AAAAAAAARGH wrote:Radiohead is a great band, and I would easily consider them to be not crap. Very little waffling here. I love OK Computer, Kid A, and Amnesiac. I also don't think they are trite, highly derivative, or overrated, like a lot of the people in this thread seem to think. Their 'sound' changes a lot from album to album and while a lot of times I can see where they were coming from, influence-wise, they definitely can't just be dismissed as ripping people off left and right. They are overrated if you're confronting the people who consider them the Greatest Rock Band of All Time(tm), but that comes with the whole thing of them being really famous.

My biggest issue is one of feeling sometimes they are being a little ingenuine. This is mostly because I hate music videos and posed band shots so much, and I think their liner notes and promotional art is terrible and (forgive me) pretty pretentious. However, it's far more important to me that they have been to the top and still seemed to have been doing what they want, and I'm willing to accept that part of the reason they're so big is because unlike a lot of "weird" bands, they go along with the whole promo/music video/major label thing that is neither cool nor underground. Nirvana was like that, too. Whatever. The music is still very good, to me, and certainly a catalyst in my early musical education.

i agree with just about everything you said here.

yut wrote:A lot of their tunes are just soundscapes. Like the one they played on SNL with the hip-hoppin' drums where the difference between the verse and chorus was some synth pads. The drum beat was the same through the whole song.

erm.... soundscapes.... well yeah that's probable what I like about them. but there are also great melodies and nice bass lines, crazy guitars and very nice live drumming. plus this great singer. it's the details that make them so great. they are an awesome live band by the way.

almost every new music style after punk is based on loops and digital recording, cut and paste. you have to ignore a lot of bands if that was an argument.

Radiohead is more about fashion and slick marketing music videos than quality music.

???? I think you mistake marketing for style !!!! they are more smart than slick. and well....hats off to smart bands!

bassdriver wrote:

yut wrote:A lot of their tunes are just soundscapes. Like the one they played on SNL with the hip-hoppin' drums where the difference between the verse and chorus was some synth pads. The drum beat was the same through the whole song.

erm.... soundscapes.... well yeah that's probable what I like about them. but there are also great melodies and nice bass lines, crazy guitars and very nice live drumming. plus this great singer. it's the details that make them so great. they are an awesome live band by the way.

almost every new music style after punk is based on loops and digital recording, cut and paste. you have to ignore a lot of bands if that was an argument.

Beyond that, who the hell would call "Idioteque" a soundscape?

click here if you are too boring for normal radiohead

shame she didn't do idioteque

ivan wrote:click here if you are too boring for normal radiohead

shame she didn't do idioteque

I don't know... That shit still works, for me.

Lazybones wrote:

ivan wrote:click here if you are too boring for normal radiohead

shame she didn't do idioteque

I don't know... That shit still works, for me.

Far better than it ought to.

I'll go to the wall for Radiohead. They were just another boring band when Pablo Honey came out. I didn't like that record and just wrote them off.

Then they did a rare thing - they took their money and did something good with it. They made the music they wanted to make and did it with integrity. Lucky for them people liked it, and the trend continued. Some of the music has been great some only *good* but I always feel that they are being honest.

Anyone who thinks they are all style doesn't really know much about this band. They are geeks. They love gear. They do cool stuff with that gear and, I'll say it, they break new ground, which is hard to do these days.

Much has been said about how releasing Kid A when they were at the top of their game was a maverick move, but you know what, it was. Hats off to that.
Also, I've never heard them use the term "back to their roots," or whatever, as an excuse as to why their music has become boring and why you need to give them one more chance. Radiohead just doesn't bother when they don't have anything good ready to release. Thanks for that.

Jonny Greenwood may look like a fey pinup, but that's just how he looks. He can't help his gooooorgeous cheekbones or W(ever)TF. He's a monster musician, enormously creative, and I love how he plays guitar. I have nothing but praise for all of the players in fact.

You don't have to like them, but placing them in the company of nearly any other active band is probably rooted in snobbery. A popular band that sells records just *can't* be good, right?

-A

I have all their albums (except the bad one) on record and CD for some reason. One of my favorite bands probably, though I don't listen very often anymore, too damn depressing.

alex maiolo wrote:I'll go to the wall for Radiohead. They were just another boring band when Pablo Honey came out. I didn't like that record and just wrote them off.

Then they did a rare thing - they took their money and did something good with it. They made the music they wanted to make and did it with integrity. Lucky for them people liked it, and the trend continued. Some of the music has been great some only *good* but I always feel that they are being honest.

Anyone who thinks they are all style doesn't really know much about this band. They are geeks. They love gear. They do cool stuff with that gear and, I'll say it, they break new ground, which is hard to do these days.

Much has been said about how releasing Kid A when they were at the top of their game was a maverick move, but you know what, it was. Hats off to that.
Also, I've never heard them use the term "back to their roots," or whatever, as an excuse as to why their music has become boring and why you need to give them one more chance. Radiohead just doesn't bother when they don't have anything good ready to release. Thanks for that.

Jonny Greenwood may look like a fey pinup, but that's just how he looks. He can't help his gooooorgeous cheekbones or W(ever)TF. He's a monster musician, enormously creative, and I love how he plays guitar. I have nothing but praise for all of the players in fact.

You don't have to like them, but placing them in the company of nearly any other active band is probably rooted in snobbery. A popular band that sells records just *can't* be good, right?

-A

Alex, I agree with this post 100%.

I think they're great. besides, they were phenomenal both times I saw them. Once in a maybe 1000-1500 cap club and the other in a gigantic field with thousands of people. both shows were impeccable.



NOT CRAP.

I've got all their records and enjoy listening to them from time to time... even got Yorke's solo record. Gotta get that Jonny Greenwood record, too.