Analysing Radiohead’s masterpiece

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Thank you to‪@Producelikeapro‬ for allowing me to use their fantastic cover of Paranoid Android during this video. Check out their video on Paranoid Android where I make a guest appearance: • Radiohead - Paranoid A...
Also, you can check out my other Radiohead videos: • Radiohead 📻🗣️
And, an extra special thanks goes to Chase Heeler, Peter Keller, Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹

[@Producelikeapro]

YES! As per usual this is going to be an absolute masterpiece of in-depth analysis on one of the greatest songs ever written! Thanks David! You Rock! And thanks for being in our video too!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks Warren! It was a real pleasure to work with you! Let's do it again!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@DavidBennettPiano Yes! Let's! So much fun, thank you ever so much

[@thesongacademy5017]

@@DavidBennettPiano great video, really enjoying this!

[@metalman3227]

Excellent to see you together in Warren's video David

[@Mal1234567]

Paid shill.

[@fathuman]

This song is Radiohead's Bohemian Rhapsody. They never did manage to write something so proggy and epic and yet still accessable since then IMHO.

[@okenough2124]

That's a great description. I've always considered this Radiohead's bohemian rhapsody. It's a shame they never went for an epic multi-sectioned song like this later

[@peterwilliams3324]

It's funny, I was just thinking the same thing. Far prefer them to Queen, though.

[@thomashightower7881]

Funny enough, William Maranci makes a killer mashup between both songs

[@mejsjalv]

Some of the stuff they released later on is still accessible... sort of... and proggy leaning towards the electronic part of prog. But I guess if you like their earlier albums you're basically listening to a much different band.

[@montaguehorseposture6203]

@@fathuman I think it's a great song/ album but I'm ecstatic they went a completely different path in the new century.

[@joelhinkson4503]

Such a musical masterpiece. At least, I can safely say that I once saw Radiohead live. When Thom started singing "rain down" , by then, it was literally raining down on us. A day that I'd never forget. Thanks, David!

[@j_murdoch]

That happened when I saw them in Atlanta on the Hail to the Thief tour.

[@CarbonSolutions]

@@j_murdochme too!

[@tonybates7870]

I saw them in Victoria Park, London, in 2000. Magnificent band.

[@arcynic5404]

I have always compared Paranoid Android to The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”. It is truly a pocket symphony and my favorite song from the band. Awesome video.

[@mikkysteaders]

@@arcynic5404 I agree, it definitely goes through a similar structure, but I would counter it by saying it’s more like ‘Heroes & Villains’ 😊

[@j_murdoch]

I always saw it more like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

[@Cooltothetouch-v7n]

@@j_murdochit’s in the category of songs that never get old

[@rome8180]

It's closer to "Bohemian Rhapsody," imo.

[@arcynic5404]

@@j_murdoch I get where you are coming from, but Bohemian Rhapsody is, well, more like an actual “Rhapsody” than these two pieces. It’s more free in composition as compared to Paranoid Android or Good Vibrations, which still call back musical ideas established in the start of the piece.

[@zakolache4490]

DBP & Radiohead, a love story that will be told through the ages :p Love all your breakdowns!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@iamwatchigyou1260]

This is why I love Radiohead so much. This song is so complicated and intricate, yet whenever you listen to it, you can't help but feel relaxed and calm (in all the sections!). They are the greatest composers in the world, no doubt.

[@LakeFX]

David: if Paul and Ringo ever cover "Paranoid Android", would your head just explode?

[@MightyPinecone]

Paranoid Android does feel a lot like Happiness Is A Warm Gun in that it changes vibe a bunch.

[@IdreamOfDouche]

@@MightyPinecone It was inspired by Happiness is a Warm Gun

[@montaguehorseposture6203]

I'd be happy if they didn't bother.

[@gavinthecrafter]

Radiohead + 1/2 of the Beatles would be an absolutely insane collab

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

Whenever I look at a Radiohead chord progression I come to the conclusion that Jonny at least must be a massive figured bass nerd

[@moresnqp]

gosh, i think my favourite part of this song is that last chord progression. it feels like an inverse Shepard's tone, constantly falling and falling deeper into despair.

[@garanceadrosehn9691]

Okay, I suddenly feel a need to listen to "OK Computer".

[@charlieruisseau2476]

"That progression hasn't appeared in any other song" I'm scrolling to see if someone could make you wrong... Anyone?

[@slidenaway]

I knew this song was weird, from a theory perspective, but didn’t know HOW weird. Thanks David for the awesome explanation as always!! That Gm/Am move on the first part, and the mirrored move of Cm/Dm in the third part… crazy unintuitive but so beautiful!

