Dissect - S11E2 - 15 Step by Radiohead

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

Our season long analysis of Radiohead's In Rainbows continues with its opening track "15 Step." We examine the song's unique asymmetrical time signature, its origins as a "rhythm experiment," the history of the number 15 in Radiohead songs, and much more. Support Dissect by leaving a review or sharing this episode on social media. It really helps. Follow @dissectpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Host/Writer/EP: Cole Cuchna Additional Analysis: Dr. Brad Osborn Audio Editing: Kevin Pooler Song Recreations: Andrew Atwood Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify and The Ringer, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. Today we continue our season-long dissection of Radioheads in Rainbows. I'm your host, Kul Kushner. On our last episode, we tracked Radiohead's history from their origins as a high school band from Oxford to that one band who wrote Creep, to the Saviors of Rock and Roll, to the post-rock experimental frontiersmen, constantly attempting to outrun the labels and outside expectations placed on them. Each new Radiohead album seemed to be a reaction to their last. The Ben's was an attempt to transcend creep and resulted in Radiohead being labeled a Britpop band.

OkK Computer was an attempt to transcend the Britpop label and resulted in being praised as the best rock band in the world. And Kid A Amnesiac was an attempt to transcend rock music altogether. The difficulty of constantly reinventing themselves, combined with the band's obsessive self-scrutiny, created a toxic dynamic that nearly broke them every album. To avoid this pattern, Radiohead First, forced themselves to write and record 2003's Hale to the Thief quickly, and as a result, the band felt the project suffered. The problem with that record, I think we feel is, or personally, and some of us do, is that

it wasn't edited very well. No, we didn't spend enough time. So you get to stage when everybody gets on fine, but then you have to edit it, and that's when disagreement comes, because you all have different opinions. So we didn't go there. After Hale to the Thief, the band took a much-needed year off in 2004, their first real break since being signed back in 1992. All the band members had children.

Tom worked on his first solo project, The Eraser, and Johnny got into film composition with his excellent score for P.T. Anderson's masterpiece, There Will Be Blood. When Radiohead reconvened in 2005, they struggled to find their way, attributing their slow progress to a lack of momentum after their break, the lack of any label deadlines, and the fact their longtime producer Nigel Godrich was unavailable to work. Tom said, quote,

We'd all stopped to have kids. When we got back into the studio, it was just, dead. We spent a long time just not going anywhere, wasting our time, and that was really, really frustrating. Desperate to get things rolling, they enlisted producer Spike's stint to help them make sense of their new material, but these sessions were also unsuccessful. Looking for answers, the band decided to go on tour, a trick that worked for them when struggling to record the Ben's OK computer and Hail to the Thief. The thought was touring would force them to solidify their new material, and when they return home, they would simply lay down what they perform live, just like they

did in the past, but things proved different this time around. It was interesting because we got into the studio and it wasn't all that good when we got in and did what we'd been doing live, that everyone were going, yay, it's great, these songs are brilliant. It was, it was, it sort of, it made us, it made us quite insecure about the whole thing, I think. I thought we've, you know, something, that kind of, this whole thing about like, yeah, these are really good songs, we'll just do it quickly, we'll do it like we did it live, man, we'll just cut it and it just didn't work.

The failure of Radiohead's touring trick triggered a familiar insecurity that haunted their previous recording experiences. And one of the things we suffered from on this record was a case of huge lack of collective self-confidence. And when you've got lack of collective self-confidence, it kind of can become personal as well. It wasn't too bad on the personal front, because we knew we were okay, but we just wasn't happening together for a while. So that didn't really happen on the Hill to the Thief, but it's happened on every other. record and I would consider probably Hale to Thief not one of possibly one of our strongest things so maybe it's an important thing that we need that pushes us that that bit further. In predictable radiohead fashion, the anxiety and overthinking led them to consider disbanding.

