Radiohead fans just figuring out what the ‘crying figure’ on Amnesiac album cover is

Radiohead fans are just figuring out what the figure on the front of their Amnesiac album is doing.

The “crying figure” doodle spotted on the front of Radiohead‘s 2001 classic has been explained by those well-versed with the band’s history. A wider context for the crying figure on the front of the album has been shared by members of the Radiohead fan community, with the r/Radiohead subreddit seeing one fan ask what the piece is meant to symbolise. The drawing can be seen on the cover of Amnesiac, and also on other artworks made and shared by the band. One piece of work includes a doodle display of each album, including A Moon Shaped Pool and Hail to the Thief. A curious fan asked: “What are these supposed to symbolise?

“I’m going to play the KID A MNESIA Exhibition, and I’m wondering what the purpose of these creatures is, what they mean, show or express, and why they’re especially related to Kid A and Amnesiac. They appeared a lot in the game, album covers, and art. Why did Radiohead choose their logo in picture four?”

There were plenty of theories in the comments, but key to all the suggestions from fans was the link between the images. Stanley Donwood, an artist who has collaborated with Radiohead frequently, penned the designs seen on the album covers.

One fan explained: “The crying figure on Amnesiac is based on a drawing one of Stanley Donwood’s daughters drew of a crying classmate. At the same time, Donwood was obsessed with the Minotaur myth, and made a Minotaur version of the crying figure.

“The bear logo started as sketches to go along with the scary bedtime stories he’d tell his daughters, and he’d doodle them everywhere, and Radiohead liked them so they stuck around.”

Another added: “Thats the crying minotaur! I have it tattooed (small, between my shoulder blades). It was, for a long time during the Kid A/Amnesia era, a logo for them in one way or another. Thom and Stanley have commented on the symbolism of the minotaur — obviously a creature eliciting horror — but also tragic because its circumstances of being half human/half bull AND being trapped in a big labyrinth completely shut out from human society is… a real bitch, to put it lightly.

“The original myth was written with the minotaur as an angry creature, where here they’ve reworked it to be lamenting and lonely and more self-aware. It’s aware of the horror it elicits, it’s aware of its confinement, it’s aware of the physical disharmony it represents. The crying minotaur is the realisation and tragedy of feeling trapped in a maze of your own life. I think Thom once likened it to his mental blocks while writing music during that era.”

That same fan would suggest some fans were unaware of the meaning because the doodles are not spoken about as often as they should be. They shared: “A lot of people presume no meaning because its not talked about frequently by fans, but the image is recognisable.

“When it comes to art, I would safely assume much of their art is thought out and apropos to their current phase, even if much of it seems vague or hazy to us. I know Thom works very closely with Stanley on all this.” They also shared their thoughts on the Hail to the Thief album cover, a piece of work which stands as perhaps Radiohead’s most clear criticism of culture and modern life.

The fan shared: “Hail to the Thief is perhaps more on the nose— the literal layout and pileup and trap of suburban life and individualism in a state of political and environmental corruption. The actual artwork is a map of LA (Hollywood I think?).

“Donwood chose the words based on ads he’d seen in the area. And the medium touches on the dependence on oil. The cover looks bright but unsettling, almost grimy (like an oil slick at points), as if these words are the unseen realities of what society is selling you.”