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March 28, 2017 9:28 AM Subscribe
As a fan of said album I have been avoiding any and all anniversary coverage because it's only a matter of time before someone's hot take on why said album is shit and then there will be fisticuffs.
Also, FIVE articles? Clicks must be slow over at Pitchfork.
posted by mushhushshu at 9:32 AM on March 28, 2017
Also, FIVE articles? Clicks must be slow over at Pitchfork.
posted by mushhushshu at 9:32 AM on March 28, 2017
My interest in Pitchfork in 1997: 8.7
My interest in Pitchfork in 2017: 3.4
posted by davebush at 9:32 AM on March 28, 2017 [45 favorites]
My interest in Pitchfork in 2017: 3.4
posted by davebush at 9:32 AM on March 28, 2017 [45 favorites]
Yeah, that's still on my list of things to sit down and listen to. I've had it since it came out.
posted by bongo_x at 9:32 AM on March 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by bongo_x at 9:32 AM on March 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
Whenever I see this stuff on the Pitchfork homepage, I think about this ol' chestnut.
"10.0: Must be Radiohead"
posted by degoao at 9:35 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
"10.0: Must be Radiohead"
posted by degoao at 9:35 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
it's only a matter of time before someone's hot take on why said album is shit and then there will be fisticuffs.
It's not shit of course, it's a great album, but it's not the best album of the 90s either, for me.
posted by thelonius at 9:40 AM on March 28, 2017
It's not shit of course, it's a great album, but it's not the best album of the 90s either, for me.
posted by thelonius at 9:40 AM on March 28, 2017
It's not shit of course, it's a great album, but it's not the best album of the 90s either, for me.
For a long time I preferred The Bends, so I'm not going to argue.
posted by mushhushshu at 9:41 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
For a long time I preferred The Bends, so I'm not going to argue.
posted by mushhushshu at 9:41 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm struck by how great the music videos are. No Surprises is a classic of course. The Paranoid Android video is a really fun bit of animation too by Magnus Carlsson. Here's a playlist of 11 videos but a lot of them are offline.
I was 25 when this album came out and somehow felt like I was entirely the wrong age for it. Too old to be an angsty teen, too young to appreciate the artistry and subversion of rock-and-roll. I was listening to a lot of Aphex Twin then though, so not all was lost.
posted by Nelson at 9:45 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was 25 when this album came out and somehow felt like I was entirely the wrong age for it. Too old to be an angsty teen, too young to appreciate the artistry and subversion of rock-and-roll. I was listening to a lot of Aphex Twin then though, so not all was lost.
posted by Nelson at 9:45 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
And by the way, on the topic of the 90s, fuck "grunge", which was like 2 or 3 good groups and a bunch of ex-hair metal guys bandwagoning behind them.
posted by thelonius at 9:53 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 9:53 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
> I was 25 when this album came out and somehow felt like I was entirely the wrong age for it. Too old to be an angsty teen, too young to appreciate the artistry and subversion of rock-and-roll.
That was more or less my experience with it, too. I was expecting to *love* this album and just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for it, in part because as I've gotten older I've grown less and less fond of Music To Be Depressed To (which is why I almost never listen to Pink Floyd - probably my favourite band for most of high school - these days). A viewing party for Meeting People Is Easy - probably the whiniest work of art I've ever been exposed to - that a friend (and super-fan) threw didn't help. It's been ages, though, so I should probably give it another shot.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:57 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
That was more or less my experience with it, too. I was expecting to *love* this album and just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for it, in part because as I've gotten older I've grown less and less fond of Music To Be Depressed To (which is why I almost never listen to Pink Floyd - probably my favourite band for most of high school - these days). A viewing party for Meeting People Is Easy - probably the whiniest work of art I've ever been exposed to - that a friend (and super-fan) threw didn't help. It's been ages, though, so I should probably give it another shot.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:57 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I feel like it's just the wrong age for OK Computer, right now. Maybe two years ago would have been a better time for the 20th anniversary. Or if Clinton had won we'd be ready for that neoliberal angst.
Right now Hail to the Thief feels more timely. Skip the post-2000 election denial and skip straight to anger.
posted by muddgirl at 10:00 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Right now Hail to the Thief feels more timely. Skip the post-2000 election denial and skip straight to anger.
posted by muddgirl at 10:00 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
My best friend in high school introduced me to this album and I listened to it a ton at the time and now my baby and I listen to it sometimes when we are playing! I think she prefers Creep, though.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:06 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:06 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I just can't believe that 20 years ago these Radioheads only had an "OK" computer. But my God, did they not whine on about it? And in the medium of song! Nowadays they have a really good computer, and you never hear them harping on about it. Which is a terrible shame as their pathetic misery was so damn catchy.
I've never bought their new albums, such as "Good Quality Tablet", "New iPhone" or "PC - with Windows 10 installed!!!" - I mean some of you probably like that stuff, but personally I prefer the days when poor Thomas Yorkie-Bar couldn't get his floppy disk drive to work ("Let Down"), or when his modem was so loud it gave him a headache ("Climbing Up the Walls"), or when he got depressed because the basic level of minesweeper didn't provide sufficient challenge ("No Surprises").
Funny thing though - this comment was actually written by a computer! .... a really shit one, too.
*Beep*
*Sniff*
*Boooooooooooooooooop*
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:09 AM on March 28, 2017 [10 favorites]
I've never bought their new albums, such as "Good Quality Tablet", "New iPhone" or "PC - with Windows 10 installed!!!" - I mean some of you probably like that stuff, but personally I prefer the days when poor Thomas Yorkie-Bar couldn't get his floppy disk drive to work ("Let Down"), or when his modem was so loud it gave him a headache ("Climbing Up the Walls"), or when he got depressed because the basic level of minesweeper didn't provide sufficient challenge ("No Surprises").
Funny thing though - this comment was actually written by a computer! .... a really shit one, too.
