# So what's up with Kid A by Radiohead? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269 "2001-04-08T19:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/1 "2001-04-08T19:40:31Z")
I burnt up the CD a while ago, and was kind of unimpressed with it. I know about all of the awards it won and everything. But I just don’t understand why. It isn’t Radiohead’s best work. I like some of the songs on it, such as Idioteque, but the others seem… undirected. You just don’t know when a song is about to begin or end. Oh well, at least I didn’t spend any money on it. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/2 "2001-04-08T19:58:09Z")
I don’t get it at all either - it sounds like Pink Floyd to me. Fine, I guess, if that’s your idea of rock’n’roll, but it sure as hell ain’t mine. But I don’t really think _any_ of their stuff is that great - maybe because I’m too old to fall for media hype. Yeah, somebody explain the appeal to me; my girlfriend likes 'em a lot. Oasis is nothing to write home about either, IMO. Beatles comparisons? I’m a big Beatles fan, and I don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/3 "2001-04-08T21:13:44Z")
Me too. I’ve been digging through any number of “Name your favorite band… Name you favorite song…” etc., threads, for about the last week, and am surprised by how many of the posters here have recommended their stuff. I’ve listened to all the music that’s been suggested so far and can’t see the attraction. And it’s not like the poster who lists their music has bad choices for their other selections either. Up until now I thought I was the only one who didn’t see the connection. Taste in music is funny and every changing, but your not alone in your wonderment of why their so popular. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/4 "2001-04-08T21:34:38Z")
Those who try to compare Oasis with the Beatles may be listening to that nasal tone of the brothers Gallagher and comparing it with the Scouser tones of John&Paul. Some of their stuff is quite derivative though, I’ve heard short sequencies that reminded me of the Kinks, Spencer Davis, the Merseys and others that never quite seem to latch onto something definate. ---
**Author:** ![murano13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dec6dc/32.png) [@murano13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murano13)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/5 "2001-04-08T21:40:28Z")
Personally, I can only listen to that CD as a continuous track. Trying to listen to an individual song doesn’t work, there’s just nothing there. But when you listen to them all together, not caring where one song begins or ends, the pieces fit into a puzzle that is incredibly complex, and IMHO, incredibly brilliant. Its something that I like to have in the background when doing something else, like writing or working on something else creative. ---
**Author:** ![romanticide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@romanticide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romanticide)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/6 "2001-04-08T22:07:41Z")
It’s a great album for road trips, just listen to it all at once. It’s not as good as Ok Computer or The Bends, but I still enjoyed it. I can’t wait for Amnesiac to come out, though. ---
**Author:** ![monkykong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@monkykong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkykong)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/7 "2001-04-08T22:44:37Z")
I don’t think you can get what Radiohead were up to with this if you’re not in the UK. No, I’m not trying to patronise, it’s just that they became. \>THE\< senstive band and they were basically trying to lose fans, the ones who bought it just cause Radiohead (were) cool. Very perceptive, It only works as a whole, which is probably why the didn’t actually release singles, so DJs jus played Idioteque and Optimistic. Thom Yorke was listening to lots of Warp Records stuff (Aphex Twin, SquarePusher, Autechre, Plone). Basically, they’re being contrary bastards. BTW, the new album Amnesiac is out in spring. [http://www.radiohead.com](http://www.radiohead.com) for the artwork and news ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/8 "2001-04-08T23:22:11Z")
