**OK Computer** Appreciation Thread

[harry_hawka]

We've had one for Tool's 'Aenima', now we can have one for the real ground-breaking album of the 90's! This thread is designed to show your love for the greatest album of all time, and to express your favourite songs/ moments from the 12 track masterpiece.

From the chaotic openings of Airbag, through to Jonny Greenwood's journey of The Tourist, OK Computer is simply outstanding.

For me, Climbing Up The Walls is the best song on the album, an epic ride into a song that epitomises the anti-technology theme of OK Computer. In it's brilliant ending, the subtle bottom guitar layers can be compared to sounds of an axe chopping into a giant machine. It took me ages to appreciate just how much detail this song has, but only until you put your ear right up to speakers, and listen with intent, does the song come to the fore. The lyrics just top it off- Thom's slurring is great- adds to the spook of the song. Lock your kids up safe tonight, shut the eyes in the cupboard.

We all know how good Paranoid Android is- the three part epic is the showcase track. Jonny's jagged, slashing guitar and Thom's in-your-face lyrics create a masterpiece. Ambition makes you look pretty ugly.

Exit Music is slow-building and chilling. The brutal lyrics and sounds of screaming in the background highlight this song as angsty, all about escaping your hate-filled life. The orchestral crescendo could be seen as completely up-lifting if not for dire verses such as "we hope that you choke."

Lucky contains one of my favourites verses ever: "The head of State, has called for me, by name. But I don't have time for him. It's gonna be a glooooorious day- I feel my luck could change." Further, the ending on Let Down is equal with Climbing Up The Walls. Some say this song is over-produced, but I say it's a cracker.

Airbag is the perfect beginning to a perfect album. Chaotic- like a car crash- it sets the scene for what's to come in the next 11 tracks. With an intersteller burst, I am back to save the universe!

Karma Police- the anthem of Radiohead, No Surprises, Subterranean Homesick Alien, Electioneering and The Tourist help to top it off.

OK Computer is more productive. Comfortable. Like a pig in a cage on anti-biotics. Best album ever.

 

[FIGJAM]

Let Down.

Best. Song. Ever.

"You know, you know where you are with,
you know where you are with,
floor collapsing, falling, bouncing back
and one daaaaaaaaaaaaaay, I'm gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction, [You know where you are,]
hysterical and useless [you know where you are,]
hysterical and [you know where you are,]"

 

[harry_hawka]

The "onedaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy" bit was specifically the part I was referring to in the best ending ever (equal with CUTW). I reckon there'd be equal amounts of people that say it's the worst song on the album, as those that say it's the best.

That's what makes it so good, Thom and co. taking a risk with production (when compared to The Bends) and pulling it off completely. Ground. Breaking.

 

[FIGJAM]

The "onedaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy" bit was specifically the part I was referring to in the best ending ever (equal with CUTW). I reckon there'd be equal amounts of people that say it's the worst song on the album, as those that say it's the best.

True Radiohead fans know it's genius.

Those who say it's lame don't understand that that's the point!

It is the centrepiece of the album and encapsulates the overall sentiment of the album perfectly.

 

[harry_hawka]

True Radiohead fans know it's the best song on the album.

Those who say it's lame don't understand that that's the point!

It is the centrepiece of the album and encapsulates the overall sentiment of the album perfectly.

I believe I read somewhere that the whole idea of Let Down came about with Thom thinking "wouldn't it be funny if people were hanging from the roof, just floating around" (or something like that). From then on, the point of the song was going to be that it was lame! In saying that, though, lame is a harsh term for something so complex.

Obviously the whole album is great, but for me there's 6 standout tracks: Airbag, PA, Exit Music, Let Down, CUTW and Lucky.

Btw mate, standby for a Kid A appreciation thread down the track... we may be on our lonesome with that one though.

 

[whythelongface]

Let Down.

Best. Song. Ever.

"You know, you know where you are with,
you know where you are with,
floor collapsing, falling, bouncing back
and one daaaaaaaaaaaaaay, I'm gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction, [You know where you are,]
hysterical and useless [you know where you are,]
hysterical and [you know where you are,]"

It is without doubt the best song ever along with Fake Plastic Trees

 

[harry_hawka]

It is without doubt the best song ever along with Fake Plastic Trees

Nice edit mate, FPT is a worthy addition!

 

[Darealrath]

My favourite album, and i have a lot that i love.

At different times Paranoid Android, Let Down, Karma Police, Climbing Up The Walls, No Surprises and Lucky have been my favourite track. It's just too good. And when Thom tells me it's going to be a glorious day, i still get a shiver.

 

[harry_hawka]

And when Thom tells me it's going to be a glorious day, i still get a shiver.

Great call. He's so believable when he sings it. It's one thing for an artist to write good lyrics, but it's another for them to portray the words so well through their singing. In this song, Thom does it to perfection.

