Radiohead need to stop

[CrashedCarDriver]

doing their whole wanking act and be a good band again

and a good band is a band that writes good music, rather than the whole Chuck D thing or having something to say about something! Because Radiohead are not that kind of band!

i was watching the 7 Television Commercials DVD and that tells me that radiohead WAS a good band, rather than their status of mediocrity they have achieved in their last 2 albums!

i mean if Coldplay are contempt with mediocrity, but everyone's liking their "blah" like Clocks and God Put a Smile Up On Your Face, why doesnt Thom just be who he's supposed to be?

 

[SkeeK]

you lookin' for a flamin' boy?

cuz i got one o' dem supah soakah watchemacallsit left ovah frum da last wah.


Speaking of which, I was lucky enough to partake in a fine singalong rendition of Wolf At The Door This Evening. That song is not the work of a good band though, that is the work of an excellent band.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Some would call Hail To The Thief a mainstream pop style record... as it does resemble their Bends-era type music. It doesn't necessary preclude or foreshadow their subsequent work.

In your estimation they should stop, but what motivates that? you don't know where they're going.

I'd rather keep listening to hear what new melodies and sounds they create, instead of seeing them striving to appeal to a certain individual's subjectivity. Their music will always be provoking (one way or another), so that does hold weight in artistic merit... which hopefully qualifies as "good music".

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Hail is the one of the most poppy albums I've heard in a while. I can't believe more people don't see this. It's pop dressed up to sound unconventional...but all the hooks and the structures are still there. I still don't get it when people say Radiohead write alien sounds (not songs) that don't go anywhere. Must be the short attention span syndrom that's eating the world by storm these days.

 

[david]

Yeah, have you heard Radiohead's new album?

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

*waits for flamewar

 

[u2popmofo]

FLAME

 

[Angela Harlem]

I feel like one of the Pop haters here, but why is it a short attention span Micheal, that would be the reason people don't enjoy them? Can people really not like something these days without it being blamed on some ridiculous vague social wave? I was no fan of Karma Police and Creep, so I asked some people to recommend their 2 favourite Radiohead songs. I ended up downloading 3 or 4. I have to say I thought they were pretty crap. No real reason, I'm not autistic, don't have ADD, don't have the attention span of an axolotl, I simply didn't like them.
That said, I heard about 10-20 seconds of something off HTTF on MTV a few weeks ago, and before the husband flicked passed the station, I thought of how interesting it sounded and that perhaps this new stuff is worth checking out.

I'll grab some popcorn and join April I think, lol

*this wasn't directed at you Michael after the first line or so btw, just as a general response*

 

[Elvis Presley]

I loved The Bends and OK, but HTTT is equally impressive, to say that Radiohead needs to start being a good band again is silly after you have seen them live...

 

[HelloAngel]

I loved The Bends and OK, but HTTT is equally impressive, to say that Radiohead needs to start being a good band again is silly after you have seen them live...

Amen to that - they are certainly one of the greatest live bands.

 

[Basstrap]

I love HTTT and Kid A like my own children

amnesiac is less good but still really good all the same

I hope they don't change. I hope Thom makes good on his promise to slip into obscurity.

I hope for a whole Radiohead techno-jazz album with all the fixings!

 

[womanfish]

People who think HTTT and The Bends sound similar are deluding themselves. Quit making excuses for Radiohead. It sounds nothing like the greatness of The Bends, but it's good in it's own way and it obviously still appeals to people in a different way. I just don't enjoy it nearly as much. I enjoy a few songs off of HTTT, and that's a lot better than the none I enjoyed off of Amnesiac, so maybe they're heading in the right direction.

 

[MrBrau1]

HTTT is just like the Bends? That's like saying my Mother and Girlfriend are the same person. Puke! Don't worry Crashed Car! Thomble has said Radiohead are about to become "unrecognizable" on their next records. They're going to delve deep into the world of Alabama bluegrass and delta blues, and fuse it w/ Johnny Greenwoods new rock obsession-the digery doo! But don't worry, there will be beeps, lots of beeps. They also are rumored to have discoved there is more than 1 human emotion, and may try and write, gosh! a HAPPY song.

 

[Salome]

I ended up downloading 3 or 4. I have to say I thought they were pretty crap. No real reason, I'm not autistic, don't have ADD, don't have the attention span of an axolotl, I simply didn't like them.

change "pretty crap" into "did nothing to me" and you have my story

 

[FelipeVox]

HTTT is a pop album lyrically but not musically. Radiohead was sad because the songs from their last two albuns weren?t often played on the radio (Kid A hasnt any single and what radio would play Pyramid Song? It?s great but not a radio-friendly song AT ALL). So they made this album. But Radiohead still haven?t understood that their songs are TOO DEPRESSIVE. There There is one of the more depressive songs I have ever heard. Some of their compositions are too weird too.

