Radiohead is the band every other band wants to be

tcaporale · January 2010

Radiohead is my favorite band, but I'm not sure what to make of this. I can say one thing in certainty: Radiohead fans are not assholes. Sure, you get the holier-than-thou intellectuals, but you get that with just about every band. Even Pearl Jam's fans have an elitist contingent. I post on a Radiohead message board and a lot of the people who post there seem nice. Don't generalize.

Now you can argue that Radiohead are overrated blah blah blah (they very well might be, but the band members themselves are very humble, so don't blame them for people claiming that they're the second coming or anything; fans always get defensive and obsessive like that), but they're in a very enviable position: they can go in just about any direction they want and their hardcore fanbase will stick with them. They went through the whole trial by fire with Kid A, and ultimately, that album was considered one of the better records of the decade, so they earned their ability to do this. Think about it: if Pearl Jam went electronic, chances are their fanbase wouldn't respond as well as they did with Radiohead. Pearl Jam can't just do whatever they want and expect people to lap it up: so, my point is that Radiohead is what every band wants to be in an artistic sense. I'm not claiming that they're the best band, because that's just personal opinion, but not every band has the freedom and trust from their fanbase that Radiohead does.

Digital Twilight · January 2010

tcaporale wrote:

Radiohead is my favorite band, but I'm not sure what to make of this. I can say one thing in certainty: Radiohead fans are not assholes. Sure, you get the holier-than-thou intellectuals, but you get that with just about every band. Even Pearl Jam's fans have an elitist contingent. I post on a Radiohead message board and a lot of the people who post there seem nice. Don't generalize.

Now you can argue that Radiohead are overrated blah blah blah (they very well might be, but the band members themselves are very humble, so don't blame them for people claiming that they're the second coming or anything; fans always get defensive and obsessive like that), but they're in a very enviable position: they can go in just about any direction they want and their hardcore fanbase will stick with them. They went through the whole trial by fire with Kid A, and ultimately, that album was considered one of the better records of the decade, so they earned their ability to do this. Think about it: if Pearl Jam went electronic, chances are their fanbase wouldn't respond as well as they did with Radiohead. Pearl Jam can't just do whatever they want and expect people to lap it up: so, my point is that Radiohead is what every band wants to be in an artistic sense. I'm not claiming that they're the best band, because that's just personal opinion, but not every band has the freedom and trust from their fanbase that Radiohead does.

Good post and i agree :thumbup:

musicismylife78 · January 2010

tcaporale wrote:

Radiohead is my favorite band, but I'm not sure what to make of this. I can say one thing in certainty: Radiohead fans are not assholes. Sure, you get the holier-than-thou intellectuals, but you get that with just about every band. Even Pearl Jam's fans have an elitist contingent. I post on a Radiohead message board and a lot of the people who post there seem nice. Don't generalize.

Now you can argue that Radiohead are overrated blah blah blah (they very well might be, but the band members themselves are very humble, so don't blame them for people claiming that they're the second coming or anything; fans always get defensive and obsessive like that), but they're in a very enviable position: they can go in just about any direction they want and their hardcore fanbase will stick with them. They went through the whole trial by fire with Kid A, and ultimately, that album was considered one of the better records of the decade, so they earned their ability to do this. Think about it: if Pearl Jam went electronic, chances are their fanbase wouldn't respond as well as they did with Radiohead. Pearl Jam can't just do whatever they want and expect people to lap it up: so, my point is that Radiohead is what every band wants to be in an artistic sense. I'm not claiming that they're the best band, because that's just personal opinion, but not every band has the freedom and trust from their fanbase that Radiohead does.

this.

additionally, its the trust that the band has for its fans and the respect for its fans that is also the point. hearing Creep again and again, in different song form, same formula for the past 15 years would have been the track most bands in modern rock go in. And thats fine for that group of fans or that scene. To me, the fact they trusted their fans and trusted themselves enough to go in radically experimental ways, is a tribute to the band and its band members. Creeps a perfect song. It captures that Gen X point of view perfectly. The cynicism, the irony. But I doubt the last 15 years would have been as rewarding musically if, radiohead, hadnt gone the "out there" route and just did whatever they felt like doing, damn the critics, fans, and any expectations.

