Radiohead - Genius or Junk?

[Worm of Despite]

They're the only band I follow that's in their prime (the other bands are either disbanded or over 30 years old).

It's been a while since a Radiohead thread (or maybe not), but I'm just wondering who likes 'em (or doesn't). Here's my favorite songs by them, off the top of my head:

1. "Exit Music (For A Film)"
2. "Paranoid Android" (come on, rain down! O, rain from a great height!)
3. "Pyramid Song"
4. "2 + 2 = 5"
5. "Airbag"
6. "Motion Picture Soundtrack"
7. "Sail to the Moon."
8. "Knives Out"
9. "You and Whose Army?"
10. "Morning Bell"
11. "Everything in its Right Place"
12. "Scatterbrain."
13. "How to Disappear Completely"

There's countless others, and, really, I don't love "Paranoid Android" that much more than "Scatterbrain" or "How to Disappear Completely". All mesmerising stuff.

I still need to get The Bends, which I'm sure will blow me away. I've got everything else by them (except Pablo Honey, which I'm really not missing). Anyway, can't wait for Thom and Company's next studio outing.

[amanibhavam]

The Bends is awesome, you'll see. I especially like Fake Plastic Trees, Just and Street Spirit.
It is very interesting to watch their musical development. The Bends is very guitar-centric, so much different from, say, Kid A, and still bears those Radiohead qualities. In this respect the do remind me of Pink Floyd very much. PF records also differ very much from each other and still have those distinct characteristics that make me love PF.

[I'm Murrin]

The Bends is the only Radiohead album I have. I'm not much into the stuff they've done from Kid A onwards, but a lot of their older stuff is good - Just, Creep, Street Spirit (Fade Out), Fake Plastic Trees, My Iron Lung, Karma Police, etc.

[Worm of Despite]

The Bends is the only Radiohead album I have. I'm not much into the stuff they've done from Kid A onwards, but a lot of their older stuff is good - Just, Creep, Street Spirit (Fade Out), Fake Plastic Trees, My Iron Lung, Karma Police, etc.

Definitely get OK Computer if you liked Karma Police! There's some stuff on there (like Paranoid Android) that'll blow you away (I hope).

[Sheriff Lytton]

"The Bends" and "OK Computer" are two of the best albums ever made. In fact I'd say that "The Bends" is possibly the best straight ahead rock music album released since the early 1970's. The quality of songwriting is incredible - every song is a monster. And the delivery is flawless.

Unfortunately for me, I was so into those two albums that when "Kid A" came out I found it to be something of a disappointment. They've recorded some fine songs post-OK Computer, but I find that they've also grown a little too self indulgent for my tastes.

[I'm Murrin]

I've been reluctant to get OK Computer because there are so few songs on it I have heard - one the one hand, there could be stuff I don't like (a possibility after hearing later work), but on the other, it does have No Surprises on it...

[Byrn]

I have every Radiohead album. I saw them in August of 2003 in Cleveland.

Radiohead is one of my personal favorites. When I first bought "Hail to the Thief", it stayed in my CD player for a solid two months. Myxamitosis is absolutely aweswome live as is Drunken Punch Up at a Wedding.

[matrixman]

"The Bends" and "OK Computer" are two of the best albums ever made.

I agree totally with the Sheriff that OK Computer is one of the best albums ever made, by anybody in any genre. After listening to it for the past two weeks, I'll go maybe even further than the Sheriff: I think it is as perfect a work of music as any I've come across. There is not one false step in OK Computer: there is a powerful, organic cohesiveness to all the songs--even the odd "android" monologue of "fitter happier" has its place. When I listen to OK Computer, I sense an inevitability about it, the feeling that there is an inherent "rightness" to the music's shape and flow. I jotted down some rambling first impressions of the music:

"melancholy wasteland...nostalgia gone wrong. beneath the sadness and wistfulness something dark and terrible makes its way.

wailing cosmic intimacy...soundtrack for the disintegration of civilization. don't waste your time on hope, pull up a chair, sip some tea and witness the end of the world we knew..."

I initially listened to an MP3 of the album; then I bought the CD and read the lyrics and finally understood what the heck Thom Yorke was singing about. He reminds me of Simple Minds's Jim Kerr, who also deliberately slurs his words--to good effect.

I would call OK Computer an "instant classic" because after my very first listen, there was no question of its greatness in my mind. Only a handful of other musical works have knocked me over in such a profound and immediate way. I think of The Beatles' Revolver. Loreena McKennitt's The Mask & Mirror. U2's Achtung Baby. Led Zep's ZOSO. Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra. And a few others...

I have nothing to say about The Bends, as I'm not in the frame of mind to get into it right now. OK Computer has all of my attention.

