Maybe state-side, Capitol thought of them as a curiosity, a sort-of British Counting Crows that had made up their end of the recording deal but didn’t necessarily warrant a further publicity push.
Upon its initial release, it was just another album by some alternative band. But that praise didn’t come en masse for nearly a year. It’s now correctly hailed as a masterpiece and a totem in rock music, one of the greatest albums of the decade and perhaps all time. It’s not easy listening, even if it’s quiet.īut early along this path, they quickly conceived OK Computer, an album that shattered even the heightened standards of The Bends. Their latest excursions have given us A Moon Shaped Pool, a dense and mystifying collection of songs that lets its hypnotic powers loose after dozens and dozens of plays.
I visualize this as a journey into the deep woods five band members walking the earth in search of this crystalized vision, one of clear, minimal, unfettered communication. What happened? How had they reached this place?Īs their career progressed, Radiohead traveled deeper and deeper into the depths of that mysterious place. It was mature, musically gripping and thematically linked by a desperate voice in search of a sense of self. That second album was so far beyond their debut as to stun listeners. If Radiohead’s debut Pablo Honey was the work of an exceptionally good band from the suburbs with a clear voice, their follow-up The Bends saw the group move to the city and rapidly mature. The end result is still as thrilling and confusing as ever, of course, which just further cements its stature. OKNOTOK also offers an excellent opportunity to explore what made the original album such a life-changing monster, as well as how the new materials add to its already impressive reputation. It fills out an already fascinating picture and adds to the questions and speculations already surrounding it. This brings us to the present and the release of OK Computer - OKNOTOK 1997 2017, a deluxe rerelease of the album in multiple formats, all of which include a second disc of the B-sides and unreleased tracks from the same period. It became difficult, in fact, to remember life before 1997. It stood the test of time and elaborate theories began popping up on its meaning, its recording and even subsequent albums - how, 10 years later, their record In Rainbows seemed to zipper seamlessly with OK Computer, working as a companion and expansion of the original album. The album never disappeared and remained steady companions in millions of collections. And what was inside was even more dramatic.Īll this has just been reinforced through the past 20 years.
The lyrics were mistyped and rendered in a machine font.
Strange scribbles and lopped-off lyrical bits intermingled with rejected safety manual illustrations. What was Thom Yorke singing about on “Subterranean Homesick Alien?” How did they make the guitars sound like that on “Climbing Up the Walls?” What is going on with this band? Where did any of this music come from?Įven flipping through the booklet was baffling. It arrived so quietly and it still landed with a ridiculous impact.įrom the moment OK Computer was released and landed in CD players around the globe, there was a collective, confounded reaction.
No chance of escape: 20 years of wrestling with OK Computer