Reviews (page 4 of 15)
OK, so I gave this album a little extra attention because of its notoriety. My questions: Is Radiohead overrated? Is this album overrated? Am I missing something? So after that extra attention, I’m rounding up to 5. Here’s why. It landed as a 4/5 right away because it was musically interesting and engaging. But I wasn’t sure what was the narrative, and was left a bit empty as a result. So with that extra time, I explored the themes and lyrics: societal alienation, the emotional toll of modern life, the toxicity of fear, approached from different angles. I found the lyrics more relevant now, dare I say, than they might have been in 1997. “No Surprises” could have been written from my living room TODAY. I’m not at 5/5 yet because I need more time to live with this album, but I’m heading there.
This is a great album that really works as an album. No singles stand out as great single releases, but they do work in concert with one another to create a mood and theme that builds to a phenomenal finish. Lyrically, it is creative and mysterious without compromising its honest assessment of the loss of life through technology, consumerism, and good old fashioned dystopia. It is musical 1984.
God i love this one. Always makes me think about my life. Only kinda tails off at the end and even that is great. FIVE! Thank god shes alive. S/o summer 2014.
Easy 5 star
A massive, undeniable hit that puts many of the albums that come after it on this list in context and a case could be made that it’s Radiohead’s third best album.
This project has reminded me how stunning Radiohead is in their creativity and ability to make a such interesting and layered music
Some of the best of the 90s. Despondent and beautiful all at once.
Awesome record
In 2200's edition of 1001 albums, this one will still be on the list, because if there's any band of this era that may still be talked about in a century or two from now, Radiohead has a good shot at being that band, and OK Computer would be the reason. Not just for its historical significance - but for its own rights as a musical piece. Nearly 30 years old and still entirely relevant, this album has everything: ambitious songwriting, great performance, meaningful lyrics, and an overarching vision. No song is equally great but there are no fillers. I swear I'm not a die-hard Radiohead fan, but I feel something in my gut every time I listen to this album.
Uno de los discos más influyentes en mi vida. Curioso que sea el único álbum de Radiohead que en verdad disfruto. Supongo que cada generación tiene el suyo, pero es que OK Computer cambia el mundo cuando te llega a los 18 años. Recuerdo ver el video de Paranoid Android por primera vez y no poder creer lo que estaba viendo. Genial.
One of my top ten albums and arguably the best Radiohead LP.
One of my favorite albums. Radiohead have the uncanny ability to make complicated music, but make it interesting and listenable at the same time.
OK Computer is an insane album. It was a huge shift for them. They were pretty straightforward in their first two albums and this one just added layers to how they create music and it works here. The lyrics are bleak, the music matches, I used to joke that everyone in the band suffers from depression and several other undiagnosed mental problems. This album is heavy.
This is a banger. I listened to this a lot back when I was a teen, and it's the only Radiohead album I've listened to. Revisiting it today was very good, as it was a dark, rainy evening and I sat in the car and listened to this. Mwah, perfect, chef's kiss.
Amazing
Fabulous, sweet dreamy notes with a massive dollop of Angst.
No private session used for Spotify. I love this album and have on CD somewhere. So many good songs on this one, it's a classic, probably my favorite from a band that has a lot of great albums.
Beautiful, haunting, joyful, one of a kind. It's been a long time since I listened to this album, and it hits just as hard now. Amazing riffs, crushing vocals, truly unique arrangements and musical decisions. Another easy 5 star.
There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said
I think the worst song on this album is Electioneering and if you had a whole album of songs the same quality as Electioneering, it would still be one of the best albums of the 90s If you took Let Down and put it in the middle of an album of 7 hours of fire alarms and dental drills, the strength of that song alone would bring it up to at least a 4
I mean, it's like "the" album. The themes have only gotten more relevant and it still sounds incredible. It doesn't get much better than this!
What a cool album. Thematically prescient. Digitally psychedelic. Doesn’t sound dated at all. Johnny Greenwood is an under appreciated guitar God. I have to be in a “Radiohead mood” to enjoy Radiohead, but this album is undeniable. I’d give this 4.5 if I could but I’m rounding up.