[@slidenaway]

Hell yeah, knew what it would be from the video title. Diving in now, can already tell it’s a fantastic video!!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊😊

[@astroandyborgloh]

Radiohead's feeling for sounds is simply unbelievable. And, the song (like every RH song) is far from being over-produced. Chords, melody, the whole composition speak for itself.

[@pensive-penguin]

The “rain down” section reminds me of like a melancholy version of the “let the sun shine” section of Age Of Aquarius

[@andybaldman]

Totally!

[@GizzyDillespee]

Awesome, wow, great choice, and thanks for playing the instrumentals in the background, too.

[@agrimrawal6295]

Paranoid android is definitely my favorite Radiohead songs, and on and my most favorite songs in general. Thank you for analyzing it!

[@skyscraperV1]

Nice work David, one of my Radiohead favourites - I always felt that the E alternates to Esus4 before the A Cm in the slow section

[@ric8248]

These videos centered on ONE song are my favourite. You learn much more from these than the others. Well done.

[@jozechristensen5111]

A great analysis! I love your focus on chord progressions. I feel that I’m a bit weak when it comes to those stuff, so your videos really help. Have you ever considered making videos about the arrangements of more classical music? Like the fugue, requiem, sonata, symphony, and string quartet?

[@Bobbias]

Man, the progression in this song is absolutely gorgeous.

[@RobertoVernina]

Masterpiece. Period.

[@user-hq3ce5ws1s]

thanks for this, david. whether an artist creates with intention or not - and i think usually it’s a combination - i always find the break down fascinating, to see the underlying order and structure, bridging music theory with the unplanned, spontaneous creativity. a mysterious paradox.

[@timbrown7652]

Great video! Love your collaboration with Warren

[@promixacademy6904]

Superb video! Loved this, just half way through Warren's too!

[@royalex21]

I really enjoyed this video, David! This song really is Radiohead's greatest work

[@adri_mirn]

9:34 I get the same feeling with Let Down too. It's always amazing to remind how much of a masterpiece OK Computer definitely is.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

Whoa, a David Bennett and Produce Like a Pro collab? That's wicked! Gotta watch the other video now!

[@metalman3227]

Such a great video

[@patricktervo2013]

David finally breaking down my all time favorite song, today is a good day

[@nobodyislistening150]

i’ve tried covering this with my band but it’s so tough, this breakdown is definitely going to help!!

[@amnesomniac]

Great video! Learning the theory behind a song makes it much more manageable to learn how to play...and this one's been on my list for a while. Thanks!! 😁😁

[@scherzo0o]

Thanks for this analysis of a brilliant piece!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

🙂🙂🙂

[@adri_mirn]

7:40 The funny thing is that still sounds like Radiohead (the progression sounds similar to Nice Dream).

[@TracyParks]

Produce like a pro _and_ David Bennett! best. day. ever!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😁😁

[@edzielinski]

Fantastic. I had no idea of the counterpoint going on in the song, but it all makes sense now.

[@EricGPLAP]

EPIC!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@dancoroian1]

Knew what was up as soon as I read the title -- so excited that you're finally analyzing this modern masterpiece!

[@MatrixEvolution17]

Amazing thumbnail

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Which thumbnail did you get? Because I'm actually using the new YT function on this video where you can have two different competing thumbnails. I'm interested to see which one you saw!

[@MatrixEvolution17]

@@DavidBennettPiano I saw the one with the guy with hairy armpits. That's a cool feature, I didn't know you could do that!

[@ilickcatnip]

@@MatrixEvolution17 I saw the same at first and loved it! but YT replaced it with the other one now, atleast for me :(

[@ecoop20]

Dude, that thumbnail 😂

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Which thumbnail did you get? I'm actually using a new KZbin feature where you trial multiple thumbnails at the same time!

[@ecoop20]

@@DavidBennettPiano I got the weird little man with the hairy armpits lol Great breakdown, btw! Love your explanations, they make it really easy to understand the theory behind it all

[@slidenaway]

@@ecoop20I just saw that too, what in gods name even is that 😂😂😂Lol

[@smintube]

Same, nearly instinctively unsubscribed

[@princesspiranha]

@@slidenaway It's from the official music video

[@steve9126]

Finally!! This is my favourite Radiohead song and I'm so glad you're talking about it!!!

[@cliffhughes6010]

Thanks for this David. I've always loved this song. It's almost a mini-symphony. There's a fantastic live version on Later with Jools Holland from 1997 here on KZbin. Also, I've never undestood what a secondary dominant is ... until now. Nice simple explanation, thanks.

