Sell me on Radiohead.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I don't buy the "play some songs" complaint about Kid A. "Everything in Its Right Place," "The National Anthem," "Idiotheque," "Morning Bell," and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" are certainly songs that stand out as distinct. That the whole album flows together as one big atmospheric blast-off is undeniable, but it's also spiked with great individual pieces, especially the first three I mentioned.

[godthedog 0]

'kid a' isn't so much a breakdown of song as it is a breakdown of melody. "the national anthem" i'd agree is a real song, but it has no body to it, nothing to grasp on to, and as a result i stop paying attention. same thing with "morning bell." the voice, and all the instruments that play, you know, notes, are either way back in the mix or filtered out beyond recognition and it's this weird mass of texture that doesn't sound grounded in anything.

 

I hope Inc didn't diss Oasis? Thats difficult to swallow.

indeed. what's the world coming to?

 

about the ween thing: don't have time to go point-by-point now, but basically:

 

a--they don't take themselves so seriously (a little sense of humor goes a long way in tempering the sonic versatility and weird ass experimentation)

 

b--they have a better sense of songwriting in general and of melody in particular

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Radiohead do have a sense of humour, its just very well hidden...

 

People still like Oasis? Wow.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Was it good? Was it even decent?

Who cares; I don't like them. Plus, why were they mentioned in this thread?

 

Oasis:

Yeah, there still good, so what? Not great. They never were.

 

They had some decent singles early in their career, but why are you mentioning them in this thread? You dismiss Prodigy as being "irrelvant," yet you cite Oasis. No one in the States has cared about this fucking band in nearly a decade, outside of the NME-reading anglophiles who get their kicks from whichever Gallagher brother went on a cocaine-fueled public tirade. This–plus mentioning Prodigy—makes me think you listed every band you've ever heard of rather than come up with any salient argument.

 

Modest Mouse:

They'd be nowhere? I need tangiable results, not something this vauge. What band has had the original and recogiziable sound such as this?

Have you even heard The Lonesome Crowded West? Isaac Brock obv. spent his formative years fawning over Doolittle.

 

Flaming Lips:

I still enjoy their ep's and their last album was good.

Their last couple of EPs and the most recent LP were terrible.

 

But you cannot deny the absurdity of that concept. It didn't totally ruin the band for me, but it made it hard for me to take them seriously.

Hey, I can deny the absurdity of that concept. And glad to see you have such high standards!

 

Plus, they were on the Spongebob soundtrack. The fuckin Spongebob soundtrack. Defend that.

They wanted to make money. What a shock. Maybe when you're older, you'll realize there's more to life than "artistic integrity." That shit don't pay the bills.

 

Outkast, probably the best band of the 90s:

Man, seriously, calm down and try and to argue objectively.

Objectively? You're lucky I even gave a response to your childish, ignorant, hyperbolic PR-screed.

 

Radiohead's totally awesome and rockin' live show:

But can you deny that fact? You can only use sarcasim and skepticism for so long.

 

What fact? You casually mention some magazines that claim what you said to be true, yet offer nothing to back it up. It's an opinion, kid. Since expecting you to own a dictionary is probably a little much, just bookmark this page: http://www.dictionary.com

 

You're a crazy one Inc.

 

I've validated your existence. Congratulations.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"The National Anthem" has a hook (courtesy of its bassline), so it has something of a "body."

 

And while I wouldn't argue much of godthedog's criticisms of Kid A—in fact, I'd probably agree with most of it—I can't get behind this:

 

they have a better sense of songwriting in general and of melody in particular

 

Ween can write a good song, yes, but the one thing I never liked about them (their early stuff, anyway) was a lot of it came off as mindless noodling with a drum machine and vocal effects. At least a third of Pure Guava is guilty of that.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Hey Czech?

 

Here's my help to you, it'll be a lot different from others because I don't like to really judge music, I just want to tell you situations where you might like Radiohead CDs.

 

Bored, working on the computer, finishing a paper, or just relaxing, they're good to listen to in your room. Unique songs, make you think, or help you to keep thinking.

 

After you've just smoked some pot, the music's pretty chill to have in the background when hanging out with some friends. Or if everyone leaves, throw them on and give another listen.

 

Also, the girls that are "kinda nerdy yet attractive" dig these guys, too. I personally got into them with the OK Computer CD. I'm not the bigtgest fan, but I also picked up Kid A and thought it was decent.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

'kid a' isn't so much a breakdown of song as it is a breakdown of melody. "the national anthem" i'd agree is a real song, but it has no body to it, nothing to grasp on to, and as a result i stop paying attention. same thing with "morning bell." the voice, and all the instruments that play, you know, notes, are either way back in the mix or filtered out beyond recognition and it's this weird mass of texture that doesn't sound grounded in anything.

I dunno. I throw on a pair of headphones and that album sounds gorgeous to me. I get a kick out of all the submerged elements and the times they do manage to poke through the texture, or the moments when I can snag a few imagistic lyrics from Yorke's warble. The whole thing builds to "Idiotheque," kinda blows up, and then calmly reforms. Diggity.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Oasis:

Yeah, there still good, so what? Not great. They never were.

 

They had some decent singles early in their career, but why are you mentioning them in this thread? You dismiss Prodigy as being "irrelvant," yet you cite Oasis. No one in the States has cared about this fucking band in nearly a decade, outside of the NME-reading anglophiles who get their kicks from whichever Gallagher brother went on a cocaine-fueled public tirade. This–plus mentioning Prodigy—makes me think you listed every band you've ever heard of rather than come up with any salient argument.