Two Radiohead albums in a week? What an absolute treat! Being one of my favourite albums of all time, this one is a no brainer. Every track is great and fits (even Fitter Happier). A perfect album for any time in my opinion; I don't get why people say it's depressing. Whiny? Yes. Depressing? No, quite the opposite in reality. PS: Contrary to popular opinion, I think Climbing Up The Walls is one of the best tracks on the album, if not the best.
One of the greatest albums of all time, but even more than that - one of the most important albums to me personally.
One of my favorite albums of all time
I hadn’t listen to this album in 10-15 years. Wore out the disc when I was listening to it. I enjoyed it quite a it but was wanting it to be over by the end because I was so familiar with it and wanted to hear something new.
The artwork for this album is what paranoid schizophrenia looks like
A pig. In a cage. On antibiotics.
Maybe the only radio head album I know I like, but it definitely still holds up.
I didn't need to enable the "Airbag" before reading the reviews of this one, a lot of haters so "No Surprises" really, but still a "Let Down". Better watch out for the "Karma Police", they'll come for you and have you "Climbing Up The Walls" like a "Paranoid Android". Take yourselves to a distant land and be "The Tourist" like a "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and feel "Fitter Happier" for a while. Perhaps you'll get "Lucky" there as you go "Electioneering" with the locals, or maybe you'll be unlucky and they'll be playing "Exit Music (For a Film)" as you travel down the alleys of a back street, hiding from the gangs that don't speak any tongue you recognise. Pathetic, I know. I love this album, perhaps not as much as "The Bends" or "Pablo Honey" but it's still worthy of its entry on this list. Still worthy of a 5.
Undeniably great - musically, compositionally, production-wise, lyrically, etc. Only complaint would be that the vocals take some getting used to. 5.0/5.0: Iconic
My favourite band, has been for a decade. Still a wonderful album to listen to, this was a joy.
Fantastic album, maybe the best so far. Paranoid Android may be my all time favorite song. I listened so much to this album in college. 6 stars…
Genre: Alternative Rock I think this goes without saying: what a tremendous record. From top to bottom, this album is full of the future (in 1997 terms). Radiohead did so much here that other bands would try to replicate for years to come. Coldplay, Muse, even acts like Keane, The Fray, etc were trying to reach the heights of OK Computer. Radiohead would eventually, and continuously, recalibrate their sound. They’ve never issued the same album twice, and this is no exception. OK Computer is an Alt-Rock benchmark that everybody else is trying to match, except for the guys who made it. Really great record. Paranoid Android might be the best song of the 1990s. 5/5
Love this record!
It's such a timeless album that still hits hard, very dark still, but completely timeless.
From when The Bends was released in 1995 through the release of Kid A in 2000, Radiohead was the best band in the world.
Every generation has a record that speaks to the zeitgeist, that serves as a time capsule for the hopes, dreams, fears, and apprehensions of the world at a point in time. I would argue no record does that better than Ok Computer for the 90s. A record that expresses a generations hopes but more so fears in the face of rising technology not so much from the technology itself, but the radical transformation to society it brings - the isolation, the loneliness, the aloofness. All of these fears are combined by forlorning instrumentation and desolating lyrics making this record a harbinger of the 21st century, and a standout masterpiece
A work of art
One of the best albums
SO GOOD
unfortunately
One of my all time top 10. Still an absolute classic.
Easy 5*, and looking forward to going on this journey again today. Highlights: airbag, paranoid android, subterranean homesick alien (the space-y guitars), karma police, exit music, no surprises
One of the greatest albums of the generation
Він ділить часовий континуум на "до" і "після"
Immediately listened again after it ended. If the wikipedia section for theme analysis is longer than most other albums's entire page, then you know it is a good album.
Damn.
♥️
Classic.
