A thread about Radiohead
 

I dug out The bends earlier on and didnt roll my eyes as much as i used to (its massively overrated).
And so as its about 10 years since ok computer, which was the first thing i saw/heard/read/experienced that actually meant something to me, whats the consensus amongst the people who like Nurse with wound collaborations and that sorta thing? Are they shit or is the fact theyre massive and Thom Yorke is a bit of a weirdo a good thing? Or are they just great full stop?

I listened to my first radiohead album a few weeks ago.

good band

One of my all time favorites. Kid A is brilliant. Also, the album they've been working on sounds fantastic so far (they toured with their new stuff).

I saw them on tele the other week, some live performance, and they looked like Coldplay - they had that shmoofty look.

I could also mention how I can't really stand their music, but I won't bother. The people can have their threads.

Ha, that's funny, I was thinking that Radiohead remind me of Coldplay.

Radiohead are owt like Coldplay, you drunken fool.

Now shut up.

I don't understand those words written in that order.

I will say this:

Coldplay: whiney dad rock
Radiohead: whiney dad rock.

Spot the difference.

It's all owts and nowts with you isn't it?

I bet you're not even from Newcastle.

I saw my first and only Radiohead gig in Newcastle.
Incidentally.

As far as I'm concerned radiohead is one of the last bands in existance that is inarguably good. I don't care how much you hate their sound, it's still their sound and they work their asses off for it.

The coldplay comparison is fair on two accounts. 1. The lead singer sings a lot like Thom Yorke, though this doesn't mean they sound the same. 2. Most of the songs (that are singles at least) sound long and boring and layered in a similar way to high and dry or fake plastic trees. This combined with the voice makes it a valid point.

But if you think the bands are actually comparable, I would argue that you just don't know the difference between quality and shit. Seriously, you can't start spouting coldplay/radiohead comparisons and try to get me to respect your opinion on the matter. You obviously just don't like radiohead.

I said they look like Coldplay, and they do. They look like a bunch of dicks with arms and legs.

I think they sound like shit. But then I'm wrong because you say so? That doesn't sound right to me.

i like radiohead. they make nice music. but they're a bit overated. even though Thom Yorke is an amazing songwriter. as well as Jonny Greenwood.

Well, no, you think they sound like shit that's fair enough. I think Velvet Underground sounds like shit (for the most part), but I'm pretty sure they were an important and talented band. I think the ramones reeeeally sound like boring tripe ass shit, but I'm pretty sure they had something.

I feel like there's some quality there that's pretty inarguable. That's all I'm saying. It's pretty easy to dislike their sound, but they are obviously putting an effort out to do what they feel needs doing.

Anyway, that's just how I see it.

Coldplay and Radiohead share pretty much no similarities outside of the obvious (British and ugly and the singers hit high notes sometimes.. I think there was a few pianos in Radiohead songs before).
Radiohead has never released a bad record. Pablo Honey is .. decent .. but everything after is amazing, ESPECIALLY Kid A. I think Radiohead are theorized on, shat on, obsessed over, etc. maybe a bit too much, but then again, so is Weezer (have you seen all the weirdo Weezer websites on the internet? I mean, yeah, they used to be a good band, but goddammit if Weezer's 800+ songs don't all pretty much sound the same after a certain point. Fuck! Okay, back to Radiohead...)..
The fact is, they're a mainstream band that's actually REALLY FUCKING GOOD. I mean, a band who is constantly growing and evolving.. who at times is noisey and is always undeniably unique and beautiful... the fact they even sell millions of records is a miracle, and it proves a point I've always tried to make: people don't necassarily have bad tastes in music, they just haven't been exposed to enough music.
But enough of that... I keep getting sidetracked... Kid A is in my top 10 favorite albums of all time. I honestly couldn't get past the first 10 seconds on that CD without thinking it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever heard. The first half is great, full of cold AND warm electronics, children's toy sounds (song two seriously sounds like Nobakazu Takemaru), amazing fuzzy jazz freakouts, your typical Radiohead ballad but BETTER, and amazing ambient drone... then, side two.. GODDAMN... we have your emotional, multilayered and layered and layered three-guitar Radiohead tribal jam, your effects-heavy song that sounds like you're drowning with 7/4 guitar arpeggios, the AMAZING autechre ripoff song, the AMAZING morning bell (I don't even know how to describe it), and then a beautiful minimalist organ ballad.. Jesus. A rock band exploring electronics and effects and different production techniques.. just insane.. could have turned out embarassing...
Just a truely consistant, innovative, great band.

I don't see that it's a miracle they sell records in the mainstream - to me they fit that mould perfectly.

yeaaaaaaaaaah... since SO MANY forward-thinking, ridiculously intelligent, consistantly great bands sell millions of records.. right... they fit the "mould"!

You're letting your passion cloud your judgement. They're not particularly "out there". They're pretty easy listening if you like their type of thing, hence the record sales and my comment about fitting the mainstream mould.

