Ok Computer 23 Years Later

akugel | Oct. 11, 2022, 10:52 a.m.

So the original nascent idea behind this blog was I would have this recursive thing going on where I would be writing articles about making the website as I was actually making it. Well if I’m writing about all of the inputs that were needed to create this output, I would be remiss if I didn’t include Radiohead. I don’t think I could have put in the work required to make this thing if I wasn’t lulled into a sort of hypnotic trance for hours at a time.

I think I was first introduced to OK Computer when I was a sophomore in high school. It didn’t immediately take at first. The disconcerting dissonance of Climbing Up the Walls made me uncomfortable, Karma Police lulled me to sleep. I didn’t receive the same immediate gratification as I did with The Bends (which was, to me, an angrier, angstier version of What’s the Story Morning Glory). I needed to be a smarter audience. The older I got, and the more music I listened too, the more and more I appreciated OK Computer.

And holy **** was this album ahead of its time! This came out in 1997! This would be ahead of it’s time if it came out five years ago! The way the guitar riff transitions into almost angelic drum fills on Airbag, the ethereal, haunting vocal’s on Karma Police, it’s just mind boggling they were able to piece this together the same year that I Believe I Can Fly and Wannabe came out. How did they have access to the same technology as R Kelly and the Spice Girls had?

If Radiohead every comes back to Kansas city I’m shelling out 500+ for pit tickets.

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