*Beep*
*Sniff*
*Boooooooooooooooooop*
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:09 AM on March 28, 2017 [10 favorites]
Jonny Greenwood: The songwriting process was pretty organic. We’d always start by jamming on Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” and then whatever happened when we veered off from that would become a new song. But it always started with “Rikki.”
An Oral History of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'
posted by koeselitz at 10:17 AM on March 28, 2017 [26 favorites]
An Oral History of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'
posted by koeselitz at 10:17 AM on March 28, 2017 [26 favorites]
I feel like it's just the wrong age for OK Computer, right now. Maybe two years ago would have been a better time for the 20th anniversary. Or if Clinton had won we'd be ready for that neoliberal angst.
"The Head of State / Has called for me by name / But I don't have time for him"
"My" Radiohead era is that mid-'90s sweet spot when The Bends was still old news, but producing singles and BBC Radio 1 live concerts and one-off songs for War Child... oh, wait! I know a lot of OK Computer from the singles and tracks on free CDs on the cover of Q (*spit*) and other music mags. From seeing the Paranoid Android video on late night TV just before Dr Katz and being amazed and attracted to its progginess. From a quick clip of Karma Police on TOTP. From that pure My Dying Bride guitar sound on Airbag.
But Lucky. Lucky!
"We are standing on the edge."
posted by comealongpole at 10:20 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
"The Head of State / Has called for me by name / But I don't have time for him"
"My" Radiohead era is that mid-'90s sweet spot when The Bends was still old news, but producing singles and BBC Radio 1 live concerts and one-off songs for War Child... oh, wait! I know a lot of OK Computer from the singles and tracks on free CDs on the cover of Q (*spit*) and other music mags. From seeing the Paranoid Android video on late night TV just before Dr Katz and being amazed and attracted to its progginess. From a quick clip of Karma Police on TOTP. From that pure My Dying Bride guitar sound on Airbag.
But Lucky. Lucky!
"We are standing on the edge."
posted by comealongpole at 10:20 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Six Degrees Of Steely Dan
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:21 AM on March 28, 2017
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:21 AM on March 28, 2017
OK but we all agree Fitter Happier is the worst, right?
posted by Mayor West at 10:25 AM on March 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by Mayor West at 10:25 AM on March 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
Whenever I hear anyone mention this album, all I can think of is a dude 6 years younger than me trying to explain why it's so awesome and I should totally check it out.
"It's just...so...technophobic. It's a really technophobic album."
posted by straight at 10:26 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
"It's just...so...technophobic. It's a really technophobic album."
posted by straight at 10:26 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I like OK Computer quite a bit still (after twenty years) but I think the main secret to its success is that it's basically a mashup of Moving Pictures and Achtung Baby.
posted by My Dad at 10:27 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by My Dad at 10:27 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Six Degrees Of Steely Dan Horace Silver
posted by thelonius at 10:30 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 10:30 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Jonny Greenwood: The songwriting process was pretty organic. We’d always start by jamming on Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” and then whatever happened when we veered off from that would become a new song. But it always started with “Rikki.”
An Oral History of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'
You might look at that Clickhole link and think, "It's probably not that funny," and then not click on it. That would be a tragic mistake.
posted by straight at 10:31 AM on March 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
An Oral History of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'
You might look at that Clickhole link and think, "It's probably not that funny," and then not click on it. That would be a tragic mistake.
posted by straight at 10:31 AM on March 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
I was watching MTV2 quite a lot 20-25 years ago, because they were playing videos 24/7 and it felt a lot like the MTV I grew up with. I learned about more than a couple of bands I still follow today during that period.
I found the OK Computer videos completely inscrutable and the music impenetrable. I dunno. Too old, maybe?
I'm glad to many people love Radiohead. It brings them joy. I've tried, truly, and it's never clicked for me. This is also fine.
posted by hippybear at 10:31 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I found the OK Computer videos completely inscrutable and the music impenetrable. I dunno. Too old, maybe?
I'm glad to many people love Radiohead. It brings them joy. I've tried, truly, and it's never clicked for me. This is also fine.
posted by hippybear at 10:31 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
it's basically a mashup of Moving Pictures and Achtung BabyI still listen to OK Computer with some regularity, and I enjoy Rush, and I am particularly a fan of Achtung Baby. Some part of me is immediately irrationally offended by this description.
I can't think of any reason this isn't a fairly accurate description, though. I may just need a moment to work through this.
posted by curiousgene at 10:31 AM on March 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
I listened to OK Computer so many times when it came out and then didn't listen to the CD again for years because I had memorized to songs to the degree that I didn't need to. I did not have that many CDs.
I took another listen a few months ago after watching Westworld and hearing instrumental covers of a few of the songs. It was remarkable how well "Exit Music" translated to violin and made me appreciate the talent that went into composing those songs even more.
posted by Alison at 10:40 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I took another listen a few months ago after watching Westworld and hearing instrumental covers of a few of the songs. It was remarkable how well "Exit Music" translated to violin and made me appreciate the talent that went into composing those songs even more.
posted by Alison at 10:40 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I may just need a moment to work through this.
Ha, well I was being a little silly when I used the word "mashup" but I can totally hear Rush and U2 (and Pink Floyd) whenever I listen to OK Computer.
posted by My Dad at 10:41 AM on March 28, 2017
Ha, well I was being a little silly when I used the word "mashup" but I can totally hear Rush and U2 (and Pink Floyd) whenever I listen to OK Computer.
posted by My Dad at 10:41 AM on March 28, 2017
Soon after it came out, I was approached by some mom in Sam the Record Man who was looking for the right Radiohead album for her preteen son. I suggested OK Computer.
So to that now thirtysomething kid: a) I'm sorry, b) you're welcome, or c) all of the above.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:46 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
So to that now thirtysomething kid: a) I'm sorry, b) you're welcome, or c) all of the above.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:46 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I dunno. Too old, maybe?
