[Spliff]

All my friends love this band, but I just can't get into them. Maybe as background music, but that's about it.

What is so great about them?

[iREZ]

The first time I popped in Kid A, I thought I had to be high as well. After listening to it over and over again, I realize how incredible Radiohead is....and this is coming from a guy who's never smoked any weed ever (proud of my nerdiness). Radiohead isn't my favorite band, but they are incredible, and even better live. Give it five spins...if you don't like it by then, then they're not for you, and if thats the case, then I feel sorry for you.

[ASIMO]

No, just white.

[Randman]

I don't get then either. I guess when compared with boybands, they sound better. I dunno.

[wataru]

Originally posted by ASIMO:
No, just white.

I lol'd

I never got them either.

[Kenneth]

Kid A was also my first Radiohead album. It's amazing. Sometimes I fire up iTunes to hear Everything in It's Right Place in early morning.

[Krypton]

Radiohead have an electrifying energy about them, which is why I like them.

Their albums also take a lot of listening to before you can get into them, and it often takes this long to work out the lyrics...

If you're a traditional Rock person, The Bends is a good starting point; I haven't quite got into all the electronic stuff as much yet

[Kilbey]

Not a radiohead fan.

They are too bland for my taste.

[Randman]

Originally posted by Krypton:
Radiohead have an electrifying energy about them.

Is that anything like an energetic electricity about them?

[lavar78]

Originally posted by ASIMO:
No, just white.

That was funny. Untrue, but funny.

Contrary to the band's beliefs, I've found that it's easier to take them when listening to songs as opposed to entire albums. I remember "Creep" from high school, but I actually didn't get into them until I downloaded "Karma Police" when the iTMS first opened. I still think they're more than a little overrated, but there are some good songs on The Bends and OK Computer, especially "High and Dry" (recently covered by Jamie Cullum), "Fake Plastic Trees," "(Nice Dream)," and "No Surprises." Mix some of the songs into a playlist and enjoy. Listening to too much Radiohead is probably a sign of depression.

BTW, they have some chops; two members (Phil Selway and Ed O'Brien) joined Eddie Vedder, Johnny Marr, and some others to play with one of my all-time favorite musicians, Neil Finn, in a fabulous concert a few years ago.

[Randman]

Creep? They remade the STP song?

[saltines17]

Like all bands I currently love, at first I didn't like them and hated Thom's voice. Now, he's my favorite voice in modern music.

Listen to How to Disappear Completely for what I think is one of Thom's best vocal performances, and listen to Paranoid Android for a really unique and awesome song.

Obviously, like any band, they're not for everyone.

[wiffmaster]

Radiohead are a damm good band, didn't know that you Americans had heard of them though, thought they were only big in Britain. Nothing beats a bit of 'Street Spirit', 'OK Computer' and 'The Bends' are fantastic albums, but frankly, Amnesiac and Kid A were rubbish; totally overated IMHO.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

i like rock and roll. guitar based, good vocals and whatever inventiveness the band can contribute to music.

i felt radiohead was always too experimental. not all the tracks are enjoyable because of it. some sound like my alarm clock when i wake up.

they get my props because the are pushing the limits but i dont listen too much to them. i own "OK Computer".

[macintologist]

Ok, OLD Radiohead and NEW Radiohead are completely different.

If you are into good alternative rock, download/obtain/buy their 1995 album The Bends. It is incredibly amazing.

Additionally, their 1997 album Ok Computer has some incredible tracks as well.

If you've been exposed to their new crap, like Kid A and Hail to the Thief, no wonder you can't catch on It's horrible whiny sh**.

Here's a few songs I recommend to download so you can get a good taste of their music.

• The Bends
• High and Dry
• My Iron Lung
• Black Star
• Bullet Proof (slow ballad type of song, beautiful guitars)
• Paranoid Android
• Let Down (incredibly beautiful song!!)

Edit: Download "Let Down". That should be your starting point for getting into the good half of Radiohead.

[Krypton]

I quite like Hail To The Thief, 2+2=5 and There There are very good in my opinion.

