Optimistic (Radiohead song)

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"Optimistic"
European promotional single cover
Promotional single by Radiohead
from the album Kid A
Written1998[1]
Released27 September 2000 (2000-09-27)[a]
GenreAlternative rock
Length
  • 4:53
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Audio
"Optimistic" on YouTube

"Optimistic" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It was produced by Radiohead with their producer, Nigel Godrich, and was released as a promotional single in the US and Europe, receiving radio play.[2][3]

Composition[edit]

According to the singer, Thom Yorke, he and Radiohead's lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, wrote "Optimistic" in 1998 while traveling through a desert.[1] The refrain, "Try the best you can / The best you can is good enough", was an assurance by Yorke's partner, Rachel Owen, when he was frustrated with Radiohead's recording progress.[4] April Clare Welsh of NME interpreted the line, along with "flies are buzzing around my head / vultures circling the dead", as a possible comment on the pressures of fame.[5] The lyrics were described as possibly ironic.[6][7]

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone described "Optimistic" as an "explicit homage" to the 1992 R.E.M. album Automatic for the People, with similar vocal rhythms.[1] In another article, Sheffield likened the hook to Blind Faith.[8] Critics noted how "Optimistic" was similar to Radiohead's rock sound, while other Kid A songs differed from it.[9]

Reception[edit]

Sam Kemp from Far Out Magazine placed "Optimistic" in the last spot of a list ranking Kid A songs, saying that, although it is the most straightforward from it, it "just doesn't have that wonderful sense of unfamiliarity that defines so many of the tracks on the rest of the album."[10]

Writers of Consequence of Sound named it the 30th-best Radiohead song, and said it is "the most 'Radiohead' song on the album" and that it "doesn't best represent the songs that surround it".[11] PopMatters ranked it as the 6th best Kid A track, stating that it is "quite easily the closest that we get to a conventional rock song here[, b]eing the only predominantly guitar-based song" on the album.[6]

Marc Hogan of Vulture said that "Optimistic" "drew extra attention at the time for being a rare rock-oriented brooder on its Aphex Twin- and Autechre-aspiring album home. If the rest of Kid A looked to expand Radiohead listeners' boundaries, 'Optimistic' was the band's way of showing what it could already do within the old ones." He ranked the song as the band's 21st-best.[12] April Clare Welsh of NME said that it is "probably the most Bends-like track Kid A has to offer", ranking it as the 5th best on the album.[5]

Chris DeVille of Stereogum opined that "Optimistic" "is probably the most underrated song in Radiohead's discography".[13] It was included on Radiohead: The Best Of (2008)[14] and Kid A Mnesia (2021).[15]

Personnel[edit]

Radiohead[edit]

Additional personnel

  • Nigel Godrich – production, engineering, mixing
  • Gerard Navarro – production assistance, additional engineering
  • Graeme Stewart – additional engineering

Charts[edit]

Weekly charts[edit]

Chart (2000) Peak
position
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[16] 10

Year-end charts[edit]

Chart (2000) Position
US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)[17] 78
Chart (2001) Position
US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)[18] 90

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Since the release date of the promotional single is unknown, this is the earliest date the song was released as an album track.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Sheffield, Rob (2 October 2020). "Kid A at 20: Why Radiohead's Futuristic Masterpiece Sounds Right on Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  2. ^ "The Friday interview: Thom Yorke". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  3. ^ Archive-Sorelle-Saidman. "Radiohead Plan Singles, Videos For Amnesiac, Yorke Says". MTV News. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  4. ^ Cavanagh, David (October 2000). "I can see the monsters". Q: 96–104.
  5. ^ a b Welsh, April Clare (2 October 2015). "Radiohead's 'Kid A' – The Album's Tracks Ranked In Order Of Greatness". NME. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Between the Grooves of Radiohead's 'Kid A'". PopMatters. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  7. ^ Byers, Will (11 June 2009). "School of rock: O is for Optimism". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  8. ^ Sheffield, Rob (2 October 2015). "How Radiohead's 'Kid A' Shocked the World". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Radiohead Scores With Kid A". ABC News. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Ranking all the songs on Radiohead masterpiece 'Kid A'". Far Out Magazine. 2 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Ranking: Every Radiohead Song from Worst to Best". 28 June 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  12. ^ Hogan, Marc (28 March 2019). "I Might Be Wrong: Every Radiohead Song, Ranked". Vulture. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Radiohead's 'Kid A' Came Out 20 Years Ago Today". Stereogum. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Radiohead - The Best of Radiohead". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  15. ^ "Radiohead - Kid A Mnesia". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  16. ^ "Radiohead Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  17. ^ "Most Played Modern Rock Songs of 2000". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 8, no. 51. 22 December 2000. p. 38.
  18. ^ "Most-Played Modern Rock Songs of 2001". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 9, no. 51. 21 December 2001. p. 40.
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