Almost three decades after its release, Radiohead’s song “Let Down,” from their hit 1997 album OK Computer, has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. This makes it only the fourth time ever that the band has had a song on the chart.
According to Pitchfork, the song’s sudden popularity comes as it’s been a viral hit on TikTok, years after it was utilized in The Bear Season 1 finale. The first Radiohead song to land on the chart was “Creep,” in 1993, peaking at spot 34. The other two Radiohead songs that made it to the chart were “High and Dry” in 1995 and “Nude” in 2008.
In related Radiohead news, earlier this summer, the band’s frontman, Thom Yorke, released a brand new song. The track is titled “Dialing In” and it is the theme song for the new Apple TV+ series Smoke, starring Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett. The series premiered globally on Friday, June 27.
Clocking in at a little over four and a half minutes, “Dialing In” is unmistakably Thom Yorke. The singer vocally saunters, as only he can, through a melody of bells and a deep electronic cacophony, full of low digital growls and haunting echoes. Whatever the opposite of a Fever Dream is, Yorke has found it here. Click here to hear the song.
In a press release statement on the track, Smoke creator and executive producer Dennis Lehane said, “Working with Thom Yorke was as much an honour for me as working with Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese or Richard Price.”
“I’ve somehow been blessed with collaborating with living legends who were also formative influences on my own creative life,” Lehane added. “Thom is definitely that. In addition, he took a basic concept I gave him and delivered a song that perfectly embodies the show and absolutely crushes.”
The post A 28-Year-Old Radiohead Song Just Became the Band’s Fourth Top 100 Hit Thanks to TikTok appeared first on VICE.
