Thom Yorke slowly beat on a grand piano, singing, eyes closed, into his microphone like he was trying to kiss around a big nose. Colin Greenwood tapped patiently on a double bass, waiting for his cue. White pearls of arena light swam over their faces. A lazy disco light spilled artificial constellations inside the aluminum cove of the makeshift stage. The metal skeleton of the stage ate one end of Florence's Piazza Santa Croce, on the steps of the Santa Croce Cathedral. Michelangelo's bones and cobblestone laid beneath. I stared entranced, soaking in Radiohead's new material, chiseling each sound into the best functioning parts of my brain which would be the only sound system for the material for months.

The butterscotch lamps along the walls of the tight city square bled upward into the cobalt sky, which seemed as strikingly artificial and perfect as a wizard's cap. The staccato piano chords ascended repeatedly. "Black eyed angels swam at me," Yorke sang like his dying words. "There was nothing to fear, nothing to hide." The trained critical part of me marked the similarity to Coltrane's "Ole." The human part of me wept in awe.

Kid A was made 20 f***ing years ago when alternative rock was skyrocketing. And it still sounds fresh as ever today.

Everybody expected them to go a certain way and they went complete left field.

It captured the entire surreality around the new millennium. It really matched a zeitgeist we still feel the remnants of today.

Love it. Especially the starting

yea its great

what albums you planning talk about next as this thread was successful

Idioteque

idk i can see why ppl put them on a pedestal but they do nothing for me personally

Definitely wanna keep it diverse, dive into some rap albums like Blueprint, Aquemini.
Honestly wanna know the general conception of Stillmatic here (my personal 2nd favorite Nas album)

70s s*** like What’s going on.
Some Purple rain and MJ. Back to rock with Nevermind, Are you experienced

Prolly discuss everyone’s favorite Bowie album, and Bob Dylan.

And for current s*** I wanna get a feel for the reasonings of those who call Blonde and Damn classics.

I listen to a wide variety of s***

that is a great synopsis.

its often said the music on Kid A exists in this weird space between the natural and the technological. this continues to become more and more relevant as the years pass, meaning Kid A is just ageing better and better as a result.

How to disappear completely some suicide music

Let Down is one of the best songs ever made

i would like to see ktt opinion on dummy or untrue but i guess they are not as obvious as albums you said

I’m tryna decide if I should make new threads each time or just update this one

Also feel free to share any interesting pieces of info in regards to the album discussed. Wether it be cool stories of the creative process, happy accidents, etc.

Ok Computer marks the beginning of Radiohead’s experimental turn, and it was an extremely ballsy move when you consider the climate in which it was produced in. They had just come off the success of The Bends and could have carried on in that vein, cementing themselves as a very good rock band. It really was the safe option and would have given them success. However, they really expanded their sound and surprised people, employing artistic conceits and ideas that were completely novel in that era. No British band was making music like this. The inclusion of Fitter Happier embodies the totality of the experimental and challenging shift in their music. When we listen to this project now, the implications of them releasing this are not felt, and when considering the image that Radiohead have since solidified, the experimentalism in this project isn’t as noticeable. Regardless, the music just sounds so incredible. Paranoid Android is probably my favourite song of all time. It’s multi-segmented, multi-tiered, and takes you on a mindfuck of a journey and an emotional odyssey. By the time you get to the ‘rain down’ bridge, you realise that you needed that at the same time as being absolutely blown away by the beautiful, ethereal harmonica. Another anecdote from that time, just to somewhat try and invoke the zeitgeist of the era here (which is a pivotal part of what makes this album a classic), the Melody Maker magazine reported that a Radio 1 producer had to ‘have a lie down after first hearing the song’—this s*** literally floored people who listened to music all day for a living. Overall, it’s an album that marked the shift and start of Radiohead as the avant-garde band that we revere them for today and, it’s an album, that entirely transcends time and space, meaning that it never sounds dated (like an Oasis album, for example).

And then Kid A... I don’t know where to start. This s*** is surreal and as @TrussMe said so brilliantly above, it captures a mood and feeling so trenchantly by packing in the ineffable anxieties swirling around the turn of the millennium into an LP. Nobody expected them to do this s*** after OKC, and the reaction to it was divided to say the least... it took years for people to go back and appreciate this for the masterpiece it truly is.

And Everything In Its Right Place is the greatest opener ever.

Op I need you to keep doing this kind of threads

absolutely adore Kid A and think OKC is meh

The run on Pablo Honey from “Anyone Can Play Guitar” to “Blow Out” is underrated. “Airbag” is my least favorite track on OKC because I’ve never liked the rest of the song as much as the opening riff.

Do you all think In Rainbows is the most accessible one at this point?

One more slightly off-topic post, haha. “Just” might be my favorite music video ever:

if op doesnt continue them i will

Radiohead is cancelled we only fw oasis now