The fact is: they took leaps and jumps, where alot of bands the past decade and past 15 years took steps. I dont respond much to dumbed down, top 40 music, although that has its place, pop music, is popular for a reason, its catchy and well written. That said, its another thing entirely, to create the albums radiohead has, and have the mainstream, and their rabid fanbase follow along. Thats the pushing boundaries part. Thats the experimentation part. Thats the pushing the art form. A "normal" music listener, picked up Kid A, and Amnesiac and heard some extremely odd and genre/boundary pushing songs. That does something to the listener. It as I said earlier, makes the listener question what a song is

musicismylife78 · January 2010

how many bands put out complete crap this past decade? Product that is merely that...mass produced product that is intended solely to shift units and to generate money for artist and label. Product devoid of any meaning, or overall point.

Then, you look at a band like Radiohead, who creates art. Art that makes listeners think, act, engage, and contemplate. Art that is sonically rich and complex. multi layered.

All bands ultimately want to be paid money for their art, all artists do, but I have a hard time thinking that Thom and the guys created Kid A, as a means to line their bank accounts and to buy Thom a new Lamborghini.

Extrapolating that, what then was the reason for these albums? If money, is a secondary issue, or even third, or fourth, what is the main reason they created these albums?

Yet another reason why they deserve much respect

dottles · January 2010

Digital Twilight wrote:

tcaporale wrote:

Radiohead is my favorite band, but I'm not sure what to make of this. I can say one thing in certainty: Radiohead fans are not assholes. Sure, you get the holier-than-thou intellectuals, but you get that with just about every band. Even Pearl Jam's fans have an elitist contingent. I post on a Radiohead message board and a lot of the people who post there seem nice. Don't generalize.

Now you can argue that Radiohead are overrated blah blah blah (they very well might be, but the band members themselves are very humble, so don't blame them for people claiming that they're the second coming or anything; fans always get defensive and obsessive like that), but they're in a very enviable position: they can go in just about any direction they want and their hardcore fanbase will stick with them. They went through the whole trial by fire with Kid A, and ultimately, that album was considered one of the better records of the decade, so they earned their ability to do this. Think about it: if Pearl Jam went electronic, chances are their fanbase wouldn't respond as well as they did with Radiohead. Pearl Jam can't just do whatever they want and expect people to lap it up: so, my point is that Radiohead is what every band wants to be in an artistic sense. I'm not claiming that they're the best band, because that's just personal opinion, but not every band has the freedom and trust from their fanbase that Radiohead does.

Good post and i agree :thumbup:

Very well written post

goldrush · January 2010

I always struggle to come up with a definite opinion on Radiohead. I manage to love them and hate them in pretty equal measure! I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing though.

I saw them support James in Newport in December 93 and I hated them. They sounded like just another wannabe 'grunge' band with nothing original to offer - even today I still hate Pablo Honey. The Bends however, is one of the great guitar albums of the 90s and Street Spirit is one of the most beautiful songs of the last 20 years. Everything since OK Computer though, with the possible exception of some of Hail To The Thief, is of very little interest to me, it's just not music that I like.

I really like the 'rock' side of them and I have friends that really love the experimental side of them and can't stand The Bends etc. I think that's what makes them important. There will always be some fans that worship their every sound just like there will always be people that really hate them but at least different people can like different sides of their personality.

On a completely random note and without wanting to derail the topic, "Solved" by Unbelievable Truth has just started playing on my Ipod. They were Thom Yorke's brother's band and I always thought he had a better voice than Thom!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=losVx1ywGMs

Got a hard hard head · January 2010

goldrush wrote:

I always struggle to come up with a definite opinion on Radiohead. I manage to love them and hate them in pretty equal measure! I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing though.

