Week 58: RADIOHEAD (420 to 30: A Music Retrospective)
Radiohead is an impressive band. Few can make claim to such consistent quality over such a long period of time like Radiohead can, and few have successfully taken as many creative risks while doing so either. Hearing each of their albums for the first time was an experience for me, and while their earliest output may have seemed a product of the rock sound of the era they emerged from, the roles soon reversed and Radiohead's sound became a defining style to imitate for decades to come.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Here's 7 of my favorites from Radiohead.
Week 58: RADIOHEAD
#400/420 - Radiohead, “Karma Police”
OK Computer is definitely one of Radiohead’s best albums, and remains one of the most celebrated albums of the 1990s. Every track here is of exceptional quality and it is very hard to pick a favorite, but ultimately I landed on this song because it really feels like the fullest package to me, and I love the idea of the song.
Musically, this album is superb and this song is no exception, the thunderous piano playing from Johnny Greenwood in particular stands out, going great with the acoustic guitar and others. Use of synthesizer is more minimal on this track than others on OK Computer, but it is used very effectively to add an ethereal tinge to the sound.
I also really enjoy the personification of the concept of karma into police that are coming to arrest those with bad karma. Karma has also been a somewhat fascinating idea to me throughout my life that I buy into at times but overall attribute to coincidence. Nonetheless, “this is what you get when you mess with us,” is a satisfying feeling when karma plays out and this is a cool modernized twist on an ancient idea.
“For a minute there, I lost myself,” is a great winding-away breakdown at the end, self-reassurance, snapping out of it. It’s a wonderful piece from Radiohead amid an extremely solid album that sits among my very favorites.
#401/420 - Radiohead, “Fake Plastic Trees”
The Bends, Radiohead’s second album, was when the group really began to find their own distinct sound, but it was still before they got too ethereal and experimental. The result is a lot of heavier, charged rock tracks, but this is one that stands out as being softer, and most representative of the sound that came to define the band, and it is my favorite of the bunch.
Thom Yorke has great vocals on this one, there is great control in the overall build-up of strength to his delivery as the song goes on, and the instruments compliment it very well, going from acoustic, to twisting, grinding electric guitars as his intensity and passion increases.
The topic of the song is interesting as well. The overall theme seems to be artificiality taking over, fake people living fake lives in fake bodies surrounded by fake things, but it also has a feeling of being just nonsense and frustration and morose feelings and imagery spilling out. Whatever it is, it sets a very specifically memorable feeling that stands out not only among Radiohead’s catalog, but among rock music in general, and I dig it. It was a treat to see this one performed live in Chicago last year.
#402/420 - Radiohead, “Dollars and Cents”
As will happen and has happened when recording many of the greatest albums of all time, artists often produce even more fantastic music than that single album can contain. In Radiohead’s case, that fantastic album was Kid A, and its follow-up was Amnesiac, entirely recorded during the same sessions, save for one song. It wouldn’t be fair to simply call this album Kid A’s leftovers, however, as it also features some of Radiohead’s very best, and actually works great when played directly after. My favorite of all is this track, which I believe to be quite under-appreciated in their catalog.
This song is a caravan of sounds, thundering across a desert of noise, under an electronic sun. I love the soundscape created here. It is certainly no easy task deciphering exactly what Thom Yorke is singing about here, but these are excellent vocals nonetheless. “Won’t you quiet down?” sounds like he is covering his ears, overwhelmed by the rest of the audio present here, the voices, his own, and what they have to say.
“We are the dollars and cents.” We are nothing but. Money, currency, all beating him down. I pine for an escape, but there is none.
The dark poetry is awesome, and one of the best qualities of this era in Radiohead’s history. They manage to find just the right sounds to compliment it and while they have always been talented right from the start, this type of music is just so special and unique, it is really something I hold in high regard.
