If someone asked me to think of a U.K. precedent for the mood of the song, I would have to mention Steve Winwood's old band called Traffic. I think they had some songs with that drunken pub tone, and Radiohead sort of duplicates this, but the lyrics of the song are definitely thought-provoking and catchy. Um, like, whatever. The point of all this is not to attempt to diminish Radiohead's accomplishment. But I just think it illustrates an important point that everybody has to have influences.
People do great things.
Radiohead does great things. But it's only because they stand on the shoulders of others who have gone before. And that's okay. Here, they've taken the 'underwater' thing that Trent Resner did on Downward Spiral , only they've successfully Yorke'd it up with some trademark moaning and the first big label use of the word 'spinning,' which, in my opinion, is an all around great word. So screw him.