With the world in a global pandemic and lockdown, I have started venturing out of my usual playlist... here's what I've discovered so far:
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead have never been a band I listened to often: I always felt their songs were quite similar in nature. Listening to 'OK Computer' has contradicted everything I ever thought about their music, though.
I'm not usually lost for words, especially when it comes to music, so I think it is really important for me to highlight this before mentioning how utterly speechless I was upon listening to the album.
The album begins almost hauntingly yet upbeat with a slight hint of an underlying storyline and narrative: soon the electronic sounds start kicking in adding a deeper texture to the song and, ultimately, the album as a whole.
'Paranoid Android' has got to be one of the highlights of the album for me: another haunting track that changes its tone and leads the listener in so many directions throughout. The only way I can describe it is almost like following cables: just as you think your onto something the path changes again and you can never find the one singular cable you originally thought you were looking for - there is so much merged in one track, yet it still works and provokes so much emotion. The lyrics are chilling while being contradicted with some guitar riffs but also being complimented with haunting undertones of different ranges.
The album continues through to the more steady paced song of 'Subterranean Homesick Alien', before progressing to a track that I find fascinating: 'Exit Music (For a Film)'. The eerie feel of this track could be almost perceived as a dream following the previous 'monologue' of 'Subterranean Homesick Alien'. This track could be perceived in many different ways, but the simple nature of the melody combined with bursts of background noise reflects the simple structure of the lyrics: in short burst with hopes, revelations and commands. They all tie in together to form another haunting track with obvious meaning portrayed through the lyrics: a clearly important section due to the clarity of the lyrics over the music. This could imply that the 'Exit Music' is actually moving out of one section of the album and into another, following this combination of revelations etc previously mentioned.
Over the course of the album, I experienced so many emotions, and a key emotional point for me was the song 'Let Down'. The lyrics are so poignant and with the flow straight onto 'Karma Police', the two evoke a contradictory emotions that also go hand in hand: hurt and karma (presumably to those causing the hurt in the previous song).
The burst of speech that is 'Fitter Happier' acts as an interlude reinforcing the technological/ futuristic/ extra terrestrial theme that runs throughout the album, helping to shape and give the album character. On closer listen, the words spoken are portraying a message for the world about flaws and perfection which are faded out, almost as though a malfunction, portraying how these problems are either ignored and covered up by upbeat facades such as the next song 'Electioneering', or are simply beyond repair, leading to 'malfunction'.
The album begins to wind down with 'No Surprises' as the melancholy song provokes yet more tears, in a similar way to the end of a film. The final two tracks 'Lucky' and 'The Tourist' elaborate on these emotions with the continuation of the haunting computer sounds in the background while also evoking a sense of hope as the drums and guitar pick up, before returning to the same sense of fulfilment combined with melancholy. The album ends in a similar yet complete opposite way to the beginning: the haunting nature is still there but presents a sense of relief: it is not as upbeat but still has the same essence to it.
The whole album, for me, is a rollercoaster of emotions: it takes the listener completely out of reality and gradually pins them back down again by presenting various hard hitting ideas of hurt, loss and karma throughout that correspond with reality. The listener is left landed back on Earth left in a state of wonder... left haunted by the album.
The overall technological theme, as previously mentioned, gives the album character: it assists with the narrative and shapes the world the listener escapes to. This album was released in 1997: the view of the technological future was much different then than it is now, and the sense of the sci-fi genre within this almost presents nostalgia to the listener.
On a side note, another interpretation I had was that the album could represent the human mind when it starts racing: one thing leads to another, crazy ideas pop up and the brain feels almost a malfunction until it is told to "slow down" at the end of 'The Tourist' - the tourist could be a hint to the listener, taking a look into an overthinking brain until the ping at the end of the album snaps them back into reality.
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