Topic: OK Computer will be 10 years old soon (Read 19881 times)

Will · « **on:** 04 Jul 2007, 18:16 »

I've never really been a big fan of Radiohead as a whole, but this album has always been the exception to the rule. OK Computer ranks as one of my top 10 albums of all time, it's one of the albums that I would give a perfect 10/10, and in one week, it will be a decade old. I think that it's a completely timeless album that still sounds as fresh as it did when it was released.

In honor of the occasion, I am posting a link I found. It's just someone's entry in a music blog, but it compiles Youtube footage of the entire album, track-by-track, performed live. If you've seen Radiohead before this will probably underwhelm, but some of you guys might like it.

http://www.musicbyday.com/2007/06/radioheads-ok-computer-was-released-on.html

Ishotdanieljohnston · « **Reply #1 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 18:27 »

I never got all the hype around OK Computer, I always liked the Bends more. I think Radiohead kinda went downhill after that. still a great album though, I'll give that link a go a bit later.

fish across face · « **Reply #2 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 18:45 »

I really wanted to hate 'OK Computer'. There was so much amazing stuff going on in Britain outside the pedestrian shit mags like Q and Mojo were getting moisties over, the "Britpop" thing all seemed musically retarded to me, and Radiohead were an earnest, serious rock band. The idea of musicianly musicians noodling about and singing heartfelt, miserable stuff was the antithesis of what I was finding to be the awesomeness of the 90s.

But, fuck, I loved the album to bits. At the tender age of 21 I really related to a whole lot of Thom's whiney, angsty lyrics, but I could also dig the wit of it all, the jokey references and so on, and then of course there's the sound of the thing. I love everything about it, from the big picture down to the details. The way the production shifts and the echoes on the guitars go spang at the coda of Karma Police... Great.

math.neurosis · « **Reply #3 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 18:46 »

Ok computer was so different from rh's previous albums and I love it because of that..it's like the band locked thom in a empty room for three months and told him to have a nice long chat with his "voices".. it is probably thier most cohesive release as a result.. and yeah I prefer the bends but ok comes a very very close second.. now I'll sit back and wait for the new album to come out.

Gridgm · « **Reply #4 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 19:51 »

i've never really liked radiohead outside paranoid android and creep i've heard ok computer and really don't get the hype

Johnny C · « **Reply #5 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 21:02 »

Try Kid A.

Seriously, I disliked Radiohead until I listened to that album in its entirety.

RefD · « **Reply #6 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 21:55 »

i've liked almost every song they've done starting with The Bends and they just seem to get better with each album.

i wouldn't wipe my ass with Pablo Honey, tho!

Lazer · « **Reply #7 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 23:30 »

This is by and far my favorite album of all time, I can get why some people wouldn't dig the whole melodic depressing vibe britpop thing, but holy shit I skeet to this album on a regular basis. Radiohead is my holy grail of music, and everytime someone tells me I'd probably like the Strokes way more and I should try listening to them instead because they're much better I want to jack them in the face.

Bends is also pretty excellent though.

Johnny C · « **Reply #8 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 23:44 »

Do people still listen to The Strokes?

Hat · « **Reply #9 on:** 04 Jul 2007, 23:52 »

If the obviously hip hero of Transformers is any indication, yes.

Misereatur · « **Reply #10 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 03:45 »

That album grew on me. At first I didn't like it, but after listening to it a few more time I could see why people think so much of it. It is a great record. I think it was one of the first records I ever owned.

I also really love Hail to the Thief.

amok · « **Reply #11 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 07:15 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 04 Jul 2007, 21:02

Try Kid A.

Seriously, I disliked Radiohead until I listened to that album in its entirety.

True that. I got OK Computer and Kid A together years ago, listened to OKC awhile, and kind of wrote it off. It was ok, but never really grabbed me. Radiohead didn't really 'click' until I went back a couple months later and listened to Kid A a few times through. Made me appreciate the others a lot more.

Kid A is still the best.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #12 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:14 »

I love Radiohead and while I'm undecided if OK is their best album, it's really close if it's not. Radiohead is one of my favorite bands and has been for some time. The shifting Paranoid Android, the tragic and beautiful Exit Music (For a Film) and the fantastic in general Karma Police are three tracks I absolutely love in an album brimming with greatness. I still get chills when Thom sings 'For a minute there I lost myself, I lost myself" at the end of the latter song. Something to celebrate the anniversary would be nice. If only a remastered vinyl with new artwork or something was being released. Oh well, guess I'll have to be satisfied with just listening to the album for the 10,000th time. That, to be honest, is fine by me.

amok · « **Reply #13 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:17 »

Incidentally, does anyone else like 'Let Down'? It's my favourite song, both on OKC and on the Easy Star All-Stars reggae version of said album, but everyone I know irl fuckin' skips it to go straight from Exit Music to Karma Police! Scumbags.

