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The problem is that your average Radiohead fan treats OK Computer like the Koran and carves butter sculptures of Thom Yorke in their spare time. Confronted with this unyielding reverence, the rest of the world is inclined to think: “Well, it doesn’t have that effect on me, so I’m obviously not getting it.” And so Radiohead is pushed to the dusty corners of our music libraries as we give Kylie Minogue another awkward cameo on our playlists.
But now one of the least conventional bands to rule the rock world has issued their first ever career retrospective, a double-CD simply titled The Best Of. Forget preserving their legacy, this is a second chance for everyone who missed the Radiohead boat in the 90s to hop aboard. The question now is… will we get seasick?
There’s Radiohead, and then there’s the idea of Radiohead: a band that builds wailing walls of mournful noise that bulge and shrink to near-suicidal lyrics. Okay, that’s a little true now and then, but don’t be diverted from some genuinely beautiful recordings. “High And Dry” is as simple and hummable as any Beatles song, and just as beautiful. When they want to, Jonny Greenwood & Co. can write songs the way God made Heidi Klum: still gorgeous in a plain sweater and jeans.
All the same, Thom Yorke does indulge his little sad place. The opressive negativity of “Let Down” will be too much for some, as not everyone likes the reminder of being “Let down and hanging around / Crushed like a bug in the ground". All that Radiohead’s more challenging songs require, though, is a bit of patience, like getting into a nice warm bath. A song like “Fake plastic trees” can softly suck you into the recesses of the most tragic waking dream, if only you would let it.
As great as alternative rock anthems “Creep” and “Paranoid Android” may be, the dope you can’t buy anywhere else is Radiohead’s experimental songs, best listened to with closed eyes. On “How To Disappear Completely” and “Idioteque”, Thom Yorke’s voice stops emitting from speakers and starts just being in your head, pushing you further out to sea in the Radiohead boat. Try not to barf, you might like it.
Returning to that great congregation of music lovers, you might find a few fresh hands raised in the air after listening to The Best of. And if you’re one of them, be careful, you might look at butter in a whole new way.
But now one of the least conventional bands to rule the rock world has issued their first ever career retrospective, a double-CD simply titled The Best Of. Forget preserving their legacy, this is a second chance for everyone who missed the Radiohead boat in the 90s to hop aboard. The question now is… will we get seasick?There’s Radiohead, and then there’s the idea of Radiohead: a band that builds wailing walls of mournful noise that bulge and shrink to near-suicidal lyrics. Okay, that’s a little true now and then, but don’t be diverted from some genuinely beautiful recordings. “High And Dry” is as simple and hummable as any Beatles song, and just as beautiful. When they want to, Jonny Greenwood & Co. can write songs the way God made Heidi Klum: still gorgeous in a plain sweater and jeans.
All the same, Thom Yorke does indulge his little sad place. The opressive negativity of “Let Down” will be too much for some, as not everyone likes the reminder of being “Let down and hanging around / Crushed like a bug in the ground". All that Radiohead’s more challenging songs require, though, is a bit of patience, like getting into a nice warm bath. A song like “Fake plastic trees” can softly suck you into the recesses of the most tragic waking dream, if only you would let it.
As great as alternative rock anthems “Creep” and “Paranoid Android” may be, the dope you can’t buy anywhere else is Radiohead’s experimental songs, best listened to with closed eyes. On “How To Disappear Completely” and “Idioteque”, Thom Yorke’s voice stops emitting from speakers and starts just being in your head, pushing you further out to sea in the Radiohead boat. Try not to barf, you might like it.Returning to that great congregation of music lovers, you might find a few fresh hands raised in the air after listening to The Best of. And if you’re one of them, be careful, you might look at butter in a whole new way.