My intro to Radiohead was the Creep video on MTV, but what really got me into Radiohead was watching a There There video promo playing before a movie. I went out and bought Hail to the Thief. I loved it and then went to their previously released albums to determine that I loved those too--except for Pablo Honey. OK Computer might be dysthymia in album form, but I am here for it.
oof!! first time listening to ok computer front to back as a radiohead fan in passing. not only were most songs off of this album a save (or had otherwise been saved beforehand), but i felt like the album - as a project, as a experience - was consummately complete. while i know radiohead is afforded a great deal of study and commentary by virtue of being nearly ubiquitously popular and it's not like other people making music don't also have a myriad of influences from a myriad of places, it was still impressive to me to learn about all of the different sources of inspiration that radiohead wove together to make this album so richly layered - both in message and music. for me, this is what you get when you're nerdy and pretentious and care a great deal about the art form. great stuff!! highlights - airbag, paranoid android, subterranean homesick alien, electioneering, no surprises
Between a 4 and a 5, but the production really brings this entire album home for me. It does help that this album contains my probably favourite Radiohead songs (Let Down and No Surprises).
Best ….album…. ever
One of the best-aged albums ever created. Although, it is such a shame that Radiohead started the trend of white sad boy music but it was almost worth it.
What an album. Climbing the walls is an amazing track that holds so much feeling. It’s a solid album from airbag to the tourist.
I've actually been listening to this recently on my own. It's lost none of its punch for me. It's just so close to perfect, maybe even gets there. Even fitter/happier has its place here. I think sometimes albums that we loved when we were younger (I was 19 when this came out) can lose their impact over time. If anything, this album feels more relevant thematically to me now than it did then. That's probably not a good thing, but at least the music holds up, too. Standout Track(s): This is obnoxious, but literally all of them.
Perfection. Captured the moment and predicted the future. And sounds incredible.
Favorite songs: airbag, subterranean homesick alien, let down, no surprises. Least favorite: NA
Cited as one of the best albums of all time for a reason. Never was super into Radiohead but this album is a classic. Incredibly beautiful, haunting, overall amazing music. Paranoid Andriod was a standout for sure.
I unashamedly really like Radiohead even if it makes me an intense fan. Thom Yorke's vocals are just sooooooo good. Great start, and then straight into Paranoid Android and Subterranean Homesick Alien which is a personal highlight on this album - love the keys and guitar on this. Whenever I listen to Exit Music, it gives me this incredible cinematic feeling of moving forward while everything else warps around me. Just feel quite spacey yet cool and untouchable but also like my life is full of despair. Hopefully that's what Thom and the gang were going for. HATE Fitter Happier and it could almost make me want to knock the album down a point, but I'll let it slide. The noise on Electioneering is spot on, and Climbing Up the Walls just has new things to pick up on every time I listen to it. No Surprises :) Lucky is one of the only Radiohead songs I know all the words to. If I was part of a Radiohead tribute band, this would be on the setlist, as would the last song on this album.
Still loving it
One of the best albums ever recorded
yay my apology for kollaps thanks generator!
one of the best albums ever!
When I was 13 I was still figuring out my taste in music. I mostly listened to the rap/ trap songs my friends were into around 2016. I liked some of the beats and a few tracks, but I couldn’t understand why music seemed to hit them and other people so deeply while it left me feeling almost nothing. One evening I asked my dad about it. He tried to explain it and failed, so he decided to play his favorite oat song: Paranoid Android. I didn’t think much of it until the electric guitar kicked in and Thom sang, “You don’t remember.” In that moment, something clicked. I finally understood the kind of music that resonated with me. It didn’t define me, it went further, it unlocked something inside me. It's the first full album I ever listened to, the first vinyl and cd I bought and I wish I could listen to Paranoid Android for the first time again . Best album of all time.
