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Radiohead- Burn the Witch research





Radiohead: About the band

Radiohead is an English rock band formed in 1985, consisting of 5 members (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brian, Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway). In 1992, they released their hit single 'Creep' which became a worldwide hit after the release of their debut album 'Pablo Honey'. Their success continued over the years as their popularity and critical standing rose in the United Kingdom... Radiohead has now sold over 30 million albums worldwide due to their extremely large fan base. 


A Moon Shaped Pool- the album


RadioHead released their 9th studio album 'A Moon Shaped Pool' digitally on May 8th 2016.  It was recorded in Southern France alongside producer Nigel Godrich, the album featured many successful hits like 'True Love Waits' and 'Burn The Witch'... some of these tracks had been written quite some time before the albums recording. The album was acclaimed by critics and appeared in many publications' lists of the year albums. It was the 5th Radiohead album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize due to the fact it topped charts in several countries, becoming Radiohead's sixth number-one album in the UK and bestseller on vinyl. It was even certified gold in the UK on June 24th 2016. 


Chris Hopwell- The Video Director


Chris Hopwell is an English music video director who has worked with several very popular bands and artists. His video for Radiohead's 'There There' received an award for art direction at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. 


Burn The Witch (song and video)


One of Radiohead's most successful songs was released on the 3rd of May for their 9th studio album 'A Moon Shaped Pool', the single was called 'Burn the Witch'. Originally, they had been working on the song for over a decade,however, they were never happy with the result at first which is why the collectively chose to work on it overtime. The single was accompanied alongside a stop-motion animated music video that pays homage to the 1960s British television programme 'Camberwick Green' and the 1973 British Horror film 'The Wicker Man'. The music video was conceived and finished in 14 days and then released a week later onto youtube on May 3rd 2016. It now has over 31 million views on the original music video. 


The Wicker man- 1973

'Burn the Witch' has taken elements of inspiration and referenced it in their music video from the 1973 mystery horror film 'The Wicker Man'. The music video is almost re telling the film from a different perspective... it tells the story of a devout Christian detective going to an island to investigate a disappearance. There, he finds a mad community of different people as identified in  the music video. They also have a sacrificial effigy that houses a sacrifice- here and in the film, that's the inspector. 


The Trumptonshire Trilogy (1966 - 1969)


In the late sixties, three connected animated series- Camberwick Green, Trumpton, and Chingley- aired on the BBC.. It showed the way of life in idyllic little communities, and teaching children about community values. Throughout the music video 'Burn the Witch', you can easily identify the similarities between camber wick Green and the 'model village' in the video. 















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