 

[UNIT]

As much on other threads ive had a crack at Radiohead for being pretentious as 'artists', no one can question the brilliance OK Computer (Or The Bends for that matter). Its awesome to see so many people love 'Let Down' as well...I thought i was the only one. Just the way that song just builds and builds....the competing melodies within the mix, the way they just wrap around each other...Its just an awesome, awesome track. Other great tracks are CUTW, Paranoid Android and Electioneering (another of the lesser 'acclaimed' tracks that i love)....

Just an awesome, awesome album. And yes, better than anything Oasis could ever dream of achieving.

I just wish they would of recorded for a B side, other songs they were playing during that era, like Big Ideas and Follow Me Around...Just awesome songs for anyone who has heard them, Big Idea's especially...

 

[harry_hawka]

I just wish they would of recorded for a B side, other songs they were playing during that era, like Big Ideas and Follow Me Around...Just awesome songs for anyone who has heard them, Big Idea's especially...

That whole OK Computer era is filled with great b-sides. In fact, the b-sides are probably the thing that really shows how good the original album is. The fact that the band couldn't find a spot for songs such as Polyethylene, Pearly, A Reminder, Bishop's Robes, Palo Alto, etc, is testimony to how good the standing 12 tracks are. The unreleased tracks like Big Ideas and Follow Me Around are also crackers.

 

[Bentleigh]

Best. Song. Ever.

= Creep

When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so ********ing special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here

I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice when I'm not around
You're so ********ing special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell I'm doing here?
I don't belong here

She's running out again
She's running out
She runs runs runs

Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so ********ing special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here
I don't belong here

 

[Ray Nolan]

I love this album as well. I love to listen to it in the dark and really loud because it really takes me on a journey and all the tracks have such a strong atmosphere to them. Fave track? So hard to choose but I'll probably go for 'Climbing Up The Walls'.

 

[rick James]

The Bends > OK Computer

 

[Angus1]

What's all this about people not liking Let Down? I haven't heard that before. It has been in my top 5 songs of all time since the first time i heard it and it still is. Why wouldn't they like it? (Radiohead fans I mean of course).

Oh I too think it has a great ending. When it finally ends I take a breath and think wow. I find it moving.

 

[Bentleigh]

Paranoid Android

 

[Angus1]

Another song that i have heard not be be too well liked is Electioneering. I think it is a crucial track in the whole sound of the overall album. The reason being is that it is the most pumped song on the album . It has the fastest playing on the album. It just gives the whole tempo of the album a boost. Always gets me fired up and it comes after Karma Police and before the brilliant Climbing up the Walls. Part of the brilliance of OK Computer is the various different styles that they have used and this one I think fits in well. Electioneering possibly stops OK from sounding too slow. Don't get me wrong I love songs like Exit Music , Lucky, Airbag etc......however adding some faster songs such as Electioneering and Paranoid Android just make the album more intersesting and less sleepy.

 

[harry_hawka]

What's all this about people not liking Let Down? I haven't heard that before. It has been in my top 5 songs of all time since the first time i heard it and it still is. Why wouldn't they like it? (Radiohead fans I mean of course).

Oh I too think it has a great ending. When it finally ends I take a breath and think wow. I find it moving.

On different Radiohead forums I've visited from time to time, there seems to be a number of people that call Let Down over-produced, etc. I certainly don't agree with it, and these people are in the minority. However, I've seen some posters say Let Down is Radiohead's worst song, that's how much they don't like it.

But, at least there's only love for it around these parts!

I love this album as well. I love to listen to it in the dark and really loud because it really takes me on a journey and all the tracks have such a strong atmosphere to them. Fave track? So hard to choose but I'll probably go for 'Climbing Up The Walls'.

I certainly appreciate the album more when the lights are off, all the bass enhancement is on, and my ears are right up next to the speakers. The amount of tiny detail in it is incredible.

 

[Angus1]

I believe I read somewhere that the whole idea of Let Down came about with Thom thinking "wouldn't it be funny if people were hanging from the roof, just floating around" (or something like that). From then on, the point of the song was going to be that it was lame! In saying that, though, lame is a harsh term for something so complex.

Obviously the whole album is great, but for me there's 6 standout tracks: Airbag, PA, Exit Music, Let Down, CUTW and Lucky.

Btw mate, standby for a Kid A appreciation thread down the track... we may be on our lonesome with that one though.

This track was recorded in the ballroom of actress Jane Seymour's mansion at 3 A.M. It closes with computerized sounds created by ZX Spectrum computers, which all the members of Radiohead owned in the 1970s. Jonny explains what it's all about: "It's like when Andy Warhol said he enjoyed being bored. It's about that feeling that you get when you're not in control of it - you just go past thousands of places and thousands of people and you're completely removed from it."

