Radiohead - Ok Computer
by Valerio Damiano
To write about an album in english is pretty hard. Writing about a masterpiece is even worse.
Ok Computer is the third album of Radiohead, a band that is commonly known as alternative rock but it is basically composed by musicians always trying to experiment their music in order to discover new melodic levels.
The album is considered as one of the best albums of all the time and the best of the 90s. Though the band became famous and showed its ability at the beginning of the past decade, it’s only in 1997 that they jump directly into the world of rockstars.
The influences are many but apart of the classic rock style, Radiohead mixed electro music to better explain that feeling of alienation and paranoia that is the main theme of the album (check Paranoid Android). Metropolitan scenes, computer voices and modern “noises” compose every the tracks of Ok Computer.
In the songs “No Surprises” and “Let Down” this is showed in a perfect way. With the poetical lyrics of Thom Yorke the band tried to criticize consumerism, politics, and social disconnection through the use of clever words and a great ability in playing. It is not necessay to be politically involved to show the uneasiness of our society. A feeling of sickness created nausea into the components of the band and probably into the listeners, but this is actually positive because it motivated people to find themselves and to try to understand the world around them.
“Karma Police” explains perfectly the love of the band for literature and George Orwell. In fact the song is based on the bestseller “1984” which describes a society controlled by a “Big Brother” and his television cameras.
12 songs that gives the feeling of listening to something that changed the music. Radiohead did it many times with the following albums (ex: Kid A), but according to me Ok Computer scarred and showed us the music of the new millennium. It is a masterpiece deserving to be compared to Abbey Road or The Wall. Something you have to listen before you die.