I saw them support James in Newport in December 93 and I hated them. They sounded like just another wannabe 'grunge' band with nothing original to offer - even today I still hate Pablo Honey. The Bends however, is one of the great guitar albums of the 90s and Street Spirit is one of the most beautiful songs of the last 20 years. Everything since OK Computer though, with the possible exception of some of Hail To The Thief, is of very little interest to me, it's just not music that I like.

I really like the 'rock' side of them and I have friends that really love the experimental side of them and can't stand The Bends etc. I think that's what makes them important. There will always be some fans that worship their every sound just like there will always be people that really hate them but at least different people can like different sides of their personality.

On a completely random note and without wanting to derail the topic, "Solved" by Unbelievable Truth has just started playing on my Ipod. They were Thom Yorke's brother's band and I always thought he had a better voice than Thom!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=losVx1ywGMs

This is exactly my problem with Radiohead now. For me, had they stuck to producing albums in the style of The Bends, Ok Computer and Kid A they'd be phenomenal. Hail To The Thief was too experimental and In Rainbows is dull and lifeless. But, horses for courses - some love these albums so they certainly cater for all tastes with their back catalog.

malcyrvs · January 2010

I love reading through these sort of posts. The original statement has it's merits, but as others say you know you leave yourself wide open when making such claims. That's the beauty though of music on a wider scale, and what turns people on and off. I personally think that they are victims of their own success. Pablo Honey came from nowhere to be a critical hit. The Bends was monumental, they then managed to follow that up with OK Computer. Not many bands have met such critical acclaim and fan adulation with such an opening trio if releases. That to me is where it possibly started to go wrong and the band created the debate that rages here.

Got a hard hard head · January 2010

Does anyone else think that opinion on the band is as divided as it's every been since Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows were released?

To return to the original point of the thread, I would strongly disagree that bands do want to be like Radiohead. They are in danger of becoming engulfed by the one thing they seem intent on doing - pushing themselves to create a unique sound and style. If they were to shrug this off for once and, for want of a better description, produce an "OK Computer 2" they would blow us all away again.

Wolf At Bay · January 2010

musicismylife78 wrote:

Wolf At Bay wrote:

Evacuation Rules wrote:

If you weren't moved the first time you heard OK Computer, then you have no right to voice an opinion about what Radiohead means or what good music is, because it's hopelessly over your head.

that album is great, but i still side with those who consider radiohead wildly overrated. they release music that spans from amazing to absurdly awful and they get worshiped as if they were infallible. furthermore, they depend way too much on effects/production so that actual songwriting takes a back seat. fucking write a song before you start messing with the beeps and whistles. thom yorke's brother is a better singer, by the way.
so, yes, radiohead has made some great artistic statements, but, in general, they are part of the overall trend leading to the death of rock.

you are barking mad if your sitting here and telling me thom yorke isnt one of the premier songwriters of our generation.

The beeps and whistles are a genius part of the band. The band is one of the most anticapitalist/anticivilization/antitechnoligical bands that has ever existed, and whats brilliant is they do this, they speak those sentiments through the use of technological inhanced music, or music that in many ways, especially in the case of The Eraser, is made on Protools.

i did say they've made great artistic statements...
its just that they've veered from the art of song into the art of sound.
i wish culture/critics/people would start making this distinction.

gabers · January 2010

I get the point made by the OP and I agree. Not everyone wants to sound like Radiohead per se, but wish they were able to reinvent themselves and still be great the way Radiohead has. I'll argue though that U2 has done the same, just not as consistently. The jump from Rattle and Hum to Achtung Baby was just as magnificent as the jump from OK Computer to Kid A, IMO.

But I like OK Computer much more than Kid A, and I like Achtung Baby a lot more than Rattle and Hum.