When I reviewed Kid A, I alluded to thinking there is one more perfect Radiohead album, and it is this one. And I'll tell ya, it was hard earned, it took me years to really get this album, but there was something about OK Computer that kept me coming back. And when this clicked, it dominated my listening habits for like a *year*. This is such a dense album to get this popular. We touch on modern ennui, paranoia, coping with a then emergent online ecosystem, anxiety, and the human condition moving into the 21st century. And I will say, before I get into the music, this album is *probably*, on some level, in a world where music criticism is increasingly quantitative, overrated: like I'm pretty sure this is like the 2nd highest rated album of all time on RYM. And this probably isn't the 2nd best album ever, not that it *really* matters, but regardless, I still just *adore* this album. Airbag is a fantastic opener, and it is pretty incredible: this reads so intuitively on a melodic level, but if you listen into the mix, the way all the instruments slots together seems *so* intricate. And speaking of the mix, this is one of my favorite mixes ever, like it has the real hallmark of an incredible mix: you don't notice it. It took me so long to even really think about the mix, which to me just affirms that it sounds so incredibly natural, like these songs couldn't exist any other way. Also, I have very few negative things to say about this album, so I may as well get them out of the way. Firstly, Subterranean Homesick Alien is probably my least favorite song here, it's just subdued in a way that I don't always need: but honestly, this song is still better than some artists' best. Second: sometimes electioneering doesn't hit, but it is *necessary* within the flow of the album, and it has steadily grown on me. And that's about it: I would also like to say that I actually love Fitter Happier for what it is, and I do not consider it to to be a low point here. It is super cold and offputting and sad in a weird way, and I think it has aged remarkably well given its use off text to speech. But yeah, I don't really have anything else negative to say. Paranoid Android is this incredible, multi-phased piece, and honestly, something about the slow part is almost panic inducing, it's like a slow motion anxiety attack. This sort of thing is also captured by No Surprises later, there is just something really sad and helpless, and *anxious* about this song that can be really powerful if you let yourself be sucked into the album. Exit Music (For A Film) is like perfectly beautiful, and tragic and damaged. Let Down is like the theme song for feeling lonely on a bus. Karma Police is a really interesting take on Orwellian ideas and a hell of a single. Climbing Up The Walls is just super disquieting, and honestly probably the most underrated song here (if *any* song here could possibly be underrated, we are talking about OK Computer). We end with Lucky and The Tourist, which seems like a really odd way to end, but it somehow does just work out. These two songs are as fantastic about anything else here. I mean, yeah, this is my favorite Radiohead album, it's a 5, I love this thing.
Possibly my favourite Radiohead album.
often referenced as one of the best albums of all time, I can't pick an album that's better. It's the flow and pace of this album that puts it in such rare company - no song will be considered as one of the best songs every written, but the construction of the album is an incredible feat of synergy. 5/5, 10/10, 100/100, it's perfect on every scale.
Yeah, so I've always known I'm supposed to be blown away. But I never got into this one. Let's give it another try. Notes: -The sorta slow screech-moaning that Thom Yorke has as such a clearly integral part of his style isn't really my thing -No Surprises is very good. In general, when we get the much more conventional approaches, this is outstanding, which maybe means I should pay more attention to what they're doing when they're not -Paranoid Android has some just dope guitar riffs. Starting to think this album might be pretty solid. -Ugh my first listen was on shuffle. oops. gotta try again. -Okay this is so much better in the right order. -Much more down with the moan-screaming in context. No surprises as catharsis here feels really solid coming right after climbing up the walls. Review: I definitely can see how people can really sink into this album. I think it's probably even better for people who put an album on and listen intentionally for an hour. That's realistically not gonna be how I approach this for now, but this sounds really great. I think I probably need a few more listens to comprehend what's going on Do I really feel totally convinced this is a 5-star album? I dunno, maybe not. But I think there are depths to plumb here that will take a while and I want to be sure to come back to this. I think it's clearly a very well-realized vision. So sure. 5 stars.
Often imitated, but rarely successfully. I can see why this might be a cultural touchstone for the likes of Muse and Coldplay. This album is perfect and varied in tone and style while exploring a diversity of techno-future ideas.
This gets a five for me. It really solidified my love for a Radiohead.
the best of the best 😩❤️ top 3: - lucky - no suprises - karma police special mention: - climbing up the walls - electioneering - let down - exit music
Considering that Radiohead is one of the most successful/influential alt-rock bands of all time, it doesn't surprise me that this album is widely considered a masterpiece. I don't think there's a single bad song on this album. Amazing Listen.
