Radiohead - Pablo Honey POLL

as a closer, it also has this "we've given you everything we've got!" feel, which is a bit embarrassing because they just gave us Pablo Honey

would go over better with me as a set closer today, for sure

re: thom's lyrics - i think most lyrics suffer when taken out of their musical context. so i doubt i can grab an ok computer lyric that will wow you in isolation the same way i doubt i could serve you sesame seeds with a glass of sherry vinegar for lunch and wow you. ok computer on, thom's lyrics serve the songs well, and nothing is jarringly bad. you could take the sherry vinegar and sesame seeds and make something fantastic with them. some of these pablo honey lyrics are real turds, and you cannot dress a salad with a turd.

it is lunch time here

I'll admit that when Yorke sings "I'm playing with myself" on 'Thinking About You' it stands out in a glaringly unnecessary way, like a juggalo's fashion sense at a funeral, but I can't think of any other lyrical moments like that which interrupt the listening experience for me. I find the lyrics on this album, on the whole, just as easy to ignore as any other Radiohead album, and upon closer listen they mostly don't strike me as being any better or worse than Yorke's usual standard.

As lyricist:

Bernard Sumner >>>>>>>>> Thom Yorke

but where does Mellencamp fall in there?

fwiw, Genius and others (and my memory) have the Ripcord lyric as "that you don't understand". Where does Google pull lyrics from? That's the only place I'm seeing "she"

Bernard Sumner >>>>>>>>> everyone, this is settled ILM law.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i almost didn't read this thread because radiohead but then i heard there was a flagworthy post and boy howdy

Yeah I haven't been following this thread but...I kinda agree with Turrican about the lyrics?

Thom's shallows have been my major obstacle in enjoying this band, although it's usually not a big deal because the music (and Jonny's melodic touch) is lyrical enough that the words are just icing. But generally I have a hard time with fragmentary post-Stipe rock lyrics unless I can find humor or pathos or a writerly sense of craft that elevates them above refrigerator magnet poetry. It usually sounds good enough and suits the music but I often get the feeling that he's just stringing phrases together hoping that a subject will appear

He might have a point about Radiohead lyrics but throwing in a jab at Brad's own writing was p uncalled for.

Weirdly, my partner put on this cassette yesterday. I voted for "Anyone Can Play Guitar".

my point was never "thom yorke is a good lyricist," it's that the lyrics are so all over the place on pablo honey that you can't identify a consistent personality behind the lyrics, and that isn't true of later radiohead records even if you think the lyrics are just weird cynical slogans he's stitching together or whatever

lyrics

anyway compare "ripcord" to any post-bends radiohead lyric for an object lesson in what i mean

Apologies all. I should've read the thread more closely before posting. Def didn't intend to feed the troll. Anyway BradNelson I agree 100% that his lyrics post-Pablo have a distinct and consistent personality, fwiw.

Hmm. I'm not sure I completely agree.

1. I agree that Yorke got better as a lyricist, but then I said as much above.
2. Even with that in mind, the lyrics on Pablo Honey are recongnisable as being written by Yorke as any of his lyrics are. He's certainly got a style, which has been there from the very beginning, it has just evolved as you would expect from someone who has been doing it over the course of several releases.
3. Brad's point may have never been that "Thom Yorke is a good lyricist", but he blatantly agreed with someone on that point above - it's there in black and white, scroll up and you'll see it.
4. People on here have been quoting/ripping apart/critiquing/whatever other people's lyrics since these forums began. Apparently this isn't out of order unless the lyrics in question were written by a pal or a music critic.
5. I am absolutely, categorically not a troll.

4. Mocking lyrics written by the person they happen to be debating with on ILM? I think you came up with a first there.

Yeah, you’re a fucking asshole. Assholes do what you did. Fucking assholes stick around and make disingenuous “no what about this, what about that, wah” comments instead of just owning what they obviously did

Anyway, ended up voting for 'I Can't' in the end - a few people have praised various songs from this album throughout the thread, but not that one.

Why don’t you apologize, douche

I've already gone into great detail of why I love that particular track, and I'd love to hear what the band these days would make of it in a live situation. The bit where it comes thundering back in for the ending section, I could imagine that absolutely soaring live if they chose to do it now.