I am sure I have listened to this one on repeat a number of times over the years and not even realized it was looping. It is easy to be drawn in, and remain there, the snaps of the percussion, the bass line, all so good, and this is definitely one of my tops from Radiohead.
#403/420 - Radiohead, “Thinking About You”
Radiohead’s debut doesn’t get the love it deserves in my opinion, even from the band itself. While it lacks the “wow” factor of later albums, and its biggest hit, “Creep”, almost sounds like it isn’t by the same band as their later music, instead belonging to some one hit wonder of the 90s, I actually really enjoy the whole thing. And one of my favorite songs in their entire discography comes from it, this one.
This is a sound that I love, that really brings me back to the era of my childhood. In the music zeitgeist of a given time, although there are distinct bands and musicians and singers, there does end up being something of a collective sound, and this track I feel is emblematic of it, and a real triumph of Radiohead’s. I have sat and listened to this in my headphones over the years on trip after trip on more devices and, therefore, for more times than I can count.
All the musical changes in this song grip at the heart in just the right way. Thom Yorke’s early vocals are easy to understand, and it’s very welcome here because I really love the lyrics to this song. They are adolescent for sure, but they aren’t surface level stuff, they really dig to explain themselves. Some of these lines stick with me more than anything else Radiohead has ever done.
“I’ve been thinking about you, so how can you sleep? These people aren’t your friends. They’re paid to kiss your feet.” I love that.
There’s lots of indirect ways of saying things here too that really add color to the words. He “bribed the company” to see her. “Should I still love you? Still see you in bed? But I’m playing with myself, and what do you care?” Is this about being left to masturbate after your lover and partner has left you? Could be. I enjoy the ambiguity, however. This person doesn’t think too highly of themselves, same as the person in “Creep”, but yet, especially as a young person, I think these are relatable feelings. I like the way they are put into words and music here. I like the tragedy, and I like that in spite of that it is still beautifully played and sang.
Sure, it may be the most 90s and least distinct thing Radiohead ever did, right down to its super 90s weird album cover, but as far as 90s alternative rock goes, Radiohead was one of the best, and this album and this song in particular are exemplary pieces in showing that off.
#404/420 - Radiohead, “Reckoner”
One of the best new albums from the year of my graduation, a decade after OK Computer, Radiohead still showed no signs of slouching off. There are many great tracks here, but this one is my favorite of all. The percussion is so cool in this song, and the meandering guitar playing just gets in your head and moves it around. I really appreciate the crispness and clarity of Thom Yorke’s vocals in falsetto here too.
When I was about 22 years-old, a coworker and I would get together regularly to practice a music set for performing at the sandwich shop we worked at during lunch. He played acoustic guitar and I sang. One of the most interesting songs he requested we do was this one. I didn’t really see how this could work with just one instrument, let alone how I could pull off these vocals at any significant volume, but nonetheless, I gave it a shot and it became my favorite song we did together. I loved the challenge of it and how surprisingly good we got it to sound. It was pretty cool getting to know this song at that level and only made me like it more.
Years later, I got to see Radiohead perform this one live in an arena. It was spectacular and a far cry from our sandwich shop show, but nonetheless, I felt a special connection to it.
Another cover version that’s out there which I am very fond of is a live performance by Gnarls Barkley, who I regret never seeing live during the brief window of opportunity that existed. Worth looking up!
#405/420 - Radiohead, “The National Anthem”
Kid A is one of my fabled top three albums of all time. I believe it to be one of the very best albums ever made by any artist. I have listened to it countless times over the years, play counts well into the 100s, and my favorite track of all is this masterpiece from Radiohead.
This is really the best national anthem of any nation’s I have ever heard, even though this one belongs to no nation. The unconventionality of this song is fantastic. The bassline is tremendous and the use of the brass section is dynamite. This era of Radiohead is like when The Beatles went psychedelic, an already excellent group just diving headfirst into experimentation and coming out with something absolutely wonderful, striking, creative, and new, as a blend of styles previously unblended.
