AFTER RELEASING ONE OF THE BEST ROCK ALBUMS OF THE 90'S, WHAT WAS NEXT IN STORE FOR RADIOHEAD? FIND OUT HOW THEY FLIPPED MODERN MUSIC ON ITS HEAD WITH THER NEXT ALBUM HERE!
THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK GOES TO THE POLARIZING ELECTRONIC RECORD THAT CHANGED ALT ROCK FOREVER: “KID A” BY RADIOHEAD.
AFTER THE RELEASE OF THEIR 1997 ALBUM “OK COMPUTER”, NEW MAINSTREAM ATTENTION AND AN OVERBOOKED TOURING SCHEDULE STARTED TAKING A MAJOR TOLL ON THE BAND, SPECIFICALLY FRONTMAN THOM YORKE.
YORKE FELT LIKE ROCK MUSIC, HIS ULTIMATE COPING MECHANISM, WAS BECOMING A PRODUCT TO BE SOLD AND MARKETED, AND HE WANTED TO BREAK AWAY FROM IT. INSTEAD, HE LOOKED TO ELECTRONIC ARTISTS LIKE APHEX TWIN AND AUTECHRE FOR INSPIRATION.
IN AN ATTEMPT TO PUSH THEIR SOUND FORWARD, YORKE AND COMPANY DECIDED THAT THEIR NEXT ALBUM WOULD BE ELECTRONIC, WITH LITTLE TO NO GUITARS, A MOVE THAT SURPRISED PRODUCER NIGEL GODRICH. GODRICH TRUSTED THE BAND TO MAKE SOMETHING UNIQUE, BUT DIDN’T KNOW WHY THEY WOULD DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM A STYLE OF MUSIC THEY EXCELLED AT.
WITH NO DEADLINE, THE RECORDING SESSIONS FOR THE ALBUM BEGAN IN PARIS IN 1999. WITH THE GOAL OF LEAVING ROCK INSTRUMENTATION BEHIND, MOST OF THE BAND MEMBERS HAD TO FIND NEW WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRACKS. LEAD GUITARIST JONNY GREENWOOD BEGAN PLAYING MODULAR SYNTHESIZERS, AS WELL AS THE ONDES MARTENOT, AN EARLY VERSION OF THE THEREMIN. NOT HAVING EVERY MEMBER OF THE GROUP ON EACH SONG PROVED TO BE A CHALLENGE FOR SOME, INCLUDING RHYTHM GUITARIST ED O’BRIEN AND BASSIST COLIN GREENWOOD.
DEALING WITH SEVERE WRITER'S BLOCK, THOM YORKE HAD TO FIND NEW WAYS TO WRITE SONGS. HE DECIDED TO TAKE A PAGE OUT OF DAVID BOWIE’S BOOK AND BEGAN WRITING SINGLE LINES, ONLY TO CUT THEM UP AND REARRANGE THEM IN ORDER TO FORM DISJOINTED AND CEREBRAL SONG LYRICS.
THE BAND MOVED AROUND TO DIFFERENT STUDIOS IN COPENHAGEN AND THEIR HOMETOWN OF OXFORD, EVEN SPLITTING INTO GROUPS TO RECORD INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF SONGS. IT WASN’T UNTIL APRIL OF 2000 THAT THE SESSIONS WERE FINISHED, WITH ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR TWO ALBUMS READY FOR RELEASE.
WITH NO PRIOR SINGLES AND LITTLE TO ANY MARKETING BUZZ, “KID A”, RADIOHEAD’S FOURTH ALBUM, WAS FINALLY RELEASED ON OCTOBER 2nd, 2000 BY CAPITOL RECORDS. RADIOHEAD BECAME ONE OF THE FIRST BANDS TO USE TO INTERNET TO THEIR ADVANTAGE, STREAMING THE ALBUM IN ITS ENTIRETY ONLINE FOR FANS.
INCORPORATING ELECTRONIC ELEMENTS, AS WELL AS JAZZ, KRAUTROCK AND AMBIENT MUSIC, “KID A” WAS A HEAD SCRATCHER UPON ITS RELEASE. MANY FANS AND CRITICS WERE DIVIDED ABOUT THE DEPARTURE FROM RADIOHEAD’S EARLIER SOUND, WITH SOME PEOPLE FINDING THE ALBUM TRYING TOO HARD TO BE ESOTERIC.
HOWEVER, “KID A” WAS A COMMERCIAL BREAKTHROUGH, TOPPING THE UK CHARTS AND BECOMING RADIOHEAD’S FIRST NUMBER ONE ALBUM IN THE U.S. “KID A” EVEN WON THE GRAMMY FOR BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM, AS WELL AS WELL AS A NOMINATION FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR!
RETROSPECTIVELY, “KID A” IS CONSIDERED BY MANY PUBLICATIONS TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST ALBUMS EVER. PITCHFORK NAMED IT THE BEST ALBUM OF THE 2000's, AND ROLLING STONE PLACED IT AT #20 ON THEIR LIST OF THE BEST 500 ALBUMS OF ALL TIME.
A COMPLETE DEPARTURE FROM EVERYTHING BEFORE AND AFTER, “KID A” HAS PROVEN TO BE A WATERSHED MOMENT NOT JUST FOR RADIOHEAD, BUT FOR ALTERNATIVE MUSIC AS A WHOLE. FOR ITS SOUND ROOTED IN ELECTRONICS AND AMBIENCE, ITS BACKDROP OF NEW MILLENNIUM PARANOIA AND MALAISE, AND FOR ESTABLISHING A LEGACY AS ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS EVER MADE, “KID A” BY RADIOHEAD IS OUR GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK.