Radiohead – OK Computer

22 11 2010

Listened: Tuesday October 12

OK Computer is the first Radiohead album I ever bought. I slacked on purchasing The Bends and Pablo Honey for a very long time, just because I was very familiar with the singles (and a cheapskate) and wasn’t motivated to buy the whole thing.

It was the beginning of college when OK Computer was released, and that was when I decided to dive in. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Thom Yorke wails beautifully. Every time Thom sings “Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me. From a great height, from a great height, height” or “It’s gonna be a glorious day, I feel my luck could change. Pull me out of the aircrash, pull me out of the wreck, cause I’m your superhero. We’re standing on the edge” or “For a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself” I can’t help but think OK Computer is a modern opera. The emotional strain in his voice on those lines moves me as I imagine arias move opera lovers. Radiohead, more than any other band, always makes me think of the George Carlin quote “Singing is basically a form of pleasant, controlled screaming.”

An odd note is how funny the Mac-robo-voice is on Fitter, Happier 13 years on. It totally reminds me of the 90s and making our computers say silly or dirty statements. My friend Audrey and I used to have competitions about who could think of the funniest one, and we had a rotation on our Macs so every alert message was a different statement. Having a computer say “Dammit” when it encounters an issue is very fitting.


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5 responses

23 11 2010
Juliana

I’m 100 percent with you on this album and Thom Yorke’s singing voice. I could die of happiness whenever I hear “Paranoid Android.”

21 01 2011
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[…] remember really anticipating Kid A’s release. It had been 3 years since OK Computer and we were all antsy to see what was next. I remember reading lots of reactions on the internet […]

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