Song · Radiohead
“Exit Music (For a Film)” by Radiohead
From the album OK Computer (1997)
“Exit Music (For a Film)” by Radiohead appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations in 2023. It was first released in 1997 on the album OK Computer. Its best result is #253 on The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #7,908 indie & aaa song of all time.
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"Exit Music (For a Film)" landed on Radiohead's OK Computer in 1997, but it began as a commission. Baz Luhrmann, making his 1996 Romeo + Juliet, handed the band the final 30 minutes of the film while they toured with Alanis Morissette behind The Bends, and Thom Yorke says work began the moment they saw Claire Danes hold a gun to her head.
Yorke tried to weave lines from Romeo and Juliet into the lyric, then settled for a compressed retelling of the doomed story, fed by a question that had nagged him since he saw the Zeffirelli version at 13: why didn't the lovers just run away? Acoustic guitar, drums, fuzz bass and a Mellotron choir make a funereal procession of it, and Nigel Godrich produced with the band. Several critics count it among Radiohead's best.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 253 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
| 2023 | 837 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
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