RA D IOHE_AD "IN/RAINBOWS" continuing discussion thread part EI8HT...

[Zoomerang96]

Kid A, I don't even know how to describe it. Pretty garbage, I thought. My least favourite so far, don't know how it counts as a song, it's all computerised.

oh dear.
computers make music too, you know.
dont get me wrong, i dont care if you like the song, the album or radiohead at all. but this mentality is a bit worrying.

 

[Audiophile]

Worst - Kid A

Never cast pearls before swine....

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

lol...

Kid A (the song) was a grower for me... Once I got my head around it though it's probably one of my favourite tracks from that album...

 

[u2popmofo]

Of course, I hated pretty much the entire album until listen #20, so...yeah...

It may have been listen 50 for me....

Can I ask what turned it around for you? Any song or event?

Admittedly, I thought of the song as filler for years. I don't think I even realized the "voice" was actual words until 2003... There was a fine gentleman by the name of Heads On Sticks who used to post here who won me over to the song a bit more (from choosing lyrics from the song as his screen name and from promoting the track). I have a beautiful version of the song being performed in Berlin in July of 2000, I'm not sure if there is video of that performance or not, but it's worth looking into, as it you realize it's all being performed on actual instruments and such. May get you a little more into the song.

Never cast pearls before swine....

U r j3rk lololololololololololololololololololololololololmao FU MF

 

[phanan]

I've had it for years, and I still don't like Kid A.

 

[u2popmofo]

YouTube - Radiohead, A Wolf at the Door @ Blossom 2008

Watch in high quality.

 

[LemonMelon]

Wow, the quality on that video is amazing. I think they went a bit crazy with the zoom though.

 

[u2popmofo]

I didn't even know Youtube did high quality videos. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.


So apparently Bjork is releasing a single next week with Thom doing backing vocals. All of the money they make on the single goes to some environmental cause in Iceland, I may have to purchase that.

 

[lazarus]

Wow, I always thought they were ripping off Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on this song (listen to the opening guitar part), but now I realize it was probably through Lennon's Because, which was the Beethoven piece inverted.

 

[LMP]

Wow, I always thought they were ripping off Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on this song (listen to the opening guitar part), but now I realize it was probably through Lennon's Because, which was the Beethoven piece inverted.

Maybe it was an ode to Oasis?

 

[LemonMelon]

The first of many...

Can I ask what turned it around for you? Any song or event?

No, not really. It was mostly due to months of sitting around, putting it on whenever I wanted something to play in the background. Eventually, I just got...erm...used to the songs. It's strange. I thought it was the most overrated album ever for the first few plays, but now I don't know what I would do without it. It's just a damn fine album, one of the best of the decade, and I've gotten more plays out of it than most. I wouldn't put it above OK Computer, even after all the time I've spent with it, but that doesn't diminish its own, unique positive attributes.

 

[intedomine]

Kid A (the song) will grow. It's not one of Radiohead's most brilliant moments but it's not a disgraceful song.

Extraordinarily, John Mayer covered it.
YouTube - John Mayer - Kid A

 

[u2popmofo]

Yes, John Mayer is extra ordinary.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Watch in high quality.

That's amazing!

And I'll say it again, I loved Kid A all the way through on the first listen, and I still love it on every listen. I never skip a song. I traveled a lot the year it came out so I listened to constantly through headphones in airports and on airplanes, over and over and over.

I can't bring myself to watch the John Mayer clip.

 

[u2popmofo]

I can't bring myself to watch the John Mayer clip.

We R twinz

 

[Irishteen]

I don't get how people can say it took until the 20th or 50th listen to get an album. Seriously if you don't like an album on the first couple of listens why bother listening? If an album doesn't impressive me at all on the first few listens, I'll probably leave it to gather dust.

 

[joyfulgirl]

If an album doesn't impressive me at all on the first few listens, I'll probably leave it to gather dust.

You never had a delayed reaction to a record before? Maybe you should blow the dust off some stuff and have a listen. You might be surprised.

 

[LMP]

I don't get how people can say it took until the 20th or 50th listen to get an album. Seriously if you don't like an album on the first couple of listens why bother listening? If an album doesn't impressive me at all on the first few listens, I'll probably leave it to gather dust.

Normally I'd agree, but with Kid A, it was like I had enjoyed it at a surface level, then loved it when I paid attention to everything else afterward.

It's like a great comedy... you'll laugh the first time, and whenever you see it again, you'll find something new to laugh at, or something.

Essentially, Kid A is The Big Lebowski of music for me.

 

[u2popmofo]

I don't get how people can say it took until the 20th or 50th listen to get an album. Seriously if you don't like an album on the first couple of listens why bother listening? If an album doesn't impressive me at all on the first few listens, I'll probably leave it to gather dust.