Hmmm… rather chill here in the Pit…Where be the flames? **woodstockbirdybird** – too bad you don’t get any of their stuff, cuz The Bends and OK Computer just fucking rock. I mean, for fuck’s sake, how many bands these days put out albums? I mean, real, honest-to-goodness bonafide albums with an overarching feel, concept, or idea? Not a shitty collection of two or three singles and nine fillers. Radiohead is one of these bands, and the first time I heard OK Computer, I literally had chills run up my spine. The music was captivating, suprising, musically interesting and, at the same time, still within the realms of pop sensibilty as not to make it totally inaccessible to the average listener. And it works as a whole, complete work – you have to listen to it from beginning to end to really get it. The same could not be said for, say, Oasis. I’m not gonna say OK Computer or the Bends was the best album of the 90s, but it certainly ranks in my top 10. Oh, and since this is the Pit, Oasis can collectively crawl back up their mothers’ cunts. The Beatles they are not. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/9 "2001-04-08T23:49:51Z")
“OK Computer” is the best album of the last ten years. Not only is each song wonderful, but the whole album works together as a whole. This contrasts from “The Bends”, which was a collection of wonderful songs but didn’t quite run together as an album. I think some of the songs from “The Bends” are better than anything on “OK Computer” but I like “OK Computer” much more as a whole. “Kid A” is a logical progression on the scale from “Pablo Honey” to “The Bends” to “OK Computer.” Each one has concentrated less on songs and more on the album. I have no idea what any of the song names or where any of the songs begin or end on “Kid A” – I just put the thing in and listen. On another note, Radiohead is trying to revolutionize the music scene. In the early 90s, it took the Seattle scene to get rid of all of the 80s castaways and boy band shit on the radio. The Seattle scene was corrupted and degenerated into “alternative” music by 1995, which has persisted on the radio unchanged since. Add some derivative rock-rap stuff and boy/girl band/teenypop shit (also derivative) and that is the current popular music scene. It takes someone with some guts and some musical principles to put out an album like “Kid A.” As evidence to this, check out Coldplay – the official first Radiohead knock-off band (like Stone Temple Pilots to Pearl Jam!) If you don’t like it, there is always Britney, Christina, 98 Degrees, N’Sync, Matchbox 20, Eminem, Third Eye Blind, and all the other bilious pig vomit that blares away on Top 40 radio 24 hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/10 "2001-04-09T01:09:25Z")
Oh, I am not saying I don’t like it. I guess I listen to albums song by song, not as a whole. Oh well. I just wasn’t getting why there was this big thing about them. Their songs are pretty hard to have on the radio, as they seem… disjointed. OK computer still rocks. Radioheaad just seems to have slipped. And I DID notice a definite Aphex Twin beginning on song 8. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/11 "2001-04-09T13:47:43Z")
**pulykamell** Amen on both counts, re: Radiohead and Oasis. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/12 "2001-04-09T15:26:10Z")
I think that Kid A was an experiment that went too far for most. I’ve noticed that people who never heard much Radiohead prior to Kid A loved the album. It was the rest of us who’ve listened to them since Pablo Honey that were disappointed. I still think that Kid A has at least a few brilliant moments, but it doesn’t compare to The Bends or OK Computer, the latter which, IMHO, is the best rock album since The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead. Also, for those of you comparing Oasis to The Beatles…Why? The Beatles were absolute crap. I’d call them the Backstreet Boys of their generation. And since popular music today is so crappy, I’d categorize Oasis as one of the 4 or 5 best bands in the world today. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/13 "2001-04-09T16:02:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jackknifed Juggernaut \* > It was the rest of us who’ve listened to them since Pablo Honey that were disappointed. Speak for yourself. I don’t like it as much as OK Computer, but I don’t know that they’ll ever top that one. Kid A is still very strong, IMO. > [@](#): > > Also, for those of you comparing Oasis to The Beatles…Why? The Beatles were absolute crap. I’d call them the Backstreet Boys of their generation. And since popular music today is so crappy, I’d categorize Oasis as one of the 4 or 5 best bands in the world today. This is tough for me, because I think that the Beatles are _very_ overrated. This is probably the only time in my life I have defended them. They are not my cup of tea, but they put Oasis to shame. Oasis? Christ. Whether or not they’re trying to be the Beatles is beside the point for me. Just listening to that nasally crap is just painful to me. The word mediocre must have been invented for them. Critically acclaimed snotty shit rock. Ugh. I’d give $20 just to punch either one of those pompous brothers in the piehole. But of course, This is all just my opinion, and we know how much that is worth to the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/14 "2001-04-09T16:48:39Z")
