hokypokynose said:
Yes! Yes yes! One other person who doesn't think Electioneering doesnt fit on OKC! It does! It fits just as well if not better! That song NEEDS to be on OKC! I can't stand people(there are many, just look at a Radiohead message board) who think that song is a waste!
Oh, geez. I have to agree. I've never participated in any RH forums (I know enough about band forums to know that I'd be scoffed at for not being a "real fan" if I didn't know Thom's preferred underwear brand
), but I think that Electioneering adds a heck of a lot to the album. Good performance, good lyrics, good hook and melody. I just love how such a blistering rock track can be so melodic underneath that sonic assault.
I'm gonna ramble a bit. This thread's had me thinking about Radiohead all day. What else are you gonna do at work?
I also think it works well within the framework of the album. OK Computer is very calculated, I think, in the way that it builds and releases tension. No Surprises wouldn't come across as such an incredible release if it was preceeded by only one frightening track (the other being Climbing Up The Walls, of course).
It's funny - although I've always thought of Radiohead's albums as being very good sounding (I can't vouch for Pablo Honey, which I don't have), I've never really tried to analyze their recordings from a producer's standpoint. That's why I'm liking this discussion so much. So much of it is just the band, though. Terrific, creative instrumentalists, and a lead singer with easily one of my all-time favorite voices... and great songs. It's not rocket science, it's just a hell of a lot of talent.
The thing that got me liking Radiohead, when I first heard OK Computer (I also saw them in concert, opening up for REM in 1995, but I honestly thought they were horrible at that time), was the fact that they struck me as the band that I WISHED U2 had been. The melodies, chord progressions, and guitar work are so obviously U2-influenced - and yet, U2's music stopped mattering to me when Rattle and Hum was released (outside of a handful of singles, such as "Discotheque"). I mean, if you listen, U2's song "The Unforgettable Fire" COULD have been a Radiohead song. It's like Radiohead took that brief period where U2 were more atmospheric and less anthemic, and used that as a stepping stone to create kind of an "alternate history" of what U2 could have become. But I digress.
I'd like to restate my earlier point, about Kid A/Amnesiac. I made a rude comment, and I ended up regretting it like I always do.
To anyone who enjoyed The Bends or OK Computer, but not Kid A and Amnesiac, I'm begging you to
listen to one of those albums at least ten times before you come to a decision. I honestly think that I had to spin Kid A ten times before I "got" it. It's the most work I've ever had to put into enjoying an album. When I first bought it I listened to it once, said "Oh my God, that's awful," and didn't listen again for months. I really think it takes a while for the hooks and the "ear candy" to pop out. You really owe it to yourself to give it another shot. I wish I had sooner.
Amnesiac came across, to me, as being more immediately likable. I'm not sure if that's because it's more straightforward, or because I knew what to expect, unlike when I first listened to Kid A. But I'm getting off track again. I wanted to say, to the "guitar rock" guy, that part of Radiohead's magic is the fact that they
didn't try to follow up OK Computer with OK Computer, Part II. Why bother? There's no way they could have made something as good, or better than, the original. Why do people like Rocky, but not Rocky V? Sean Connery, but not Roger Moore? Because trying to duplicate your own successes is artistic suicide. Maybe the Roger Moore thing wasn't fair, but you get the idea. If you want more OK Computer, listen to one of the "me, too" bands that crept up around that time. Villa Elaine, by Remy Zero, is a fairly respectable copy.
I respect Radiohead a great deal because I see them as the only currently active band that's forging any new ground in what is essentially a dead genre, rock and roll. I can't play rock music, personally. I'll never wail like Robert Plant, and I'll never write an anthem like Pete Townshend, and I'll never take your bollocks and paste them to the wall like Kurt Cobain. I honestly felt that nothing new could be done in rock. Radiohead proved me wrong. They're a rock band that has actually managed to do things that haven't been done before. You rock musicians out there may not like Radiohead, but I think you have to respect them.