Plus, going through the thread, it seems that although 'Creep' - somewhat boringly - will top the poll, so many people have mentioned so many other favourites from this record that it makes the stock stance of this record being "'Creep' with filler" out to be, well, nonsense actually.

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Turrican is pretty much my least favorite poster and I like pretty much everyone. He doesn't actually want to talk about music with anyone, just bludgeon with his opinion. Reminds me of a less polite Geir.

^ None of this has anything to do with Pablo Honey, of course.

But, in terms of your chances of remaining on this board to talk about stuff like Thom Yorke's lyrics, it is relevant.

I don't recall you saying much, if anything, about this record on this thread, Tom. The poll's closing in a couple of hours, so now would be a good time to do it.

Indeed, a lot of things are fast running out of time, this poll and the poster Turrican on ILM are two of them.

Yes, but what about your thoughts on the record, Tom?

tom as your personal lawyer i advise you not to share any thoughts on the record in this setting

Turrican is pretty much my least favorite poster and I like pretty much everyone. He doesn't actually want to talk about music with anyone, just bludgeon with his opinion.

I was enjoying this thread then I went away for a few days and Turrican's gone too far and ruined it again

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People on here have been quoting/ripping apart/critiquing/whatever other people's lyrics since these forums began. Apparently this isn't out of order unless the lyrics in question were written by a pal or a music critic.

See above.

Also, this being a music forum I'd like to think that any and all music/lyrics, regardless of who wrote it/made it, is on the table to be quoted/ripped apart/critiqued/whatever. Particularly if it's relevant to the discussion.

Finally, if I do end up getting banned from here for making an example of lyrics written by a music critic, then fuck me, that just says it all doesn't it? Coupled with the fact that ILM has seemed incapable of discussing this album with any degree of thought, plus the endless self-indulgent polls of everyone's favourite songs (yawn...) ... Forgive me if I'm past caring.

Anyway listening to PH again gave me a new 'song which comes into my head' on the way to visit family
There's a massive Morrisons depot on the way which signals we're sort of halfway there

Drive my car
Drive my car past the big Morrisons
Drive my carrrr
I wanna see wanna see wanna see the big Morrisons

Haha! Yeah, the entire lyric of 'Anyone Can Play Guitar' surely must rank as one of Thom's worst, although I always thought of the lyric as being kinda a send-up of rock cliche and the ridiculousness of aspiring to be a rock god.

"Pablo Honey", despite the presence of "Creep", one of their best known songs, represents a mediocre start to the career of the modern rock group Radiohead.

You obviously aren't past caring, because you're still here.

That's much better. I disagree, of course.

Do yourself a favour and go somewhere elese.

I've just finished listening to this album again, looking for something positive to say about 'How Do You?' and I really enjoy the way the three guitars gradually pile on top of each other during the intro. No, it's not the best use they'd make of their three guitar setup, but there's something thrilling about how the guitar sound gradually beefs up.

Also, this being a music forum I'd like to think that any and all music/lyrics, regardless of who wrote it/made it, is on the table to be quoted/ripped apart/critiqued/whatever. Particularly if it's relevant to the discussion.

This album is extremely unremarkable, tirrican, you should listen to better music

wait, no, listen to it again just to be sure. And please post your findings here

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well, look at that. I'm not surprised at all that 'Creep' took it in the end, but look - every song on the album aside from two get a vote, and the ones that didn't aren't all that bad. So yeah, can't be that bad of an album.

Gee the one good song on the album won. Who would have thunk?

About 35 votes were not "Creep" and this is a larger vote spread than most would expect.

But that needn’t lead to the conclusion that it’s not a bad album. You could equally interpret the result as “four truly poor songs got 0-1 vote each (and one of them from the TS probably trying to be contrarian). The one good song won overwhelmingly, except that some people are so absolutely sick and tired of that one that they voted for one of the other mediocre ones instead. Poor to mediocre album.’

But it bears pointing out again that mine is the minority opinion there, and the idea itself that there is a consensus view that this is a bad album, or routinely thought of as ‘Creep plus filler’ is bogus. Contemporary and retrospective reviews have always overwhelmingly branded this an OK-to-good (3-3.5 stars, 7/10, ‘B’) album.

Still time for Erasure to sue