Similarly, direct lyrical depiction is different from abstract picture-painting. Old versus new REM. Or Kid A vs OK Computer. I couldn't call it a weaker or stronger album because I don't see a coherent theme in KID A to compare to. Amnesiac is as I said half-and-half.
No, Thom Yorke isn't a force 9 dimwit. He makes incredibly indulgent whiny music, but that's not the same thing as being as thick as most of his fans.
And I'm going to have to disagree about Gary Numan. Glam with the entrtainment value stripped out isn't really my cup of tea.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― K-reg, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Now get ready for more "Dude, the Replacements rocked and if you don't like them YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ROCK AND ROLL!" type responses.
― Nicole, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Classic. Yorke's lyrics never bothered me despite their ranting qualities (all you Destiny's Child fans, pause in thought about which 90s artists are the biggest whiners). The music is pretty much amazingly written and executed.
Oh, come on, Gary Numan? "Cars" sounds like it was written by a nitwit child with a synth (and not in a good way), with lyrics written by his older brother who just read 1984 in tenth grade English class. And you can go on all you want about how it was an amazing bit of paranoid futurist chart pop, but between "Cars" and "No Surprises", which is/will be more dated?
Heh heh heh...
― Dave M., Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Andy, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Ally, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
(They're not really comparable lyrically, though - Pulp's "The Fear" covers similar territory to "No Surprises" (and a lot of OKC), but does it with more wit, sympathy and humanity.)
― Tom, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
(I won't say all, because I own the Numan-Sharpe LP, which is only better than Orwell's earlier unfunny stuff.)
― mark s, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Patrick, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Oh, ummm, "OK Computer", yeah, its a pretty good album. Its no "Pleased To Meet Me" though.
― Tim Baier, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
But sadly not flirty fishing, like religous cults use.
― matthew james, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― fred solinger, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
"pointless distrust of basic human interactions" is the best description of Yorke's lyrical failings (and in my weaker moments, strengths) that I've ever seen. Cheers.
Tom was right to note that the subject matter and vague reachings towards 'concept' are red herrings. Do you get off on the sonic fun of _OK Computer_ or not? On that level I do, and it's great. I can't agree completely on the late eighties Simple Minds comparison, though -- that bunch were perfectly sculpted (listen to _Street Fighting Years_ -- I DARE YOU), whereas Radiohead were trying to sound perfectly unsculpted, intentionally rough around the edges. Perhaps the same approach via different means, I'll grant.
What I think is interesting about the claim regarding 'pointless distrust of human interaction' -- and that *is* a great line -- is that clearly the lyricist and the person are two different things. An obvious point, but still -- after all, would the figure outlined in the lyrics actually have had a girlfriend for a decade, plus one baby? ;-) One more reason why I don't look for depths where they are overdetermined by others...
As for the Replacements, they're dead. Well, one is.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
*goes back and look at that Replacements thread*
Pfft. Hey, Mr. Baier, it's called decaf, try it sometime.
I think its about time we just put up the question to end all questions: "Taking Sides: Loveless vs OK Computer vs The Stone Roses vs Nevermind".
*shudder*
The question you are perhaps thinking of is The Plan vs Telekon vs vs I, Assassin vs The Berserker
― james e l, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― bnw, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Otis Wheeler, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― DG, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Kevin Enas, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Melissa W, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― ethan, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 9 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― joshua l. clements, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― achilles_last_stand, Sunday, 13 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― DG, Sunday, 13 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― justin case, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I love "OK Computer". It is the favourite album I own. It may not be the best in the world ever ever ever, but I wouldn't know. Done by someone else, better? Not that I've heard but that may be because my knowledge is limited. So I wouldn't know.
I can understand why its not everyone's cup of tea, I do agree with some of the common criticism of the band, their records and their politics.
But I object to people making radical comments that they've convinced themselves into believing just to rebel against the. Lots of people have written that stuff here. Examples? No, sorry, I can't remember them, so you'll have to look for 'em. You'll know them when you see them.
I think I need a lie down...
― Colin Cooper, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Julio Desouza, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
NOOOOO!!!!! Don't listen to Nate!!!
Its Fushitsusha's 'I Saw It! That of which I could only sense...'
Go for that!
― sundar subramanian, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Manny Parsons, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
I didn't know that everyone thought this alb was great. If by everyone= media, then they are not 'everyone' are they?
― Julio Desouza, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dare, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Really? I thought everyone raved about this album. I've only ever found one other person who thought it was so-so. Everyone else I know thinks it's one of the best albums every. I can't, for the life of me, figure out what the hell they're talking about.
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
David Francolini of Levitation/Dark Star
― MaresNest, Thursday, 13 June 2019 13:23 (four years ago) link
Presumably samplers and drum machines have a role to play in that.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Thursday, 13 June 2019 13:59 (four years ago) link
lee harrisstephen perkinscolm ó cíosóigmatt cameronrenichris sharrockmike joycesheila eneil contidavid palmersteve jansenfred maher...
― Pagoda, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:26 (four years ago) link
Matt Cameron and Sheila E are not British, wtf I will not stand for this slander. (neither is Stephen Perkins, but you can have him if you want)
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:28 (four years ago) link
(love that Colin Greenwood interview btw)
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:46 (four years ago) link
right, my bad, read too fast...
