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Radiohead's 'OK Computer' is 20 years old

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X

Xrenity

Member
It's OK Computer week on Pitchfork, because of its 20th anniversary.

MI0003962716.jpg


Just an amazing album. Still sounds great to this day. Wonderful production and great songwriting.

Pitchfork's now got a great article on it:
WHEN OK COMPUTER CAME OUT, it sounded to some like rock’s future. But it also represented the latest in a hoary tradition: the classic art-pop album. First in 1998 and again in 2006, readers of the staid British music monthly Q Magazine voted the twitching opus as the greatest album of all-time, ahead of not just R.E.M. and the Smiths, but the Beatles and the Beach Boys, too. As OK Computer turns 20 this year, it’s difficult to name a guitar-based full-length since that has matched its combination of critical and commercial success, along with its stylistic adventurousness.
Click to expand...
http://pitchfork.com/features/ok-co...troyed-the-art-pop-album-in-order-to-save-it/

Videos
I was pretty late in discovering Radiohead, but I guess every child of the 90s that watched MTV occasionally will probably know one or more of these great videos:
Paranoid Android
Karma Police
No Surprises
 
U

Username1198

Member
Paranoid android single handedly turned my music preference from gangsta rap to whatever Radiohead is by the end of the song.

I still remember being blown away by the guitar solo at the end of the song.

The tourist is the best song btw. Fuck I love this album.
 
C

Cipher Peon

Banned
My least favorite album of all time. Received it as a gift and felt miserable about it because I hated it.

Didn't know it was 20 years old, though. Can't believe I'm quite a bit older :eek:
 
N

norm9

Member
One of the best rock albums of all time. I proclaimed them the new Pink Floyd when this album came out in freshman year college.
 
H

Horsefly

Member
Despite all the write ups over the last 20 years, I still do not have the words to express how this album felt in 1997
 
B

Blader

Member
Wait a minute. The album was released in the summer of 1997. It's March. Why is Pitchfork marking the 20th anniversary now?
 
P

ps3ud0

Member
Released the day before my final maths a level module exam if I remember correctly. Didn't revise as the album was just too good...

ps3ud0 8)
 
Jezbollah

Jezbollah

Member
I always maintain that it's the second, third and fourth albums that define a band.

The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A.

'nuff said.
 
U

uncelestial

Member
No need to smear such a great album as "art pop," Pitchfork.

At any rate, the "Exit Music -> Let Down" transition is about the point where you realize, "holy shit this album is not fucking around."
 
P

PalaceBrother

Member
A fantastic record! It's a shame that they weren't capable of producing anything close to it again (or before, excluding Anyone Can Play Guitar).

I listen to this LP regularly.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Let's not forget the sheer brilliance of the Airbag EP
2ZA7kqu.jpg
Click to expand...

It's the perfect companion piece to OK Computer, B-sides that show the band already moving on to a new kind of sound. "Meeting in the Aisle" is one of the chillest tracks ever put down.
 
U

uncelestial

Member
Gentleman Jack said:
Let's not forget the sheer brilliance of the Airbag EP


It's the perfect companion piece to OK Computer, B-sides that show the band already moving on to a new kind of sound. "Meeting in the Aisle" is one of the chillest tracks ever put down.
Click to expand...
Great EP. I would argue it also does a little gap-bridging between The Bends and OKC with tracks like "Pearly" and "Palo Alto." Their minds were so open at this point in their career.
 
S

soundscream

Member
This album and the song Creep are the only Radiohead I like. Tried the other stuff but just cant get into it. But this was my jam Sr year of high school.
 
M

Moppeh

Banned
Cipher Peon said:
My least favorite album of all time. Received it as a gift and felt miserable about it because I hated it.

Didn't know it was 20 years old, though. Can't believe I'm quite a bit older :eek:
Click to expand...

Every time I think I've reached peak befuddlement from your posts, you continue to outdo it.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Moonkid said:
Y'all better not start trashing Fitter, Happier.
Click to expand...

I think in interviews Thom revealed that the idea for the song came from a series of internet chats (or emails, can't clearly recall) he had with someone where they just spouted empty mottos at each other back and forth for a long time, and he took all of them and ran them through what at the time was the voice synthesizer on his computer.

Later he said he still listened to the song for the piano bits.

It's an odd duck of a song, with an interesting history and it thematically fits with the rest of the album. Far from my favorite track, tho.
 
T

trh

Nifty AND saffron-colored!
I thought I hated Radiohead, as I've never connected with any of their songs. Started that 'top 500 albums' thing that was in another thread (using rateyourmusic's list, that has OK Computer at #1), and I was really surprised at how much I liked the album. It's pretty fucking great.
 
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