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radiohead by Lynn Reed (insomnia@dangerous-minds.com) - April 06, 2001 |
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| Grinning bears with vertical pupils, malevolent and oddly cute at the same time, decorated record store windows and stared out from newspaper ads all across America. Still more danced in brief blips across distorted MTV landscapes. Known as Modified Bears, Death Bears, or Scary Bears, these ubiquitous bears are the latest logo of Radiohead, one of the most unusual bands to ever reach the Billboard album charts' top spot. They are a band with three guitar players. Their newest album has no recognizable guitar until the fourth track. They have a reputation for being dismissive of fans, yet at their recent Toronto concert, they performed a song never before heard live, because fans on the Internet campaigned to hear it there. They are known for dour angst, yet enjoy having a laugh at the media's expense, or even their own. They were supposed to be a one-hit wonder, but against all reasonable pop music laws, just kept getting better. Or more pretentious, depending upon whom is asked. Having played together since their early teens, the five-member Oxford band Radiohead was first noticed in 1992 with the release of their famous misery anthem, "Creep", which reached 34 in the US charts. Their first album Pablo Honey (EMI/Capitol, 1993) went Gold. Radiohead returned with The Bends (EMI/Capitol, 1995), a more mature work. The album displayed unusual talent for the rock-pop realm, demonstrating that the band would not simply vanish. This transition is captured on My Iron Lung EP (EMI/Capitol, 1998). When Radiohead released OK Computer (EMI/Capitol, 1997), critical response was overwhelming, strongly positive enough to generate a backlash that still has dissenters calling it "the most overrated album of all time." OK Computer was heaped with awards (including a Grammy for Best Alternative Album) and superlatives, as critics scrambled to find ways to describe its aggressively haunting sound. Yet the relentless touring and hype took its toll, a period captured on the film Meeting People Is Easy (1999), a collection of promotional clips that also critiques music PR practices. The post-millennial Radiohead returned with the even more difficult to describe Kid A (EMI/Capitol, 2000), debuting at #1 on the Billboard charts and within the Top 5 around the world, displacing Madonna and Green Day. Some reviewers of Kid A view it as either genius mere mortals cannot hope to comprehend, pretentious drivel from a band already too obsessed with its own inaccessibility, or an elaborate joke. The album sounds like half was recorded on a child's toy keyboard and the other half by tripping angels. Was it recorded on Mars? Kid A has been accompanied by an unorthodox marketing campaign that always pushed the bizarre Radiohead style directly into the public eye, but included no singles or videos. Visitors to the band’s official site have always been treated to rambling, paranoid, almost psychotic prose and artwork laid out through many sprawling pages. Artist Stanley Donwood, in close collaboration with singer/lyricist Thom Yorke did the site design. Donwood's work has made him almost an invisible sixth member, and it has played a large part in shaping Radiohead's essence. The Donwood Effect has now been given wider exposure – the bears are his design, and the band’s public image is changing with his increasing influence over it. Their own musical explorations drift far away from Guitarland. After OK Computer, many people wondered where Radiohead could possibly go next. The same question is being asked of Kid A. Some critics think the album is very raw, beginning a new cycle similar to that which was played out between Pablo Honey and OK Computer. Others see the electronic, rhythmic focus of Kid A as commercial suicide: a case of Radiohead finally taking the madness too far? Fringe fans may have been put off by the new direction of Kid A. But the devoted fans - who sweat over transcribing syllables, steadfastly chronicling details, debating philosophical significance found in the Radiohead canon, and often cheerfully acknowledging, in the words of one fan, that "Radiohead ruins lives" – seem ready for whatever glorious madness Radiohead has in store: a new album, titled Amnesiac will be released on June 4, 2001. |
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Radiohead.com W.A.S.T.E Products Ltd Lesinrocks: Radiohead Concert Slowly Downward Follow Me Around Climbing Up The Walls Planet Telex Green Plastic Radiohead Hollywood & Vine Bulletin Board Lift: Audio Rolling Stone: Radiohead Yahoo Music!: Radiohead Wall Of Sound: Radiohead All Music Guide: Radiohead Yes;Data Radiohead Previews Atmospheric 'Kid A' Radiohead MP3 Site The Jubilee 2000 Project Nothing To Fear Radiohead FAQ Radiohead: Ice Age Coming Radiohead's Kid A Eat The Documentary The Difference Engine Radiohead: Kid A Everything In Its Right Place Radiohead's New Marketing Banging on Radiohead About . . . Radiohead Talk 'Amnesiac' Thom Yorke Is Vladimir Putin |
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