The Goo 1
The Grape Vinyl THE GRAPE VINYL KID A - RADIOHEAD
(2000) - 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONOR FARRELL So how do you follow an album like OK Computer? A record instantly elevated to classic status, placed on the highest pedestal long before the benefit of hindsight could take hold. By the spring of 1998, readers of Q magazine were already voting it the greatest album of all time. All that hysteria didn’t help the band; if anything, it weighed them down, and as they faced the daunting task of a follow-up, OK Computer was becoming a noose around their necks. Thom Yorke spiralled into anxiety, depression, and writer’s block, and the question loomed - had Radiohead peaked too early? They needed to shed the weight of expectation and free themselves from being pigeonholed. But this wasn’t the first time they’d been in that position. Radiohead began their recording career in the early ’90s as a guitar-driven indie band, suddenly thrust into the spotlight when their debut single Creep became a worldwide hit. The track soon defined the band, and what should have been a blessing quickly became the curse of the one-hit wonder label. Determined to escape that shadow, they followed up with The Bends (1995), a consistent and edgy record that silenced the doubters and firmly established Radiohead as a vital new band in alternative rock. Its critical and commercial success secured the band a bigger budget and the creative license to push their music 46 in new directions. For their next album, they turned again to Nigel Godrich, who had engineered The Bends, and together they set out to produce the album themselves. Expectations from fans, critics, and their label were high, but no one could have predicted just how far the band would leap. The result was OK Computer (1997), an ambitious, epic masterpiece that redefined what rock music could be and positioned Radiohead at the forefront of modern music. Yet the very success of OK Computer created the same trap they had worked so hard to escape - leaving the band once again struggling under the weight of expectation. As the main songwriter, Thom Yorke felt this weight more than anyone. And to make matters worse he was starting to hear other acts imitating Radiohead. In an effort to reinvent the band, Yorke immersed himself in electronic music such as Aphex Twin but also incorporated other disparate influences such as Bjork, Can, Miles Davis, DJ Crush and Talking Heads. Using this new language, Kid A started to slowly take shape. Album opener Everything In Its Right Place was clinical and sparse, a song about the depression fallout from the OK Computer tour. It sounded like a mechanical catharsis with a warmth and calm that threatened to fall apart any moment. This perfectly set the tone for the disjointed genius of Kid A. At the same time, internet culture was shifting fast. Fans were no longer limited to newsletters or critics’ opinions - they were exchanging thoughts worldwide in real time. File-sharing was rising, and three weeks before its official release, Kid A leaked online. With no singles, press, or videos, Radiohead ignored the traditional hype cycle, leaving the label to navigate online promotion. The album quickly circulated on Napster and other platforms, its mystique only heightened by the leak. It was the dawn of digital-age fandom, and it felt revolutionary. Trusting their instincts, Radiohead made the album they wanted to hear. It wasn’t safe or conventional, but their time was now, and so it resonated with fans and critics alike. Kid A explored alienation, technology, and power, drawing on dystopian themes familiar from Bowie and Pink Floyd’s 70s work, while remaining firmly rooted in the internet age. The result was a beautiful, flawed, and often frightening masterpiece.