It was Nigel Godrich who became the group's saving grace. After fulfilling his previous commitments, Godrich reunited with the band and provided a fresh start, a quote-unquote walloping kick in the ass, as Tom put it. Sensing that the stiff studio environment was part of the problem, Gondrich suggested a recording excursion, another trick that had worked for them during the OK computer and Kid A sessions. So in October of 2006, the band ventured to a dilapidated country mansion in Wiltshire dubbed Totentomhouse, where they recorded for three weeks. In December, they took another three-week excursion to a historic house in Somerset. We'll talk more about these excursions in our next

episode, but despite only two recordings from these strips making the album, the band agreed they were vital for their collective chemistry. When they returned to their own studio in January of 2007, the album finally began to come into its own. By June, they had finally completed recording, some two and a half years after they started. Reflecting on the experience, Ed said, quote, it pretty much half killed us. Whether the band would continue was very much in balance. One of my mantras throughout the recording was, this is the last time I'm doing this. I'll never sum up the energy to do this again. So I'm going to put everything I can into it. I think everyone felt the same. This might be the last time. I really, really believe that.

I never felt we were one of the great bands up there with the Smiths or REM. In my view, we had made three really great records, the Ben's, OK Computer, and Kid A. What we needed was another great record just to seal it, unquote. Well, mission accomplished. Once again, Radiohead went to creative hell and back, and once again, they return with a masterpiece, 2007's In Rainbows. At 10 songs in just over 42 minutes, In Rainbows is arguably Radiohead's most concise, complete statement in their historic discography. It's for me the album that best represents the totality of the band, incorporating the songwriting and clarity of the bends, the musical innovations of OK Computer, and the electronic experimentation of Kidae. And there's perhaps no better

a single representation of this musical amalgamation than the album's opening track, the subject of our episode today, 15 Step. Like every song on In Rainbow's, 15 Step was written and produced by Radiohead and co-produced by Nigel Godrich. The song's origins date back to 2005, beginning as what Tom described as a quote, mad rhythm experiment. This rhythm experiment is felt in the opening moments of the song, where an electronic drum machine launches into an intricate groove in an asymmetrical time signature. Now there's a lot to address in this opening drum passage alone. We can start with the actual sounds we're hearing, which are a combination of original percussion sounds and a Roland TR-909 electronic drum machine. Originally manufactured in 1983, the Roland TR-909

is one of the most influential instruments in history, crucial to the early development of genres like techno and house music. This influential 1986 track, Can You Feel It, by Chicago House pioneer Larry Heard, prominently features the Roland. Tr. 909, which became a defining feature of house music in the mid to late 80s. When the house sound spread into popular culture by the early 90s, the Roland TR 909 found its way into some of the biggest pop hits of the decade, including Madonna's Vogue and Robin S's 1993 hit Show Me Love. Since the 80s and 909, the Roland TR 909 has been an enduring mainstay and contemporary music, and along with its predecessor, the Roland TR 808, has been credited with transforming,

electronic bass music the same way the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar transform rock and roll. Radiohead utilizes one specific, very recognizable sound from the 909 and 15 steps drum sequence, the hand clap. These 909 handclaps sit atop a composite of other percussion sounds that were not generated from the 909, rather their original sounds created by Johnny Greenwood using something called Max MSP. Max MSP is a visual programming language for audio, and it allows musicians to create intricate and complex sounds, effects, and audio software from scratch without knowing how to code. So for example, in Max, you can take a pure tone, like a sine wave, the most fundamental raw element of sound, and manipulate it until, for example, it resembles a kick drum,

a snare drum, or any other sound you want to create or imitate. After creating his own percussion sounds, Johnny then used Max to build his own sequencer to create the drum pattern we hear on 15 step. We might think about this like an artist who doesn't use paint from a store, but rather makes their own paint from scratch using raw materials like pigment, linseed oil, and mineral turpentine. While doing this is extremely tedious and not necessary for many painters, those who do are not limited to the colors and textures of paint supplied by a manufacturer. Rather, they control all aspects of their paint. Thus, what we hear in the opening of 15th step are the handclaps of the Roland TR-909, mixed with original percussion sounds Johnny made from

scratch and max. Now, aside from the actual sounds we're hearing, another central feature of 15-steps drum sequence is its time signature. Most of the songs you hear every day are written in what's called 4-4-time. 4-4 is the most dominant time signature in the West, so common in fact, its nickname is literally common time. Simply put, 4-4-time means the song is organized in groups of 4. Even if you don't know what that means in theory, you understand it in practice. Watch how easy it is for you to count along to this song in 4-4-time. I'll start the count, and I want you to count along with me, either in your head or out loud. When I stop counting, continue the count on your own.