I'm as old as you and I loved this album.
What I hated was all the fucking talking about it. So I'll shut up now.
posted by chococat at 10:48 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm as old as you and I loved this album.
What I hated was all the fucking talking about it. So I'll shut up now.
posted by chococat at 10:48 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Oh, huh, my comment about being the wrong age took this discussion on a bad turn. When it came out in 1997 I was the wrong age to appreciate it. The happy thing is I came to start listening to it, what, 10 years later? And only occasionally, not overexposed, so even now when I hear it I think "wow this album is great! it sounds so fresh!". It's a singularly great work of rock IMHO.
What's the music that was made in 2016 that's most like this? My most contemporary touchstone is Sigur Ros, but that's a few years old now.
posted by Nelson at 10:52 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
What's the music that was made in 2016 that's most like this? My most contemporary touchstone is Sigur Ros, but that's a few years old now.
posted by Nelson at 10:52 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also, FIVE articles? Clicks must be slow over at Pitchfork.
I'm surprised it's just 5, considering Pitchfork at one time maybe 8-10 years ago or so decided all bands were shit compared to Radiohead, and even if some previously recorded music sounded vaguely like something Radiohead, it only existed because Radiohead influenced them, defying the continuity of time.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:53 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm surprised it's just 5, considering Pitchfork at one time maybe 8-10 years ago or so decided all bands were shit compared to Radiohead, and even if some previously recorded music sounded vaguely like something Radiohead, it only existed because Radiohead influenced them, defying the continuity of time.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:53 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
This was a whole album inspired by the scene in Star Trek IV where Scotty was trying to speak to the desktop Apple II-whatever, right?
I've always thought so because of the lyrics:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks to mice
He's biggerthanhewas on TV
Twenty years agooo
(I might have heard those wrong.)
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:54 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I've always thought so because of the lyrics:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks to mice
He's biggerthanhewas on TV
Twenty years agooo
(I might have heard those wrong.)
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:54 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm surprised it's just 5, considering Pitchfork at one time maybe 8-10 years ago or so decided all bands were shit compared to Radiohead, and even if some previously recorded music sounded vaguely like something Radiohead, it only existed because Radiohead influenced them, defying the continuity of time.
Given we're still three months away from the actual anniversary date, there's plenty of time for your dystopian dreams to come true.
posted by mushhushshu at 10:58 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Given we're still three months away from the actual anniversary date, there's plenty of time for your dystopian dreams to come true.
posted by mushhushshu at 10:58 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I liked this album an awful lot and probably would have gone completely ape shit over it if it had been released only a few months earlier, before my first encounter with Under the Bushes Under the Stars at a Tower Records listening station.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:03 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:03 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is what you get.
posted by Artw at 11:05 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 11:05 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
This was a whole album inspired by the scene in Star Trek IV where Scotty was trying to speak to the desktop Apple II-whatever, right?
I've always thought so because of the lyrics:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks to mice
He's biggerthanhewas on TV
Twenty years agooo
It's actually:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radiooooooo
I was about to post something about how OKC is a fine album but I've never quite gotten the hype, but then I realized that I know every word to Karma Police by heart, so, uh...
(I'll die on the hill that Aeroplane Over The Sea is a 7/10 at best, though)
posted by Itaxpica at 11:06 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I've always thought so because of the lyrics:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks to mice
He's biggerthanhewas on TV
Twenty years agooo
It's actually:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radiooooooo
I was about to post something about how OKC is a fine album but I've never quite gotten the hype, but then I realized that I know every word to Karma Police by heart, so, uh...
(I'll die on the hill that Aeroplane Over The Sea is a 7/10 at best, though)
posted by Itaxpica at 11:06 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I got pissed once in the company of Thom York in his local in Oxford, after a small group of me and my friends decamped there for the evening. He spent most of the time arguing anusedly with drunken dons about Welsh, at least those parts of the evening I remember. The dons seemed delighted. I got the impression that this was a fairly regular event.
That same evening, a flamboyantly Catholic professor of English tried hard to pick up my pal's girlfriend - they were sitting together - and after he realised he wasn't going to get anywhere, swiched seamlessly and shamelessly to trying to pick me up. I was most impressed (but declined his kind offer, as I wasn't feeling particularly ecumenical at the time).
At no point did OK Computer come up, as it has not on my playlist for at least a decade. It was a good album, but by then I felt that Radiohead were rather self-consciously going down the alt-prog road and had missed the point that you need to be a little bit deliberate in your self-parody for that to work out well.
posted by Devonian at 11:08 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
That same evening, a flamboyantly Catholic professor of English tried hard to pick up my pal's girlfriend - they were sitting together - and after he realised he wasn't going to get anywhere, swiched seamlessly and shamelessly to trying to pick me up. I was most impressed (but declined his kind offer, as I wasn't feeling particularly ecumenical at the time).
At no point did OK Computer come up, as it has not on my playlist for at least a decade. It was a good album, but by then I felt that Radiohead were rather self-consciously going down the alt-prog road and had missed the point that you need to be a little bit deliberate in your self-parody for that to work out well.
posted by Devonian at 11:08 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm still in shock about Thom Yorke and Gwyneth Paltrow getting married and divorced.
posted by srboisvert at 11:09 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 11:09 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
When it came out in 1997 I was the wrong age to appreciate it.
Creep was really big when I was in university. I liked the song but got sick of it, and couldn't really take Radiohead seriously as a band and stopped paying attention to them until Amnesiac. Which was a revelation.
posted by My Dad at 11:14 AM on March 28, 2017
Creep was really big when I was in university. I liked the song but got sick of it, and couldn't really take Radiohead seriously as a band and stopped paying attention to them until Amnesiac. Which was a revelation.
posted by My Dad at 11:14 AM on March 28, 2017
This means that in a few months I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One is twenty years old in a few months. I hope that gets the same kind of coverage from Pitchfork, but I have a feeling it won't.
posted by pxe2000 at 11:29 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 11:29 AM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
It is fine for OK Computer to be old. It is a fantastic album that, like The Bends and poor Pablo Honey (not to mention numerous EPs), feels like it is kind of overlooked these days, even though it was a huge deal and has had a thorough soak into pop culture.