[@Beispaua]

What a Masterclass, Mister Bennett!! And only with one song (but what a song!). Thank you so much for you work. 🤩 Cheers, from Spain.

[@3leggedkitten]

Awesome video, as usual. Thanks so much! Now, if you ever felt like analysing Sinéad O'Connor's "In this heart" it'd make me SO happy. 🙏😄

[@seadog365]

Brilliant analysis of a fantastic song

[@diegog.4351]

i just realized this is a brand new video, nice

[@estebanrodriguez9007]

Fantastic breakdown of an absolutely beautiful piece of music.

[@luigiscazzari4724]

A full video dedicated to Radiohead? This is the David I know.

[@decentsingersclub]

YES!!!

[@edgarbustamante3371]

Brother! This analysis is magnificent. I appreciate it.

[@thelanavishnuorchestra]

Thanks for another great song breakdown video. OK Computer and kid a are pretty much the top of my favorite albums list along with Remain in Light and Black Holes and Revelations.

[@Fetterov44]

Goated Radiohead song. Another great video! Thanks, as always, David.

[@jeeej3902]

While we’re throwing our analysis requests, can I ask for Turn It On Again by Genesis. It’s a song that really shouldn’t be a pop hit but somehow just works.

[@affenking7174]

Such a perfect song OMFG i love radiohead so much

[@joshcoughx]

This should have gone on for another hour! More please.

[@GibusWearingMann]

Does anyone else interpret the slower tempo section, the "bridge", as having a sort of Shepard's tone effect? It feels like it's constantly descending with each loop and never quite jumps back to the top, even though that obviously can't be the case.

[@ThomasMeeson]

One of my favourite albums of all time

[@missmarymack06]

I first heard this song for the closing credits of one of my favorite anime shows, Ergo Proxy. It is an alternate reality show, I think is in the future and it’s about their robot assistants they call auto-raves and part of the robots contract a virus that gives them consciousness. It’s worth the watch only one season and the English voice acting in my opinion is very good. The closing credit song really puts the show in a neat (imo) perspective. ☺️☺️

[@enchantedcroissant3212]

YESSS I WAS WAITING FOR THISSS!!!!!

[@andrewm8040]

I never seem to get tired of Paranoid Android analysis

[@ctizeninsane]

this is probably radiohead's most detailed song. there are SO MANY percussive instruments during the first part of the song. and some details you might not notice like the rhodes piano playing during the heavy guitar solo, or thom saying the fourth "beep" during the intro, and the vibraslap during "whats that?"

[@bevo65]

A magnum opus of a video. Well done, sir!!!

[@SameAsAnyOtherStranger]

Like a lot of good movies I have yet to see, or purposefully sit down to watch, Ima listen to "Paranoid Android" a few times and come back to this breakdown. It's just good to know such resources are available. Radiohead may just become to me what King Crimson once was...only with the option of Mr. Bennett's generous offering of the music theory behind it. Like from the Dutch Masters to the impressionist age.

[@gretchenm47]

The slow section always reminds me of Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding."

[@user-kf9ou4ht6l]

Thank you for this video

[@luismarquez5038]

Simply brutal.

[@mikkysteaders]

I'm also a huge Radiohead fan too dude, but they aren't the only band to ever do experimental or quirky stuff. They feature super heavily in most of your videos... Paranoid Android is indeed and insanely beautiful and intricate song though. Lots of interesting stuff. I'm more interested in the production which I think is actually far more interesting than the chord progressions, which can be found in other tracks. Wait until you discover the lesser known Beach Boys material! :P

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Find me another track with these chord progressions and then we can talk...

[@mikkysteaders]

You can find them smattered around the back catalogues of bands like Pink Floyd, CAN, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, Fugazi, David Bowie, Doctors Of Madness to name a few. Listen to the album Tago Mago by CAN. It would be interesting to see what you think of it :) you’ll certainly hear where a lot of their influences come from for the middle era of Radiohead and especially Thom Yorkes other projects like Atoms for Peace and The Smile. As for the Beach Boys stuff, listen to the albums ‘Surf’s Up’ and ‘Love You’. Obviously we all know the brilliance of ‘Pet Sounds’ and ‘The Smile Sessions’ which are insanely intricate but their 70’s stuff is slept on for how mad it is too!

[@diegocuneo9100]

I think this Is not your channel...

