What is the appeal of Radiohead?

It's getting as bad as the U2 fans who haven't enjoyed a record since the 90's and can't stop talking about it. It's cool if you don't like their recent stuff, but after 20 years some of them just need to move on.

 

I didn’t say they were chasing trends. In fact they pretty much set their own, right? And by "self-conscious", I only mean that they systematically try to present their work as something super arty and sophisticated. Many people love it, others find it grating, but anyhow they do cultivate a certain image.

But I was actually commenting on the effects of the unconditional critical hype that Radiohead received during the last 20+ years, even as they went on to release less-than-perfect albums after Kid A (you may disagree with that last part but well, to me some of those records are not flawless).

This critical phenomenon had an impact on the way a lot of other bands were perceived. Wilco, for example, were deemed relevant when they experimented on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, but criticized when they released a more straightforward set of songs on Sky Blue Sky. My Morning Jacket were called the "American Radiohead" when they put out the progressive Z, then panned when their next album didn’t meet that criteria. There was definitely some pressure to keep up with the almighty Radiohead and I think it had more to do with image than music.

 

To be constructive, another thing that I find appealing about Radiohead is that if you are willing to follow their musical wanderings, they are quite generous to their fans. For example:
-all of their Capitol era albums have top notch affordable deluxe editions
-when they were at the height of their success and early singles were selling for stupid prices (I sold the terrible Pop is Dead CD single for $45 in 1998), they reissued all their 12”s at reasonable prices
-In Rainbows was free
-They webcast stuff like the basement sessions
-they now have all their rarities up on their YouTube channel
-they have tons of free shows and more on their website library
-they issue fancy deluxe versions for collector type fans, but have ultimately made that content available to cheapos like me
-they released a pile of OK Computer working material through band camp for about $30
-they support each other’s side projects
-they release random fun stuff online like live covers of the Smiths and New Order

Hard to complain about that.

 

This argument is akin to saying that because Sgt Pepper’s sold more copies than any other Beatles album (32m) everything that came out after was a failure and split the fan base. The band clearly should have stuck with the psychedelia for the rest of their career. After all Abbey Road and its damned medleys only sold 10m copies, less than 1/3 of Peppers. The Beatles clearly should have stuck with what they did before or quit as a band before they reached that stage. But, no. The Beatles were afraid to replicate the success of Sgt Peppers.

 

It’s also akin to saying the White Album killed the Beatles career and drove all of their fans away.

 

Who cares? Those bands are all still working, the critics flip burgers

 

Examples of this? You might be looking too much into it.

 

Haha, you’re not wrong! I only made a very simple comment 2 or 3 pages ago, and then got caught up in doing a lot of explaining.

 

There are plenty of examples of this. Not the most spontaneous, carefree and joyful bunch of lads are they?

 

I'm not understanding your example here... Because they have a reserved temperament, they come off "super arty?" Does this assume all musicians must have a specific temperament of carefree and joyful?

Maybe there's a better example you have, since there's plenty of them?

 

Wow, we have a regular Einstein on our hands. Radiohead has sold over 30 million records (from a quick Google search). On what planet is that "climbing down the ladder of success"? Lol.

 

don’t feed the troll.

 

I actually just think that they are "super arty and sophisticated."

Just from Wiki: for one of the songs on Ok Computer "Greenwood wrote a part for 16 stringed instruments playing quarter tones apart, inspired by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki."

That's not really run of the mill rock band stuff. And it's not an image, it's actually who they are.

I like arty and sophisticated. I'm a fan of John Cale era Velvet Underground, Glenn Branca, Can, etc. etc. So, I like Radiohead.

 

Honestly, I think some people just get upset when something is thought of as "art" rather than simply music. It's all subjective anyway. I like a lot of Radiohead, though I'd take either their debut or The Bends to my desert island. Albums like Moon Shaped Pool are truly great. I mean, the songs are good, but crafted into a album it's something else, the songs are elevated - which is why the album is such an important art form.

 

Right, like they're some puzzle to figure out.

It's music, not Sudoku.

One day I was in a supermarket and heard "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers, then reflected on whether I actually liked the song. If you have to stop and think, you already have your answer.

 

It’s fairly easy to make fun of Radiohead. I’ve done it for years with friends, just as I do it with some of my all-time favorite bands. No band is above that! And I’ll stop here because I didn’t come on this thread to ridicule them and just had a simple point to make in relation to the premise of this thread.

 

Yet their most famous song is called Creep and is super easy to play

 

And is also from 27 years ago.

 

Well you made a claim-- that they try to present themselves as arty or sophisticated.

OK, now I'm asking for evidence of this.

 

Sounds like a correlation between between popularity and simplicity in general, no?

 

Yes it is. Still their most famous though, so what is your point?

 

For sure. It’s not their best song is it?

 

Any ideas of them being super arty or pretentious went out the window after I saw them live a few times. They’re goofy and fun and have a great time.

 

Weird. Many of the Velvet Underground's songs during the Cale-era are "super easy to play". Likewise John Cage 4 33. What a dumb thing to write. lol

 

Who cares. I really hate when people try to use popularity as a means of determining a piece of music’s artistic worth or use it as some kind of argumentative tool in order to gain the upper-hand.