I'll come back in toward the end, and if we're in sync, you'll know you counted correctly. All right, I'm guessing most of you were able to do that pretty easily. That's because in the West, 4-4-time is culturally ingrained in us from birth. We understand it intuitively, similar to how we learn our native language through immersion. 15-step, however, is written in the complex time signature 5-4, which, as its name implies, organize in groups of 5. It has 5 quarter-note beats per measure. While this sounds simple in theory, for those of us predisposed to 4-4, the extra beat can really throw off our intuition.

Let's do the same counting exercise we did before, and see if you can count along in groups of 5 as easily as you could groups of 4. I'll start the count and try to continue on your own. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I'm guessing some of you can do it, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of you got lost. In any case, I'm hoping you can feel some of the awkwardness of counting in 5. We can thank the ubiquity of 4-4 time for at least some of that. It also doesn't help that Radiohead adds additional rhythmic complexity into the already complex 5-4 time

signature. This complexity is provided by the pattern of those 909 handclaps we talked about. In the first measure of the drum sequence, the first count of five, the handclaps are placed on the downbeat. They fall directly on counts two, three, four, and five. One, two, three, four, five. Let me repeat this pattern a few more times just so you can really feel its groove. One, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, five. Okay, so that's the first half of the hand clap pattern. Now in the second half, the second count of five, the hand clap pattern changes. The first clap falls on beat 2, just like before, but the second clap is delayed. It's placed on the upbeat and the space in between beats 3 and 4. The third and final clap then returns to the

downbeat on 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It's a subtle alteration from the first pattern, but one that changes the entire feel of the beat. Let's listen to the two hand clap patterns alternate as they do in the song, and notice how the first pattern drives the beat forward, while the second one pulls it back. Between the 5-4 time signature and these alternating hand clap patterns, we're starting to understand just how 15-step began as what Tom York called a rhythmic experiment. And as implied by that same quote, it seems this experiment was originally much more complex, so much so that they struggled with the idea of performing it live. But an unlikely source inspired the band to take the song in a different direction. Quote,

15 Step was born out of a mad rhythm experiment that we did last year. At first we thought, how the fuck can we pull this off live? But then we were listening to Fuck the Pain Away by Peaches a lot, and that indirectly inspired us to turn it into something different. Perhaps uncoincidentally, Peach's 2000 track Fuck the Pain Away, prominently feature a Roland 909 drum machine alongside a synth bass and occasional record scratches. It's hard to know the specific ways the song inspired 15 Steps transformation, but there's definitely some parallels between the two.

Perhaps most obvious is the fact that in both songs, the electronic drumbeat is the driving force. It's the thing that all other elements are subservient to. Also, Fuck the Pain Away was recorded live at one of Peach's shows, and 15 Step was recorded live in Radiohead Studio. I'll just repeat that so it sticks. 15 Step was recorded live in a single take and contains no overdubs. Finally, not unlike Fuck the Pain Away,

