Radiohead - good?

[SpookyFrank]

No album with this on it can be a turd...

Meh. It's tolerable I suppose.

 

[Knotted]

Manipulative sound? If you mean deliberately constructed so as to have a particular effect upon the emotional state of the listener, isn't that what music is for?

And people who claim to listen to music 'ironically' understand neither music nor irony IMO.

I think the listener should be left with a bit of space to make up their own minds what to make of the song. Radiohead are emotionally dictatorial. Even something emotionally powerful like Billy Holliday's Strange Fruit gets you there with subtlety and finesse. Radiohead's emotional devices are obvious, blunt, direct and frankly just irritating. Same problem with Coldplay and James Blunt.

 

[MillwallShoes]

i didnt know yorke wore an earing

 

[Fez909]

I think the listener should be left with a bit of space to make up their own minds what to make of the song. Radiohead are emotionally dictatorial. Even something emotionally powerful like Billy Holliday's Strange Fruit gets you there with subtlety and finesse. Radiohead's emotional devices are obvious, blunt, direct and frankly just irritating. Same problem with Coldplay and James Blunt.

Comparing Coldplay and James Blunt to Radiohead. You were doing so well, too. The 'ironic listening' was a subtle masterstroke, but you went too far, too soon here.

4/10

 

[Knotted]

They are a very similar band to Coldplay. They're a more sophisticated band but the appeal is basically the same. I actually quite like the way Coldplay took this music and made stripped it of it's pretenses and made it pure pop. Compare!





I think I give the edge to Coldplay on that one.

 

[MillwallShoes]

yellow is a fantastic song. can't abide the later stuff though. so gooey

 

[SpookyFrank]

They are a very similar band to Coldplay. They're a more sophisticated band but the appeal is basically the same. I actually quite like the way Coldplay took this music and made stripped it of it's pretenses and made it pure pop. Compare!.

Now you've slipped into outright trolling.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I think it is difficult to say they are 'shit' or 'poor' but I don't like them. They can be more interesting than most MOR college boy pop/rock and they certainly aren't bad at what they do, I just don't like what they do.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Did they name themselves after that Talking Heads song?

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Did they name themselves after that Talking Heads song?

yes

 

[SpookyFrank]

yellow is a fantastic song. can't abide the later stuff though. so gooey

Too ploddy as well. All the subtlety and detail from their first album has long since been discarded in favour of big, obvious bombast. That song Viva La Vida, there's nothing to it but jerky keyboard chords and an obvious vocal line. Effective I suppose, but there's nothing there that's actually interesting. If that song comes on the radio I won't be upset, but nor will I be sad when it's finished.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

yes

Possibly the worst song on the album.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Possibly the worst song on the album.

but the title makes for a good bandname...

 

[Ax^]

Too ploddy as well. All the subtlety and detail from their first album has long since been discarded in favour of big, obvious bombast. That song Viva La Vida, there's nothing to it but jerky keyboard chords and an obvious vocal line. Effective I suppose, but there's nothing there that's actually interesting. If that song comes on the radio I won't be upset, but nor will I be sad when it's finished.

why are you talking about fucking coldplay... or even putting thought into their music

its shite end of story move on

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Coldplay are horrible. They (and also the likes of Travis) were inspired by Bends era Radiohead and made something uber boring from it. Radiohead have got more interesting as they've gone on and absorbed electronic influences. (I hardly ever listen to The Bends these days.)

Another beaut...

 

[Knotted]

Effective I suppose,

I thought you thought that was what music was all about! Coldplay get a good commercial, catchy sound out of very little. Not many people can do that. I don't understand the offense being taken here.

 

[Orang Utan]

Don't like many 'bands' but I do like them.
They do interesting things with music, like Bjork.
Would rather hear them than Coldplay or suchlike

The poll should have been public!

 

[Firky]

This is why I like RH, the layers to their music. It's not just about writing an album, Kid A was heavily influenced by Thom's missus and Dante's Inferno.

http://home.att.ne.jp/air/tony/radiohead/Kid_A_interpretation.htm

Pyramid Song and RH's obsession with angels.

http://home.att.ne.jp/air/tony/radiohead/pyramid_song.htm

 

[catinthehat]

 

[Knotted]

Coldplay are horrible. They (and also the likes of Travis) were inspired by Bends era Radiohead and made something uber boring from it. Radiohead have got more interesting as they've gone on and absorbed electronic influences. (I hardly ever listen to The Bends these days.)

Another beaut...

I haven't paid them any attention for about 15 years, so I'm trying to do a quick catch up on them. The above was a bit saccharin for me but it's well crafted, they do seem to have got more interesting as they've aged. This is quite good if you ignore the vocals:

 

[butcher]

Rich as Croesus but still fucking miserable, the cunts ought to cheer up now they can afford not to work and for a bunch of Ugs they should at least be able to get some fame hungry groupies to give 'em a sympathy shag....... but no they want to inflict their self centred whinings on the rest of us. Boo hoo.

No I don't like em.

 

[starfish]

Somewhere between good & amazing, maybe really good. Love The Bends one of my favourite albums, really liked Ok Computer, somehow missed Kid A & Amnesiac but got into them later then really really really liked In Rainbows.

 

[killer b]

Actually I think urban turns the usual definition of iconoclasm on its head. Really bucking the trend here is saying you like something that's widely liked - Radiohead for example, or American Beauty. The 'sheeple' are the ones trampling each other in the stampede to show how disdainful they are of such things.

this isn't really true, is it? radiohead always get album of the year here (in years when they have an album out), and are widely popular. iirc dubversion had a (very vocal) aversion to american beauty, but beyond him it isn't unusually disliked.

tbh the only predictable thing about people's tastes on here is that someone will always pop up on threads like this whining that we're all inverse snobs. like you just did.

 

[Hollis]

Prefer all their electronic stuff to the early couple guitar based albums tbh.. Loved 'The Kings of Limbs' and Yorke's solo album. All good.

 

[Roadkill]

OK Computer is nigh-on perfect. I'm not a huge fan aside from that, but they certainly ain't bad by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[elbows]

I prefer the later stuff.

Or the stupidly early stuff

 

[Firky]

Back when you didn't need to register to post to Urban my username was from an On a Friday song - Phillipa Chicken.

.

I bought AMOK and Push the Sky Away on vinyl and limited edition CD this week

 

[elbows]

Not entirely sure how my brain would have coped with Bush, Blair, the war on terror and Iraq without Hail to the Thief.

 

[billy_bob]

this isn't really true, is it? radiohead always get album of the year here (in years when they have an album out), and are widely popular. iirc dubversion had a (very vocal) aversion to american beauty, but beyond him it isn't unusually disliked.

tbh the only predictable thing about people's tastes on here is that someone will always pop up on threads like this whining that we're all inverse snobs. like you just did.

Well certainly I'm generalising. It happens here perhaps somewhat more than in other circles I've moved in.

I think 'whining that we're all inverse snobs' is a bit strong. My first post on the thread was essentially "I like them but I can see why others might not". I'm the last person to look down on anyone over music tastes* - too many of my own supposed faux pas which I've now learnt to embrace, nay post, at every opportunity.

*exception made for the Monobrowed Purveyor of Ultimate Filth** of course.

**Chris de Burgh of course

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I haven't paid them any attention for about 15 years, so I'm trying to do a quick catch up on them. The above was a bit saccharin for me but it's well crafted

It's the attention to detail, really, particularly the percussion and the nagging guitar line. I read someone saying it's a near rip of the awesome 'La Ritournelle', but I'm not sure I quite agree. 'Weird Fishes' was another fave from In rainbows.