Like most music of the '90s & '00s, I was a young idiot who only really listened to heavy metal, so I missed out on Radiohead. I knew the Creep song & a few others, but never bought one of their albums. CDs cost money & all music wasn't available for pennies like today. After listening to OK Computer, I realize I should have just bought this album because it’s brilliant. There’s not a bad song on it & it still sounds fresh today, though with a 90s sheen. From the beginning, the whole album sounded like the soundtrack to a movie that hasn't been made. You can tell the band really wanted to be artists & not just the Creep band. '90s Radiohead is like the experimental band whose music works & sounds great, instead of being mindless trash. I can’t wait to dive further into their catalog.
A 5/5 album. Like let down, no surprises, exit music for a film. I have no comments, just excellent.
64/1001 Radiohead - OK Computer Heard before? ✅ Revisit? ✅ A masterpiece. It still sounds as fresh and as vital as it did back in 97. It's so inventive with its sound and has two all timer tracks on it for me - Karma Police and No Surprises
ohhhhh girl, this one of my faves!!!
I definitely appreciate this album more at 40 than I did at 12/13. Brilliantly produced, killer thematic concept, and completely unique in style and sound. While I still wouldn’t consider myself a huge Radiohead fan, I will definitely be revisiting this album with a different mindset and maybe even some mushrooms. “OK Computer” could absolutely be considered the Millennials’ “Dark Side Of The Moon”, and might have had as important of an influence on modern Rock n Roll.
What else is there to say about it? One the all time greats, forward thinking, immensely enjoyable.
I didn't think I'd rate this album that highly. I bought it twelve years ago. I had inherited my brother's copy of 'The Bends' as a teenager (I think he traded it for Shihad's 'Fish' album, ironically the first 'cool' album I ever bought/received as a kid), and I really liked it. However, the intenseness of Radiohead fans, led me to not listen beyond this particular album (I know we're going to get 'Hail to the Thief' at some point on this!). If my memory served me correctly, I was expecting a few catchy singles ripped off the Beatles' White Album, No Surprises (which I've always enjoyed) and that weird song where the robot speaks. 3-4 Stars, why not? But. While I remember a lot of whine and a lot of drone, there's actually some great work on here. Some songs that are upbeat. The jangle of 'Electioneering' I really liked. The final two were great ways to go out. Paranoid Android is still brilliant. I get why this band is so popular. Not sure I'll listen to any albums beyond this willingly though. 5 Stars.
This album gives the vibe of a young professional having an out of body experience, watching himself go through the day to day routine of life. Waking up, riding the bus to work on on overcast day, listening to music on his discman, sitting in his office cubicle for 8 hours surrounded by other faceless men in grey suits. Everyone has generic job titles like "accounts", "marketing" and "sales", but nobody really knows what each other does for a job. In fact, the man isn't really sure what he himself does. After staring at a computer screen for another monotonous eight hours, he heads home to his 1.5 bedroom apartment, to sit on his catalogue-purchased furniture setting, and watch tv on his expensive flat screen TV. After a microwave dinner and a glass of moderately priced pinot noir, he goes to bed in his queen sized bed with new Egyptian cotton sheets. Left alone with his own thoughts, he is filled with an overwhelming sense that he is simply a small cog in a huge uncaring machine.
Took me a while but I get the hype
Classic
Awesome from start to finish. 10/10 without a doubt
One of the most perfect albums to come out in my lifetime. The first 5 tracks are such an incredible run of songs. While I do think "Karma Police" through "Electioneering" is a little weaker of a stretch, the way it comes back for the last four songs is stunning, sprawling, desolate. Gorgeous. This is for my money the best album of the '90s (hot take, I know) and I don't think it'll ever slip from that spot as long as I live. Must-listen #202!
I can't really add anything that hasn't already been said about this brilliant album. Masterpiece.
Dette var en plate jeg faktisk likte skikkelig godt. Overrasket meg svært positivt.