15 Step begins with Tom singing over just the electronic drumbeat. Tom enters the song and album asking, How come I end up where I started? How come I end up where I went wrong? Like so many of Tom's lyrics, the questions are at once vague and utterly universal, evoking the all-too-human tendency to repeat the same mistakes, to run in circles,

to impede our own progress. Cleverly, the two questions are sung with a near identical melody, so when Tom asks, how come I end up where I started? He literally ends up where he started when he uses the same melody when asking the next question. There's also a meta aspect in talking about starting at the literal start of the album. And if you're listening to the album on repeat,

you would quite literally end up where you started when it began again. The circular idea is present in these opening questions is formalized when Tom sings won't drop the ball again. The idiom dropped the ball means to make a mistake, especially by not taking action or dealing with something that should have been planned for. Thus, in the infinite ways we can go wrong, inaction, the things we don't do, is as big a contributor as action, the things we do do. This is the inherent paradox of free will. When choosing to do one thing, we're also choosing not to do an infinite number of other things. In the face of so many incomprehensible variables,

it seems a miracle we ever do anything right at all. The idea of inaction feels especially potent in the deterioration of relationships, where constant nourishment is required to sustain a healthy bond. Thus we get the following line, you reel me out, then you cut the string. At least at the moment, it feels like Tom is addressing a romantic partner, using a fishing metaphor to illustrate how this person is in control. They quite literally have Tom on a string, evoking a puppet master dynamic. The image of being reeled out implies a growing distance between them, while cutting the string is an abrupt, somewhat violent image of severance, leaving Tom floating vulnerable and alone in the vast, unknowable sea. And perhaps it's this adrift state of alienated loneliness

that he finds himself returning to over and over and over again. 15-step continues with a brief percussion break, where the rhythmic experiment intensifies with drummer Phil Selway entering the mix with an acoustic drumbeat that joins the electronic drumbeat. Interestingly, both receive equal distribution in the mix. The acoustic drums do not become dominant nor subservient to the established electronic drums. Rather, they are harmonious, a true democratic fusion befitting the band's career-long attempt to synthesize their acoustic roots and their electronic influences. Radiohead really began experimenting with the fusion of acoustic and electronic drums on 2003's

Hale to the Thief. Last episode, we heard how its opening track 2 Plus 2 equals 5 begins with a pulsing electronic drum machine that's replaced by acoustic drums midway through the song. But perhaps the closest precursor of a true fusion of the two comes on the song, A Punch Up at a Wedding, which begins with an electronic drumbeat that's quickly joined by Selway's acoustic drums over top. This fusion of electronic and acoustic drums sustains the entire song, but as you just heard, the beat being played is extremely simple, especially compared to the intricate 5-4 pattern of 15-step.

Thus, 15-step represents a significant milestone in Radiohead's harmonious synthesis of the acoustic and the electronic. itself a reflection of the larger evolutionary integration of man and machine, human and computer. After a repetition of the opening lyrical stanza, the first harmonic instrument enters, Johnny Greenwood's electric guitar. Along with the acoustic drum kit, this guitar part makes clear the subdivision of the song's 5-4 time signature. As we talked about, 15th step is organized into repeating groups of 5.

Subdivision refers to the way that group of 5 is organized into smaller units and determines which beats get emphasized and which don't. I promise this will make more sense when you hear it in practice. As demonstrated before, 15 steps can be counted in groups of 5. But what the acoustic drums and guitar make clear is that along with the first beat, beat 1, beat 4 is being accented. So we have strong beats on 1 and 4. Now you can count this in 5 and accent the 1 and 4 like we just did, but most often songs in 5 4 are subdivided into alternating groups of 3 and 2, where the 1s are naturally accented. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2. Each cycle of 3 plus 2 represents 1 measure of 5 4. In other words, it's a measure of 5 4

subdivided into a group of 3, followed by a group of 2. This asymmetrical structure is why 5 4 is considered a complex time signature, because it can't be evenly divided like 4-4 time can. Let's hear 15 Step again, and this time I'll count the 3 plus 2 subdivision. 1, 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 2 2, 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2. We can hear it in the most well-known piece in 5 4, the Mission Impossible theme. 1, 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2 3, 1 2. 1 2 3, 1 2. 2, 1 2.

We can also hear it in another famous piece in 54, day 4, Dave Brubeck's Take Five. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2. Radiohead's morning bell from Kid A is also in 5-4 time, and also uses a 3 plus 2 subdivision. Now, with the rhythmic pattern and harmonic guitar sequence firmly established in 15-step, the song continues with the closest thing it has to a traditional verse, where Tom continues to address a relationship gone wayward.