And I love _Kid A_. Yes, it is an album not a collection of singles. You can’t break it down into 4-minute clips or grind to it on a stage pole. Personally, I don’t find that a drawback. Oasis? Well, I’m afraid people have been gettting the quote wrong. They’re teh **dung beetles** of their musical generation. You kow, eating the shit of larger reatures and recycling through a cold-blooded, emotionless and relentless digestion. ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/15 "2001-04-09T16:50:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > \*\* > This is tough for me, because I think that the Beatles are _very_ overrated. This is probably the only time in my life I have defended them. They are not my cup of tea, but they put Oasis to shame. > \*\* umm what? Huh? Hello? Overrated? I have heard this argument before (and yes, I know this could and has been an op in itself) but come on! The beatles may be overrated by today’s standards, but at the time they revolutionized music writing and recording. Nuff about that though. As far as Kid A goes I don’t get it either. I loved their other albums and certainly think that Kid A is the obvious progresison to their sound. Progression is not always a good thing. Look at REM (went to crap). I find kid A uninspired and cold. There are other bands out there implementing electronic and live music. The only realy difference is thom yorkes vocals As a side note I find it odd that two restaraunts I have been to in the past week were playing _everything in it’s right place_. Strange music for “fine” dining. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/16 "2001-04-09T17:14:01Z")
What can I say? IMO The Beatles were important to their time, they had some groundbreaking albums, but they are not the beginning and end of music like some people like to paint them. And REM went to crap in 1986. A few years back, they promised that if they were still together in 1999 that they would break up on the eve of 2000. I think someone needs to hold them to their words. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/17 "2001-04-09T17:32:14Z")
“The Bends” and “OK, Computer” are two of my favorite albums of all time. They get better the more I listen to them, which is incredibly rare. That said, I don’t like “Kid A”. I haven’t listened to it that many times, but it just doesn’t grab me. “Experimental” usually means “undisciplined and random” to me, and I think “Kid A” is consistent with this view. I still love them, but I hope their next album is less “experimental” and more “good”. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/18 "2001-04-09T17:58:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jackknifed Juggernaut \* > **I’d categorize Oasis as one of the 4 or 5 best bands in the world today.** Well, shee-it. I wouldn’t characterize Oasis as one of the best bands _in the UK_ today. UK bands like Elastica and Brassy are more entertaining in under three minutes than Oasis ever was with their half-hour long self-indulgent Champagne Supernova effluvia. Hell, if I made a list of the five best bands who have brothers with disturbingly unkempt unibrows, Oasis _still_ wouldn’t make the cut. I would also like to add that Radiohead will effectively counteract even the most potent antidepressants. One day, I will schedule a Radiohead-Poritshead Steel Cage Depression match. ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/19 "2001-04-09T18:43:25Z")
Jeez … I rather **like** Kid A. “The National Anthem” is one of the coolest songs I’ve heard in a while. Great, trippy groove and the dissonant-but-not-really brass section parts are ingenious musically. “Optimistic” is a very good song, too, as is “How to Disappear Completely.” I’d take Radiohead’s third- or fourth-best work over most band’s best stuff any day. > [@](#): > > \*\*the latter which, IMHO, is the best rock album since The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead. \*\* And in _my_ humble opinion, The Smiths sound icky. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269/20 "2001-04-09T21:21:24Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Alphagene \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Hell, if I made a list of the five best bands who have brothers with disturbingly unkempt unibrows, Oasis _still_ wouldn’t make the cut. > > \*\* BWAHAHAHA! Oh man…would I love to see that list. What a delightfully unpleasant image! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-up-with-kid-a-by-radiohead/61269.md?page=2)