My "50th time" claim is likely a bit of over estimation, but it did honestly feel like 50 times through. It's odd to think how new the internet really is. In 2000, the vast majority of us didn't have the ability (or time) to download albums. Leaks were few and far between, and it took the majority of people 30 minutes or more just to download one song from Napster. The vast majority of people still actually went out and purchased CDs. Because of this, the likelihood that you'd try to force yourself to like something was much greater (you had paid for it after all). Add that they were one of my favorite groups and all the pre-release hype and reviews for the album, and I felt like I had to keep giving it a chance. Similarly, I was finishing up school at the time and didn't exactly have much cash to spend on albums, so my entire music collection was considerably smaller than it is now.

I actually bought the CD in the store the day it was released, I remember the girl at the counter telling me there was an unexpected line outside the store for it when they opened (I showed up an hour after that, as I thought they opened at 10, not 9). Yes, people used to actually line up outside of stores for music, not just steal it as if the world owed it to them for having a pair of ears and an internet connection. On first listen I remember thinking, "This may be the first album I've ever bought by one of my favorite groups that I immediately sell or give away". I decided to give it another chance before doing something rash, and continually decided to give it more chances. I continued to listen to OK and The Bends, so I gave Kid A more chances. They performed a couple tracks on SNL, I gave it more chances. Amnesiac came out, which I loved from the start, and I thus decided to give Kid A more chances. I gradually liked a few more songs hear and there, and one day (a year or two....... or three later) I realized I actually liked the album. That probably sounds like I forced it, but I don't remember it that way. It just happened.

 

[cobl04]

I love that part of How to Disappear was described as "grating", even though it got Best Song honors.

OVERRATED.

Not the song, just the fact that the end of a number of lines Thom hols the note for an eternity. Nitpicking.

oh dear.
computers make music too, you know.
dont get me wrong, i dont care if you like the song, the album or radiohead at all. but this mentality is a bit worrying.

Which mentality? That computer music is shit? Because I'm not jumping on that, just saying that I didn't like the song.

I don't get how people can say it took until the 20th or 50th listen to get an album. Seriously if you don't like an album on the first couple of listens why bother listening? If an album doesn't impressive me at all on the first few listens, I'll probably leave it to gather dust.

I wouldn't be into music at all if I did that It's part of the enjoyment for me. Take VU&N for example. Not a great album, but I like it more now than I did on first listen.

Normally I'd agree, but with Kid A, it was like I had enjoyed it at a surface level, then loved it when I paid attention to everything else afterward.

It's like a great comedy... you'll laugh the first time, and whenever you see it again, you'll find something new to laugh at, or something.

Essentially, Kid A is The Big Lebowski of music for me.

Nice analogy!!

I can't get Idioteque out of my head.

 

[u2popmofo]

There's an interesting article on the sales and download info of In Rainbows up on Pitchfork.

Radiohead's In Rainbows Successes Revealed | Pitchfork

Some of the parts I found most interesting:

The writeup suggests that there have been three million purchases of In Rainbows thus far, from digital sales through the band's webstore in the run up to the album's release, the discboxes, the eventual physical release of the album on CD, and through other digital outlets. More specifically, the band moved around 100,000 of those (very nice!) discboxes, and the physical CD has sold 1.75 million units to date worldwide. Not bad for a thing you could get for free.

The report characterizes the In Rainbows experiment as a success, noting "for Warner it served to prove a point that by licensing directly (i.e. outside the collecting society network) and by offering a genuine one stop shop for licensing (i.e. combining all the digital rights into one offer from a single entity) the publisher was able to generate far more money for both themselves and the band than would have been possible under the traditional system."

Music Ally also notes that the last several Radiohead releases sold in the hundreds of thousands, not millions, so the buzz-building nature of the band's release plan certainly lit a fire under consumers. To that end, the report offers that "the fact that Radiohead had made more money before In Rainbows was physically released than they made in total on Hail to the Thief is surely evidence enough that the initiative was a tremendous success."

There were, of course, some hang-ups; the thing hit BitTorrent almost immediately after its release, and it's "clear that the BitTorrent downloads did indeed greatly outnumber those from Radiohead's official site."

They did, eventually, pull the free download option off the site, but the point seems to be this: what they did worked awfully damn well-- for Radiohead, for this particular album, at this particular moment. The article notes this as well: "In fact, if anything, the only trouble with the whole thing was that it was just arguably too successful. The whole 'pay what you like' experiment became the story rather than the music itself. And that's not so Radiohead.

Having finally wrapped that Japanese tour, they've got no live dates on the way at the moment, opting instead to work up the successor to In Rainbows.

 

[LemonMelon]

I don't get how people can say it took until the 20th or 50th listen to get an album. Seriously if you don't like an album on the first couple of listens why bother listening? If an album doesn't impressive me at all on the first few listens, I'll probably leave it to gather dust.

It takes me at least 3 listens to know for sure if I enjoy an album. Strange, I know, but I can't just pop something in once and get the gist of it.

 

[phanan]

Some albums, it hits you right away. Others, it takes time. It's like that with all music.

The Bends hit me right away. OK Computer did not, surprising I know. It took a few more listens before it sank in. With Kid A, it still hasn't.