We'll dissect that verse, along with the rest of 15-step, right after the break. Welcome back to Dissect. Before the break we heard how the entrance of the acoustic drums and guitar reinforced 15 steps 3 plus 2 subdivision of 5-4 time. After this instrumental break, Tom reenters the song asking more questions. Tom here sings, you used to be alright, what happened? Did the cat get your tongue? This develops the same growing distance and plied in the line, you reel me out, then cut the string. Now the deteriorating dynamic between these two is more plainly stated. Things were at one point alright, now they're not. The idiom Cat Got Your Tongue is used to express a lack of communication,

silence when someone is expected to speak. The accusatory undertone of Tom's inquisition evokes a fight, with Tom trying unsuccessfully to elicit a reaction from this person. It recalls those desperate moments in a failing relationship when things have gone so south that any reaction, even an explosive one, is better than no reaction. Tom continues singing, did your string come undone? This subtly calls back to the previous fishing string motif,

but directly after the cat reference, we also think of an unraveling ball of yarn, evoking the previous won't drop the ball again. In any case, Tom's prodding interrogation continues, and once again, the analogy describes the deterioration or collapse of something that was previously held together or sound. And while I dislike speculating too much about personal lives on this show, I do believe it's worth noting that in 2007, Tom was still with his longtime partner and wife, Rachel Owen, whom he had been with since college and had two children with. The two would end up divorcing in 2015, so we can't help but wonder if these lyrics were inspired by their relationship that eventually ended in separation after 23 years. In any case, after the line, did your string come undone,

15-step takes its first departure from its initial musical material. While the driving underlying rhythm remains the same, drummer Phil Selway now moves to the ride symbol, which opens the song up increasing its dynamic. Johnny's guitar will also change, as we'll now find him playing a Nootly guitar part in the high register. Unlike the initial guitar part, which held those long root notes in the guitar's lower register, Johnny is able to exclusively play in the high register because for the first time in the song, a bass guitar enters, of course performed by Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood. The introduction of the bass guitar at a minute and 13 seconds into the song is an unusual approach, but as we'll see later, it's a choice that will pay substantial dividends.

At this moment, the bass adds to the mix a low-end frequency range that's been absent from the song to this point. This, along with the ride symbol, levels up the song dynamically. Over this new section, Tom sings, one by one, one by one, it comes for us all, soft as your pillow. A departure from the previous relationship-centered lyrics, this ominous sequence of lines seems to be clearly addressing death and mortality. Yet the way Tom stretches out the melodic phrasing of these lines with long, sustained notes creates a juxtaposition, the warmth and beauty of his melody, making his acknowledgement of death feel as soft as our pillow. Tom is rarely one to explain his own lyrics, but he did admit in rainbows was in part about death. In an interview for the guardian, he was asked,

quote, to what extent is in rainbows about middle-aged malaise and the sort of drifting moods you find in the corners of 15-year-old marriages? Tom responded by saying, quote, it was much more about the fucking panic of realizing you're going to die, and that any time soon, I could possibly have a heart attack when I next go for a run, unquote. As perhaps no coincidence that at the time of in rainbows, Tom was approaching 40. He was becoming middle-aged. For some, this milestone inspires a direct reckoning with mortality, as you grapple with the possibility of having already lived more years than you have left, like a procrastinator finally forced to take a deadline seriously. The description of death being soft as your pillow might elicit different reactions from different

people, depending on how you feel about death. For those who are comfortable with mortality and perhaps even find solace in it, Tom's gentle description of death might be an accurate portrait of its character, the idea that death isn't as scary as it's made out to be. On the other hand, for those fearing death in the unknown, the gentle description might resonate as eerie or disturbing, conjuring images of a grim reaper silently appearing behind you, scythe in hand, ready to escort you into eternal darkness. The line is an interesting litmus test about your own feelings on death, and so you might ask yourself, how do you feel when hearing the lines one by one, It comes for us all, soft as your pillow.

