I think it’s generally agreed that the step from OK Computer to Kid A marked a sharp transition for Radiohead. So, which Radiohead do you prefer?
For myself, I think OK Computer is an extremely solid rock album. Kid A is a work of absolute genius, a complete reinvention of what rock music was about.
To anticipate the mavens: I’m not claiming that Radiohead created a new art form out of whole cloth – revolutions don’t work this way. But I do believe that nobody in the rock universe had ever conceived of anything like Kid A before, and in my view rock hasn’t been the same since.
Kid A has a great atmosphere and many strong points. If Radiohead hadn’t gone in that direction I would be much more closed-minded about electronic music, which I think says a lot for them; several songs are great. I think Thom said recently that if he was remembered for only one song, it’d be How to Disappear. But I don’t think the whole album stacks up to OK Computer - the weakest track on that thing is probably Electioneering, and that’s the song that got me into Radiohead in the first place. It’s just an amazing, brilliant work, and it’s more vibrant than anything Radiohead has done since then.
OK Computer definitely stretches the listener but it’s recognizable rock. I think their best album was The Bends, but I can accept the progression in OK Computer. So many great tracks… Airbag, Paranoid Android, No Surprises, Karma Police, Let Down…
Hearing Kid A was disappointing. I thought that they were so obsessed with the idea of being experimental that it became a bit of a joke. I remember hearing a story that Jonny Greenwood was asking fans for weird chords to play, which strikes me as being weird for the sake of being weird.
I’ve only occasionally listened to Radiohead since Kid A. I liked Myxamotosis (sp?) and There There. But Radiohead are going to have to work to bring me back into the fold. Somehow, I don’t think that’s their goal, though…
OK Computer for be (along with The Bends and Pablo Honey). Never really cared much for Kid A, and didn’t they come out with something after that, I don’t remember. Unfortuatly, I didn’t really listen to them after Kid A came out. But OK Computer is still one of my favorite albums from any artist.
The only way to follow a masterpiece like OKC is with something you can’t really compare to it. Otherwise you get what I call Lucinda Williams Syndrome–every time I hear a new Lucinda album, I mentally compare it to Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which is (IMHO) one of the best albums ever made, so they all seem like disappointments.
Then again, I’ve felt a little of that with every Radiohead album since Kid A.
It’s interesting that U2 did pretty much the same thing, since the next true studio album after The Joshua Tree was the very different but also awesome Achtung Baby. It’s a smart move.
Kid A reminded me too much of Philip Glass - I’m sure it was intelligent and clever and all that, but the loops were too damn repetitive. I kept expecting, you know, music to come forth from the speakers, but ended up listening to 75 minutes of unlistenable noise from someone’s basement sequencer. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to hear Thom York’s solo work was even more [del]mundane[/del] “experiemental”.
I’d gladly write in The Bends if given the option.
I really love both of them. I would call both albums one of the best, if not the best, of their respective decades. Masterworks. Absolutely monumental. OK Computer is the better of the two though.
I really like both records. OK Computer stood me in good stead throughout high school while Kid A (and Amnesiac to a much lesser extent) was part of the soundtrack of college. Hmmm…
I guess if you told me I could only take one with me, I’d go with Kid A. Mainly because I have OK Computer thoroughly burned in to my mental jukebox. I can literally listen to it any time.
I’d go with OK.
Someone once summarized OK as being akin to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon , in that each was the one album which showed how their respective bands could be coherent and approachable without sacrificing inventive integrity. I’d have to agree.
Can I really be the only person here who thinks that Kid A-era Radiohead represents the peak of alternative rock, far surpassing what they (or anyone) had done before?
Listen to Kid A, Amnesiac, and the Com Lag EP. Something very special was happening – unlike Key Lime Guy, I don’t see this as clearly evolutionary from their previous work. It sounds instead like a band in a flash of creative insight. OK computer just doesn’t have the same feeling to me.
Enough, I won’t try to convince you, you all have heard them both. But please give Kid A some more tries.
I wasn’t too in to Radiohead before OK Computer, and OK Computer blew my friggin’ mind.
It still does.
I was hyped for Kid A but I just couldn’t get in to it. I’m a little washed out on all forms of prog/electronica because my brother pushed it down my throat my whole life, so Kid A just sort of bored me. Not to say it wasn’t awesome or revolutionary but it just didn’t make me FEEL like OK Computer did/does.
I thought OK Computer, and still do when I’m casually listening to a CD.
I’ve seen Radiohead 4 times - pre- and post Kid A. All I can say is, Kid A live was… astounding. Never heard anything like it before or since. I’ve never been so captivated by a band.
I’m pretty sure Kid A is like 45 or 50 minutes long. It fits on a single vinyl.