The band’s most mature recordings have always walked a fine line between plaintive yearning and numbing abstraction, like a choir chanting in the sonorant corridors of a crowded airport or a cellist playing in the screeching hustle of a subway. That’s part of the reason why Yorke’s always carrying on about people who “buzz fridge” and sound like “detuned radio.” Part of OK Computer’s genius is that it captures the ways in which our technology detaches us, allowing us to hover above our world like disembodied observers. Like David Lynch, Radiohead has a preternatural gift for exploring the haunting possibilities of ambient noise. Though it may represent a step forward in terms of production, something was lost when the electronic components took center stage. For instance, Kid A is often placed on the same shelf as OK Computer. We encounter this same disparity when we skip ahead in Radiohead’s catalogue. I’ll never hear the riff from “My Iron Lung” without thinking of the movie Clueless. But for all its heady exploration of the isolating effects of technology and empty consumerism, The Bends is still an indisputable byproduct of the era in which it was produced. There are clear hints of the brilliance that would culminate in OK Computer, most notably during the album’s opening track, “Planet Telex.” That song’s punctuated by surging white noise, staccato distortion, Thom Yorke’s alternately soothing and seething vocals, and a serene outro that plays like a kind of subdued lullaby - all elements the band would soon refine in astonishing ways. The Bends, the band’s solid follow-up album, doesn’t fare much better. With its jittery fusion of envy, angst, and rage, “Creep” - the song that launched Radiohead’s career - is pure ’90s.
Lest you think that’s a minor accomplishment or a merely incidental feature, consider Soulja Boy Tell’em’s ringtone-rap anthem, “ Crank That (Soulja Boy).” How’s that going to sound in 20 years? Will people even remember it? What about LFO’s “ Summer Girls” or Len’s “ Steal My Sunshine“? You get the point.Įven memorable songs often sound dated, though.
“I Promise” is 20 years old and still sounds brand new.
If that sounds like a bold claim, think about their recent single, “I Promise,” a previously unreleased track from the OK Computer sessions. Ezra Pound’s quip about poetry being “news that stays news” applies to Radiohead’s seminal 1997 album, OK Computer.
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