[@mikkysteaders]

@@diegocuneo9100 I wasn’t trying to start any argument… Introducing people to different ways of writing music and explaining why these changes, melodies and chord progressions work is great. I’ve previously tried but ultimately failed to have a similar platform years ago. It’s just saying that Radiohead aren’t the only ones to come up with a progression or a style or things like that. Not only that but it’s taken a long time for someone like myself to realise the world of music doesn’t revolve around a select few bands like Radiohead or The Beatles (who also were fantastic and I love them, but by no means were the first in everything they did!)

[@mikkysteaders]

@@DavidBennettPiano I don’t have a specific song in mind but listen to a band called ‘The Cardiacs’ They may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they are like avant-garde punk-ska-psychedelic-rock. They have insane key changes and chord progressions that are almost impossible to keep track of. Been around since the late 70’s. I’m sure Radiohead would have heard of them on the scene and borrowed ideas. 👌

[@georgesolo3369]

Analysis i needed

[@doodluck]

Good job i like this song

[@jackthesmoltangerine]

YES

[@ElQuePregunto]

If you think about it, Paranoid Android has kind of a symphony structure

[@barcelomrozovic1625]

I'm a simple man, I see David Bennett's video on Radiohead, I watch it

[@welcometonebalia]

Thank you.

[@ArtofDjango]

OK I love this kind of analysis. And this song. (Obviously I knew in a split section it was about this song. It IS obvious!) Probably this is their Magnus Opus, which they released when I was 18 years old. It was also the main album I listened to in the weeks and months after my mom died. And the song is probably one of the main reasons why Radiohead will stick with me 'till the end of times...

[@bentrig9128]

Paranoid Android is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. It's one of the few examples of contemporary music that will likely still feel interesting and noteworthy to people centuries in the future.

[@bannanafruitsalad]

My player skipped back like 10 seconds after you said "it gives a skipped record feel" and I thought you did something really clever/cute lmao

[@alessandrosummer]

Love this song! Great video again from you David! Btw I'm gonna write a song about your YT channel soon, what do you think about it?

[@UltimateSessionBassGym-ns2cy]

Great stuff 👍

[@Dukilitys]

bro completed music theory

[@arcynic5404]

Hey DBP you should do one on Happiness is a Warm Gun.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

@@arcynic5404 check out my video on “Songs with no chorus”, I covered it a bit there 😃😃

[@rainardzulfanp319]

truly a magnum opus of any songs

[@ricolibrando8716]

FINALLY for the hail of thieves you have at last made it huhu

[@carbonmonoxide5052]

I don’t hear the E -> A -> Cm as a secondary dominant, dominant, tonic. I hear it as a dominant, tonic, tonic. It sounds more like a key change.

[@CarbonSolutions]

I remember the first time I heard this song. I was driving in my car in probably December of 1998 and had to pull off the road because my brain was melting. Safety first 😂

[@coin777]

Was the thumbnail posted as a dare?

[@sirko_rip]

"Never appeared in any other song" is a large statement but I'll take it with salt for this song

[@sloojey]

When I’m in a glazing Radiohead for the 51836th time competition and my opponent is David Bennett Piano:

[@inrainbows1829]

OK Comupter is amazing but my favorite album is HTTT But my favorite song is a tie either The National Anthem or Polyethylene The EP how am I Driving is amazing too not a bad song on it

[@alexcantgar]

Hey David! Do you plan on making more videos where you create original songs or recreate existing ones? Those are some of the ones i enjoy the most from you Cheers

[@luserdroog]

There ought to be more piano covers of Anyone Can Play Guiter.

[@manuel_ao]

Even if Radiohead are not comfortable about this tag, for me this is the prog rock masterpiece of the '90s. I remember not liking it the first time and loving it more after each listen. Although the ending still feels too abrupt to me.

[@Rheaded]

welcome back to your content

[@artrogers3985]

Sounds like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in parts 🎸

[@mikkysteaders]

Upon many further listens, trying to find similar stuff, I recalled a song by Françoise Hardy called ‘Rêve’. Listen to the chord progression in that. I wouldn’t mind Radiohead were inspired by the inner movements of that track. Very French classique in feel. 🇫🇷

[@gcleeter2261]

I love how the third part seems safer every time

[@ThaetusZain]

I was today years old when I found out the fat guy with the mask and axe in the music video was Boris Yeltsin...

[@jsullivan2112]

Deadly!

[@theepisofdiabolos-dj5xh]

nice video!!

[@Coasisable]

Very instructive video thank you ! Any idea on why, according to the couterpoint melody, Ed is not singing backing vocals until the "that's it Sir line" live ?

[@SpartanLaserCanon]

I wish more songs had that many chords like this song has. Heck this isn't even Jazz and it has a lot of chords.