Will · « **Reply #14 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:24 »

I try to make it a point not to listen to OKC unless I have the time to listen from start to finish without interruption. It just feels like that is how it should be, I guess.

Luke C · « **Reply #15 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:25 »

Quote from: Ishotdanieljohnston on 04 Jul 2007, 18:27

I never got all the hype around OK Computer, I always liked the Bends more. I think Radiohead kinda went downhill after that. still a great album though, I'll give that link a go a bit later.

Same here, the bends is a far more exciting album.

And I still listen to the Strokes, not as much as before though.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #16 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:35 »

Speeking of OK Computer... has anyone heard the Easy Star All-Stars version of this? Radiodread? is it any good?

I've listened to Dub Side of the Moon, thought it was pretty sweet, but I didn't want to rush out there and buy an album of which the predecessor was possibly a fluke. With these kind of things I feel like its kind of hit and miss.

I love OK Computer. Only discovered it about two months ago. I had no idea it was nearly ten years old. It's still a great album. I thought it was kind of a response to Coldplay, some sort of mockery. Just shows how out of the loop I am.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #17 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:44 »

I tried listening to a Radiohead album once, but it sucked too much. That mans voice is just so bad.

amok · « **Reply #18 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:49 »

Quote from: StaedlerMars on 05 Jul 2007, 08:35

Speeking of OK Computer... has anyone heard the Easy Star All-Stars version of this? Radiodread? is it any good?

Yes. It's amazing, I far prefer it to Dub Side.

Quote

I love OK Computer. Only discovered it about two months ago. I had no idea it was nearly ten years old. It's still a great album. I thought it was kind of a response to Coldplay, some sort of mockery. Just shows how out of the loop I am.

Nah, Coldplay is kind of a response to 'interesting music,' some sort of mockery. The only point of comparison is that they're both British.

tomselleck69 · « **Reply #19 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 08:55 »

Quote from: StaedlerMars

Speeking of OK Computer... has anyone heard the Easy Star All-Stars version of this? Radiodread? is it any good?

It is what it is. I guess some considered it blasphemy, but I loved it. What's good is that rather than just cover the songs they actively build on them (i mean, beyond the fact that they have turned them into reggae.)

Quote from: KharBevNor on 05 Jul 2007, 08:44

I tried listening to a Radiohead album once, but it sucked too much. That mans voice is just so bad.

ohhhhh burn

CmonMiracle · « **Reply #20 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 10:09 »

Quote from: amok on 05 Jul 2007, 08:17

Incidentally, does anyone else like 'Let Down'? It's my favourite song, both on OKC and on the Easy Star All-Stars reggae version of said album, but everyone I know irl fuckin' skips it to go straight from Exit Music to Karma Police! Scumbags.

I do that unfortunately...I don't know, it kind of feels out of place for me. Not gloomy enough? :p

Kai · « **Reply #21 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 10:12 »

if there is one song I'm going to skip on it it's Fitter Happier. Apple mac robo voice? fuck that shit.

Stefan Autsa · « **Reply #22 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 10:19 »

While I quite like all of their albums, Kid A is probably my favourite. Even if it does kind of try to be a Warp artist in places, there's something very strange and skeletal about the production, and the way the songs flow. The live album, I Might Be Wrong, is nice also.

Radiohead are another one of those bands who seem to garner both really obsessive fans and obsessive haters, who are both willing to argue into the aether. Shame, as they've got some good songs.

Oh! And Let Down is my favourite song on OK Computer.

Ernest · « **Reply #23 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 10:36 »

I'm downloading Kid A as we speeeek.

Catacombs · « **Reply #24 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 12:14 »

On a side note, has anyone ever heard that Kid A predicted Sept. 11?

E. Spaceman · « **Reply #25 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 12:40 »

No, the very idea seems ludicrous i think.

OK Computer came out when i was 8, i remember my dad buying it and bringing it home. It's still one of my favourite albums, and Let Down is my favourite song on the album and probably my favourite Radiohead song. I remember thinking it was such a beautiful song, and thinking it was the most depressing one, and i remember that at one point i realised it was probably one of the most uplifting songs i'd heard.

squawk · « **Reply #26 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 13:05 »

People skip Let Down? How can they do that? It is amazing.