Radiohead does fit the mould, but so did the Beatles and the Kinks and the Stones and a ton of other great bands. Fitting the mould has nothing to do with your ability to grow and experiment with diffrent ideas and sounds.

Regardless of which, Radiohead never really caught me. I know some people that love them, some people that hate them, and I'm somewhere in the middle.

They're one of my favorite bands, although I do think the Bends is crazily overrated.

It's been taking them so long to put out the new cd that I'm wondering if it'll be their last one. They've got me worried.

I don't care much for the Bends, and I haven't heard Pablo Honey (I hear it's no good...) btu every album since then has been consistantly incredible and awe-inspiring. With each album, they have gotten better and better and better, it's awesome! I used to like Amnesiac more than Kid A, but in recent times (months) that's gradually changed. Kid A is fantastic! My favourite is still HTTT, however.

they do qualify themselves as a pop band.

the bends pwns, brah.

I think some of you kids have a different, more satisfying mainstream than I do.

yeah, really...

I use to be really into Radiohead when I was between 14 to 17 years old. The Coldplay/Radiohead comparison is an extremely superficial observation but I'm not so surprised from it coming from people that have only heard singles. I believe Amensiac and Kid A are the obvious death nails for such a judgement.

They're a creative, intelligent band that gets the attention they deserve. Too bad some people are too "hardcore" for good, popular music.

my favorite part about them, and the one thing they inspired me in my former band to do, is that they can be experimental (as in trying, new different, barely charted territories) while remaining incredibly simple and catchy in their melodies.

they are the masters of the arrangement.

totally agree everyneurotic. listen to a song like "We suck young blood"... if you pay attention to the melodies and what's actually going on, it's incredibly simple... but the way it's arranged and the ideas are employed makes it brilliant...

Kinda lost interest in them...

I love the Bends, I think I like it better than Ok Computer.

Generalise why don't don't you.

haha so many people have gotten upset because I've said I, yes that's right, I do not really like their music and think they look like Coldplay (which they do), not sound like Coldplay. But what's wring with Coldplay? Not cool enough for Radiohead fans?

I like bands whether popular or not. Someone made the comment that it's a miracle they're popular, like they're some 'out there' band, and I said I see how they're popular as they fit the mainstream mould. That's not my reason for not being fond of them - I just don't dig them - they don't offer me anything.

We can like different bands, pbradley, without you making stupid generalisations.

Exactly what everyneurotic and atsonicpark said:

They're:

- experimental yet catchy
- aggresive yet tender
- popular among masses yet not selling out and maintaining the anti-establishment attitude
- beautiful yet beautiful

I'm not as much of a diehard as I used to be some 10 years ago, however I still have much respect for the band. And yes, Kid A is a top-notch record.

Way to take the generalization as specifying only to you when it isn't necessarily referring to you. My comment was more pointed to Pookie's "whiny dad rock" which both compared their music and insinuated how uncool or unhardcore they are (see: dad rock). Does it not? And I never said you had to like them. If your reasons for not liking their music because it doesn't do anything for you, that's entirely cool. But throwing them off because they aren't hardcore enough or something is retarded.

And I actually like some of Coldplay's early stuff, but the comparison in sound is just stupid. Pointing out the difference between two unlike things doesn't mean that one has to be the lesser.

For the love of sweet Jesus, I really cannot stand Thom 'Why The letter H In Your Fucking Name' Yorke's voice. Taken separately, they are not bad musicians per se, but because of him they fall victim of being a deeply depressing band that makes you wish the entire wolrd would really collapse on top of him for real. Oh, and they say fuck all about anything too, politically charged or not.

Poster boys for the No Logo generation.

Thom Yorke is like the personification of a tiny percentage of how i feel all the time. i.e. cynical, bitter, bruised, disillusioned . . .

I LOVE Radiohead. One of the worlds truely genius rock bands. When the musical history books are written about the 90's, two bands will stand out as the most influencial, important and decade defining: Nirvana and Radiohead. Not saying they were the best, but the most important to that decade. This is why the Coldplay comparison is so unfair. Radiohead invented everything that Coldplay do. The difference is Coldplay is the superficial imitation. Radiohead with all the originality, imagination and emotion sucked out of it. Its Radiohead for people who want the easier version. Same goes for so many British bands at the moment.

now THATS the kind of response i was expecting!

Radiohead and Coldplay don't look alike or sound alike. And Coldplay are boring-as-fuck adult contemporary 30-year-old-man-trying-to-be-hip pop, that's why I dont' like them. We might as well start discussing fucking Travis on this board or something.

I like some of their music. I would agree that it's a bit overrated. I'd rather listen to them than coldplay. coldplay sounds the same to me on every album.

my favorite part about radiohead is the way johnny greenwood combines guitar and digital signal processing.

In my opinion comparing Radiohead to Coldplay is similar to comparing Sonic Youth to Placebo.