I think to summarise, you either 'get' Radiohead or you don't, a bit like Macs

[dav]

i purchased 'ok computer', but have yet to appreciate it.

[saltines17]

I love everything after and including OK Computer far more than I like most of The Bends, and I don't like much of Pablo Honey at all. As I said, they're not for everyone.

I wish they would release a full concert. The 7-song EP is far too little for what they're capable of.

While I like Kid A as an album, the songs themselves are so much better live.

[sugar_coated]

Radiohead has produced some very original and unique sounds.

[RAILhead]

Tell them to quit being such wussies and listen to some stuff that actually gets your blood pumping.



Maury

[willed]

It took me quite a while to get into Radiohead, but now Hail to the Thief is one of my favourite albums of all time. OK Computer is also good of course, and has managed to achieve legendary status. Not so keen on Kid A to be honest.

[dcmacdaddy]

Originally posted by macintologist:
Ok, OLD Radiohead and NEW Radiohead are completely different.

If you are into good alternative rock, download/obtain/buy their 1995 album The Bends. It is incredibly amazing.

Additionally, their 1997 album Ok Computer has some incredible tracks as well.

If you've been exposed to their new crap, like Kid A and Hail to the Thief, no wonder you can't catch on It's horrible whiny sh**.

Here's a few songs I recommend to download so you can get a good taste of their music.

• The Bends
• High and Dry
• My Iron Lung
• Black Star
• Bullet Proof (slow ballad type of song, beautiful guitars)
• Paranoid Android
• Let Down (incredibly beautiful song!!)

Edit: Download "Let Down". That should be your starting point for getting into the good half of Radiohead.

Props on the suggestion of "Let Down". That is my favorite Radiohead song. I am listening to it as we speak.

I would start with OK Computer and work backwards through the Radiohead catalog. Once you've done that, THEN try out some of the newer stuff. You just might find yourself liking Radiohead.

[waxcrash]

Originally posted by dav:
i purchased 'ok computer', but have yet to appreciate it.

I bought ok computer when it came out because it was one of the few albums at the time that you could listen to the entire cd and enjoy it. Every song on that album is good. It's rare these days to find an album where you can listen from the beginning to end without having the urge to skip songs. The Bends is an equally good album. The 'new' Radiohead is too experimental for me.

[malvolio]

Originally posted by RAILhead:
Tell them to quit being such wussies and listen to some stuff that actually gets your blood pumping.



Maury

"Category: Inspirational" WTF?

Not bad, but I prefer something like this.

[AB^2=BCxAC]

Spliff, what music do you like?

[Busemann]

Originally posted by RAILhead:
Tell them to quit being such wussies and listen to some stuff that actually gets your blood pumping.

Maury

umm.. no, thanks


Anyways, Kid A is clearly their best IMHO. Engaging, melodic and very well-produced. Their other stuff tends to get a bit on the boring side (especially the last one)

[anthonyvthc]

If you are at all interested in progressive musical ideas (not just mindlessly bobbing your heads, as it seems many on here are) then Radiohead are pretty cool. Do I like all of their music? No. But they do some really cool things harmonically that no one else in popular music is doing right now. That creates interest for me. Having to listen to a song more than once to figure out the chord progressions is interesting to me. Being bombarded with I-IV-V-IV progressions is not.

[ASIMO]

Originally posted by wataru:
I lol'd

I never got them either.

Coming clean; I actually dig them and most of their stuff, new and old. Yet I am as Asian as the next guy.

[Eug Wanker]

No, their music sucks whether you're high, drunk, or sober.

[ASIMO]

Originally posted by malvolio:
"Category: Inspirational" WTF?

Not bad, but I prefer something like this.

These guys are simply great. Here is to another two decades of SY.

[Spliff]

Originally posted by AB^2=BCxAC:
Spliff, what music do you like?

Geez, I like a huge variety of music, but in popular music, I tend to favor songs with strong lyrics (intelligent, funny, ascerbic, etc). Radiohead's lyrics are weak. The lead singer's voice is a bit of a turn off, too. I'm checking out "The Bends" and so far I'm liking it more than their later stuff.

