(Not surprising when the role of “Guardian of Rock Music” was effectively plopped onto his shoulders.) That spiraled into a writer’s block combined with feelings of self-hatred: not only could he not write music, but whatever he had already written-and even his own voice-annoyed him. He felt that there was no way Radiohead could replicate their success with OK Computer. However, here was also where they started feeling burnout: after a concert in November 1997, frontman Thom Yorke found himself unable to speak, being tired of the rock musician’s life. (Credit: Edd Westmacott/Alamy Stock Photo) Here, they saw the success that their work had brought them: they headlined the famed Glastonbury festival, which showed that they were just as good on the live stage as they were in the studio. With Kid A’s 20th anniversary coming up this Friday, I’ve decided to take a look into the journey that Radiohead had embarked on in preparation for this album, and the modern-day masterpiece that has emerged as a result.Īfter the release of OK Computer in May 1997, Radiohead went on a year-long tour of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. It proved that Radiohead were not just any mainstream alternative rock band that also happened to be politically minded they were a band that was capable of change, capable of creating something truly different and progressive. But for Radiohead – and as mainstream critics later realized – it was a drastically new step into rock, as new as the 21st century that was to come three months after its release. For them, Kid A felt like a series of unfinished motifs put together without any care of how the final product might sound. From the cascading piano arpeggios at the very beginning of the album onwards, Kid A was proving itself to be unconventional, completely shattering all previous expectations of what Radiohead could do.Īnd many critics complained. They didn’t hear anything that made alt-rock what it was. They didn’t hear the dominating presence of guitars. Yet in October 2000, as critics and fans sat down to appreciate Radiohead’s new album, titled Kid A, they started to feel that something was… different. The magazine Melody Maker put it best: “If there’s one band that promises to return rock to us, it’s Radiohead.” It had been described by numerous critics and listeners as one of the best albums of the year, and was nominated for various Best Album awards on both sides of the Atlantic.Īnd as time passed, the world waited for the next release by the band it desired an OK Computer II, replete with the powerful, guitar-driven alternative rock that had graced the original. Their latest album, 1997’s OK Computer, had been hailed as a triumph, a tour de force that captured the spirit of the mid-to-late 1990s during which it had been recorded and released. Towards the very end of the 20th century, Radiohead were becoming one of the most acclaimed bands of their time.
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