A few years ago, I was browsing through a book that discussed the 100 (or 500?) Best Albums or something like that. (It wasn't from Rolling Stone Magazine). If I recall correctly, the list was the result of opinions from music fans (mostly), not music critics. Anyway, No.1 was Revolver, which was not that big of a surprise (I would have picked it, too). But at the time, I was shocked to see Radiohead right behind the Beatles at No.2 with OK Computer! I thought it was all just hype over Radiohead, but now that I've listened for myself, I know OK Computer is the real deal. It belongs up there.

[matrixman]

Last year, in this very thread, I recklessly said how I thought Radiohead was a waste of time after listening to Pablo Honey.

Well, this is me eating my words: munch...chew...swallow...*burp*

After being left speechless by OK Computer for the past couple of weeks, I no longer think Radiohead is a waste of time.

Maybe I still think Pablo Honey is "junk" (though I'm not sure anymore), but OK Computer ranks as a definite work of genius in my book. It's a profound musical statement about our age, our time.

I swear no one has brainwashed me. (As "Puppetmaster" Lord Foul lurks in the shadows, pulling the strings...)

[Queeaqueg]

Radiohead is junk

[amanibhavam]

Yes, Radiohead is definitely the only modern rock group for me that gets close to the perfection of Pink Floyd. (Mind you I am not saying their music is alike but they do have some similarities - daring to deviate from mainstream, for instance).

[The Dreaming]

Oooh, your speaking my language now Foul. I absolutely adore Radiohead (admittedly, I adore Kid A/Amnesiac a little less)

To those who have never heard OK Computer, I actually envy you. I wish I could forget it so that I could reclaim the Joy of hearing music like that for the first time.

And while Kid A and Amnesiac may have been a little disappointing to their more casual fans, Hail to the Thief is easily as good an album as Bends or Ok Computer. I would say it is about as good as the Bends, but not quite the transcendence that OK Computer is.

[The Dreaming]

I don't think they are the second coming of the Beatles, or the second coming of Floyd. They are Radiohead. They make their own music that speaks for itself. Their music is on a level far above anything else being produced in this day and age.

I think that OK Computer IS one of those rare, transcendent albums. I would put it on par with Sgt. Peppers or Dark Side of the moon. If you say that you can't really get into it, try it some more. You have to listen to the album as a whole for at least a half dozen times before you start to realize exactly HOW good the music is. It is utterly rapturous.

[matrixman]

For the past four weeks or so, I've been utterly consumed by Kid A. This is an even more affecting work than OK Computer, which now seems like a straightforward rock album in comparison. Kid A is more like a symphony.

Kid A's dense and ambient sound is, um, pretty damn sexy to my ears. Overall, it's also a more melodic and soothing sound than the dissonance of OK Computer, but Kid A is not in anyway a docile cousin either. With its barking saxophones and that huge bass riff, "The National Anthem" is as aggressive and powerful as anything I've heard. "Optimistic" is another propulsive song I love: I think it's the "hit single" of the album, and I mean that as a compliment.

The Sheriff said that Radiohead's material after OK Computer became a little too self-indulgent for his taste. In the case of Kid A, I don't hear it as self-indulgent music. I think it's very focused music-making...at least until maybe the last track, when it "ends" and then there's a minute or so of silence before the music makes a brief re-appearance. What is the point of this? Is this supposed to be clever? They needed to fill up space on the CD?

In spite of that (really a minor quibble), I think Kid A easily equals the greatness of OK Computer. The difference is that Kid A speaks to me on a more personal level. If OK Computer is a Big Statement message delivered to the masses, then Kid A is a message for the individual: it feels like it's my Radiohead album, it was meant for me alone. And I'm not sure I can explain that further without becoming even more incoherent. Whatever. These two Radiohead albums are a great one-two musical punch.

I've since bought Hail To The Thief, but it and The Bends have still not ignited my imagination the way OK Computer and Kid A have.

[lhaughlhann]

Im not a big Radiohead officianado, like most other people i know that like the band, but i have Pablo Honey and Ok Computer. And i love them! Pablo Honey being my favourite.

[I'm Murrin]

I've not said what I thought of OK Computer yet. The album was good, there were a few reallyt good songs on it, but it was still disappointing after all the positive stuff I'd heard about it. The Bends was a much better album, IMO.

[Worm of Despite]

Upon further contemplation, I've decided that "Everything In Its Right Place" is my current favorite Radiohead song. Also, having a list bigger than 5 feels kind of redundant to me these days. So, I guess my updated list looks like so:

1) Everything In Its Right Place
2) Pyramid Song
3) Exit Music (For A Film)
4) Paranoid Android
5) Knives Out

[Warmark]

cant believe nobody has mentioned No Surprises

[Worm of Despite]

cant believe nobody has mentioned No Surprises

No Surprises? I love it! I liked the music video (I hate 99.9% of all music videos), and I also found it hilarious in context with the "Meeting People is Easy" film. But yeah, No Surprises is one of those great ones that just eludes the memory (mine, anyway).

[I'm Murrin]

No Surprises and Karma Police are the only two tracks from OK Computer that I can ever remember the sound of, and that's just because I was familiar with both before getting the album. No Surprises is a great song.