[spiky_dog]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
Not a radiohead fan.

They are too bland for my taste.

too bland? that's funny. i like them because their composition and texture is richer than the average tripe out there. i prefer to think of them as a classical-music-listener's alternative band.

other alternative bands that this bach lover listens to: the flaming lips, pink martini.

[waxcrash]

Originally posted by Spliff:
I'm checking out "The Bends" and so far I'm liking it more than their later stuff.

Check out the song 'Just' on 'The Bends'.

[Spliff]

Originally posted by anthonyvthc:
If you are at all interested in progressive musical ideas (not just mindlessly bobbing your heads, as it seems many on here are) then Radiohead are pretty cool. Do I like all of their music? No. But they do some really cool things harmonically that no one else in popular music is doing right now. That creates interest for me. Having to listen to a song more than once to figure out the chord progressions is interesting to me.

I have no musical background at all. I can't read music and I never learned to play an instrument (piano, guitar, or whatever). As a result, I know there are things in the music that I just can't hear or appreciate. I can only enjoy the "music" on an aesthetic level. That's one reason why I like strong lyrics because I can appreciate them aesthetically and intellectually.

[demograph68]

Originally posted by RAILhead:
Tell them to quit being such wussies and listen to some stuff that actually gets your blood pumping.

I fucking HATE that crap!

[Burke]

My problem with Radiohead is that you're "supposed" to like them if you call yourself a music fan, much like the Beatles (the next time you're in a group of five or more people, mention you hate the Beatles and they will descend upon you like you kicked the Pope down a flight of stairs). That attitude creates a personal, albeit hollow and shallow, principle to NOT listen to them.

People act incredulous if you aren't into their music...of course, they never give you the same quarter when you state your love for Reverend Horton Heat or whomever.

[dav]

Originally posted by spiky_dog:
too bland? that's funny. i like them because their composition and texture is richer than the average tripe out there. i prefer to think of them as a classical-music-listener's alternative band.

other alternative bands that this bach lover listens to: the flaming lips, pink martini.

i also bought the flaming lips, 'the soft bulletin' (along with radioheads' 'ok computer'). both of these bands i am disappointed with, yet i enjoy classical music.

[demograph68]

Either you like Radiohead or you don't... end of discussion.

[iREZ]

I don't think the Beatles comment is necessarily true. As long as you have a strong argument or admit they paved some of the way for music now a days. I like to consider myself an aficionado when it comes to certain kinds music and so do my friends and they tend to think that there were two schools of rock, ie.. you could like the Beatles or you could like the Stones but ya gotta atleast like one of em from that time period, and they all like the Stones. If you want some hardcore emo then check out glassjaw (my fav band), but I don't want to derail the thread and stick with Radiohead is good music, Beatles are good music, and Glassjaw is good music.

[spiky_dog]

Originally posted by dav:

i also bought the flaming lips, 'the soft bulletin' (along with radioheads' 'ok computer'). both of these bands i am disappointed with, yet i enjoy classical music.

hmm. what classical do you like? i'm all about bach piano and organ music for purity, and late romantics/early moderns (ravel, debussy, mahler, stravinsky, prokofiev) for orchestral work. i like "thick" sounds at least off the keyboard, and that lends itself well to radiohead. try listening to radiohead's "karma police" and "vanilla sky" before you set them aside completely in your mind.

[dav]

Originally posted by spiky_dog:
hmm. what classical do you like?

bach was probably the greatest, but beethoven is my favorite. i'm partial to piano sonatas as well.
bach - the well tempered clavier, gould (just about any bach performed by gould); cello suites, rostropovich; brandenburg concertos... bach was extremely prolific
beethoven - symphonies, i like bruno walter; piano sonatas, rubinstein has some excellent preformances; piano concertos, fleisher/snell; violin sonatas, etc.
brahms - i like some piano concertos
prokofiev, schubert, some chopin, handle, d.scarlatti has some great piano sonatas
for performers i'm a fan of murray perahia.
contemporary composers - i like arvo part quite a bit (te deum, tabula rasa, summa, fur alina), philip glass, steve reich (minialmist stuff)
those stick out off the top of my head, not really a fan of a particular period.

the radiohead, and flaming lips are still rotated in itunes, but they just don't impact me the same as say, 'in the aeroplane over the sea'.

