rejected theme for James Bond film Spectre|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35178921|access-date=26 December 2015|website=BBC News|publisher=}} The lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, said the production team felt "Spectre" was "too dark". Yorke said the decision not to use the song was "just politics as far as I can tell".{{Cite news |last=Trendell |first=Andrew |date=3 October 2018 |title=Thom Yorke on how he nearly wrote the soundtrack for Fight Club |language=en-US |work=NME |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/thom-yorke-nearly-wrote-soundtrack-fight-club-2386137 |access-date=4 October 2018}} The Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said it arrived too late to be used, and that the team had already created the title sequence using "Writing's on the Wall". Mendes attempted to use "Spectre" elsewhere in the film, but decided its lyrics made it distracting. He described the situation as "an utter nightmare ... We had this beautiful song and we weren't able to use it. But it's somehow cooler for Radiohead to have written a song that wasn't used."

Radiohead's producer, Nigel Godrich, said the experience was a "real waste of energy" and that it disrupted work on A Moon Shaped Pool. Greenwood said Radiohead were free to finish and release "Spectre" as they wanted, and so "that side of it was really positive ... We get to have it back and it's ours and we got to put it out. We're really, really proud of it."{{Cite web |title=Radiohead interview: 'It's a very happy time' - BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36540679 |access-date=2016-06-16 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

"Spectre" is an orchestral ballad{{Cite web|title=Radiohead did write the theme for James Bond's Spectre, and you can hear it now -- listen|url=https://consequence.net/2015/12/radiohead-spectre-theme-song/|access-date=27 December 2015|website=Consequence of Sound}} that features Yorke's falsetto, strings, "jerky" piano chords and jazz-like drums.{{Cite web |last=Cook-Wilson |first=Winston |date=January 4, 2016 |title=Radiohead: "Spectre" |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/17891-radiohead-spectre/ |access-date=5 January 2016 |website=Pitchfork}} Pitchfork likened it to Radiohead's 2001 single "Pyramid Song", and said it had the "melodrama" of a Bond theme with "only a hint of the kitsch". Variety wrote that "Spectre" had "Radiohead's signature moody sound, with a somber sweeping grandeur".{{Cite web |last=Saperstein |first=Pat |date=25 December 2016 |title=Thom Yorke Posts Rejected Radiohead Spectre Theme Song |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/radiohead-spectre-theme-song-thom-yorke-1201667778/ |access-date=27 December 2015 |website=Variety}}

Radiohead released "Spectre" on the audio platform SoundCloud on Christmas Day 2015. Yorke announced the song on Twitter, writing: "Last year we were asked to write a tune for Bond movie Spectre. Yes we were. It didn't work out ... but became something of our own which we love very much. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas." It was Radiohead's first release since the 2011 single "The Daily Mail" / "Staircase".{{Cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=25 December 2015 |title=Hear Radiohead's unused James Bond theme 'Spectre' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-radioheads-unused-james-bond-theme-spectre-20151225 |access-date=6 November 2017 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} "Spectre" was included as the B-side on Radiohead's 2016 vinyl single "Burn the Witch".{{Cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2016/05/radioheads-burn-the-witch-receives-vinyl-release/|title=Update: Radiohead's "Burn the Witch" receives vinyl release|date=2016-05-12|website=Consequence of Sound|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-17}} It was also included as a bonus track on the special edition of Radiohead's 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool.{{Cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2016/09/radiohead-gift-fans-with-surprise-new-b-side-ill-wind-listen/|title=Radiohead gift fans with surprise new B-Side "Ill Wind" — listen|date=2016-09-30|language=en-US|access-date=2016-09-30}}

Pitchfork named "Spectre" the week's "Best New Music", finding that it was "one of the finest Radiohead songs in some years, much more than a one-off curiosity". Variety wrote that it "might have fit well into the Bond song canon". Chris DeVille of Stereogum picked "Spectre" as one of the week's best songs, writing that it was "beautiful" and a reminder that "Radiohead still have life left in them".{{Cite news|url=https://www.stereogum.com/1852028/the-5-best-songs-of-the-week-124/franchises/the-5-best-songs-of-the-week/|title=The 5 Best Songs Of The Week|date=2016-01-08|work=Stereogum|access-date=2018-06-05}} After "Writing's on the Wall" won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards the following week, DeVille wrote that "Spectre" was "the more masterful of the two tracks".{{Cite news|url=https://www.stereogum.com/1852835/sam-smith-doesnt-know-who-thom-yorke-is-hasnt-heard-radioheads-spectre/video/|title=Sam Smith Doesn't Know Who Thom Yorke Is, Hasn't Heard Radiohead's "Spectre"|date=2016-01-12|work=Stereogum|access-date=2018-06-05}} In 2020, The Guardian named "Spectre" the 38th-best Radiohead song, writing: "Thom Yorke is persuasive – if not exactly suave – in character as the secret agent, but credit Jonny Greenwood, as we often must, with its emotive thwack."{{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 |issn=0261-3077}}

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