Now, when Kid A's 20th anniversary comes around, we'll know that time is wrong shut up.
posted by byanyothername at 11:30 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Now, when Kid A's 20th anniversary comes around, we'll know that time is wrong shut up.
posted by byanyothername at 11:30 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I was a weird, alienated farm-girl growing up in North Dakota. In 1995 I ran across Pablo Honey on cassette at a garage sale. It was immediate love. I snapped up The Bends and listened to both obsessively. I kept my Radiohead love a secret though - in North Dakota, in the mid 90's, they were a joke of a band, a Creep-producing one hit wonder. They my first window into rock music that wasn't the top-40 pop and crusty old (in my mind, at that time) classic rock that was played on the ONE rock station. There weren't interesting music shops to haunt (just the mall Sam Goody). I had no cooler older sibling to share stuff. Radiohead was the one thing I discovered all on my own. They were mine, this mocked band that was utterly transformative for me.
The summer after my senior year of high school, OK Computer came out.
When I went to college that fall—in Detroit! A big move for a small-town girl!—suddenly everyone loved my 'little unknown loser band.' That very first week, a boy was playing it in his dorm room with the door open, and I was drawn like a moth to the flame.
"Hi! Radiohead! I LOVE this band! My name is yaddayadaa!"
He looked up at me and rolled his eyes, the very picture of freshman wounded art-school boy. "Yeah, sure you do. Now that it's cool, right? No girl likes Radiohead."
I was so mad. I didn't speak to that kid for the next four years. They once again became my secret, even though obviously now they were a great big popular band, forevermore.
So I love Ok Computer. I love Radiohead. I'm seeing them for the 25th time live this summer. It's a thing.
But I will always have a moment and anger and shame and frustration right in the middle of Electioneering, when it hits the point where that dipshit mocked me in my gleeful excitement.
(It's okay. Electioneering is the worst song on the album, anyway)
posted by Windigo at 11:35 AM on March 28, 2017 [18 favorites]
The summer after my senior year of high school, OK Computer came out.
When I went to college that fall—in Detroit! A big move for a small-town girl!—suddenly everyone loved my 'little unknown loser band.' That very first week, a boy was playing it in his dorm room with the door open, and I was drawn like a moth to the flame.
"Hi! Radiohead! I LOVE this band! My name is yaddayadaa!"
He looked up at me and rolled his eyes, the very picture of freshman wounded art-school boy. "Yeah, sure you do. Now that it's cool, right? No girl likes Radiohead."
I was so mad. I didn't speak to that kid for the next four years. They once again became my secret, even though obviously now they were a great big popular band, forevermore.
So I love Ok Computer. I love Radiohead. I'm seeing them for the 25th time live this summer. It's a thing.
But I will always have a moment and anger and shame and frustration right in the middle of Electioneering, when it hits the point where that dipshit mocked me in my gleeful excitement.
(It's okay. Electioneering is the worst song on the album, anyway)
posted by Windigo at 11:35 AM on March 28, 2017 [18 favorites]
Watched Romeo + Juliet with the kiddo the other day. Boy was Radiohead's proto-OK Computer sound big in 1996.
posted by Artw at 11:37 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 11:37 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
This was a whole album inspired by the scene in Star Trek IV where Scotty was trying to speak to the desktop Apple II-whatever, right?
What, no it was inspired by the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. "OK Computer" was a line in the book (I was reading it when the album came out which is the only reason I would remember that line), Marvin was the "Paranoid Android" and there were at least a couple of references to people being "first against the wall".
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:40 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
What, no it was inspired by the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. "OK Computer" was a line in the book (I was reading it when the album came out which is the only reason I would remember that line), Marvin was the "Paranoid Android" and there were at least a couple of references to people being "first against the wall".
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:40 AM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Nothing like a music thread to bring out the pretention of the blue.
Glad there are fans representing here. Radiohead is still the only band to convert me into a fan by live performance. They opened for REM's Monster tour, and I had little love for Creep. Generally I've lost more respect in live shows than I've gained.
posted by Strange_Robinson at 11:40 AM on March 28, 2017
Glad there are fans representing here. Radiohead is still the only band to convert me into a fan by live performance. They opened for REM's Monster tour, and I had little love for Creep. Generally I've lost more respect in live shows than I've gained.
posted by Strange_Robinson at 11:40 AM on March 28, 2017
1. Radiohead is awesome.
2. OK Computer is awesome.
3. Statements 1 & 2 are true regardless of your current age, your age when you first heard Radiohead, your position and/or your velocity.
4. Though not simultaneously.
posted by signal at 11:46 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
2. OK Computer is awesome.
3. Statements 1 & 2 are true regardless of your current age, your age when you first heard Radiohead, your position and/or your velocity.
4. Though not simultaneously.
posted by signal at 11:46 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Electioneering is the worst song on the album, anyway
OH THANK GOD IT'S NOT JUST ME.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:47 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
OH THANK GOD IT'S NOT JUST ME.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:47 AM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
*Beep*
*Sniff*
*Boooooooooooooooooop*
It's funny you say this, quidnunc, because I was once trying to explain to someone why I love OK Computer and hate Kid A. I said, "OK Computer is very guitar-y, but Kid A has too much electronic bleeping and blooping."
posted by scratch at 11:56 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
*Sniff*
*Boooooooooooooooooop*
It's funny you say this, quidnunc, because I was once trying to explain to someone why I love OK Computer and hate Kid A. I said, "OK Computer is very guitar-y, but Kid A has too much electronic bleeping and blooping."
posted by scratch at 11:56 AM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I actually first heard OK Computer in a coffee bar I frweuesnted that had been just converted from a bookstore (now it's a bar bar). One of younger 20-something baristas had it on a rotation with Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald compilations, Beck's Mellow Gold, Elliott Smith, Changesone, and Arto Lindsay's Mundo Civilizado, so when I think of this album, I think of coffee. Cribbage. Singalongs (not a lot of people came to the shop at that point). It was a good time to be 28 and able to have time between film/TV production jobs to chill, read a good book with a cuppa on a Tuesday afternoon, and meet people.