― Pagoda, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
Oh good, I thought I was falling for a joke I didn't understand :)
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:40 (four years ago) link
hehe
― Pagoda, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
yeah, totally agreed on morning bell. i wonder if he took lessons before the Kid A / Amnesiac sessions? Colin took lessons before the bends
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Wednesday, June 12, 2019 3:56 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
So did Phil, apparently!
http://www.coneysloft.com/magazine/2017/9/7/phil-selway-interviewI actually went back to college early on in Radiohead to advance my drumming skills. It was in the period between Pablo Honey and The Bends and I realised that there were aspects of my technique that were holding me back. As I was self-taught musically – in all aspects – it’s easy to pick up bad habits and I wanted to get rid of them. I did lessons for about 5-6 months and they gave me some fundamental principles that have helped me throughout my whole career.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 13 June 2019 16:33 (four years ago) link
lee harrisstephen perkinscolm ó cíosóigmatt cameronrenichris sharrockmike joycesheila eneil contidavid palmersteve jansenfred maher
Good list! I was thinking of Mike Joyce and Reni.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Friday, 14 June 2019 13:56 (four years ago) link
I do find that interesting, when particular band members upgrade btwn albums/periods, like the Manics' Sean Moore going from being replaced by a drum machine on Generation Terrorists to being a beast on Holy Bible not too much later
Colin seems like a nice lad
― Simon H., Friday, 14 June 2019 14:19 (four years ago) link
I actually went back to college early on in Radiohead to advance my drumming skills. It was in the period between Pablo Honey and The Bends and I realised that there were aspects of my technique that were holding me back. As I was self-taught musically – in all aspects – it’s easy to pick up bad habits and I wanted to get rid of them. I did lessons for about 5-6 months and they gave me some fundamental principles that have helped me throughout my whole career.
oh hey me too phil!!!!
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 14 June 2019 14:21 (four years ago) link
Good list! I was thinking of Mike Joyce and Reni
Joyce is a really great team with Andy Rourke, and definitely "good" on the Julian Cope and late-90s Mighty Wah! tracks he plays on, but I dunno that there's anything remarkable about him, let alone great. And he doesn't work enough to be able to tell! His last three decades have apparently been: take a gig, be good enough to be asked to stay on, insist on more money than anyone can afford, do nothing for 3-7 years, repeat.
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Friday, 14 June 2019 23:05 (four years ago) link
Rourke on the other hand was (is?) a sick bassist. I have no idea what he did after The Smiths.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 15 June 2019 01:14 (four years ago) link
Yeah I’m not sure M. Joyce could be considered a great drummer...
― AlXTC from Paris, Saturday, 15 June 2019 07:09 (four years ago) link
lol Am I crazy considering Colin one of my favorite bassists? Does he not write his parts? Because imo Radiohead's bass is consistently outstanding -- I've thought so ever since hearing "Airbag" and "Talk Show Host."
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 00:29 (four years ago) link
his soul/funk influences definitely creep in those basslines
― hollow your fart (m bison), Tuesday, 18 June 2019 00:33 (four years ago) link
Worth reading the interview upthread
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 18 June 2019 00:47 (four years ago) link
yeah Colin talks about how he writes his basslines in that interview, it's a great read & i agree he's generally outstanding. there's the occasional one that Thom wrote though - "The National Anthem" is the obvious one but he played a lot of bass in the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions so there's probably a few others from that time. "Where I End And You Begin" is another
― ufo, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 00:52 (four years ago) link
there are also bass lines that might be the result of nigel/thom cutting things up after the fact - 'airbag' comes to mind as a possibility there. the drums, at least, are heavily edited, and the start/stop bass line sounds like i might have been created using a similar process. however it was made, it's one of my favorite radiohead bass parts
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 18 June 2019 01:51 (four years ago) link
airbag wasn't cut up, it was just Colin left gaps where he hadn't come up with parts yet and intended to finish it later but they ended up happy with it like that
― ufo, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 02:01 (four years ago) link
Ah, that’s cool. On some of the early rehearsals of ‘Airbag’ on the recently leaked minidiscs, it sounds like he was playing his True Love Waits part over the top
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 18 June 2019 02:23 (four years ago) link
excellent: https://thequietus.com/articles/26675-radiohead-minidiscs-hacked-review
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Saturday, 22 June 2019 02:23 (four years ago) link
the kind of brash confidence a band exhibits when it isn’t really confident about the materialthis will stick with me
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Saturday, 22 June 2019 04:32 (four years ago) link
I liked reading that Quietus piece, but to be honest, what little of this Radiohead content drop I've dug into has revealed that, at least to my ears, it hasn't revealed much. That is to say, it's so all over the place it doesn't give away the secrets to the universe or anything. It reminded me of the U2 sessions that leaked right before Achtung Baby. They're full of all sorts of stuff, from blues jams on up, and one of the few things that paves the way to Achtung Baby, a song or riff they keep coming back to, doesn't even end up on the album. Just an interesting snapshot of a band working things out.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 June 2019 12:34 (four years ago) link
yep pretty much. I agree with the reviewer that mostly you're hearing an easier road not taken. A lot of earlier 90s style castaways. I thought the hype about Lift around the "OKNOTOK" reissue was overblown (and I heard and loved Lift from bootlegs in the 90s), all this stuff about not wanting the radio hit. But when you hear the sort of material that would've gone along with an album led by Lift (Attention, Funky Clothes, I Promise too), you know that wasn't just marketing talk.
― maffew12, Saturday, 22 June 2019 15:18 (four years ago) link
xp Yeah the U2 sessions they play bits of in the Achtung Baby documentary.. it's exactly what these sessions remind me of; random bits that you recognise amid the mess, or in the 'wrong place'.
― piscesx, Sunday, 23 June 2019 13:00 (four years ago) link
I wonder how much of this process — "Just an interesting snapshot of a band working things out" — is even that typical any more, given the decentralisation of recording/writing process enabled by laptops.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Wednesday, 26 June 2019 11:35 (four years ago) link