Something is in the air because I listened to Radiohead’s OK Computer album yesterday, only to randomly discover that today is the 28th anniversary of its release.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to send this along to one of my former honors students. He wrote a paper this fall exploring the connections between Radiohead’s lyrics, instrumentals, and apocalyptic cover art. He also considered themes of reform/protest in their music.
I enjoy your pieces on music as interesting angles and hopeful takes on dark times. I’m sure my student will find this interesting, as well.
Really enjoyed this, especially the historical context and the track-by-track breakdown. OK Computer is one of my all-time favorite albums.
I bought it right when it came out and couldn’t stop listening. The mood of the album was a perfect soundtrack for 16-year-old melancholy me... Fun times in the late '90s!
It felt like it made everything that came before it obsolete. I think it was about this time that I moved on from Oasis and that kind of music.
I revisited the album recently too and was struck by how eerily prescient it feels now. The disorientation, the detachment, the surveillance, the emotional numbness, it’s all there, years before most of us packed up and moved into the online eschaton. It’s wild how great art can tap into the spirit of an age even before that age fully arrives!
Thank you. I really do think there are works of art that predict the future like this. Network came out in the 70s before cable but pretty much predicted the dynamics of mass media in ensuing decades.
Totally! I was just thinking how Brave New World nailed present-day Canada. Who needs soma when you’ve got healthcare, legal weed, and an endless supply of self-righteous politeness.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to send this along to one of my former honors students. He wrote a paper this fall exploring the connections between Radiohead’s lyrics, instrumentals, and apocalyptic cover art. He also considered themes of reform/protest in their music.
I enjoy your pieces on music as interesting angles and hopeful takes on dark times. I’m sure my student will find this interesting, as well.
Please do, and tell me what they think
Really enjoyed this, especially the historical context and the track-by-track breakdown. OK Computer is one of my all-time favorite albums.
I bought it right when it came out and couldn’t stop listening. The mood of the album was a perfect soundtrack for 16-year-old melancholy me... Fun times in the late '90s!
It felt like it made everything that came before it obsolete. I think it was about this time that I moved on from Oasis and that kind of music.
I revisited the album recently too and was struck by how eerily prescient it feels now. The disorientation, the detachment, the surveillance, the emotional numbness, it’s all there, years before most of us packed up and moved into the online eschaton. It’s wild how great art can tap into the spirit of an age even before that age fully arrives!
Thanks for this thoughtful read.
Thank you. I really do think there are works of art that predict the future like this. Network came out in the 70s before cable but pretty much predicted the dynamics of mass media in ensuing decades.
Totally! I was just thinking how Brave New World nailed present-day Canada. Who needs soma when you’ve got healthcare, legal weed, and an endless supply of self-righteous politeness.