Does that sound comforting to you, or is it disturbing? Following the one-by-one section, 15-step enters a brief transitional part, where Johnny's guitar descends by a half-step from a D-flat minor to a C-minor, before landing back on the home chord of A-flat minor, where it sustains for eight measures. When Johnny begins noodling around on this home chord, Radiohead's other guitarist Ed O'Brien enters the song for the first time. He plays just two notes, but his part isn't so much about the notes he plays, but rather it's the atmosphere it provides.

Between the infinite sustain and deportamento effects, Ed's guitar becomes nearly unrecognizable as a guitar. This is often what Ed brings to Radiohead songs, unique atmosphere and carefully crafted sonic textures. They won't wow you like a flashy guitar solo. Often you won't even consciously know they're there, but they're absolutely essential to Radiohead's inimitable sound. Now, after this darker transition section, 15-step continues with the second verse.

But because this is Radiohead, this verse isn't just a car. copy of verse 1 with different lyrics. As you listen, see if you can pick out some of the changes. Before addressing the lyrics of this verse, let's first go over a few musical details that keep 15 step propelling forward and evolving. First, when the song transitions from the bridge section into this verse, notice how Phil continues to hammer that louder ride symbol for three additional measures before returning to the quieter hi-hat that he played in verse 1. Ride? It's a somewhat strange detail, as most often a drummer would just return to the hi-hat immediately. In this instance, that overlapping ride between the two parts kind of

blurs the lines between them, helping to sustain the momentum built in the bridge. This momentum is then picked up by a new instrument as soon as Phil settles back into the hi-hat, as the bass guitar re-enters the song with a commanding Phil. This is my second favorite moment in the entire song, as it reveals part of the genius of the bass not playing at all in the first minute and 13 seconds of the song. Because we didn't hear bass in verse 1, we aren't expecting it in verse 2. Also, rather than just continuing to play straight from the bridge into the verse, the bass actually stops playing after that brief bridge section, only to oddly re-enter seven measures into the verse with that fill. Then the base stops again for two measures, re-enters for two

measures, stops again for two measures, and then re-enters for two measures. Let's listen to this section of the verse again, and this time just focus on this fragmented approach to the bass part. In his comments about 15-step to Mojo magazine, Tom York noted how the the bass line was one of his favorite parts, comparing it to OK Computer's airbag, which also has a fragmented interjecting bassline. As we'll see, both Airbag and 15th Step use the fragmented approach to its baseline for an even bigger payoff at the song's end. But first, let's finally get into the lyrics of the second verse, which begin the same as the first. You used to be all right, what happened. Rather than repeating, did the cat get your tongue, Tom instead sings,

etc., etc., which implies the continuation of a list of similar points or things as before. It's as if Tom is saying, et cetera, et cetera, you get the point. I've given you enough analogies about this crumbling relationship dynamic. The verse's next line has a bit of history behind it. On the album, it appears he says, fads for whatever, though some lyric sites say facts for whatever, or even the comical, fetch forever.

But we know from that 2006 Mojo interview, Tom sang Friends Forever in early versions of the song, though that definitely doesn't appear to be what he's singing on the record. Friends Forever makes sense within the context of the relationship dynamic, as that's often something you say after a breakup, that you'll remain friends forever. But it appears over time Tom changed the lyric, as the official lyrics printed in the In Rainbow's vinyl say, fads for whatever. The meaning behind this line is a little less clear,

but fads, something that comes and goes, and whatever, both continue the sarcastic, cynical tone of etc., etc. We then reach what is perhaps the central line of the song, 15 steps, then a sheer drop. It seems clear Tom is once again describing death. Specifically, he's referring to long drop gallows, which are scaffolding constructed for public hangings and include a staircase one must walk up to reach the elevated platform. While the number of steps varies, 15 steps does seem common enough. In fact, the gallows pictured on Wikipedia have exactly 15 steps. Also, the phrasing of a sheer drop seems purposeful, as the long drop is the modern phrase used to describe

