Thom Yorke is Not an Alien: Deconstructing the Radiohead Conundrum
Published May 27, 2006
I bought Radiohead's Kid A in the fall of 2000, when I was an awkward, pimply-faced, nerdy high school senior. I'd had my nose in the music periodicals for a couple of weeks, reading the glowing reviews of it; erudite rock critics offering statements like, "Thom Yorke is NOT OF THIS PLANET!!" and, "With Kid A, Radiohead have managed to create a tear in the cosmos, allowing the soundtrack to another galaxy to slip through space and into the mixing booth at Abbey Road Studios," and, Kid A was made by REAL LIVE HUMAN BEINGS! THERE IS HOPE FOR US AS A SPECIES YET!!"
Mind you, these were professional publications; I understand that, barring the absence of plenitudes of remarks like "LOL!" and "WTF?", they read like an AOL Instant Messenger dialogue between two eighth grade girls, but that's how excited this record got people. Something was happening here, but we didn't know what it was; it was all we could do to sit back and take it all in.
Of course, it's tough to take hyperbole for what it's worth when you're an awkward, pimply-faced, nerdy high school senior. Everything in the world seems somewhat hyperbolized, particularly when you're a musically enthusiastic yet horribly disgruntled patron of the arts in the market for something new, challenging, something downright weird, the type of praise that was being heaped upon Kid A was designed to inspire surreal amounts of gusto. And it was easy hype to build.
I ain't gonna mince words; OK Computer changed my life just three years prior, when I was an even more awkward, more pimply-faced, nerdier high school freshman. The record took me three years to unravel; I recall staying up until three o'clock in the morning in my grandmother's basement, laying on top of the pool table and listening to "No Surprises" on headphones, letting its music-box guitar riff carry me away to a place that no music before ever had. I'd play "Karma Police" every morning before school, not really knowing what Thom Yorke was getting at when he sang, "This is what you get when you mess with us," but still knowing that I identified with it, that it was somehow relevant to this day-to-day escapade known as high school that was both defining and ruining my life. I'd play "Let Down" whenever I wanted to feel like depressed was the thing to be, to think that it would be worth it to suffer the most unbearable disappointment in the world to be able to write a song that authentic, that genuine. And sometimes I'd play "Electioneering" and just jump around my room and throw things. A new Radiohead album was long overdue; sometimes a guy needs to have his life changed every once in a while just to keep the vibe fresh (you gotta have a fresh vibe; there's nothing quite so unappealing as an unfresh vibe), and I had been saving up my petty weekly allowance money in preparation.
- Thom Yorke is Not an Alien: Deconstructing the Radiohead Conundrum
- Published: May 27, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Culture: Personal History, Music: Rock
- Writer: Rockbeatstone
- Rockbeatstone's BC Writer page
- Rockbeatstone's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Great article, well written. I agree with several points, but there are a few that had me a little confused at times. Either way, I think Radiohead is amazing, and OK Computer is by far their greatest work.
Interesting article.
And one I have a lot of thoughts on. You really need to see Radiohead live for one thing. They bring a lot of warmth to the KId A and Amnesiac songs on a concert stage that the studio albums lack somewhat.
I have a stream of their live stuff (including a lot of the brand new unreleased songs performed in Europe just a few weeks ago) up on my blog if you'd like to check it out. Just click the URL under my name on this comment. You'll find the stream at the bottom of the page.
Anyway, as I said, I have a lot of thoughts on your article. But they are far too numerous to go over here. So what I think I am going to do instead is submit an article to Blogcritics that will be somewhat of a response to your article.
Look for "A Second Opinion on Radiohead from Another Fan" (or something along those lines) to get posted here within the next day or so (assuming the Editors like the story and all).
You make some valid points. I'm just going to offer another perspective, thats all. Hopefully the link will draw interest in both articles.
In the meantime though, do check out the stream on my blog...especially if you've never seen Radiohead live.
But I like I said, Interesting (and well written) article.
-Glen
Some good points there. I really wouldn't mind Kid A and Amnesiac though; they are still really awesome albums, and as long as a band's allowed to experiment, it's fine. At the same time, hyperboling how good it is also should be carefully handled, like you've said.
The following came to mind when I read "...great art never really reveals itself to you, how it's really all about the search for answers to begin with, and ultimately it doesn't end up showing you anything about the work itself but ends up completely schooling you on a myriad of other things completely unrelated":
- Not only does one not retain all at once the truly rare works, but even within such works it is the least precious parts that one perceives first. Less deceptive than life, these great masterpieces do not give us their best at the beginning.
Marcel Proust
brilliant article.
i disagree with amniesac. i loved the album.
i'd be interested in reading more of your work if you can show me where.
My response to this article should be up on Blogcritics now. Like i said, a second opinion, and a different perspective on Kid A and Amnesiac, from another fan.
-Glen
Hey Jamms,
If you follow this link to rockbeatstone.com
it will take you to my author bio page, which has links to the pieces I've written on the left side of the page. Thanks for your interest, I appreciate it.
And I do like Amnesiac very much. It just took me a while to get there, and the journey usally makes for better writing than the destination.
Cheers.
Great read; I'm glad I found this. I too had the same experience going from OK Computer to Kid A.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/48380)
Hi,
I'm the author of this article, and just (very) randomly stumbled across this link. Just wanted to say thanks for posting.
Kevin