Shazam’s Music Of The Decade: Radiohead
How do you follow-up 1997’s ‘OK Computer’, an album universally hailed as the best of the Nineties? In the case of Radiohead, by radically changing their sound and producing a record of similar resonance that, like their previous album, can be considered one of the best of the decade.
After achieving biggest band on the planet status, Radiohead announced they would embrace experimental electronica to reinvent their sound, thus generating rivers of ink and speculation. The band’s rejection of rock’s most conventional element –guitars- got the most traditional part of Radiohead’s fan base nervous. Therefore, ‘Kid A’ was surrounded in controversy from the first moment of its well-documented genesis. Despite this, the bold move paid off well with critics first and audiences later warming up to ‘Kid A’s’ new direction.
The indisputable influence of classics tracks such as ‘Idioteque’, ‘Everything in the Right Place’ or ‘The National Anthem’ has helped reshaping the sound of mainstream rock.
Kid A’ arrived in 2000 kick starting another hugely successful period for Thom Yorke and co. More recently, after parting ways with their label, their album ‘In Rainbows’ stirred a musical revolution; this time for offering a new “pay as much as you like” download model that’s been mirrored in all corners of the arts as the potential way forward.
We have to distinguish them from the others!