Get_Right · January 2010

radiohead is a great band, no question about it

but, the electronic sounds along with Yorkes soprano can be downright annoying-its not for everyone

I loved in rainbows and cannot wait to see what they do next.

IMHO, Id rather emulate Pearl Jam, Wilco or MMJ if I was a musician

Lifted · January 2010

musicismylife78 wrote:

I would argue that Radiohead has created the most challenging and experimental and musically rich and textured music of any bands in the current scene.

quote]

if music is really your life, wouldn't you want to spend more of your free time exploring music you haven't heard, and less time gushing over mainstream indie acts on a message board? the statement above shows how narrow your view of the "current scene" actually is. radiohead is a great band, but that was already established when "the bends" came out 15 years ago.

also...to say that every other band wants to be radiohead is ridiculous. i don't think a band like pearl jam is really worrying about what radiohead is doing in studio, and how they can emulate their sound. i'm pretty sure bands like nickelback who have been selling millions of albums worth of shit the past ten years, don't really give two shits about being more like radiohead either.

Architect and Builder · January 2010

i would just like to point out one thing. not necessarily about radiohead but more about the current state of the music business and BIG radio. a little off topic i know but maybe this correlates in some form.

i live in dallas, tx, where there are a couple mainstream rock stations. i don't listen to them because they do nothing for me. but when i am at work some of the guys do have them on. when they play radiohead they play "creep". not "pyramid song", not "paranoid android", and certainly not "pulk pull". they play "creep" and only "creep".

this example to me makes me come to the conclusion that BIG radio is in a way still living in the past. they have not evolved with the times. and the times have changed. to only play "creep", a song that was put out over 15 years ago, and to ignore the evolution of a band like radiohead is HUGE and says a lot about the inept structure of current mainstream rock radio.

luckily we also have another station, 91.7 kxt, which plays everything from neko case to ella fitzgerald to local music to arcade fire. it is commercial free radio supported by its listeners. this to me is the future of radio. when they play pearl jam they do not play "evenflow". when they play new pearl jam music they do not play "the fixer". they play deep cuts which is so refreshing to hear.

"creep"? really? after all this time? again, sorry to be a bit off topic..

Pepe Silvia · January 2010

Architect and Builder wrote:

i would just like to point out one thing. not necessarily about radiohead but more about the current state of the music business and BIG radio. a little off topic i know but maybe this correlates in some form.

i live in dallas, tx, where there are a couple mainstream rock stations. i don't listen to them because they do nothing for me. but when i am at work some of the guys do have them on. when they play radiohead they play "creep". not "pyramid song", not "paranoid android", and certainly not "pulk pull". they play "creep" and only "creep".

this example to me makes me come to the conclusion that BIG radio is in a way still living in the past. they have not evolved with the times. and the times have changed. to only play "creep", a song that was put out over 15 years ago, and to ignore the evolution of a band like radiohead is HUGE and says a lot about the inept structure of current mainstream rock radio.

luckily we also have another station, 91.7 kxt, which plays everything from neko case to ella fitzgerald to local music to arcade fire. it is commercial free radio supported by its listeners. this to me is the future of radio. when they play pearl jam they do not play "evenflow". when they play new pearl jam music they do not play "the fixer". they play deep cuts which is so refreshing to hear.

"creep"? really? after all this time? again, sorry to be a bit off topic..

there was a station like that where i used to live, they didn't play radiohead but when they played pearl jam it was either daughter or dissident

pjfan021 · January 2010

i too am on a love/hate relationship with the band..at times they're music is extremely cool and experimental and other times downright boring and a little self-indulgent. i respect the shit out of them, i will say that. They've taken chances as artists, musicians, and businessmen and that's what i like a lot abou them. One thing that gets me (which is not their fault at all) is how many pretentious fucks listen to them...not all of them by any means...again not all of their fans...but i've encountered too many people that think they are the best band in the past 30 years...like earlier in this thread it boggles my mind how they can be referred to as the best psychadelic band ever, better than floy? really? I will not say i hate or love them, but i don't think they're the band every other band wants to be.

tcaporale · January 2010

See, I think what the OP means is that Radiohead are in a very enviable position, with the trust from their label and fans to do whatever the hell they want. Obviously not every band wants to sound like them. I don't think that's what the person who created this thread is implying.