Thom : "I was ********ed in a club, and I suddenly had the funniest thought I'd had for ages - what if all the people who were drinking were hanging from the bottles... if the bottles were hung from the ceiling with string, and the floor caved in, and the only thing that kept everyone up was the bottles? It's also about an enormous fear of being trapped."

 

[Angus1]

Paranoid Android

Outstanding song. It is scary how good this song is. OK Computer is so good that I've never really felt the need to seperate the songs from their place on the album but I guess after 8 years it's time. I've always looked at the album as a whole.
Anyway back to Paranoid Android. I love the start. It's soft guitars roll over each other with Thoms voice sounding quiet lovely. Then you hear Jonny step it up a notch as Thom sings What's that? What's that ?
Jonny moves into full gear for
Why don't you remember my name?
Off with his head, man
Off with his head, man
Why don't you remember my name?
I guess he does....

The song slows down once again to a beautiful moving
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height

And a great finish with
God loves his children, God loves his children, yeah!

Paranoid Android is actually 3 seperate songs that were joined together. Thom got the idea from The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun. I think he pulled it off rather remarkably. The sounds Jonny gets from his guitar are a real highlight on this song.

 

[Angus1]

Climbing Up the Walls.
This song is scary.
Thoms voice is Scary.
The lyrics are scary.
Jonny's guitars are scary.
The subject matter is scary.
This song is fricken scary.

It is also brilliant. A masterpeice in fact. The guitar section during and after the following is simply haunting

So lock the kids up safe tonight
Put the eyes in the cupboard
I've got the smell of a local man
Who's got the loneliest feeling

That either way he turns
I'll be there
Open up your skull
I'll be there

Climbing up the walls
Climbing up the walls
Climbing up the walls

The guitars really kick in now and scare the bejesus out of me.

Thom explains here what it is actually about.
Thom : "This is about the unspeakable. Literally skull-crushing. I used to work in a mental hospital around the time that Care In The Community started, and we all just knew what was going to happen. And it's one of the scariest things to happen in this country, because a lot of them weren't just harmless... It was hailing violently when we recorded this. It seemed to add to the mood."

"Some people can't sleep with the curtains open in case they see the eyes they imagine in their heads every night burning through the glass. Lots of people have panic buttons fitted in their bedrooms so they can reach over and set the alarm off without disturbing the intruder. This song is about the cupboard monster."

 

[harry_hawka]

Great stuff Angus - appreciate!

Climbing Up The Walls is indeed scary. I must admit that this song is the first song that made me genuinely spooked afterwards. If you listen to it in the right environment, in pitch black with nothing else in focus, it really shows its true colours.

The song is set up by it's soft early parts, where Thom builds with a stern but quiet voice, singing brutal lyrics. The crashing of Phil's drums sounds like someone bashing a fence with a bat- it's really moody. By about halfway, you're starting to feel edgey, almost seeing the eyes in the cupboard and feeling lonely. The ending, where it builds in an orchestral fashion (I'll be theeeere, open up your skull, I'll be theeeerrrreee), and Thom almost screeches his way through the final "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalls- aaaaallllsss", is the height of its scaryness (the distorted lyrics- the sounds of someone being captured and screaming for help). The music turns into something of aimless destruction- like someone hacking into a giant machine with an axe.

The lyrics are clear throughout, it's about feeling trapped, and feeling like something horrible is watching you at all times. It's got an eerie feeling to it- the thought that there's someone who can access your life at any time no matter how secure you feel (the keys to the lock in your house), and that everytime you sleep alone there will be the 'eyes in the cupboard'. It's something that can't be overcome though (do not cry out or hit the alarm) and it'll stay with you forever (you know we're friends till we die).

In the end, the song is about hopelessness. But it's not a draining song- it doesn't drag you down with it. Where Street Spirit is depressing, Climbing Up The Walls is scary. In Street Spirit you feel a sense of emptyness, but with CUTW you feel on edge- google-eyed and scared. The difference is in the guitars- Street Spirit's constant loop creates a hypnotic feel and puts you in a desolute trance, whereas Climbing Up The Walls rattles all over the place, and builds and builds and builds, taking you with it. It hits its peak right at the end, where everything seems to fall apart.

It's the best song on the album, I've no doubts.

 

[Bentleigh]

Paranoid Android is a good song.

Yes, its a very good song which I very much enjoy.

ditto Creep.

 

[The Hitman]

The single greatest album ever released.

Every song is amazing and has its different strengths. Nothing weak.

OK Computer > Your favourite band's best album.

 

[mace007]

One of the best parts of CUTW that no one's mentioned is the final moments of the song with the amazing noise of 16 violins playing the same note half a tone apart, creating that incredible screeching noise.