Only now they realized it, so their new single is Go to Sleep, a great choice. Not beucase it?s the greatest song of HTTT, but cos it?s very radio friendly. I?m sure their next single will be A Punchup At a Wedding, very pop.

Now they realized it, will they come down of the clouds of experimental music or will they change forever like Thom wants? I?ve heard that Ed wants to rock.

I want Radiohead to rock.

EDIT: I?m not saying I hate Radiohead. I like experimental music but I?m just sick of this. There are ages I haven?t listened to HTTT.

 

[MrBrau1]

They'll kick Ed out and replace him w/ a goat that's got a cazoo stuffed up it's ass. They'll record the goat farting/playing cazoo, reverse it, ad some delay, call it track 4 on the next record.

 

[HeadsOnSticks]

I'm not EVEN going to get into this.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I feel like one of the Pop haters here, but why is it a short attention span Micheal, that would be the reason people don't enjoy them?

Angela - I did not say that a short attention span is a reason for people not enjoying them. I simply said it could be a reason for people to find them alien, meandering, and not song-like. Those are two completely different things. I have no problem with people not liking radiohead songs. However, I do have a problem with the criticism that they don't write proper songs with song structure -- because if you listen to the songs, they have all the hooks and structure of the best pop songs; it's just packaged differently.

 

[Strato Edge]

I would like to hear a techno-jazz album from RH...that would be cool.

 

[zonelistener]

I loved The Bends and OK, but HTTT is equally impressive, to say that Radiohead needs to start being a good band again is silly after you have seen them live...

Agreed to the live piece.

They'll kick Ed out and replace him w/ a goat that's got a cazoo stuffed up it's ass. They'll record the goat farting/playing cazoo, reverse it, ad some delay, call it track 4 on the next record.

You know what...you just might be on to something here!

After track four comes out...I expect some good debate.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

They'll kick Ed out and replace him w/ a goat that's got a cazoo stuffed up it's ass. They'll record the goat farting/playing cazoo, reverse it, ad some delay, call it track 4 on the next record.

I should not have been taking a sip of cream soda when I read that...

 

[Pinball Wizard]

I would like to hear a techno-jazz album from RH...that would be cool.

If you listen to some of the instrumental segments from KidA, it seems a likely possibility.

 

[Salome]

Angela - I did not say that a short attention span is a reason for people not enjoying them. I simply said it could be a reason for people to find them alien, meandering, and not song-like.

I've re-read your original post a few times and you actually did say that "a short attention span is a reason for people not enjoying them" instead of it being just a reason

personally I figured you meant it as being one of the possible reasons and I'm quite sure (though I shouldn't pretend that I know for sure) that mrs. La Harlem also knows that

but you did say it


so there

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I liked "There There." The most pop song on that album IMO whihc to me is lacking in pop moments.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Haha thanks Salome and Michael. I wouldn't try to say your description was wrong MG, I don't know their music like you do. Though this 'unknown' on HTTT has me a tad curious.
Will Radiohead ever do cheery happy music you think?

 

[Strato Edge]

Radiohead and happy music equals Never in our lifetime.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

It's all in context. I found a lot of elements off HTTT to be quite upbeat, almost moments of elation (There There, Go To Sleep). Of course, the embedded sarcasm and tongue in cheek pessimism often overshadows any bright emotion.

Funny how it's so easy to criticize Radiohead for lacking a positive perspective... when often some critics proclaim U2's music to be too positive. I think most would agree, that is a fairly exaggerated statement... but it seems some of us can turn around duplicitously and use the same fallacious scripts on another band.

 

[Salome]

when often some critics proclaim U2's music to be too positive.

umm, I don't read that many music magazines, so maybe that's the reason
but I can't say I've ever read that

 

[Saracene]

Hail is the one of the most poppy albums I've heard in a while. I can't believe more people don't see this. It's pop dressed up to sound unconventional...but all the hooks and the structures are still there.

Well I've heard "Go to Sleep" on the video channel four or five times, and not a single bit of it stuck in my memory. If there are any hooks there they're buried in what must be a musical equivalent of Mariana Trench.

I've heard people accuse U2's music of being too earnest or having too much breast-beating about it, I'm not sure if it's the same as "positive". A lot of their music is quite bloody depressing, the big difference is, it never sounds whiny-depressing (as a lot of Radiohead's music sounds to me).

 

[Angela Harlem]

Pinball, they're merely observations. Not fallacious scripts, nor even criticisms.
Besides which, what some critic says about U2 being the opposite really bears little weight to this thread.
Maybe it is amusing, I don't know, but don't read too much into what the non Radiohead fans say. They're going to be mere observations for the most part. Not anything set to offend.