I'm a fan of all the above-listed musicians, but was less so of Radiohead because all I'd heard, really, was "Creep". I was a little taken aback that this album was theirs ("Climbing Up the Walls"!), and I appreciated that they went somewhere else sonically. I've been a fan ever since.
posted by droplet at 11:57 AM on March 28, 2017
I'm a fan of all the above-listed musicians, but was less so of Radiohead because all I'd heard, really, was "Creep". I was a little taken aback that this album was theirs ("Climbing Up the Walls"!), and I appreciated that they went somewhere else sonically. I've been a fan ever since.
posted by droplet at 11:57 AM on March 28, 2017
and I appreciated that they went somewhere else sonically
I appreciate that they keep going different places sonically, and that even when one of their albums isn't my bag, their live show will do it's damnedest to change my mind. (Like, I was not really into King of Limbs, but I think their show on that tour was the best one I'd seen).
posted by muddgirl at 12:03 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I appreciate that they keep going different places sonically, and that even when one of their albums isn't my bag, their live show will do it's damnedest to change my mind. (Like, I was not really into King of Limbs, but I think their show on that tour was the best one I'd seen).
posted by muddgirl at 12:03 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Forgot to mention that when I first heard Subterranean Homesick Alien (on the radio!), I said to myself, "What the--is this an old Bowie song I've somehow overlooked for approximately the past 25 years?"
posted by scratch at 12:03 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by scratch at 12:03 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm surprised it's just 5, considering Pitchfork at one time maybe 8-10 years ago or so decided all bands were shit compared to Radiohead, and even if some previously recorded music sounded vaguely like something Radiohead, it only existed because Radiohead influenced them, defying the continuity of time.
Paris: "Am I making any sense here?"
Janeway: "No, but that's okay. One of the more difficult concepts to grasp in temporal mechanics is that sometimes effect can precede cause. A reaction can be observed before the action which initiated it. Such is the case with so-called 'rock 'n' roll' music, all of which was caused by a late 20th Century musical group called 'Radiohead'."
--Star Trek: Voyager, "Parallax" (season 1, episode 2)
posted by Automocar at 12:13 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Paris: "Am I making any sense here?"
Janeway: "No, but that's okay. One of the more difficult concepts to grasp in temporal mechanics is that sometimes effect can precede cause. A reaction can be observed before the action which initiated it. Such is the case with so-called 'rock 'n' roll' music, all of which was caused by a late 20th Century musical group called 'Radiohead'."
--Star Trek: Voyager, "Parallax" (season 1, episode 2)
posted by Automocar at 12:13 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
OK Computer is amazing art but I only want to hear it when I'm in a melancholy mood. When I find myself listening to it a lot it's a sign that I'm not happy and need to change something.
posted by Blue Meanie at 12:19 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Blue Meanie at 12:19 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm a fan of all the above-listed musicians, but was less so of Radiohead because all I'd heard, really, was "Creep". I was a little taken aback that this album was theirs ("Climbing Up the Walls"!),
Same here, I hated "Creep" so much I ignored them for years until I heard some other stuff from "The Bends" without knowing who it was and loved it, and this was long after "OK Computer" was out.
posted by bongo_x at 12:27 PM on March 28, 2017
Same here, I hated "Creep" so much I ignored them for years until I heard some other stuff from "The Bends" without knowing who it was and loved it, and this was long after "OK Computer" was out.
posted by bongo_x at 12:27 PM on March 28, 2017
Strangely, Radiohead always puts me in a better mood. It makes me feel any number of things are possible, despite any evidence to the contrary.
posted by Windigo at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Windigo at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Now, when Kid A's 20th anniversary comes around, we'll know that time is wrong shut up.
I still haven't gotten over the moment when my daughter was in the next room practicing piano for her high school jazz band and I suddenly heard her start playing "Everything In It's Right Place."
"Why are you playing that? Do you know what that is?"
"It's just one of our new jazz band pieces."
posted by straight at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2017 [11 favorites]
I still haven't gotten over the moment when my daughter was in the next room practicing piano for her high school jazz band and I suddenly heard her start playing "Everything In It's Right Place."
"Why are you playing that? Do you know what that is?"
"It's just one of our new jazz band pieces."
posted by straight at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2017 [11 favorites]
piano or jazz covers of Radiohead have almost become a cliche, since people (like The Bad Plus) have done them so well that a lot of imitators appeared
posted by thelonius at 12:37 PM on March 28, 2017
posted by thelonius at 12:37 PM on March 28, 2017
btw, from my sprawling bookmarks, here is a nice guitar arrangement of the "Everything In It's Right Place" keyboard part.
posted by thelonius at 12:40 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 12:40 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
piano or jazz covers of Radiohead have almost become a cliche, since people (like The Bad Plus) have done them so well that a lot of imitators appeared
Might I remind you that MetaFilter is not immune to the siren's call of OK Computer covers.
Lutoslawski's cover of Airbag is better than the original and I will fight you
posted by Mayor West at 1:03 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Might I remind you that MetaFilter is not immune to the siren's call of OK Computer covers.
Lutoslawski's cover of Airbag is better than the original and I will fight you
posted by Mayor West at 1:03 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Yeah, that's still on my list of things to sit down and listen to. I've had it since it came out.
