The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

[FogBlueInSanFran]

My favourite of theirs.

Takes Bruce Springsteen's whole "There's a better life at the end of the highway for the blue-collar worker" ethos and dissolves it in a vat of dismal post-Thatcher British acid. There is no better life and no future of freedom for the average person, just a prescribed existence of punching numbers in an office somewhere, watching the idiot box, eating shit, voting for politicians who think you're filth, and necking tablets for an array of conditions brought on by all of the above. Then you'll either slip away of old age with no alarms and no surprises or die in some tragic accident before you can be pulled out of the crash.

The album we should have all paid attention to in the mid-90s instead of playing Morning Glory for the 100th time.

Only complaint - it's not really a complaint, to be honest - is that it wasn't 14 tracks with 'I Promise' and 'Polyethelene 1 & 2' on there as well.

I will 100 percent will come back to this post because this is my central problem with this band: getting super-rich while feeding the masses the hopeless cynicism you know will sell records while blissfully recording the fucking thing in a mansion owned by a B-actress whilst totting up your millions is the ULTIMATE in true cynicism and reckless selfishness. It’s nearly Trumpian.

 

[BimboBob]

I will 100 percent will come back to this post because this is my central problem with this band: getting super-rich while feeding the masses the hopeless cynicism you know will sell records while blissfully recording the fucking thing in a mansion owned by a B-actress whilst totting up your millions is the ULTIMATE in true cynicism and reckless selfishness. It’s nearly Trumpian.

And a model used by quite a few bands over the years.

 

[GornikDaze]

Incidentally, so far, this is better than I remembered.

I’ve only listened to 87 seconds of “Airbag” though.

Will you be having custard or cream with your slice of Humble Pie sir? ;)

 

[threespires]

That’s an interesting discussion.

Let’s begin with “how record companies operate”, then in a parallel discussion, move onto “how often does the average morose middle-class white teenager get high?”

Oh don't worry, we'll be going there :-)

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

And a model used by quite a few bands over the years.

Offhand I can’t think of one who has done it to the extent these have.

Maybe the reason no one likes their later records is the schtick wore thin, or maybe the band grew up, or got a conscience, and now everyone has figured out they don’t really have anything interesting to say.

 

[threespires]

I will 100 percent will come back to this post because this is my central problem with this band: getting super-rich while feeding the masses the hopeless cynicism you know will sell records while blissfully recording the fucking thing in a mansion owned by a B-actress whilst totting up your millions is the ULTIMATE in true cynicism and reckless selfishness. It’s nearly Trumpian.

In olden days when the middle classes had a bit of a problem with the way society functioned and the plight of the working man, they used their education to go and do things like write Das Kapital or they got themselves arrested for sedition and then formed the Bolshevik party. Or if they were nice middle class ladies they chucked themselves in front of race horses in the name of universal suffrage.

What they didn't do was produce albums like OK Computer.

The passage of time doesn't always result in progress and there's a saying that if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem.

 

[threespires]

Haven't played this for quite a while until today and in the words of Celine the poetess, it's all coming back to me now.

Some time in the naughties, the company I was working for sent me on a how to handle the media course. It was run by a woman who spent a lot of her time training senators and congressman but because it was commercial it mostly covered different types of contexts like analyst calls, trade events and publications etc. I was far from a natural and though it was fascinating and enjoyable it was also one of the most cynical and depressing weeks of my working life. One particular aspect I remember was a session about dealing with print journalists, the gist of which was (and I paraphrase) 80% of journalists are lazy bastards and they will happily let you 'write' their copy for them as long as you conform to a few rules and don't take the piss too much about getting your message across.

What's this got to do with this album?

Well I would argue quite strongly that beyond whatever musical (some) and lyrical (little) merit this album has, it's greatest achievement by far is one of salesmanship. If you go back to the interviews and what was written about it at the time, and since, what you see is that not only Yorke but the entire bad talk a really good fight. They don't even particularly oversell it themselves that much, but they feed just the right amount and type of stuff into interviews to create the narrative that ultimately exists around this album.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Will you be having custard or cream with your slice of Humble Pie sir? ;)

I'm lactose intolerant.

But the pie order should be cancelled, because I just barely made it through "Exit Music (For A Film)" and recalled why I dislike this record so much.

 

[bennyboy]

Still listen to OK Computer and The Bends to this day.The only tracks i skip are Fitter Happier and Climbing Up The Walls.
Glastonbury when they headlined and did most of the stuff from OK and The Bends was an iconic set.
All downhill after bar There, There track from Hail to the Thief.
9/10.Poetry in motion

 

[mrbelfry]

I loved Radiohead back in the day. Was lucky to see them at the Apollo for the Bends. Then OK Computer ruined them for me. I loved it too much and then everything they put out afterwards was just not as good. I don't think I even bought Kid A - that all felt super pretentious.

I love the ugliness and obnoxiousness of Paranoid Android contrasted with the prettiness of No Surprises. I can pretty much ignore Electioneering but everything else is solid. Exit Music for a Film is really great. Looking back it is all a bit sixth form and they were copied by everyone but when it came out it was incredible. I feel like it's the kind of album that inspires people to learn an instrument. I think ultimately Radiohead have just strived to write songs they want to play.

I'm not a great interpreter of lyrics so I'll leave all the Gulf War, threat of technology and political stuff for other people to decipher.

The songs I first loved like Karma Police and Paranoid Android are probably not my favourites anymore (maybe because I overplayed them) and I think I probably used to stop listening after No Surprises - when I got back into Radiohead late last year it's like I had no memory of The Tourist or Lucky (which is also fantastic and reminds me of Hitchhikers Guide which is probably not an accident).

I don't think Radiohead are particularly more pretentious than any other band. Most music is made up of the notes, the image and the hype - it's all intentioned. I think with Radiohead you're just more aware of the process and they make it seem painful.

Weirdly I heard I reggae version of Airbag on the radio late last year that got me back into Radiohead. After hating everything post OK Computer I realise I had been mostly ignorant of most of their stuff and it was mostly brilliant.

I totally understand why people don't like them and it's mostly because they are Radiohead and it does feel pretentious (probably because they went to posh schools, he spells his name Thom and Oasis don't like them) but I think that does a massive disservice to the band (in particular Thom Yorks voice) and you're probably wilfully deaf to the pretentiousness of the bands you like. It's all just tunes at the end of the day and Radiohead write some incredible music. Pyramid Song is unbelievable and if you hate it I know why - it doesn't make your musical taste less good but you are wrong. They even wrote the best James Bond theme tune

I've drank the Radiohead Kool Aid - they've written some beautiful and interesting songs that mostly aren't on Ok Computer BUT still I will give this 9/10 - if Electioneering and Fitter Happier weren't on it then it would get a 10.