I don't get it......

[babble]

Ok, since there is a Radiohead forum here now I've got a question about them I've been mulling around in my head for a while.

The music, the melodies and sound of Radiohead, Thom's voice and everything is beautiful, but, what is it all about? What do the lyrics mean and all the little pictures, the bear with the sharp teeth and the crying minotaur and all? It all suggests a deeper meaning, it's very cryptic and interesting and I am wondering what Radiohead's motivation behind all of it is; what is the message? What are they trying to say?

 

[Salome]

interesting post

I would also like to know
especially since I usually only like their songs the first couple of times I hear them

maybe this could help me a bit

------------------
Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it

[This message has been edited by Salome (edited 01-08-2002).]

 

[Achtung_Bebe]

whoever has a clue better come up with something clever... this is your chance to open Salome's eyes to the wonderful world of Radiohead bliss

babble when I figure it out I'll let you know! I just assumed the artwork was to provide Interference with a nice little deathbear friendly landscape... j/k

------------------
"bebes with bourbon are more dangerous than sicillians with shotguns" ~old aussie proverb

 

[SicilianGoddess]

deathbear and Wanderer where are you!!??!1

They would know.

 

[Calluna]

Well, I am sure that deathbear and Wanderer could tell you more about the meaning behind radiohead than I can, but I would like to tell you my interpretation of the bear thing. I might be wrong, I dunno.

Scientists genetically modified the bears. They even modified polar bears to love the sunshine so that the effects of global warming wouldn't bother them. But the plan backfired when the deathbears began eating people. The modified bears were smart and were able to organize themselves against the humans. It's your basic science vs. nature type of thing.

There is a comic by Stanley Donwood that would help to explain what I mean and I will be posting it later. The last time I posted it the thread it was in broke.


------------------
Remember the goul.

Shake n' bake
Do whatever it takes

 

[Kieran McConville]

Here's my perspective on Radiohead: what they're about (musically) is to try and find some sort of emotional space that is honest. A spot of peace (and even love, perhaps) in the midst of the white noise. In that context, I think even a lot of their 'gibberish' lyrics make a kind of intuitive sense.

Now of course they are a very successful band. They're signed to a major label and they sell a lot of records. Therefore some cynical folk may say, how dare Radiohead bite the hand that feeds them? Well I say, if they can get away with it, go for it.

------------------
"Once again
I'm in trouble with my old friend
She is papering the windowpanes
She is putting on a smile
Living in a glasshouse..."

 

[Kieran McConville]

The bears, though: that I cannot explain. The genetic-modification angle seems plausible enough, though.

 

[Salome]

Originally posted by SicilianGoddess:
deathbear and Wanderer where are you!!??!1

They would know.

mmm, it seems no one has a clue

------------------
Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it

 

[Sicy]

I'm going to

DELETE

you from this forum.

 

[Achtung_Bebe]

well, I'm with Salome... Surely nobody knows more about a deathbear than the deathbear itself... right?

Perhaps the deathbear is in hibernation?? Well atleast we're learning about their habitats

 

[babble]

Thanks Calluna and Kieran for the input.

I still don't understand though. There seems to be a big concept (aren't Kid A and Amnesiac supposed to be concept albums?) and I'm not sure what that concept is and how the bears (or the minotaurs) fit in, even with your explanation Calluna. There don't seem to be any articles where Radiohead speaks about it either. If anyone could point me to one online somewhere I would appreciate it.

Kieran, I think I follow your theory on the music, the sound of Radiohead, but I don't quite follow how all the lyrics and pictures and all fit into what you were saying; "to try and find some sort of emotional space that is honest."

Any more thoughts anyone,please!

 

[Zoomerang96]

*from a press release issued by a spokesperson on behalf of deathbear:

"deathbear is currently unable to answer this brilliant question, but will indeed provide his knowledge to the subject sometime shortly. it is reasonable to believe he may chose to do so, sometime today."

------------------
-death bear

 

[scatteroflight]

Okay...I didn't know until now that the deathbear and the crying minotaur had anything to do with Radiohead.

I guess I'm just not very knowledgeable.

What album are those pieces of artwork found in? If someone says The Bends, I will feel really stupid because that's the only Radiohead album I have.

I could just go check...