 

Inc just ripped apart two of my guiltiest pleasures. Damn.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I don't know that I wanna talk about this anymore, because formatting those posts were a pain in the ass.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Then don't format them. Just put "in response to: "

 

Give lazy readers a workout.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I don't know that I wanna talk about this anymore, because formatting those posts were a pain in the ass.

Why did you waste your time with this guy, who judging by his avatar, is 100% biased? Its like me calling dfa1979 the greatest bad of alltime, it just won't fly. But I do have to take you to task for insulting Oasis. grrrr.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Then don't format them. Just put "in response to: "

 

Give lazy readers a workout.

fuck off

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Oh, Oasis weren't that bad, but really, they've fallen off the public radar outside of the British music press (and then only for their non-musical exploits), which made this board's "resident Radiohead expert"'s inclusion of them ridiculous.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I listened to Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. it was weird. kinda electronic. Not great, but certainly not a career killer. Liam Gallagher was an extremely magnetic lead man. I always liked him. Why? I have no idea.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

He banged Patsy Kensit, which is sort of terrible and wonderful at the same time.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

He banged Patsy Kensit, which is sort of terrible and wonderful at the same time.

He picked a fight, with his bodyguards, and still got the shit beat out of him. Thats respectable.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Oasis are pretty much a joke here in the UK these days. An excellent debut and decent follow up, but once Noel had money he stopped writing hungry everyman pop songs and Oasis moved into rock mediocrity.

 

Even more sadly, no one has moved to take their place.

[Myxamatosis 0]

I don't know that I wanna talk about this anymore, because formatting those posts were  a pain in the ass.

Why did you waste your time with this guy, who judging by his avatar, is 100% biased? Its like me calling dfa1979 the greatest bad of alltime, it just won't fly. But I do have to take you to task for insulting Oasis. grrrr.

Fuck off!

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Stay on topic. My brutally honest and crucially important Radiohead information is being overlooked so you guys can argue about who has the wetter vagina.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I have to say, that Czech's dismissal of Radiohead sounded like complete bullshit, like he didn't know what he was talking about. I am not knocking his musical tastes or anything, but that second paragraph was just filled with a bunch of crap.

 

It reminds me of the responses I get from people who just think Sigur Ros is a "bunch of crap that makes no sense".

 

Guilty Pleasure of mine would be Smashing Pumpkins, although I'm not guilty, because of the fact that I don't feel guilty about what I like, but that's the buzzword for "bands/artists you like that aren't typical of bands/artists you like". Siamese Dream is a great rock record, Adore is pretty good, and if you trim down, okay, SEVERELY trim down Mellon Collie to one disc it's pretty solid as well.

 

I'm not a big fan of the nineties since most of the stuff I listen to is more 80s alternative, so I might as well point out that the best album to come out of the nineties was Loveless, in my not so humble opinion anyway. I really like Illmatic too, albeit for very different reasons.

[Nighthawk 0]

I like the Smashing Pumpkins because they remind me of high school. Not that I liked high school, but there was a lot of artistic merit to it. It was a virtual cliche of drug-addled angst and misdirected rage. The Pumpkins bring me back there more than any other band save Marilyn Manson, who I would listen to even if that weren't true.

 

The Prodigy are a fine group, by the way, though I haven't listened to anything they've done since Fat of the Land. They're very respectable within their genre.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I don't know that I wanna talk about this anymore, because formatting those posts were  a pain in the ass.

Why did you waste your time with this guy, who judging by his avatar, is 100% biased? Its like me calling dfa1979 the greatest bad of alltime, it just won't fly. But I do have to take you to task for insulting Oasis. grrrr.

Fuck off!

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

There's a Prodigy song in that new Nintendo game, Donkey Konga.

 

That's all I have to say.

[Red Baron 0]

Since no one has mentioned this

 

Tool > Dillinger Escape Plan > Radiohead.

 

 

I never really got Ween, and quite frankly, I'm sick of them (it's been played in my journalism class almost every day.)

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Who is Ween? Would I know them from any time before a year ago when I quit lookin on much music for hot chicks?

[godthedog 0]

they had the minor early-90s hits "push th' littl' daisies" and "voodoo lady," and a good-size cult following. the latter song was also on the 'road trip' soundtrack.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

When I saw Ween at Bonnaroo, I wasn't sure what parts were them and what parts were hallucination, and no other band I know can do that.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

There's a Prodigy song in that new Nintendo game, Donkey Konga.

 

That's all I have to say.

All you have to say about what?

[Guest Shutterspeed]

The subject, obviously.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Damn, where's Fooster when you need him?

 

Radiohead's "genius" lies in the influences they take to put in there music. Miles Davis, DJ Shadow, The Pixies, Sigur Ros, Aphex Twin, The Smiths and all manner of classical and jazz musicians. The fact that they have managed to put all these different styles into their music, as well as putting their own twist on it, mwans they end up with something completely individual and brilliant.

 

Add to that the fact that they're all brilliant musicians (not just at their chosen instruments, but also everything else) and the fact that Thom Yorke is a very underated touching songwriter, and you've got a great band.

 

As for best of the nineties, it'd be hard to name a band whose body of work is as good as Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer (their nineties albums). Certainly, to become world famous for the type of music they play deserves some applause.