I dig how polarizing music like this can be too. I love how I can be totally fascinated and entranced by something and play it over and over throughout my life and then read some critic just calling it “noise” or “annoying” or “trying too hard”. I think most great art challenges people in this way and forces them into discomfort. I love how uncomfortable and what a racket this song is. It’s so good.
And despite hearing this maybe 300 times or more, I’ve even had a Mandela effect moment where I could have sworn this was an instrumental track. Thom Yorke’s vocals are less those of a singer’s and more those of an instrument’s here; the lyrics are very minimalist. They are certainly there, make no mistake, but there is so much more to claim your attention, that they are far from the prominent feature of the song. This song is a blast of sound and it is music to my ears in both a literal and figurative sense.
Kid A is truly an experience. When I first heard it, it was a friend of mine who gave me the CD and said I just had to listen to it. At the time, it was one of the strangest things I had ever heard to be called “rock” music. I listened before bed and it did not soothe me to sleep. The trick ending even freaked me out a bit, and yes I was stoned, but I just kept coming back to it. It challenged me as a listener and the more I listened, the more it rewarded me. Steadily it became my favorite and one I would frequently put on before bed. OK Computer and The Bends were easy to like right from the start, but Kid A took some patience, and patience is a virtue and Kid A is king.
#406/420 - Radiohead, “2 + 2 = 5”
Though Hail to the Thief is probably the album out of Radiohead’s first seven that I have listened to the least, the opening track is without a doubt my favorite song of their entire catalog. It is a top ten song of mine for sure and one of the best rock songs ever written in my opinion. What a feat in under three and a half minutes. This song pretty much has it all as far as I’m concerned. It could be what keeps me from listening to this entire album—that once I play this song, I just want to replay it as soon as it’s done. This may be the best build-up and payoff within any song I have ever heard. There’s no going back here, only growing, and all of the musicians in Radiohead absolutely kill it in their respective roles.
0:00-0:14 “That’s a nice way to start.” Calm before the storm. Instruments turning on. Voices. Anticipation. Buckle up. We’re ready.
0:14-1:21 Echoey chasms. Entering the tunnel. Meandering guitars like a light rainfall of lights. “Are you such a dreamer?” The wind builds, momentum grows, confusion escalates. “2 and 2 always makes 5.” What? No, it doesn’t. Where are we going here? April showers in January?
1:21-1:54 Before you can grasp what is being said and suggested, there’s no time. “It is too late now.” Everything is being stretched, overtaking the track like a blanket. Air in your face. Going up the lift on the roller coaster.
1:54-2:26 Bam! And down the hill we go. “Paying attention.” Chaos. This is the thrill ride we got on for. Drops, loops, and corkscrews. So good.
2:26-3:21 Breakdown. And we’re flying. Sweet electric guitar riffs and slides and noise and energy. Sirens, alarms, runaway, getaway. “Hail to the thief.”
And hit the brakes, we’re done.
Awesome. Perfect length. Pretty much perfect song. 10/10.
Because I had never listened to Hail to the Thief as much as Radiohead’s other albums, this song was slightly under my radar for awhile. It wasn’t until I was living in Bogotá, Colombia for a few months in 2014 that it really struck me with just how good it was. I was staying with a friend’s family and her brother and I would occasionally have some nightly smoke sessions and share music we were both into. One band we bonded over most was Radiohead, but where I was more of a Kid A kid, he was more into thrashing metal than I ever have been. As a result, when I asked him what he thought the best Radiohead song was, he said this one, and maybe I wasn’t convinced right then and there, but the more it appeared in my own playlist’s shuffle and into my headphones over the next year or so, the more my agreement with his statement became undeniable. No other Radiohead song got me as fired up or brought a bigger smile to my face, and so remains to this day.