OKC came out when I was five, but I first heard it when I was 8 and thought Karma Police was the best song ever. Sometimes I still do.

amok · « **Reply #27 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 13:10 »

Quote from: squawk on 05 Jul 2007, 13:05

People skip Let Down? How can they do that? It is amazing.

Fuck if I know, but I have to mention that I want to hear it every time the CD is on at someone's house, or they go into 'Let's go straight to Karma Police' mode right at the end of Exit Music.

this thread = ++faith in humanity

RefD · « **Reply #28 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 13:35 »

Quote from: Will on 05 Jul 2007, 08:24

I try to make it a point not to listen to OKC unless I have the time to listen from start to finish without interruption. It just feels like that is how it should be, I guess.

OKC = DSOTM of the 90s?

i'd almost go along with that.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #29 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 13:57 »

I can understand wanting to get to Karma Police. It's a great frickin song. But skipping Let Down is blasphemy. That song is amazing and one of the best on the album. It's a lot better than No Surprises and The Tourist and even Subterranean Homesick Alien. On a sorta related note, I love Fitter Happier.

tomselleck69 · « **Reply #30 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 14:12 »

Quote from: Catacombs on 05 Jul 2007, 12:14

On a side note, has anyone ever heard that Kid A predicted Sept. 11?

no no no, September 11th CONFIRMS Kid A.

squawk · « **Reply #31 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 15:15 »

Indeed. I saw them last year! It was a religious experience and very cold. In June. Berkeley is like that.
It was even more special because my older siblings had seen them three times before, WITHOUT me! I hate it when they do that. But it was definitely worth the five-year wait.

CookedHaggis · « **Reply #32 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 15:19 »

Quote from: Daniel on 04 Jul 2007, 22:08

Ok Computer just bores me. I dislike almost everything Radiohead did after the Bends.

And honestly, the Bends is a great U2 album.

That must be a joke. I mean, seriously, U2 are awful.

Also, I love Radiohead (even most of Pablo Honey!), but I've gotta say I didn't dig Hail to the Thief as much as any of the other albums. It took me a long time to warm up to Kid A and Amnesiac (which I now ranks as "awesome") so I thought Hail... might be a case of the same, but even after many listens it just doesn't do as much for me as the the others.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #33 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 15:35 »

Quote from: CookedHaggis on 05 Jul 2007, 15:19

That must be a joke. I mean, seriously, U2 are awful.

But so are Radiohead!

Kai · « **Reply #34 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 15:36 »

ULTRAAAA BURNNNN

CookedHaggis · « **Reply #35 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 15:43 »

I should've seen that coming, but I was still reeling from the eye-gouging horror which the possibility of someone actually liking U2 summons.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #36 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 16:40 »

Much like Tommy, I love and loved Radiohead. I was 12 when the album came out, and I remember seeing the video for 'Paranoid Android' on MTV and talking to a dude at school about this weird video I saw. I eventually bought the album and it changed my life forever.

Everyone has that one album or band that completely alters you, opens you up to new experiences, makes you seek out different things than you're used to, and forces you to question a lot of things about your life. OK Computer did this for me. I was never a big fan of music before Radiohead. I liked songs on the radio sometimes, I owned 5 or 6 CDs, and I actually cared what videos won on TRL back when Carson Daly was just starting out. After Radiohead, it was as if my entire world changed. The way I thought about life in general was never the same; the music gets all the recognition it deserves, but if you're someone who's only listened to popular music, the lyrics on the album will shock you. They aren't love songs or overly sad songs, but yet they managed to tap into so much emotional ground all the same.

I say that I loved Radiohead because they haven't been a big part of my life for a few years now. By the time of their 2003 tour, they had gotten me into so much other music because I ravenously read their press and books about them and sought out the albums they mentioned or people compared them to. It was the first concert I had ever been to, and I remember the sheer impact of realizing my favorite band was in the same place as me, playing the songs I went to sleep listening to every night, literally floored me. My legs felt weak and I thought I was going to pass out. But after the show, I sort of felt like this was as far as I could go. It doesn't help that they haven't released anything in almost 5 years, but during those years I discovered so many other bands that I don't have time to listen to them. I also tried to listen to OK Computer when on mushrooms and it put me in a really dark, scared frame of mind to the point where I had to turn it off and I haven't listened to it since.

