What is the appeal of Radiohead?

I was into Radiohead from the first album...bought it for "Creep", liked the rest of the album better...Bought The Bends on day of release and loved it, same with OK Computer. Was excited for Kid A and ugh, did not connect with it at all. Since then, it's been hit or miss for me, but there is still some good good to great stuff; sometimes I think they try too hard to be inaccessible and arty and don't concentrate enough on writing good melodies. Just my opinion...

 

I don’t read everything that everybody writes.

 

Fair point!

 

This is really interesting, as it's something I observed back in the late 90s, and I didn't see many others saying the same thing.

You know how The Beatles and The Beach Boys were basically in a friendly competition to one-up each other (Rubber Soul influenced Pet Sounds, which influenced Sgt Pepper, which influenced SMiLE, etc)? I've always felt that Blur and Radiohead were doing the exact same thing....

Blur was possibly influenced by The Bends to make their s/t album, which inspired OK Computer, which inspired 13, which inspired Kid A? It sure felt like that at the time.

 

I'd have a hard time believing that Kid A was influenced by anything that Blur was doing. Doesn't sound like it to me, anyway.

 

"Influenced" isn't quite the right word for it... More like followed their cue to continually re-invent their sound, influenced by electronic music and Krautrock?

 

Definitely. I don't think Blur were looking over their shoulder at Oasis for inspiration!

 

The Bends was a lightning bolt when it came out. I remember the word going round and everyone I knew going out to buy it. Like most other alt rock albums it charted decently enough and then started dropping. Was certainly not a big and ubiquitous record the way Dummy or Parklife were. Not at first at any rate.

So the praise OK Computer received was in many ways an exercise in critics and industry catching up on something that they failed to raise high enough on the previous round. Particularly risible was EMI's "all hail the new Bohemian Rhapsody" shtick when they launched Paranoid Android. Don't get me wrong, OK Computer is a brilliant album but there are other records in that vain that match it (Mansun's Six is a good example) but you can already hear them deliberately side-stepping anything overtly commercial in favour of something a little more arch.

The rare trick that The Bends pulls off is to be simultaneously top-of-the-line Art Rock with fantastic lyrics and yet incredibly accessible at the same time without ever seeming crass. That's an Achtung Baby, main sequence Bowie quality album in my book. No higher praise.

I've bought all the records since but really it's The Bends that is the true rock n roll poison. The rest seem to be an exercise in a band very much pleasing themselves.

 

Ed’s backing vocals are a huge part of why they sound so good live. He can mimic Thom’s voice well and pulls off a lot of the harmonies on the records so they still sound as full in a live setting

 

If you don't like Thom's voice, you will hate Radiohead. And Thom has a high-pitched, whiney voice that will likely drive some people completely nuts.

The appeal of Radiohead, and specifically OK Computer, to me: First, at the time I discovered them, I liked anything that wasn't mainstream. RH is popular, but their sound is not at all mainstream or accessible. Second, it was music that was complex, artsy, and pretentious, which I liked. I was immediately hooked when I heard Paranoid Android, especially the false start on the electric guitars as Thom is singing "You don't remember." Third, the themes of the album and the lyrics were as much a part of the experience as the music. Ok Computer perfectly captured the "paranoid of technology and societ progress" vibe.

Artists I think are similar in terms of spirit rather than style are Sigur Ros, the National, and Bon Iver. All of them do music which is very layered and somewhat left-field, but isn't proggy or technical.

 

Yes. Very similar in approach to Pink Floyd, but updated to fit newer styles.
O bought Dark Side and OK Computer at the same time. Good choice on my part.

 

I don't get it either, but that's ok. Lots of people don't like lots of stuff.

 

If you don’t get Radiohead, does it need a thread? There is lots of music out there to enjoy. Some of it isn’t going to be appealing to you and some is. Listen to what you enjoy.

 

If you can't hear the tunes in Kid A, you need a Q-Tip. The ridiculous bloops and beeps comments make me want to punch a wall.

 

Like a few tracks/albums but really can't immerse further into it, I don't own OK computer and I quickly lost interest in a couple of Thom Yorke, Atoms for Peace albums that I bought.

 

::: We all bought 'Pablo Honey' for ''Creep" but it was like a bunch of songs put together to release an album, today, I like more to listen to 'itch' the rarities collection of that early stage of them.

'The Bends' was a more homogeneous collection with great appeal, with both comercial and critical acclaim, also production on videos was great. The peak of this phase, we all loved, was 'OK Computer'. I always claim 1997 as a great year for rock album releases, take a look, you'll be surprised.

Radiohead at this point, heading for the XXI century could've been as bigger as U2, in charts and stadiums, with appeal to the masses and amazing specialists ...but they didn't want it... I read in a magazine that Yorke asked Stipe for advice regarding being overwhelmed about the expectations of fans and record company after OKC success --or something like that-- and the answer that Michael Stipe gave him was developed in a song from 'Kid A'--'How To Dissapear Completely'

They're one of my favourite bands. I've collected all their releases, including the withe box and limited editions that I got the day of release, but since ' Kid A', all the albums seems like to be in a consecutive line of performance; in between many many excellent songs have been recorded, remarkable arrangements for a rock band. Probably labeled as bland at first listening, past albums like 'King Of Limbs' are outstanding if played in full speakers, at noticeable volume!

Believe it or not, I paid like 2 GBP for the official 'In Rainbows' download, and always was my main source of listening --never burned it to a cd-r-- but in 2009 a friend of mine and me went to a mall for lunch, told him It was my b-day and he bought me after pizza slices the US Lp of 'Rainbows' and, it sounds amazing, very different atmosphere, don't know if it's a different remix than the download, it's my fav album from them, a notch above from 'The Bends' obvioulsy.

Wasn't in this forum where I read that the greatest criminal of all time was the guy who stole Radiohead guitars?

 

Funny you'd say that, because I always saw their eponymous 5th album as their "OK Computer". Or an album (that came out roughly at the same time) I wish was celebrated as much as "OK Computer". Very bold evolution, and diversity. I love this album. It's rich. They definitely didn't "play it safe" with that one.

 

That's the funny thing about music. Different bands appeal differently to different people. For example, I don't get the appeal of Springsteen and U2, yet they are among many peoples' favorites.

 

If you own OK computer and don’t like Paranoid Android, Karma Police, Electioneering and No Surprises then I just think Radiohead are not the band for you. Should be instant affection there!

Maybe Thom Yorke’s vocals are a stumbling block for some, but I think Radiohead are the best band of the past 30 years or something.

 

When these threads happen - "How do i get into x", I always think - start at the first album, then listen to the next one, and so on. If you don't like any of them, then listen to someone else. Perhaps this is too logical.

 

Radiohead are 'sound artists', so if you appreciate the fine crafting of sound you'll like them. They won't give you top 40 hits.

 

Totally agree. It was a massive step up from Great Escape, which I didn't warm to initially and still don't.

 

I like OK Computer well enough, but there's something about the Easy Star All Stars' reggae version of the album ("Radiodread") that I like even more. Freed from the air of pretension, I appreciate how great some of these songs are, especially Paranoid Android.

 

When it starts getting too much like hard work then forget it and go and listen to something else instead.

 

One positive about them live is they literally could play anything, in any order from night to night. Yes, there were staples that remained but fair play to them if you were a big fan and saw them live multiple times it was never quite the same show twice.

When I saw them on the AMSP tour by the time they reached Manchester they'd put out OKNOTOK and I was surprised to hear them play so much of OK Computer and a few tracks from The Bends.