Radiohead - OK Computer

What started out as mere curiosity about this strangely titled album and its makers - of whom I knew precious little - exploded into a full-on obsession over the course of a few days as my friends (aka enablers) and and I lost entire days giving ourselves over entirely to the shiny new, mesmeric sound blasting from the speakers. And we desperately needed to get over Oasis. For us, it wasn’t about how the band members looked, which models they were screwing or how many hotel rooms they'd trashed. We didn't care. It was all about the music - the head-scratching but intriguing lyrics. Those beautiful guitar noises that sounded like chainsaws, spaceships blasting off into space, haunted houses, harps, a child's toy. The pure, soul-stirring effect of Thom Yorke's voice. It's safe to say we'd never heard anything quite like it before.

Radiohead's previous album The Bends (which I saved up for nearly 3 months to buy) was, compared to its successor, rather conventional. For Radiohead, at least. But The Bends hinted that they were clearly capable of incredible things, and OK Computer proved it. Majestic, daring and vividly alive with evocative soundscapes, it marked a pinnacle for modern rock music – even when so much about the album didn't fit into a normal idea of what rock music was. OK Computer pretty much re-wrote the rules on what pop music could be.

Consider a song like "Fitter, Happier", which is probably not even a proper song. The disembodied, Stephen Hawking-like voice coming through Macintosh SimpleText is eerie enough, but then it starts spewing out a mantra on how to be the perfect modern human being – "Fitter, happier, more productive, comfortable, not drinking too much, regular exercise at the gym (3 days a week), getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries" – while an out of tune piano warbles in the background. It's eerie as heck, but in those brief two minutes the song sums up the pre-millenial tension and paranoia that is a recurring theme throughout the album. And besides, who hasn’t muttered these same words to themselves after a particularly hedonistic weekend?

"Paranoid Android", the six-and-a-half-minute opus around which the album gravitates, has been called a successor to "Bohemian Rhapsody". But where the Queen classic is madcap rock opera, "Paranoid Android" is balls-out nasty ("When I am king, you will be first against the wall") before coming over like a puppy with a sore paw, calling for the rain to wash it all away. It's beautiful and schizophrenic and rocks like a mutha.

And that's just the thing about OK Computer. Even though its has these deep-seated issues with all the scary trappings of modern day living, like technology ("Subterranean Homesick Alien"), road safety ("Airbag"), two-faced politicking ("Electioneering") and the soul-sucking emptiness of it all ("No Surprises"), it doesn't feel alienating or cold. In fact, it welcomes you into its apocalyptic world - where young lovers can find everlasting peace, surviving a car crash feels like the most liberating experience you’ve ever had, and sweet release from your anodyne existence is but an alien abduction away. Sounds out-there, but that's what OK Computer is. Not for nothing has it been hailed as the second coming of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, or inspired a new generation of rock musicians to embrace new song structures and dare to get express deeply personal emotions in song. So yeah, you can blame Radiohead for Coldplay, OneRepublic and the new direction Kings of Leon are taking. But there've also been more successful adapters of this new rock ethic – just look to bands like Elbow, Doves and Arcade Fire.

I've heard far too many times how Radiohead are too 'miserable', that they make people want to cut their wrists, or that Thom Yorke should try to smile for once in his life. But they're just showing off their ignorance. There are moments of such wondrous joy in OK Computer that have literally made me catch my breath. There is a moment during "Subterranean Homesick Alien" - just as the "Uptight" chorus builds towards a climax – when a wave of guitar crescendos come out of nowhere and reaches for the stars. It's like watching a star go supernova, and it's just one example of the irresistible redemptive power in the imagery this album evokes.

To me, OK Computer represented peerless dynamism and high production values at a time when I wasn't even sure I knew what they meant. Before long I had internalised every chord (even though I couldn't play them), memorized every lyric (even though I didn’t really get them most of the time), and vowed to be a fan forever. My efforts have been infinitely rewarded. Oh, and I cannot write about OK Computer without pointing out "Let Down". Best. Song. Ever. And that is all ye need know.

Okay Computer Fact File

The album was recorded in a converted shed called Canned Applause in the Oxford countryside, before moving onto St Catherine’s Court in Bath, a stately mansion owned by actress Jane Seymour, where most of the album was recorded. 

"Exit Music (for a film)" is exactly that. The song was used in the end credits of Baz Luhrmann's hip retelling of Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Thom Yorke explained that the "incredibly dense and terrifying sound" of Bitches Brew by jazz legend Miles Davis was his initial inspiration for the album.

When the band presented the completed album to their US record label, they were told that they were committing commercial suicide. It was only until their UK label Parlophone expressed enthusiasm for the album that the band felt it wouldn’t be a complete disaster.

OK Computer has featured prominently in "Best of the 90s" and "Best of All Time" album retrospectives in publications such as TIME magazine, Rolling Stone, Pitchforkmedia, NME and Spin, as well as countless others.

The album, along with the band’s entire EMI catalogue, was re-released as a limited edition 2CD in 2009. The set includes b-sides, rarities, remixes and live performances from the era.