I could talk all night about the album, but even if you don't like it, you have to admit it's one of those generational touchstones that everyone is familiar with. And that's enough to make it one of the best albums of all time in my book.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #37 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 17:31 »

Quote

remember seeing the video for 'Paranoid Android' on MTV and talking to a dude at school about this weird video I saw.

Yeah. I remember seeing that video (I hadn't made the connection until I read this topic actually) and being like: "What the hell? This is so bizarre" This was when I still watched MTV (back when it still played music, and when it was the only decent channel on tv, besides cartoon network at the time).

Quote

OK Computer did this for me. I was never a big fan of music before Radiohead.

I get that. Was the first Gorillaz album for me. I remember after that just thinking: "Wow. Music is kind of awesome."

Quote

I really, really hate U2.

They're over-rated, and Bono's a douchebag, their music is simple and always the same, but really, they're not THAT bad. They really know how to use them effects pedals.

SpellC · « **Reply #38 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 17:35 »

It took me a hell of a long time to warm up to Radiohead. I hated Yorke's voice for a long time.

But I kept giving them new chances, and when I listened to HTTT for the first time I kind of opened up to it. I went back to Kid A after that and then back to OKC and now I love everything post-Pablo Honey. I can't decide which record is my favorite, but I think HTTT, Kid A, and OKC are clearly their three best.

Even when I didn't like Radiohead, however, I respected them. They took their money and made the music they wanted to. It probably made them seem a little smug, but you have to admire that, I think, even if you don't particularly enjoy what they put out.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #39 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 17:51 »

Quote from: ScrambledGregs on 05 Jul 2007, 16:40

I could talk all night about the album, but even if you don't like it, you have to admit it's one of those generational touchstones that everyone is familiar with. And that's enough to make it one of the best albums of all time in my book.

I fucking hate it when people say things like this. Like when Pitchfork talked about one Radiohead album 'Defining consumers of rock music' or something. It doesn't. At all. I've never even heard the damn album. A few songs probably. It's so fucking flippant. I'm sure there's shitloads of metalheads, rap fans whatever that have never heard this album, and don't give a shit about it. It's like when people say that a band 'is good for people who like music' or that if you don't like a band your ears are broken or whatever. Sure, ok, everyone goes through a phase of thinking like that, and half the time it's flippant. Like me saying Radiohead aren't any good is kinda flippant I suppose: it's obviously my opinion. Really, I don't even hate 'em. I don't even care about them or remember they exist 99.9% of the time. Sometimes I wish I could join in with all your 'generational touchstone' togetherness bullshit, but I can't, and I'm by no means alone. Don't overestimate the importance of the band for fucks sake. They're just another bunch of whiney white uni graduates who care about stuff playing rock songs. Nothing earth shattering. Nothing revolutionary. Sure, they were a big thing to you, but don't make the mistake of thinking it was like that for everyone.

SpellC: I don't even want to give this band any more chances. I don't feel they deserve it. I dislike the idea of just listening to a band over and over again until the familiarity breeds a false sense of liking them. But thats okay if you have managed to do that I guess. Just nor for me.

fish across face · « **Reply #40 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 18:15 »

Yeah. Even if everyone has an opinion on the album, there's certainly room for several less charitable interpretations as to why that's the case. It's the kind of sweeping "OMG it's so important" statements that make me feel a bit embarrassed to love the album. I felt the same with Nirvana - I quited like some of their songs, I remember Smells Like Teen Spirit being fun to dance to at parties, but it never changed my life or whatever the press seemed to be pushing. Fuck, by 1997 Autechre had released 3 great albums, the Orb had done their big live tour and has several number one albums (!!!), jungle was going off, Aphex Twin felt like part of everyone's musical lexicon, Leftfield had made their mark, Maurizio's collected 12"s came out on CD... At the time this seemed much more important to "my generation" than Radiohead, but even then I knew that was wrong thinking. It reflected my peer group, not everyone.

Khar, "a false sense of liking" cracked me up, though. I get your point, but would love to know how to spot a "true sense of liking" something.

Hat · « **Reply #41 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 18:16 »

Quote from: Kai on 05 Jul 2007, 10:12

if there is one song I'm going to skip on it it's Fitter Happier. Apple mac robo voice? fuck that shit.

Man, fuck yes. I hate that song, and its just wasting my time before Electioneering, which is probably my favorite song on that whole album.