It's not very obscure: you probably haven't heard it.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:04 PM on March 28, 2017
It's not very obscure: you probably haven't heard it.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:04 PM on March 28, 2017
i'm the bassline in exit music for a film and I'am capable of the kind of sustained, brutal flatulence that could bring tears to the eyes of Mussolini
posted by Sebmojo at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Sebmojo at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
"OK Computer" was a line in the book
I always hear it in Mark Wing-Davey's voice, but I'm a radio-series purist.
My usual OKC story:
I was working as an artworker in a design/below-the-line advertising studio that year, the same year I read the hardback of Mason and Dixon in the chunks of time available during the tube journey between Elephant & Castle and Angel stations and occasional lunchtimes. Very heavy book, purely in terms of mass.
Anyway.
One of the copywriters was a dedicated music industry ligger, and he managed to get a pre-advance tape of OKC to play on the office stereo. One of the speakers was above my head, and the other was on the opposite side of the quite-large room. So I heard half of the album many times before its release. The left half.
I'd been sniffy on Radiohead for a long time. Until I was watching the TV programme The Help Album - I remember most of the stuff there as a bit lazy and sloppy (understandable considering it was recorded in one day), but Lucky was stunning. It still took me a long time to get round to buying The Bends, as I was a fairly random person in those days, but I did.
Anyway, lots of experience of the left-hand side of OK Computer. The day it came out I went down to the Our Price on Upper Street, bought it, took it home and immediately played it, just sitting there listening to both sides of it without any other distraction. And then I listened again.
I'd always wondered what it would be like to buy one of those albums - a Sgt Pepper or a Dark Side of the Moon - when it came out, and listening to it I was quickly convinced that here one was. It seemed to capture the feeling of the times - although it was a fairly upbeat time (in popular British history terms, halfway between the fall of the Tories and the death of Princess Diana), there was a sense of numb melancholy that I remember resonating very strongly with me.
I do sometimes think it might have been the last great album. Not because there were no more as good or better musically (obviously, there have been many), but the download age was coming, and it would be the last record to have the combination of resonance with the times with widespread sales as an album - a piece of plastic that it seemed everyone had in their homes.
posted by Grangousier at 1:11 PM on March 28, 2017 [11 favorites]
I always hear it in Mark Wing-Davey's voice, but I'm a radio-series purist.
My usual OKC story:
I was working as an artworker in a design/below-the-line advertising studio that year, the same year I read the hardback of Mason and Dixon in the chunks of time available during the tube journey between Elephant & Castle and Angel stations and occasional lunchtimes. Very heavy book, purely in terms of mass.
Anyway.
One of the copywriters was a dedicated music industry ligger, and he managed to get a pre-advance tape of OKC to play on the office stereo. One of the speakers was above my head, and the other was on the opposite side of the quite-large room. So I heard half of the album many times before its release. The left half.
I'd been sniffy on Radiohead for a long time. Until I was watching the TV programme The Help Album - I remember most of the stuff there as a bit lazy and sloppy (understandable considering it was recorded in one day), but Lucky was stunning. It still took me a long time to get round to buying The Bends, as I was a fairly random person in those days, but I did.
Anyway, lots of experience of the left-hand side of OK Computer. The day it came out I went down to the Our Price on Upper Street, bought it, took it home and immediately played it, just sitting there listening to both sides of it without any other distraction. And then I listened again.
I'd always wondered what it would be like to buy one of those albums - a Sgt Pepper or a Dark Side of the Moon - when it came out, and listening to it I was quickly convinced that here one was. It seemed to capture the feeling of the times - although it was a fairly upbeat time (in popular British history terms, halfway between the fall of the Tories and the death of Princess Diana), there was a sense of numb melancholy that I remember resonating very strongly with me.
I do sometimes think it might have been the last great album. Not because there were no more as good or better musically (obviously, there have been many), but the download age was coming, and it would be the last record to have the combination of resonance with the times with widespread sales as an album - a piece of plastic that it seemed everyone had in their homes.
posted by Grangousier at 1:11 PM on March 28, 2017 [11 favorites]
i'm the bassline in exit music for a film and I'am capable of the kind of sustained, brutal flatulence that could bring tears to the eyes of Mussolini
Get out of my cab
posted by thelonius at 1:19 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Get out of my cab
posted by thelonius at 1:19 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
doctornecessiter: “This was a whole album inspired by the scene in Star Trek IV where Scotty was trying to speak to the desktop Apple II-whatever, right?”
That would be a good guess, but not quite! As the "Oral History of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'" which I posted earlier explains, this was the real inspiration of the album:
That would be a good guess, but not quite! As the "Oral History of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'" which I posted earlier explains, this was the real inspiration of the album:
Thom Yorke: I was going door-to-door telling people that “Creep” is a bad song when I found myself in a computer store. So I’m sort of sizing up the place, and all of a sudden I get this thought: What if a computer could go drive a car? Then I laughed, ’cause I got the picture of a computer drinking a pint and hanging out with his computer mates. Then all of a sudden I stopped laughing, because I got the idea of what if a computer could play guitar. I was transfixed by this idea. And that’s when I knew: We needed to do an album about that.posted by koeselitz at 1:21 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Ed O’Brien: Well, it’s a fascinating what-if, isn’t it? What if a computer could play guitar? I still think about it sometimes.
Thom Yorke: I came up with the title of the album on the spot. It’s the moment when you give a computer a guitar and say, “Okay, computer…let’s see what you got! Show us your stuff!”
In the early 2000's, I went through a period of pretty massive Radiohead fandom. I haven't listened to OK Computer in full since then, and have no plans to do so any time soon.
During a particularly stressful time in my life, I was playing to it obsessively, and I think I just began to associate the music too closely with whatever else was running through my head at the time. It got to the point that I couldn't make it through Subterranean Homesick Alien (specifically the line: "[They'll] take me on board their beautiful ship") without feeling crushingly maudlin and paranoid.