judicial hangings. The word drop is also used to describe the Gallo's platform upon which the condemned person stands before being executed. This is actually the third time Tom has cited the number 15 in Radiohead's discography, and each time the number 15 relates to death. On the song Just from the Ben's, Tom describes a man contemplating suicide by jumping out the 15th floor of a building. Also on the song climbing up the walls from OK Computer, Tom sings, 15 blows to the back of your head, 15 blows to your mind. In 15th step, the gallows image becomes another striking symbol of mortality, perhaps helping to explain Tom's previous sarcasm of, etc., etc., fads for whatever. In other words, what does all this matter when in the end we're all going to die?

One by one, we make the climb of life, only to be dropped from whatever heights we reach to our inevitable demise. Given the relationship motif present in the song, we might also wonder whether Tom is using the imagery of a galus execution to describe the feeling of being left by your beloved, who in this metaphor plays judge, jury, and executioner, holding ultimate power over your well-being. Of course, 15 Steps also evokes the song title 15 Step, though curiously, the song title drops the plural S. There's a few theories about this. One of them is that 15 Step is a reference to the song's odd 5-4 time signature and the central electronic drum sequence. That's because most electronic drum machines, including the Roland TR-909 we talked about, come with what's called a 16-step sequencer.

I'll spare you most of the technical details here, but a step sequencer is essentially a musical grid that's used to program or sequence your drumbeat. Most drum machines have 16-step grids or sequencers because 16 breaks up a single measure of 4-4-time evenly, allowing you to easily create loops in 4-4. This is fine for most, because as we noted earlier, most songs are written in 4-4-time. But what if you wanted to sequence a drumbeat in 5-4 time like 15-step? Well, it wouldn't work. 16 can't be divided by 5-5 evenly. For a 5-4 sequence, you'd need a 10, 15, or 20-step sequencer,

a number that can be divided by 5. In max MSP, however, you can build your own sequencer with as many steps as you want, which is what Johnny did for 15-step. So that's one theory behind the song's title. Another theory is that 15-step refers to dance steps, as it's common for some to dance three steps for every beat, and three steps for five beats equals 15 steps or a 15-step dance. In any case, it seems likely 15-step is some kind of nod to the song's odd time signature that doubles as Tom's numerical symbol of death. Now the line 15 steps, then a sheer drop,

signals a drop of sorts musically as the acoustic drums, bass, and guitar all drop out, and an entirely new instrument is introduced over the electronic drums. The main sound we're hearing now is perhaps one of the more unique sounds in Radiohead's entire catalog. It's produced by what's called an auto harp, which is a somewhat small instrument that has 36 strings that are strung on a rectangular block of wood with a sound hole similar to an acoustic guitar. The 36 strings are strum similar to an acoustic guitar too, but rather than using a a fretboard to control what notes the strings play, the auto-harp uses what's called a chord bar, which allows you to simply press a button to produce a specific chord when the strings are strummed.

This puts the auto-harp because rather than learning a bunch of different fingerings for each chord, the push of a single button does it for you. Now you're probably thinking, this sounds nothing like we hear on 15th step. And you're right. That's because Ed O'Brien runs the auto-harp chord progression through his Akai Headrush looper pedal, applying envelope filters and reverse looping effects to create the swirling kaleidoscopic sounds we hear on the record. It's a great example of what music scholar Dr. Brad Osborne dubbed source deformation, where the original sound source is affected beyond recognition. Thus we go from this to this. Now throughout this breakdown section,

the electronic drums have been playing an assortment of new patterns that don't maintain a steady beat. The main drum sequence returns, only now the crunchy effects originally heard at the start of the song returned for the first time since then. This two-measure drum sequence effectively prepares us for the song's explosive climax. And this is where the previously inconsistent presence of bass guitar really pays off, because for the first time, the bass is fully unleashed. While this part would hit, even if there were consistent bass throughout the entire song, the absence of consistent low end until this moment makes it exponentially more powerful, so much so that the bass guitar becomes the lead part in the climax of the song, a rare position