Also Khar, look, I know you are proof that this album didn't touch *everybody*, but the fact of the matter is that OK Computer has had a vast and wide reaching effect, and really has made a lot of headway into the metal community. I remember the first time I ever heard Paranoid Android was at a mates house smoking cones when I was fifteen, listening to Cannibal Corpse and Cradle of Filth, and then he put on OK Computer and it was fucking insane. I mostly hang out with metalheads, and not a single one of them could claim not to have heard this album. Hell, I've seen a dude in a waist length platinum wig who spent most of the night yelling "PLAY SOME DOKKEN" playing air drums in perfect time to Paranoid Android.

It seems to me either you've made a deliberate attempt to remove yourself from mainstream opinions of music, or that you are so far removed from the musical mentality of most people that you cannot actually understand that OK Computer really is one of those albums. Maybe not more than Dark Side of the Moon, or Fear of a Black Planet, but its up there.

Ishotdanieljohnston · « **Reply #42 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 18:17 »

WOW. I used to be a huge Radiohead fan, and was kinda goin through a bad phase with them, but the enthusiasm of this thread has totally restored my faith.

Seriously though, when the fuck are they gonna release there new album?

KharBevNor · « **Reply #43 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 18:41 »

Man, not the metalheads I know. Maybe Australia just sucks? j/k.

I've never heard Fear of a Black Planet either. You seem kinda stuck in the idea of the canon. I very much doubt more than about three of the people I went to sixth form with have heard 'Fear of a Black Planet' either. I'm pretty sure half my friends haven't heard Dark Side of the Moon. These things aren't obligatory. I'm not pathetic enough to dislike a band because it's popular. I don't think many people are. I like bands that sound good to me. Radiohead does not fit this category. I find them to be really fucking boring, in fact. I'm sure other people love them, but probably not as much as you think.

Ishotdanieljohnston · « **Reply #44 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 18:48 »

I just heard a clip of some of there new stuff straight out of the studio on dead air space- it was really rough but sounded pretty damn funky and different to all else they've done.

I am indeed excited.

RefD · « **Reply #45 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 22:57 »

if the past (or the present, who am i trying to kid?) is anything to judge by, i won't have enough uninterrupted time to give it a proper listen til after the last tour date is passed and they're already huddled somewhere trying to give birth to their next album.

Kai · « **Reply #46 on:** 05 Jul 2007, 23:15 »

it's okay, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back is the better Public Enemy album anyway.

Hat · « **Reply #47 on:** 06 Jul 2007, 00:03 »

And Kid A is the superior Radiohead album, but OK Computer is the one with a billion people too lazy to explore modern music constantly jacking off over it.

Next year we should start up a Nation of Millions thread though and basically pretend like we were old enough to appriciate it when it came out.

RefD · « **Reply #48 on:** 06 Jul 2007, 01:03 »

some of us here are turning 40 soon.

Golden Helmet · « **Reply #49 on:** 06 Jul 2007, 01:11 »

Quote from: amok on 05 Jul 2007, 08:17

Incidentally, does anyone else like 'Let Down'? It's my favourite song, both on OKC and on the Easy Star All-Stars reggae version of said album, but everyone I know irl fuckin' skips it to go straight from Exit Music to Karma Police! Scumbags.

Oh man, I LOVE 'Let Down'. It's my favorite from OK Computer (call me crazy for liking it more than Karma Police). The album, with the exception of 'Fitter Happier', is my favorite album of all time though.

As for everyone saying that Kid A was better, not so sure that I can agree. I'm a huge Radiohead fan, I've got all 6 of their studio albums plus a bunch of their singles albums, such as 'Com Lag (2 Plus 2 is 5)' 'I Might Be Wrong - Live Recordings', 'Itch', 'My Iron Lung EP', plus the 'Lost Treasures 1993-1997' collection which itself is amazing, and some other singles albums (still missing a few sadly). I just don't see how Kid A was any better than OK Computer. It had some great songs, sure, but in my opinion it doesn't out-rank OKC. But hey, to each their own opinion I guess

Am I the only one that likes Amnesiac though? It seems to be the least talked about album of theirs. How can everyone ignore 'Pyramid Song'? Hell, that song alone makes the album worth mentioning imo.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: OK Computer will be 10 years old soon (Read 19881 times)

math.neurosis

CmonMiracle

Stefan Autsa

CookedHaggis

CookedHaggis

ScrambledGregs

SpellC

Golden Helmet