[macintologist]

Originally posted by RAILhead:
Tell them to quit being such wussies and listen to some stuff that actually gets your blood pumping.



Maury

Actually this and this are better for pumping you up.

The second link is the song you'll hear in the Pentagon 9/11 missile flash movie.

[Mafia]

i like their stuff like karma police but some of there stuff is too far out for me.

[mikemako]

I am another Radiohead fan.. been into them since OK Computer, which I think is their best album. Radiohead is my favorite band, besides the Beatles.

Pablo Honey is good, but not great IMO.

The Bends is a brilliant rock album, with great melodies and lyrics.

OK Computer is one of my favorite albums ever. It's still rock, but you can hear the more experimental nature of Kid A/Amnesiac on the horizon. The song "Exit Music For a Film" is unbelievably climactic, it still gives me chills after all these years.

Kid A/Amnesiac are interesting and beautiful, but very strange. Not for everybody. I heard that they were originally meant to be a double album, but Radiohead felt it was too pretentious so they were seperated and released about 6 months apart.

Hail To The Theif is an excellent album that takes Radiohead back to the more straight-forward rock of the Bends era. Kind of like "Get Back" for the Beatles.

[JohnSmithXTREME]

Radiohead is not popular enough to be considered bad, but they are unpopular enough to be considered cool by pretentious university students.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

Originally posted by JohnSmithXTREME:
Radiohead is not popular enough to be considered bad, but they are unpopular enough to be considered cool by pretentious university students.

that last part is what makes me not want to listen to them more.

i think this must be how PC users feel about mac sometimes.

[saltines17]

Originally posted by Apple Pro Underwear:
that last part is what makes me not want to listen to them more.

i think this must be how PC users feel about mac sometimes.

ick as much as I agree with you that the sentiment is horribly annoying, I really hate to hear that such things cause people to not want to enjoy certain music. If you do, great, if you don't, fine, but I really couldn't care less what other people think about something as completely subjective as musical preferences.

[Geo669]

I'm a huge Radiohead fan.

And like people have mentioned, i'll also state that it is increadibly difficult to get into Radiohead on the first listen.

And i wouldnt recommend starting with Kid A, even though i did, and loved it.

Ok Computer is not far off from a perfect album. Complete magic.

Start off with, Pablo if your a rock and roll fan, then move forward to the Bends.
(nice dream)
My iron Lung
Fake plastic trees..

Then prepare yourself for "ok computer" The album is AMAZING.
As someone else said, I have something for "let down" Its my favourite radiohead song.
On Ok computer you cant look past
"Exit Music for a film"
"karma police"
"subterranian Homesick Alien"
"climbing up the walls"
I could go on, but i would just be mentioning the entire album (minus Fitter happier)

Once you have eased into Ok computer, having listened more than 3 times, its time to move onto Kid A.

I can guarentee that if someone really loves Ok computer, they are willing to see the brilliance of Kid A, that you normally wouldnt see, if you had listened to that album first.
"how to dissapear completely"
"optimistic"
"everything in its right place"
"morning bell"
"in limbo"
These are in my opinion the gems of Kid A.

If you take my advice, enjoy.
If not, your missing out.

[DarwinX]

Originally posted by Burke:
People act incredulous if you aren't into their music...of course, they never give you the same quarter when you state your love for Reverend Horton Heat or whomever.

Reverend Horton Heat fan....props to that! I don't know much by him but its not a name I often see people mention so that is all good.

I have long stated that I wanted to get into listening to Radiohead and have yet to do so. I just wanted to say thank you for everyone's constuctive posts as I intend to take the guidance in sampling their music.

[lavar78]

Originally posted by Randman:
Creep? They remade the STP song?

No, it's a different song. It came out a short time after the STP song (1993 IIRC). It was quite a big hit -- MTV played it regularly.

"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"

Ring a bell?