Which, I guess, isn't that surprising given the general subject matter of the album. But I listen to a fair amount of sad/paranoid bastard music, and very few records have ever affected me the way this one has. I wouldn't even say it speaks to the strengths of the album (of which there are many); it just became disturbing and unpleasant to do so. Still a landmark album, and worthy of the lion's share of the praise it gets.
posted by kryptondog at 1:52 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
During a particularly stressful time in my life, I was playing to it obsessively, and I think I just began to associate the music too closely with whatever else was running through my head at the time. It got to the point that I couldn't make it through Subterranean Homesick Alien (specifically the line: "[They'll] take me on board their beautiful ship") without feeling crushingly maudlin and paranoid.
Which, I guess, isn't that surprising given the general subject matter of the album. But I listen to a fair amount of sad/paranoid bastard music, and very few records have ever affected me the way this one has. I wouldn't even say it speaks to the strengths of the album (of which there are many); it just became disturbing and unpleasant to do so. Still a landmark album, and worthy of the lion's share of the praise it gets.
posted by kryptondog at 1:52 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
There's a kids album of Radiohead songs performed on Glokenspiel and I can confirm that it all sounds spooky as fuck.
posted by Artw at 1:58 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 1:58 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
piano or jazz covers of Radiohead have almost become a cliche
Yes, but how many of them are by someone like my daughter who has never heard of Radiohead?
posted by straight at 3:58 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yes, but how many of them are by someone like my daughter who has never heard of Radiohead?
posted by straight at 3:58 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Lutoslawski's cover of Airbag is better than the original and I will fight you
Made my day. Cheers, mate!
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:46 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Made my day. Cheers, mate!
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:46 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
In a lot of important ways, your early 20s are when your personality and world view really starts to gel and this is one of a few albums and movies and books that were in the air when I was doing a bunch of psychedelics and trying to figure out who I was and what my place was in the world. It's enmeshed in my personality, I think, in subtle and important ways.
I saw them at a small club on the ok computer tour and they were fucking phenomenal, but really this an album you listened to over and over in your room, and probably the *last* album that I listened to that way, as soon afterwards, napster and audiogalaxy and iTunes opened up a deluge of disposable pop music, and you didn't have to listen to the same 5 cds over and over again because that was all you had.
posted by empath at 5:05 PM on March 28, 2017
I saw them at a small club on the ok computer tour and they were fucking phenomenal, but really this an album you listened to over and over in your room, and probably the *last* album that I listened to that way, as soon afterwards, napster and audiogalaxy and iTunes opened up a deluge of disposable pop music, and you didn't have to listen to the same 5 cds over and over again because that was all you had.
posted by empath at 5:05 PM on March 28, 2017
Also, the first time I ever saw my kid dancing was to this reggae cover of Radiohead played at a Caribbean themed restaurant in Florida, and I admired his taste.
posted by empath at 5:08 PM on March 28, 2017
posted by empath at 5:08 PM on March 28, 2017
straight! I wasn't trying to put down your daughter and her peers - it's awesome that they're playing that....
posted by thelonius at 5:13 PM on March 28, 2017
posted by thelonius at 5:13 PM on March 28, 2017
piano or jazz covers of Radiohead have almost become a cliche
At the risk of sounding super pretentious and like a mega super huge radiohead fan (which I am) I want to say that I actually think the abundance of radiohead piano (and instrumental in general) covers is testament to how interesting and well-constructed the music is and is in general an amazing thing. The tunes stand up well as pieces of music, not just rock band songs. They're super interesting harmonically and melodically and rhythmically and so they lend themselves to a lot of really great interpretations. There's a sense in which all performances of Beethoven or whomever are covers and insofar as that is true then I think it is true in a similar sense for Radiohead. The covers that the Bad Plus do are really different than the covers done by like Brad Mehldau or Chris O'Riley or Yaran Herman. Each offers a different and interesting take. I don't see this as a cliche. I think it's awesome and the genre melting and border dissolving we are seeing in music these days is fantastic.
posted by Lutoslawski at 5:45 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
At the risk of sounding super pretentious and like a mega super huge radiohead fan (which I am) I want to say that I actually think the abundance of radiohead piano (and instrumental in general) covers is testament to how interesting and well-constructed the music is and is in general an amazing thing. The tunes stand up well as pieces of music, not just rock band songs. They're super interesting harmonically and melodically and rhythmically and so they lend themselves to a lot of really great interpretations. There's a sense in which all performances of Beethoven or whomever are covers and insofar as that is true then I think it is true in a similar sense for Radiohead. The covers that the Bad Plus do are really different than the covers done by like Brad Mehldau or Chris O'Riley or Yaran Herman. Each offers a different and interesting take. I don't see this as a cliche. I think it's awesome and the genre melting and border dissolving we are seeing in music these days is fantastic.
posted by Lutoslawski at 5:45 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'd moved away a few months previously, and got a phone call that a good friend had died unexpectedly. He'd been hit by a car in the middle of the night. It took a few weeks before they released his body, so I'd traveled back for his funeral. The night before it, I was catching up with another friend. She was being kind to me so we were eating in a vegan place, and on the cafe stereo comes this ethereal voice singing
In the next world war,
Jack-knife juggernaut,
I am born again.
And I said to her
"Are you hearing this?"
and
"That sounds like Horace Andy singing Radiohead"
It was.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:31 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
In the next world war,
Jack-knife juggernaut,
I am born again.
And I said to her
"Are you hearing this?"
and
"That sounds like Horace Andy singing Radiohead"
It was.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:31 PM on March 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was also 25 years old when OK Computer came out, so I was also probably the wrong age for it. Old enough to dismiss the angst, but too young to appreciate the music. However, I happened to be living in Asia at the time, so I missed the album entirely, along with Kid A and Amnesiac.
