Giuseppe Zangara

I never learned to swim. Can't ride a bike, either.

Anyone mentioning Kelly Clarkson in this thread allows me to safely ignore their opinions on anything at all in the future.

Within the last decade is a fair estimate.

I feel they've made two really good albums, one just plain good album and other stuff for which I feel indifference to outright disdain. So I'm not the best person to answer that question. EDIT: See, because I've been drinking, it took me too long to make this post, in which a presumably sober snuffbox answered.

Nah, I'm already on my third beer.

Please spare us the running commentary of you listening to an album. For this thread at least. Ha.

"Go to Sleep" just came on and yeah. Good song. The problem with HTTT is the electronic elements never mesh with the straightforward songcraft. The album feels as if Radiohead wanted to make a record to appeal to the old rockist fans, but didn't want to lose the bleeps and boops. Compared to Kid A—which was the sound of a far more confident band—Hail to the Thief feels castrated.

Really fighting the temptation to skip to "There There."

Three tracks into HTTT and this is more boring than I remember. The rockout part of "2+2=5" is nice, though.

That's a ridiculous statement. Had I ever seen Jerry Garcia I would have at least known who he was and that's as someone who doesn't listen to GD music. He was a cultural icon. Thom Yorke on the other hand could be sitting next to me on the train on any day or night, and I might not recognize him. The reason I claim Radiohead is overrated by fans is because I know too many of them who claim that were it not for Radiohead then surely the music would have died. Quit being narcissistic. Did I say whether you would recognize him? You assume this band isn't important to anyone just because they aren't important to you. snuffbox just illustrated that they are important to a lot of people.

And I'm pretty sure Jerry Garcia, were he alive, would get about as much attention in public as Thom Yorke. It's increasingly clear that you, naiwf, are saying what you're saying because you know little-to-nothing about this band.

The biggest problem with this thread is that no one agrees on what it means to "define." Yes, sales play a part, as well as influence. But all together it needs to be something that's a long-last cultural institution. Pink Floyd, for example.

Grateful Dead is a better example than VU.

Is this because you, personally, do not know any Radiohead fans? Did you know that no one I know cares about Eminem? Do you think I think that matters? As for Radiohead's importance, I'd rather let someone like Czech field that one. Not that I think you'll be convinced by anything he says.

I think I'm going to put on Hail to the Thief when I get home tonight. It'll be the first time since 2003.

Now you're claiming that no knows who Radiohead is—which is obviously ignorance on your part—and basing your argument on that. A quick bit of googling shows they have at least four platinum albums (whether any went multi-platinum I do not know, nor care to look). And what does album sales have to do whether people are still going to care about you years from now? Alanis Morrissette, someone obviously awful and completely irrelevant to today, sold nearly 15 million copies of Jagged Little Pill. No, I'm not comparing her talentwise to Eminem, but, much like Eminem five, six years ago, there was time where she was this huge cultural event. And now, almost nothing. You're equating sales with automatic generation-defining avatars.

You're being to Radiohead what EricMM is to Eminem. Keep it up.

Not that I really care to argue, but in what way was OK Computer or Kid A "massive"? Each album only went platinum, and I don't think either album had a single that made any chart of note. Don't you have to have at least SOME commercial success to be a defining artist? I don't think Radiohead have sold more than 5 or 6 million albums in their entire career which includes 7 albums and an EP. Cultural resonance outweighs commercial status. Though sales are important, they simply aren't the only thing going into this.

No one's going to care about G-Unit five years from now.

Of course, the way the music industry works now, there may never be another defining artist. The increasingly short attention span of record execs, radio programmers and the music-listening public are making it increasingly difficult to have another band reach legendary status.

Eminem inarguably made a significant cultural impact, but what kind of longevity do you think that impact has? His shoddy output over the last few years is doing damage to what could've been his long-term relevance. A truly "defining" artist/musician will be something that affects the musical landscape decades from now. Radiohead has a better shot at that than Eminem. They just need something as massive as OK Computer and Kid A again.

It's time to stop posting in this thread, EricMM.

I haven't read TPAA, but Roth's simply too good a writer to let that happen, I think.

So you refuse to read it because maybe Lindbergh might not be portrayed in a flattering light? Dumb.