The Official Radiohead Thread

[Sneer]

Originally Posted by Il Duce

but they are more layered and textured

i mean my fave Radiohead song is "Pyramid" - it's a dirge, but how they layer it and the melody makes it an awesome "dirge"

OKC sounds completely unremarkable to me

OKC is very layered, dynamic and hugely imaginative for what is essentially an alternative rock album. It signalled the death knell of Britpop, and its highly sophisticated sound became influential on a number of bands (of wildly varying quality, granted) following its release.

I'm not trying to debase your personal opinion, I just fail to see how it's monotonous or lifeless... There's so much going on in those 50-odd minutes, Paranoid Android in itself comprises of about three different songs in 6 minutes!

It has a schizophrenic, somewhat unhinged quality that perfectly conveyed the paranoia prevalent in British society as it edged ever closer to the millennium. It's a commentary on humanity and it's relationship with capitalism, technology and death, which for me makes it an engrossing listen.

I'm not accusing you of this at all, but I do feel as if some people give it raw deal because they resent the adulation it has received, it's just too 'mainstream' and 'conventional' for Radiohead fans. It's a shame, because I think it's an album that oozes quality.

[Goofle]

Still rather a Beta Band album.

[The Fascinating Turnip]

I cetainly fail to see how OK Computer is a monotonous album. It's not as if it were a mere wave of melancholy sound and whining about computers.
I certainly don't want to attack anyone's personal taste, but I believe it's quite evident that a great deal of emotion was placed into many of those songs, and I definitely fail to grasp how, say, Exit Music (For a Film) is monotonous.

[Salami]

Originally Posted by TomClancy11

That's fine, as I said, my favourite is T'Bends (I'm Northern, okay!?)

Man up northern England! I love Lancashire so much....
I think T'Bends was the best they got musically, but I'm happy to appreciate that the rest of their work was very important culturally and shaped the course of alternative rock.

[blastingas10]

Originally Posted by Mighty Salami

"OK Computer" is the album where Radiohead started experimenting with new kinds of sound, not just synths, but different kinds of guitar distortion too. "Subterranean Homesick Alien" demonstrates this pretty well; you have Johnny Greenwood's guitar riff given some really unusual distortion and even some ambience.

Why am I writing this? I don't even like Radiohead (apart from "Just", which is one of the top ten best songs of all time)

Ya, I don't really like them either. Never understood the big fuss about them. They got a few good songs.

[Unknown Soldier]

Nothing to really say about the band, other than this thread has got 358 pages on them, is this some kind of MB record for a band

[GuitarBizarre]

Originally Posted by Unchained Ballad

I cetainly fail to see how OK Computer is a monotonous album. It's not as if it were a mere wave of melancholy sound and whining about computers.
I certainly don't want to attack anyone's personal taste, but I believe it's quite evident that a great deal of emotion was placed into many of those songs, and I definitely fail to grasp how, say, Exit Music (For a Film) is monotonous.

I just don't think the album has as much contrast as it needs. I'm sure some people think of it as "cohesive" or "thematic" but to me a lot of OKC sounds like the same song. Compare that to HTTT, where you have Sail To The Moon, Backdrifts, and Go To Sleep within the space of 3 songs, the Gloaming, There There, Punch Up at a Wedding, and Myxomatosis, on the album too...

HTTT has way more straight variety than OKC, but it still feels, if anything, more like a single, solid structure of an album, than OKC does, because of the contrast if anything.

[Goofle]

I do think a 358 page thread is massively too much. They are a good band, pretty much all there is to say.

[Salami]

Originally Posted by TomClancy11

I do think a 358 page thread is massively too much. They are a good band, pretty much all there is to say.

Definitely right. I think I'd rather have that than heated discussion over every word of each song, every finest bit of distortion and every odd plopping noise someone was sure they heard in the background of "How To Dissappear Completely"

[GuitarBizarre]

Originally Posted by Mighty Salami

Definitely right. I think I'd rather have that than heated discussion over every word of each song, every finest bit of distortion and every odd plopping noise someone was sure they heard in the background of "How To Dissappear Completely"

Considering the alternative is to talk more about music that isn't as good, I'm fine with 358 pages of radiohead. Roll on 358 more.