I didn't stumble into their music until I was in my early thirties. I was pretty amazed that the one-hit band that recorded Creep actually wrote serious music. I'd put OK Computer behind Kid Amnesiac, but man there are some good songs on OKC.
posted by Loudmax at 6:55 PM on March 28, 2017
I didn't stumble into their music until I was in my early thirties. I was pretty amazed that the one-hit band that recorded Creep actually wrote serious music. I'd put OK Computer behind Kid Amnesiac, but man there are some good songs on OKC.
posted by Loudmax at 6:55 PM on March 28, 2017
There's a kids album of Radiohead songs performed on Glokenspiel and I can confirm that it all sounds spooky as fuck.
I have this album and it's extremely interesting, IMO. Not gimmicky in the least. It's just one of a series of rock covers as lullaby albums the guy's done, but for me it works.
posted by davebush at 7:31 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have this album and it's extremely interesting, IMO. Not gimmicky in the least. It's just one of a series of rock covers as lullaby albums the guy's done, but for me it works.
posted by davebush at 7:31 PM on March 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Meeting People Is Easy - probably the whiniest work of art I've ever been exposed to...
It's true, it's the whiniest thing I've ever seen... It's also kinda hilarious, in the right mood. It's both the worst and best parody of the rock band on the road-style doc since Spinal Tap. But very dry.
posted by ovvl at 7:50 PM on March 28, 2017
It's true, it's the whiniest thing I've ever seen... It's also kinda hilarious, in the right mood. It's both the worst and best parody of the rock band on the road-style doc since Spinal Tap. But very dry.
posted by ovvl at 7:50 PM on March 28, 2017
Definitely a forever album for me like Dark Side of the Moon or Exile in Guyville, etc. I space out my listens but it never disappoints. I remember how surprised I was at Kid A and the comparative lack of conventional rock sounds but I'm happy they moved on in retrospect. But when Amnesiac came out my friend nicknamed it "kid b" because they were just further out into space. But they've done some great stuff all along, especially A. Moon Shaped Pool. I hated the eraser and gave it away though. Like the Radiohead equivalent of a ringo Starr solo album (sorry Ringo).
posted by freecellwizard at 7:51 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by freecellwizard at 7:51 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I wasn't trying to put down your daughter and her peers
Oh, I know. I was just trying to underline my point which is that kids these days and I'm an old man now.
posted by straight at 8:32 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh, I know. I was just trying to underline my point which is that kids these days and I'm an old man now.
posted by straight at 8:32 PM on March 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Since piano covers have been mentioned I need to link to this one of Weird Fishes which blew me away the other day
posted by moorooka at 9:44 PM on March 28, 2017
posted by moorooka at 9:44 PM on March 28, 2017
Oh, I didn't see this first time through
OK but we all agree Fitter Happier is the worst, right?
Nope, best song Radiohead never wrote
posted by byanyothername at 10:05 PM on March 28, 2017
OK but we all agree Fitter Happier is the worst, right?
Nope, best song Radiohead never wrote
posted by byanyothername at 10:05 PM on March 28, 2017
Oh, screw it, I'm just gonna post my favorite Radiohead covers now and you can't stop me:
Jacksoul - High & Dry
Sebastian Plano - Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Choir - Black Star
Hayley Richman - How to Disappear Completely
The Vibes - Sofa King Special
posted by byanyothername at 10:11 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Jacksoul - High & Dry
Sebastian Plano - Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Choir - Black Star
Hayley Richman - How to Disappear Completely
The Vibes - Sofa King Special
posted by byanyothername at 10:11 PM on March 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Wow some of these covers are fantastic. Definitely feeling the more melancholy sounding ones. My personal fav Radiohead song is the demo/acoustic version of Motion Picture Soundtrack, the one with the extra verse.
posted by gucci mane at 11:15 PM on March 28, 2017
posted by gucci mane at 11:15 PM on March 28, 2017
I hated the eraser and gave it away though.
Ah man I know from experience that you could have gotten almost half-price for it at a CD Exchange (I loved The Eraser but between me and MuddDude we had two copies. The dudes at CD Exchange had to enter the info manually it wasn't even in their database.)
The Eraser came out the summer I was living alone in San Antonio and MuddDude was living in Austin, so for me it's the album of long drives up I-35 as the sun is setting.
posted by muddgirl at 5:53 AM on March 29, 2017
Ah man I know from experience that you could have gotten almost half-price for it at a CD Exchange (I loved The Eraser but between me and MuddDude we had two copies. The dudes at CD Exchange had to enter the info manually it wasn't even in their database.)
The Eraser came out the summer I was living alone in San Antonio and MuddDude was living in Austin, so for me it's the album of long drives up I-35 as the sun is setting.
posted by muddgirl at 5:53 AM on March 29, 2017
I first saw this oud-fronted Karma Police cover on the blue and it's still my favorite Radiohead cover.
posted by Itaxpica at 12:22 PM on March 29, 2017
posted by Itaxpica at 12:22 PM on March 29, 2017
Everyone has a different favorite Radiohead song, but Lucky was what pulled me in and I still think the song is a perfect microcosm of the band's concerns both lyrically and musically.
posted by kreinsch at 7:28 PM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by kreinsch at 7:28 PM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
I've gushed at length about Airbag here before, but couldn't let this thread expire without mentioning a delightful piece of trivia that's come to light since then: the serendipitous discovery of a used edition of William Blake's Songs of Innocence, hand-annotated by a young Thom Yorke to show the inspiration for the song's lyrics. (NB: Saw my first live Radiohead show in Atlanta earlier this month and got to experience this epic track one row back from the rail -- I sincerely recommend the experience.)
Also, it probably won't be confirmed until after this post is archived, but there are rumors brewing that an OK Computer 20th anniversary boxed set is in the works...
posted by Rhaomi at 5:16 AM on April 28, 2017
Also, it probably won't be confirmed until after this post is archived, but there are rumors brewing that an OK Computer 20th anniversary boxed set is in the works...
posted by Rhaomi at 5:16 AM on April 28, 2017
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posted by Lyme Drop at 9:30 AM on March 28, 2017 [12 favorites]