Radiohead is a band I grew up with and that in many ways grew up with me, maturing as I matured, experimenting as I experimented. Sometimes it was obvious what to like about their music with songs like “Creep” or “Paranoid Android”, while some tracks on OK Computer and Kid A and so on really challenged what rock music even was to me. Sometimes the people I knew who liked Radiohead before me made me question if I would like them because, well, how could I like the same music as that person? But of course, music is just one of those things that transcends personalities and archetypes and really hits something deeper. It’s a way to connect with others that may otherwise have very little in common with you. Radiohead is a megalith of my generation and several other generations surrounding it. Maybe it feels like everyone else’s favorite band at times, and it’s hard for it to be your personal favorite when it can feel so impersonal, but Radiohead is just that good. Some music just has to be shared, and this is one band I am glad to have been able to share with so many people in my life over the years, and look forward to doing so for many more years to come. True masters of their time.
Next week, and the week following, I am probably ramping up that statement of “everyone’s favorite” significantly, but the next two and final weeks of the countdown are the two artists that have meant the most to me and who I have listened to the most in my life since I was a little kid, until today, and they are still my most played and favorites of all. While next week’s artist falls just short of being my absolute favorite, I do believe he may have been the most talented musician, singer, and performer to ever live. I have never not been in awe of what he was capable of as an artist, and he is one of the few entertainers ever to achieve world fame and world adoration. Everywhere I have ever been, people know the name Michael Jackson, and people everywhere love his music, know the words, know the dance moves, know the music videos. Whether you like pop music, soul music, R&B, hip hop, rock, metal, jazz, dance, electronic, club, hell even country, somehow all tastes seem to converge to like the music of Michael Jackson. His mega-hits are undeniably popular, but even the crevices of his catalog are full of amazing music with every bit of effort and talent poured into them as his biggest songs. His legacy is marred with controversy and accusations, but I believe the accounts of those closest to him and the person that comes across in his music paint a picture of someone who had one of the kindest and most caring hearts to ever occupy the entertainment world. Besides being immensely talented, he put great messages into the world that I am glad to have grown up with and that inspired me to be a more kind and caring person to the planet, to others, and to myself.
I am very happy next week to recount my favorites from Michael Jackson.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Week 2: The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
Week 3: A Tribe Called Quest
Week 4: Weezer
Week 5: Bob Dylan
Week 6: Led Zeppelin
Week 7: 2Pac/Makaveli
Week 8: Billy Joel
Week 9: Electric Light Orchestra
Week 10: Elvis Presley
Week 11: Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
Week 12: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Week 13: Nirvana
Week 14: The Doors
Week 15: The Rolling Stones
Week 16: Gnarls Barkley
Week 17: Gábor Szabó
Week 18: Galaxie 500
Week 19: Simon & Garfunkel
Week 20: Gorillaz
Week 21: Ennio Morricone
Week 22: The Moody Blues
Week 23: Koji Kondo
Week 24: Rob Zombie/White Zombie
Week 25: Paul McCartney/Wings
Week 26: George Harrison
Week 27: Phil Spector
Week 28: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Week 29: Public Enemy
Week 30: The Love Language
Week 31: Barry White
Week 32: Frank Sinatra
Week 33: David Bowie
Week 34: Queen
Week 35: The Offspring
Week 36: Louis Prima
Week 37: The Notorious B.I.G.
Week 38: Nancy Sinatra
Week 39: Stevie Wonder
Week 40: Roger Miller
Week 41: Röyksopp
Week 42: N.W.A
Week 43: Sly and the Family Stone
Week 44: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Week 45: Supertramp
Week 46: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Week 47: The Kinks
Week 48: Eminem
Week 49: Mort Garson
Week 50: Foster the People
Week 51: Pink Floyd
Week 52: David Wise
Week 53: Sam Cooke
Week 54: Wu-Tang Clan
Week 55: The Beach Boys
Week 56: The Flaming Lips
Week 57: Marvin Gaye
View the full list of "420 Songs" here: https://tinyurl.com/y8fboudu (Google spreadsheet link)