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ICANEWS
Octubre 2004, Año 1 # 5 |
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| Radiohead |
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| A
quick look at Radiohead, the paradigm of Alternative Rock
in the ‘90s and the most acclaimed British band in
the past years |
by
Juan Martín y Nadia Dezzuto
Former ICA Students |
| Radiohead, not exactly as we know them
nowadays, but approximately, started “On a Friday”.
That was, in fact, the name that Thom Yorke (vocals,
guitar), Ed O’ Brien (guitar, vocals), Johnny
Greenwood (guitar), Colin Greenwood (bass) and Phil
Selway (drums) had chosen for their incipient
rock band during the early years in their hometown
Oxford, England. Since its debut at a small pub
called Jericho's tavern, in 1987, until the release
of their first single, called “Creep,” |
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the band had
managed to gain some popularity in Oxford, based on their
progressive sound, a mixture of pink Floyd, Nirvana and The
Pixies, but also with a great deal of self identity.
However, it wasn't until 1993 that the former “On a
Friday,” now having definitely adopted the name Radiohead,
really burst and transcended into international terms. The
mentioned release of “Creep,”
while having initially a mild impact in England, became an
unsuspected massive hit in the USA, and helped their first
album,
“Pablo Honey” going gold. The song,
described by Thom as a “tale of a drunken
student who tries to get attention of a woman he's a attracted
to,” is a touching and torturing love story about a
person that's unreachable, an angel with
skin that makes you cry, someone so “very” special
(the original lyrics contains the f-word
instead, but it was replaced in the American version) that
you just can't have her.
Urge by the huge and overwhelming success
of “Creep,” that band focused on their second
album, “The Bends,” released in 1995. Despite
the enthusiastic reviews with which it was received (as a
personal note, our favorite album of all times), the record
wasn't a big smash in Great Britain at first,
immersed as it was at the very peak of Brit. Pop popularity,
with the Oasis' “(What's the story) Morning Glory”
absorbing all the attention.”The Bends” contains
some of Radiohead¥s greatest tunes, such as “Just,”
“Street Spirit (Fade out)” and “My Iron
Lung,” but one of the them deserves a special paragraph:
Appearing as the fourth track of “The Bends,”
“Fake Plastic Trees” is an acoustic four-minute
ride through Heaven. A song written and intended as a criticism
of a world of mass marketing and mass consumption, it deals
with the feeling of being surrounded by materialistic and
shallow people, by mediocre people that waste
their lives and don't even care, while its peaceful and soothing
melody allows Thom to show all his outstanding and most expressive
vocal abilities, which go from bursts of rage
to melancholic parts, as it concludes with a deep and beautiful
sigh, an almost broken voice that whispers
“if I could be who you wanted, all the time ...”
Thom once said that he shed a tear while
recording it, and it's very difficult not to do the same thing
while you listen to it.
In 1977, having accomplished worldwide prestige and recognition,
Radiohead reentered the studio, after touring around Europe
and the USA, to record their ultimate masterpiece: “OK
Computer,” their third album, is most unanimously considered
as the best of their careers, and certainly one of the most
important events of the '90 as regards rock music. Songs such
as “No Surprises,” “Karma police,”
“Let down” and specially the epical “Paranoid
Android” show Radiohead's unique talent to describe
the post modern man, his angst and emptiness, his constant
struggle for life, while the music evolves
from the prior album into more complex electronic-type textures
and a more progressive sound.
Their release of the last three albums, the alternative Grammy
award winning “Kid A,” in 2000, the melancholic
“Amnesiac” in 2001, and the recent “Hail
to the thief” (with its title dedicated to George W.
Bush) in 2003, confirmed the band as one of the most gifted
and influential of these years. As for the future, it's almost
impossible to predict how long they are planning to stay around,
but one thing is for sure: as long as we wake up every day,
smiling unconsciously, they will be there, just to remind
us who we really are, and what is really going on outside… |
| Glossary |
incipient: naciente
pub: public house, bar
release: lanzamiento
drunken: borracho
unreachable: inalcanzable
lyrics: letra
huge: enorme
smash: exitazo
shallow: superficial
soothing: tranquilizador
rage: furia
sigh: suspiro
whisper: susurrar
shed a tear: derramó una
lágrima
struggle: lucha
gifted: talentoso
remind: recordar |
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