Radiohead broke the idea of being known as one of Britain’s greatest rock bands from the 90’s: deciding to become synth-based technological masterminds.
The era of the 2000’s was a time of change. From landline phones to a cell phone that could fit in any person’s pocket; or new social media platforms such as AOL or MySpace, everything about this era was new.
Radiohead decided to follow suit. However, people who were big fans of songs like Creep and High and Dry; did not know how to feel about this record. The confusion created a change in the band’s direction, but greeted them with new fans and new beginnings. Kid A was the product of this change.
With an overall rating of 10/10 from Pitchfork, they claimed this album to be “music from the future.” Produced by Nigel Godrich, he and the band came up with what was said to be music that changed the course of the 21st century; I couldn’t agree more.
With its opening track Everything in Its Right Place, the listener immediately takes into account the new direction the band has decided to go in: enticing them to continue on this journey of new sound. With its simplistic bass lines, Godrich decided it would be best to keep things very low-key. What Thom Yorke did to combat this simplicity, however, was he manipulated the overall noise. Suddenly, this record gave people something they had never heard anything like before, giving the album its futuristic sound.
On the album’s eighth track Idioteque, it begins to feel more like the future than ever before. With its repetitive vocals and odd note configurations, Radiohead takes the listener into a sound so surreal that it does not even feel like it is happening. Thom Yorke recognized this, claiming that he wanted to span away from the stress created by trying to promote their earlier 1997 album OK Computer. This radical change won them even more success, however, earning them a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.
People claim change to be difficult to cope with and understand. Radiohead took a chance on change: creating something so incredible that the album cannot ever be replicated because nobody can begin to understand where it even came from.
Written by Camryn Durante
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