#50 – OK Computer



So, we begin with an Alt-Rock, Art-Rock classic, an album that influenced Rock music well into the noughties, one that successfully blended influences and genres in a paradoxically accessible yet challenging way. From the progressive fury of ‘Paranoid Android’, to the Bitches Brew influence of those enchanting, gliding keys on ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’, to the Pet Sound-esque, chiming guitar riff on ‘No Suprises’, this is an album that wears its influences on its sleeve, managing to balance strong social and political themes whilst keeping things musically fresh and interesting.

The political and social context is still very much relatable and apparent to modern life, and OK Computer played into fears of the future, of capitalism and isolation, and of technological dependency, that are relevant now more than ever. It does this without being (too) overwrought, and without sullying the undeniably brilliant compositions underneath.

Highlights include the wailing, synth-fuelled climax of ‘Exit Music (For a Film)’, the hauntingly uplifting chorus of ‘Let Down’, and the final, jazz-tinged unravelling in ‘The Tourist’, as the album comes to a close with the ring of a bell.

However, it isn’t without flaws; ‘Electioneering’ is arguably out of place musically, even if it is perhaps the most overtly political song on the album, and the ‘concept’ (thought the band are keen to stress that this is not a Concept Album) isn’t thread particularly clearly or strongly through the tracks; the slightly heavy-handed, robot-voiced, spoken-word piece, ‘Fitter Happier’, attempting to rectify this, but not with complete success.

Overall though, this is a daring and well-realised slice of Art-Rock that laid the foundation for leagues of imitators, and shaped the Alternative Rock scene for a good few years (maybe not entirely for the better). It showed, for the first time in a long time, that Rock music was allowed to be clever, was allowed to take risks, and that the public were willing and able to accept interesting structures and sizeable concepts.

The collection of ideas presented in OK Computer was message to others in the Alt-Rock game that they had to step up. How would Radiohead top this? How indeed…

Originally Posted by DeadChannel The overuse of babe/baby, the lack of any sort of discernible originality, the melodrama and the general sense of an especially heinous sort of hardcore vapid stupidity all make me want to jab my eyes out with a drill-press and then hang myself from the CN Tower with an electrified rope that sends shocks in excess of 10,000 volts through my body as I slowly die. While listening to Dream Theater.