Yellow Ledbelly · January 2010

I hope not

Johnny Abruzzo · January 2010

So, I go back and forth on the Radiohead/Pearl Jam comparison. I'd say right now I'd go with Pearl Jam. I certainly appreciate the way the Radiohead experiments with electronica and the like, and I am a HUGE fan of Kid A. That said, I still prefer music made with plain old instruments. You know - rock and roll. So that swings me back to the more organic sound of Pearl Jam.

(I understand these aren't the only two bands in the world - but I think it's an interesting comparison - please don't shoot me!)

Another thing about Radiohead - besides In Rainbows, which was enormously hyped, and perhaps a little bit disappointing (I mean, it's a little bit soft, honestly), Radiohead have basically disappeared for the past 7 years or so. There's been one big tour, one album, a few b-sides here and there, a couple Thom Yorke albums (one is iffy at best, and the other is impossible to find). I just don't know what these guys have been doing. It's hard to argue that they're really all that relevant anymore. And believe me, I am a really big fan of Radiohead.

Sorry for the run-on sentences.

musicismylife78 · January 2010

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

So, I go back and forth on the Radiohead/Pearl Jam comparison. I'd say right now I'd go with Pearl Jam. I certainly appreciate the way the Radiohead experiments with electronica and the like, and I am a HUGE fan of Kid A. That said, I still prefer music made with plain old instruments. You know - rock and roll. So that swings me back to the more organic sound of Pearl Jam.

(I understand these aren't the only two bands in the world - but I think it's an interesting comparison - please don't shoot me!)

Another thing about Radiohead - besides In Rainbows, which was enormously hyped, and perhaps a little bit disappointing (I mean, it's a little bit soft, honestly), Radiohead have basically disappeared for the past 7 years or so. There's been one big tour, one album, a few b-sides here and there, a couple Thom Yorke albums (one is iffy at best, and the other is impossible to find). I just don't know what these guys have been doing. It's hard to argue that they're really all that relevant anymore. And believe me, I am a really big fan of Radiohead.

Sorry for the run-on sentences.

I disagree that they have disappeared. Anytime new Radiohead news leaks out, people are like dogs at dinner time. Its madness. Just look at the madness that was last night Haiti benefit in la. And whenever LP8 comes out, people will be going absolutely mad for it. And the In Rainbows comment, is ridiculous. The album wasnt what i expected, but its yet another example of the genius of radiohead. What did most people expect In Rainbows to sound like? Most people expected it to be a bunch of, as has been alluded to earlier, bleeps and bloops and blips ala Thoms solo record and of course based on their increasingly experiemental progression. So to release an accessible, fairly straight forward album full of love songs, that again was bucking the trends and the expectations. Absolutely brilliant.

And yes, I dont think all bands want to sound like radiohead. I think most bands view radiohead as one of the most innovative and important bands of our generation, thus any move the band makes, people, fans, other bands look at it and watch and listen intently. Ultimately the position radiohead is in, to be able to do, whatever the hell they want, and still have fans love it, is the dream of every musician. They have complete and utter control of every facet of their music and even how its distributed. The fact that the band is made up of people who are normal and non extravagent human beings only adds to their charm.

I kind of alluded to this in the tarantino thread. I love his flicks because he is a film lovers, filmmaker. You can see his absolute love of movies, of the art form, in any interview. It radiates from him. Radiohead seem the same way. They love music. They dont create music to buy huge mansions. They make music because they love music, and they seem to want to push the boundaries of music and the scene.

Radiohead is the band every other band wants to be

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