OK computer top album of past 25 years

[MartyFunkhouser]

That's their top list of the last 25 years! Yikes. Maybe in the UK, only. Maybe UK pop charts? That list lacking.

No Pixies, Wilco, Pavement, The wrong REM album (Fables or Document are better), Public Enemy, LCD Soundsystem,The Replacments, Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, The Cure, Dr Dre, Foo Fighters, Wu-Tang, Beck, Dylan, Chemical Brothers, Jay-Z, Neil Young, J. Cash,Talking Heads, My Morning Jacket, Flamming Lips, The Shins, I could go on...

Those are just its non-jazz offenses as well. It should be top 25 pop/rock albums of the last 25 years.

[MarkGrace]

I'm going to go ahead and say it. This list sucks. I haven't listened to many of these albums, but I know that their Radiohead rankings are awful. Also, they didn't even give jazz its token 1 album.

What's awful about the Radiohead rankings? Do you just disagree with 1. OK Computer 2. The Bends 3. Kid A 4. In Rainbows?

I mean obviously this list is dumb -- I already said that's what happens when you poll readers -- but for the sake of some Radiohead discussion I can never pass up, how would you rank them?

[MartyFunkhouser]

What's awful about the Radiohead rankings? Do you just disagree with 1. OK Computer 2. The Bends 3. Kid A 4. In Rainbows?

I mean obviously this list is dumb -- I already said that's what happens when you poll readers -- but for the sake of some Radiohead discussion I can never pass up, how would you rank them?

I think the only thing that is awful is the Bends over Kid A. I also think In Rainbows is a substantially better album than the Bends, but ranking it over In Rainbows is defensible, IMO.

I would rank those 4 albums:

1) Kid A
2) In Rainbows
3) OK Computer (yes I realize I'm probably the only person in the world who ranks this behind In Rainbows)
4) The Bends

[Art Vandelay]

1) OK Computer
2) The Bends
3) Kid A (much like some edible delicacy MG can pontificate on why I should like, every time I take a bite l can't get past the after-taste of tracks like Treefinger)
4) Pablo Honey
5) In Rainbows

[Donuthole]

I think the only thing that is awful is the Bends over Kid A. I also think In Rainbows is a substantially better album than the Bends, but ranking it over In Rainbows is defensible, IMO.

I would rank those 4 albums:

1) Kid A
2) In Rainbows
3) OK Computer (yes I realize I'm probably the only person in the world who ranks this behind In Rainbows)
4) The Bends

I really like The Bends. Personally I would rank it above In Rainbows. Haven't gotten to KidA yet, so I don't know where that falls for me.

[Art Vandelay]

I really like The Bends. Personally I would rank it above In Rainbows. Haven't gotten to KidA yet, so I don't know where that falls for me.

Hack

[MarkGrace]

1) OK Computer
2) The Bends
3) Kid A (much like some edible delicacy MG can pontificate on why I should like, every time I take a bite l can't get past the after-taste of tracks like Treefinger)
4) Pablo Honey
5) In Rainbows

Any list ranking PH above 7th is immediately disregarded from discussion! I will accept DDD's argument that it's a fine enough record in the greater context of music, but considering it solely among the band's discography, it so pales in comparison to the six records made after it that's it's not even funny.

I can see what you're saying about Treefingers (which I think it quite awesome). As an individual song, it's never going to make anyone's "best of Radiohead list." But here's the thing, 4 of their 7 albums contain a Treefingers-like track. The intent of these songs is not to be a progression of the album, but rather an interlude of sorts. Radiohead is one of the few bands that continued making albums in the CD era like old LP's. So, with "songs" like Fitter Happier and Treefingers, and to a lesser extent "Faust Arp" and "(Nice Dream)," what you're getting is a figurative "flip" of a record while still literally hearing something. They all serve the same purpose of reinforcing some of the thematic and aesthetic elements/themes, while halting the musical progression as you get ready to move on to the next half of the album. And, in with respect to Treefingers, I'll borrow from my Kid A post:

Treefingers -- Kid A has been reduced to nothing, his confidence is shattered, and he finds himself completely lost in his new world. The melody-less track and aural textures support this idea of neither going forward nor moving backward, but rather existing in a static state. In a way it serves as a palette cleanser, wiping the slate clean from the first half of the album and ready to attack life with a renewed sense of vigor on the second half (Optimistic!).

*On a side note, I once read a PHD paper (student was a philosophy candidate, I believe) where the student suggested that Treefingers represented a metaphorical death where Motion Picture Soundtrack was suggestive of a more literal death -- I really liked that take, because for the most part I think the experience of the 2nd half of the album is very similar to the 1st, only the album moves from being more abstract on songs 1-5 to more literal and straight-forward on songs 6-10. Again, to me, denoting the transition from abstract science into tangible life.

In terms of the narrative of Kid A, IMO it works very well, and it one of those pieces that definitively makes Kid A an album and not just a collection of songs.

[MarkGrace]

I think the only thing that is awful is the Bends over Kid A. I also think In Rainbows is a substantially better album than the Bends, but ranking it over In Rainbows is defensible, IMO.

I would rank those 4 albums:

1) Kid A
2) In Rainbows
3) OK Computer (yes I realize I'm probably the only person in the world who ranks this behind In Rainbows)
4) The Bends

I see what you're saying. As I've said before, I tend to think of Radiohead's albums in tiers.

Tier I: Ok Computer, Kid A
Tier II: Amnesiac, HTTT, IR, The Bends
Tier III: Pablo Honey

In that middle tier, I've gone back and forth a million times on which I think is the 3rd best album. Ultimately, my opinion varies on them almost contantly. I've gone from thinking any one of them could be 3rd to 6th best -- right now I lean toward In Rainbows being 3rd, but as soon as I get the Amnesiac or HTTT or The Bends buzz going again I'm sure I'll switch my mind just as fast.

But here's the argument for The Bends that I can see: it's their single most influential album. That is, of course, is you measure influence as a replication of sound. But in the way Nevermind sort of defined the first half of the 90s, The Bends defined the second. It was the sound everyone wanted to make, and bands have been mining it for going on 15 years now. I listen to that Temper Trap album last year and so many moments in it feel so The Bends. Of course Radiohead moved on from that sound on their very next album -- but it's influence has lasted.

I think when people do lists and rank The Bends so highly, this is part of the X factor.