Hail Mary Mallon April 20, 2011, it was announced that Rhymesayers Entertainment would release Hail Mary Mallon's debut album "Are You Gonna Eat That?". A music video for the album's first single, "Smock", was also announced that same day. "Are You Gonna Eat That?" was released digitally on May 3, 2011, and on CD and double vinyl on June 7, 2011 by Rhymesayers. On May 13, 2014, Aesop Rock announced via his Facebook page that Hail Mary Mallon had finished mixing a new album with an undisclosed release date. On September 9, 2014, the first single, "Jonathan", was released on the Rhymesayers website,
Hail to the Thief the album's subtitle. Other titles considered included "Little Man Being Erased", "The Boney King of Nowhere" and "Snakes and Ladders", which became the alternative titles for the songs "Go To Sleep", "There There" and "Sit Down. Stand Up" respectively. The phrase "hail to the thief" was used by anti-George W. Bush protesters during the controversy surrounding the 2000 US presidential election as a play on "Hail to the Chief", the American presidential anthem. Yorke described hearing the phrase for the first time as a "formative moment" for the album. Radiohead chose the title partly to "state the bleeding obvious ...