Listening To Radiohead Again: What do you nerds think?
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:58 am
well, this thread turned out exactly as expected:
-some people love radiohead
-some people hate radiohead
-some people tolerate radiohead
-some people don't really care about radiohead
-some people don't know anything about radiohead
please replace "radiohead" with any other band name, if you will.
As for me? I really love radiohead's music, and it had a very positive impact in my life, even before OK computer.
If Radiohead is not your thing, if you dislike the tone of Thom Yorke's voice, then fair game to you I guess.
But I think some of the posters have been very unfair, displaying very preconceived ideas about the band.
For example, every band has its share of "anal" fans. Why dismiss Radiohead in particular, just because a smaller portion of its fans act like assholes?
I love radiohead, but I would never try to convert other people, or insult people who don't like their music.
Remember this: asshole fans always tend to stick out above the rest, because they are loudmouths. Just because some people have this fundamentalist attitude, it doesn't mean that all of us fans do.
And it's unfair to judge the band for all the people that decide or not to support the band.
Besides, their reputation as depressed people is unfair. I have numerous interviews where the band is laughing, joking around. Even in their webcasts they have often displayed a good sense of humor. In their live acts, Thom jokes a lot and comunicates actively with the audience.
The problem is that pesky documentary. The band has claimed many times that the documentary was recorded in the worst period that they were going through, because at the time they were very tired of each other. But after that, things just got worked out. At least things never got to the point that they got in Some Kind Of Monster...
Plus, they have never been arrogant or pretentions regarding their music or their beliefs. Thom himself speaks often of the hipocrisies and contradictions involved in doing a tour and having environmental concerns. The band is always humble regarding their music, and I've never seen them claim to be superior to other artists, or any such bullshit.
The music that they make really resonates with me. Especially Pyramid Song. I find it to be sonically enveloping, as if the sound was pure liquid, as if it had a life of it's own. Watching the sound swell with crescendos, and expanding into huge amounts of harmonics at the end, is the kind of thing that can bring small tears to my eyes.
For me (and portuguese people in general), melancholy can be a very beautiful thing, like a spiritual experience. It's as if you surrender to something greater than life. Radiohead's music, at its best, can transport me into another universe, and envelop the listener into its own world.
I don't associate Yorke's lyrics with depressive things, simply because English is not my native language. A lot of the desperation that people associate with Radiohead simply passes me by. Of course I understand the lyrics, but the so-called negative energy that might be contained in them doesn't affect me at all. No Surprises makes me very happy. It's the kind of delicate, peaveful soothing song that a child might enjoy hearing.
People say that Radiohead has nothing new to offer, that they're just a rehash of older bands. But since when do bands have to show "anything new" to the world? Isn't that impossible? Aren't we just packaging sound in a western scale, with some pretty pictures, into vinyl and CD's?
Is there really any band in the world that truly has "anything new" to offer?
Isn't true originality just a fallacy?
They just make music, that standing on it's own, resonates with me.
That's the point that I would like to make clear here.
-some people love radiohead
-some people hate radiohead
-some people tolerate radiohead
-some people don't really care about radiohead
-some people don't know anything about radiohead
please replace "radiohead" with any other band name, if you will.
As for me? I really love radiohead's music, and it had a very positive impact in my life, even before OK computer.
If Radiohead is not your thing, if you dislike the tone of Thom Yorke's voice, then fair game to you I guess.
But I think some of the posters have been very unfair, displaying very preconceived ideas about the band.
For example, every band has its share of "anal" fans. Why dismiss Radiohead in particular, just because a smaller portion of its fans act like assholes?
I love radiohead, but I would never try to convert other people, or insult people who don't like their music.
Remember this: asshole fans always tend to stick out above the rest, because they are loudmouths. Just because some people have this fundamentalist attitude, it doesn't mean that all of us fans do.
And it's unfair to judge the band for all the people that decide or not to support the band.
Besides, their reputation as depressed people is unfair. I have numerous interviews where the band is laughing, joking around. Even in their webcasts they have often displayed a good sense of humor. In their live acts, Thom jokes a lot and comunicates actively with the audience.
The problem is that pesky documentary. The band has claimed many times that the documentary was recorded in the worst period that they were going through, because at the time they were very tired of each other. But after that, things just got worked out. At least things never got to the point that they got in Some Kind Of Monster...
Plus, they have never been arrogant or pretentions regarding their music or their beliefs. Thom himself speaks often of the hipocrisies and contradictions involved in doing a tour and having environmental concerns. The band is always humble regarding their music, and I've never seen them claim to be superior to other artists, or any such bullshit.
The music that they make really resonates with me. Especially Pyramid Song. I find it to be sonically enveloping, as if the sound was pure liquid, as if it had a life of it's own. Watching the sound swell with crescendos, and expanding into huge amounts of harmonics at the end, is the kind of thing that can bring small tears to my eyes.
For me (and portuguese people in general), melancholy can be a very beautiful thing, like a spiritual experience. It's as if you surrender to something greater than life. Radiohead's music, at its best, can transport me into another universe, and envelop the listener into its own world.
I don't associate Yorke's lyrics with depressive things, simply because English is not my native language. A lot of the desperation that people associate with Radiohead simply passes me by. Of course I understand the lyrics, but the so-called negative energy that might be contained in them doesn't affect me at all. No Surprises makes me very happy. It's the kind of delicate, peaveful soothing song that a child might enjoy hearing.
People say that Radiohead has nothing new to offer, that they're just a rehash of older bands. But since when do bands have to show "anything new" to the world? Isn't that impossible? Aren't we just packaging sound in a western scale, with some pretty pictures, into vinyl and CD's?
Is there really any band in the world that truly has "anything new" to offer?
Isn't true originality just a fallacy?
They just make music, that standing on it's own, resonates with me.
That's the point that I would like to make clear here.