Okay, so I assumed that Radiohead’s new album title was nonsensical.
Then several months later, I read an article in Pulp Magazine using the phrase “Kid A” as shorthand for disaffected Japanese children who turned violent.
Now this is completely in keeping with Radiohead, but I’ve never heard the phrase before.
What is the geneaology of this particular phrase?
Well, from what I’ve heard, the title has a different origin. This is from Green Plastic, a pretty reliable Radiohead site:
It’s not very definite, though, so it’s most likely open to debate. Perhaps Thom Yorke is interested in Lacanian psychoanalytical theory.
Check out Kid A In Alphabetland. I’m still not sure what it all means though.
Hodge
I had been wondering whether it was a play on “G’day”, the traditional Australian greeting. But as I have no real reason for believing this to be the true answer, you may safely ignore it.
I read somewhere last fall that Thom Yorke explained that “Kid A was the name of the first cloned human.”
Note the “was” not “will be” in the last sentence.