 

[joyfulgirl]

There's an interesting article on the sales and download info of In Rainbows up on Pitchfork.

Radiohead's In Rainbows Successes Revealed | Pitchfork[/B][/I]

It'll be interesting to see what they do next time.

 

[martha]

Having finally wrapped that Japanese tour, they've got no live dates on the way at the moment, opting instead to work up the successor to In Rainbows.

please.

 

[Irishteen]

You never had a delayed reaction to a record before? Maybe you should blow the dust off some stuff and have a listen. You might be surprised.

Never really a massive delayed reaction; I generally do like albums better after I get to give them a few listens but if after the initial few the album isn't impressing me at all then I don't see the point in continuing to listen to it; I mean I listen to music to enjoy it not pray it gets better over and over again.

Normally I'd agree, but with Kid A, it was like I had enjoyed it at a surface level, then loved it when I paid attention to everything else afterward.

It's like a great comedy... you'll laugh the first time, and whenever you see it again, you'll find something new to laugh at, or something.

Essentially, Kid A is The Big Lebowski of music for me.

I get the idea of going back to an album you could at least initially enjoy; it's an album you mightn't love but you like it enough to listen to it sometimes and then it slowly grows on you, but it just surprises me sometimes how people can just keep listening to something until it clicks. I mean after several listens the album should be able to make at least a small impression on you one way or the other.

My "50th time" claim is likely a bit of over estimation, but it did honestly feel like 50 times through. It's odd to think how new the internet really is. In 2000, the vast majority of us didn't have the ability (or time) to download albums. Leaks were few and far between, and it took the majority of people 30 minutes or more just to download one song from Napster. The vast majority of people still actually went out and purchased CDs. Because of this, the likelihood that you'd try to force yourself to like something was much greater (you had paid for it after all). Add that they were one of my favorite groups and all the pre-release hype and reviews for the album, and I felt like I had to keep giving it a chance. Similarly, I was finishing up school at the time and didn't exactly have much cash to spend on albums, so my entire music collection was considerably smaller than it is now.

It might actually surprise you me being a teenager and all but I actually buy CDs; yes the world is ending I know . I mean I do want to like the albums I buy but sometimes it just doesn't happen and I couldn't be bothered trying when I have hundreds of albums I actually enjoy.

I mean recently I bought 5 albums; I've listened to 4 of them so far and 3 of them are now up at the side of my cd player and I'll start giving them rotating plays but one of them just bored me too much for me to even bother going back to it especially when I have other albums I'd much rather listen to right now.

I wouldn't be into music at all if I did that It's part of the enjoyment for me. Take VU&N for example. Not a great album, but I like it more now than I did on first listen.

VU&N and is one of the most insanely overrated albums I've ever heard; it's an album I'll take songs from but it's very rarely something I'll give a listen to in full.

It takes me at least 3 listens to know for sure if I enjoy an album. Strange, I know, but I can't just pop something in once and get the gist of it.

I can't get the gist of something in one listen either; it probably takes a minimum of two for me to know if I like a song or not. Then a few more for me to decide on how much I like it but it's a lot easier for me to decide I dislike a song after a couple of listens.

Some albums, it hits you right away. Others, it takes time. It's like that with all music.

The Bends hit me right away. OK Computer did not, surprising I know. It took a few more listens before it sank in. With Kid A, it still hasn't.

I guess I'll just never understand how Kid A is a tough album to get into; seriously I hated Radiohead; I can't reason why, I never listened to any of their albums just some songs that didn't impress me much and then I was on this forum where they were treated like gods so that didn't help. But then I heard Everything in its right place and I listened to it like 50 times in a row; if anything Kid A was the album I got into the quickest.

 

[intedomine]

It's no different from mildly enjoying a song for a few months and then understanding it's magic.

It took be about 5 or 6 listens to get into OK Computer. Once I did it made it easier to get into Kid A. I expected my first listen to be kinda "what the fuck", but I knew that if I persisted with it, it'd come close to blowing my mind, (though I'm starting to rethink how much I enjoy it - listened to the Thief a few days back and thought wow.....)

 

[joyfulgirl]

I guess I'll just never understand how Kid A is a tough album to get into; .. But then I heard Everything in its right place and I listened to it like 50 times in a row; if anything Kid A was the album I got into the quickest.

 

[cobl04]

Having finally wrapped that Japanese tour, they've got no live dates on the way at the moment, opting instead to work up the successor to In Rainbows.

boooooo

Maybe Kid A's not as bad as I thought. It's kinda pretty actually. The type of music you hear in platform video games sometimes I reckon.

Can I get some love for Motion Picture Soundtrack?? i think you're crazy... maybe...

My Kid A now has 11 tracks and is about three minutes shorter

 

[intedomine]

Motion Picture Soundtrack is brill, probaby my 4th favourite tune on the album.

If you think of video games when you listen to Kid A, check out Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors of Amnesiac and b-side Worrywort