------------------
Your seven worlds collide
Whenever I am by your side
Dust from a distant sun
Will shower over everyone

-Crowded House

 

[SicilianGoddess]

They're from Kid A and Amnesiac I believe.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Originally posted by babble:
Thanks Calluna and Kieran for the input.

I still don't understand though. There seems to be a big concept (aren't Kid A and Amnesiac supposed to be concept albums?) and I'm not sure what that concept is and how the bears (or the minotaurs) fit in, even with your explanation Calluna. There don't seem to be any articles where Radiohead speaks about it either. If anyone could point me to one online somewhere I would appreciate it.

Kieran, I think I follow your theory on the music, the sound of Radiohead, but I don't quite follow how all the lyrics and pictures and all fit into what you were saying; "to try and find some sort of emotional space that is honest."

Any more thoughts anyone,please!

Alright, I was talking out of my arse to some extent (though believe me, I meant what I said). I guess all the lyrics/imagery, for me, tie together in the sense that it's just the whole vibe of the thing. Examples:

OK Computer: man vs. soulless consumerist society - the artwork here is so sarcastic, full of excerpts from (maybe) fictional 'motivational' literature, images that look like they've come out of some 1960's brochure about how the world is really getting better for us all, etc etc.

KID A/Amnesiac - On these latest two records, I don't really think the lyrics are the point in themselves, but together with the music and the artwork, the vibe I get is of a man disgusted with what is peddled as 'truth' - you know, progress is great, the government has our best interests at heart, blah blah. Some pretty sharp digs at Tony Blair & co. in the Kid A booklet especially...

Again, this doesn't explain the bears, but hopefully gives some sense of where I'm coming from. I don't think it's something that can be analysed point by point, but I could try someday if need be.

------------------
"I may go crazy
before that mansion on the hill
but my heart keeps beating faster
and my feet can't keep still..."

 

[DebbieSG]

start from here: the Individual and Society

See where that leads you...

what's the motivation?

I am back to save the universe

well they're trying...seriously, it's about turning things on their side so you get out of your comfort zone and start looking around you, my .02.

Oh, and behind all those cryptic lyrics, love.

 

[Calluna]

CREATIVE REVIEW, October 2000
RADIOHEAD - MODIFIED ORGANISMS

"Prepare yourself: the bears are coming, and boy are they scary. They're everywhere: in the artwork, the animation, the paintings, absolutely everything to do with Radiohead's new album, Kid A. Drawn by Stanley (the artist formerly known as Stanley Donwood, see CR, Jan 98) with Doktor Tchock, the creatures originate from a bed time story Stanley used to tell his daughter, in which forgotten toys rise up and eat the adults. These same toys then live happily with the children until they too begin to grow up, and the toys start looking at them with hungry eyes.
Not your average bedtime story, but then Stanley doesn't draw average artwork. The bears first officially featured in an online cartoon strip called Modified Organisms, drawn by Stanley with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke: now they've got a starring role in the album artwork. "Thom's dedicating the album to the first human clone," Stanley explains, but there's a lot more to the artwork than clones of bears: there's a real sense of apocalyptic destruction throughout.
Radiohead's political beliefs and ideals are well-documented: their website (again designed by Stanley) regularly links to organisations such as Jubilee 2000, which campaigns for the end of world debt. Stanley doesn't shy away from at least attempting to address serious issues within this work: one image has a wireframe monster stalking the land. "The dinosaurs roaming the earth are like these rapacious corporations storming over the planet and chewing it up," he says. Another image which appears throughout is the icon of a swimming pool. This refers to the idea that one pool can hold the blood of 50,000 people: the CIA apparently assesses how bad an atrocity is by calculating how many swimming pools the amount of blood spilled would fill.
.......They're quite political and pessimistic," says Kenworthy. "There's stuff about war and death, death by nature, how we're raping the earth. Stanley has a whole theory about an ice age that's going to come and destroy the world - and that theme crops up in Thom's lyrics. I think Thom shares a lot of his ideas with Stanley, so it's all very inspired by what the songs are about."

------------------
Remember the goul.

Shake n' bake
Do whatever it takes

 

[rejoicing fan]

Thanks Calluna, that was very enlightening!

 

[babble]

Thanks Kieran, Debbie, and Calluna. Very interesting indeed. I'm as sick as a dog right now so I'll have to give it a closer look later. Thanks!