for an instrument typically resigned to the background. We're also going to hear a children's choir exclaim, yeah, a somewhat random addition to the song that actually happened by chance. As the story goes, bassist calling Greenwood and producer Nigel Godrich went to the Matrix Music School and Art Center in Oxford, an attempt to record the kids clapping the 5-4 pattern, presumably to replace or accentuate the electronic 909 handclaps. However, the complexity of the rhythm turned out to be too difficult for the children, so they recorded them yelling instead. Now before we listen to this climactic section, I just have to say this is one of my personal favorite moments and all of music. Every decision in the song to this point has been

preparing us for this moment, and it pays off beautifully as we finally achieve catharsis. From the swelling reverse kick drum just before the climactic punch, to the youthful freedom present in the children's yell, to the driving bass guitar, the abstract auto harp, and the dueling electronic and acoustic drum kits, it all culminates gorgeously in absolute musical euphoria. Absolutely incredible. Radiohead smartly lets this climactic instrumental section ride a lengthy 20 measures before Tom re-enters with vocals, allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in this glorious crescendo. When Tom does re-enter, he sings the lyrics, How come I end up where I started? How come I end up where I went wrong? Won't take my eyes off the ball again. You reel me out,

then you cut the string. It's of course the same lyrics with which the song began, and thus the track's large form lyrical structure reinforces the lyrics themselves. Tom is quite literally ending where he started. However, the lines gained depth and immediacy, following Tom's transparent reference to death, the 15 steps, the sheer drop. In this way, the song's final lines resonate a little more intensely, as we might now imagine them as someone's final thoughts before dying, before the mortal coil is reeled out and cut for good. After an intense repetition of the opening lyrical passage, 15-step concludes with a coda of sorts, where the affected auto-harp moves to and sustains a C minor chord, a chord we've only heard

once for just two measures during the transitional bridge section following verse one. It's an atypical decision as it effectively modulates the song to a new tonal center some 30 seconds before its end. For me, this shift contributes to the overall feeling of decomposition during this outro section, the feeling that things are coming undone. The dueling electronic and acoustic drum patterns intensify, bordering on unintelligible chaos, like the last sputtering and unpredictable blasts of energy before the inevitable collapse. Conclusions

15 Step is an energetic jumpstart to In Rainbows. The song's many intricate musical details is a perfect example of why it takes Radiohead's so long to finish their albums. From the percussion sounds created from scratch to the unique use of the bass to the refusal to repeat any section of the song verbatim, seemingly every musical standard, rhythm, structure, instrumentation, harmony, is challenged or at least considered. Radiohead's unwillingness to take shortcuts or rely on musical cliches is what makes them great, but it's also what tortures them. Johnny discussed this dichotomy with The New York Times saying, quote, We have a song and we've got lots of different ways we can try it, but we don't know what's going to work, and that's why it still sort of feels a bit weirdly amateur. You'd think by now we know what's going to work, and what's still frustrating, or kind of encouraging in a way,

is that we don't know. What we've learned is that you can't repeat a method that you've already used for a song when it did work, unquote. In this way, Radiohead remains forever students, forever subservient to the art, to the process of creation. It's why, after decades, they're still able to evolve, to maintain relevance beyond a normal band's typical life cycle. Thematically, 15 Step introduces two central themes that will recur throughout in Rainbows, a failing romance, and death. In fact, both of these themes will appear in the album's next song,

an adrenaline-filled blast of distortion that caused Tom to collapse directly after recording it. Of course, this is in Rainbow's next track, Body Snatchers. A song will unpack note by note, line by line, next time on Dysect. Today's episode of Dysect was written and produced by me, Cole Kushna. If you enjoyed today's episode, please tell a friend about the new season or share on social media tagging at Dysect podcast. You could also leave a review wherever you're listening right now. It really helps. Additional musical and lyrical analysis by Dr. Brad Osborne.

Audio editing by Kevin Pooler. Song Recreations by Andrew Atwood. Theme music by B-Rocratted. All right, thanks everyone. Talk to you next week.