On of the greatest albums of all time
Masterpiece for sure! I still prefer The Bends, but OK Computer is a 5 star album
55/1001 :: Radiohead - OK Computer Heard before? ✅ Would I revisit? ✅ Rating: 10 Fav Tracks: Let Down, Electioneering, Climbing Up the Walls, ETC… Listen before you die: Uhhhhh Yeah One of my favorite albums of all time. Seriously this is a desert island album for me. Top 10 all time. Probably Top 5 TBH. It just has all the things. Hard, soft, delicate, emotional, innovative, everything… I Only wish I had fell in love with it sooner. I liked the album when it came out but didn’t become obsessed with Radiohead until Kid A. That was a miss. I should have went to this tour. That was all time shit. Bottom line is, this is the album that keeps on giving.
ive loved ok computer forever and i will never not. what more can i say
Listened to this one a million times before. I don't like it as much as some of radiohead's later stuff but it's undeniable how good some of the tracks are. Also, a rare use of sleigh bells in a song that isn't a Christmas song.
I do like Kid A and In Rainbows better and I'm not sure this truly reaches 5 stars for me on quality alone, but when you consider the context when it was released and how much better this was than any other rock music at that time, it is worth 5 stars.
MAJESTIC, BEAUTIFUL!!! Every track is a 10, including fitter happier. GOATED album
I don't love Radiohead, but this album is really good
Totally Essential album. We covered this on IGTOV Podcast. Great stuff. 5 *
Loved this when it came out and still sounds amazing. Such a journey
Here we are again living in a dystopian nightmare, with a regime far more disturbing than what even these guys could imagine. Why does this governance keep getting worse and more dictatorial? But always dressed up in red? and massively long red ties... While listening to these nightmare-describing songs, I only dread our present reality more deeply. That this was describing a world almost 30 years in the past...if only there were a god to save us. I'd be a believer. But this is the hell we have, still, but it goes to 11.... A hauntingly, disturbingly beautiful look into our dystopia, like a sonic bottle in the ocean from 1997.
Really mazing album. A lot of good songs that really stood out from each other, with variation.
Maybe overrated in the grand scheme of things but still a 5/5. Exit music, let down and karma police is one of the greatest 3 track runs of any album. Paranoid android is in many ways Radiohead’s bohemian rhapsody. The glum ‘lucky’ is just beautiful. And then even ‘weaker’ tracks like ‘electioneering’ or ‘climbing up the walls’ represent some form of disintegration. 5/5
Love it
Airbag - 6/10 not bad but not my style Paranoid Android - 8/10 very nice, the instrumentals are nice and vocals are not bad Subterranean Homesick Alien - 8/10 pretty good, interesting, different Exit Music (For A Film) - 10/10 literally peak, it sounds so good idk what else to say Let Down - 12/10 im gonna kill myself, i have no words this song is peak im gonna kill myself tho Karma Police - 10/10 okay fire lowk fire Fitter Happier - not rlly a song Electioneering - 7/10 idk not my style Climbing Up The Walls - 8/10 nice No Surprises - 10/10 fuckass song Lucky - 7/10 nice The Tourist 7/10 not bad
Один из лучших альбомов в мире, как и сама группа!
Where Radiohead pivots their sound from another anthemic Britpop band to a more experimental one. The album grew on me to a point where now I prefer their more electronic rock sound more than the earlier work (although The Bends is still cool). Probably I would rank Kid A higher these days but I’d still give this one a 5. Also love Paranoid Android.
cmon
Maybe the first album I've received on here that I'm quite familiar with. A real, obvious classic.
Clásico. De los mejores discos que he escuchado.
Lovely to hear the start of Electioneering again. 5 for that alone.
Just dead good innit
Obviously 5
Still probably my favourite album
It was a 5 before listening, and a 5 after listening. Record side names slightly annoying.
Lovely to listen to again, one of the best. I think this is top 10 ever
A perfect album
One of the best albums of all time.
OK Computer is an expansive and cinematic record. Albums of this ilk are often described as “ambitious”, as if to insinuate that they aim high but don’t quite succeed. OK Computer is an ambitious album which completely nails what it’s trying to do. It has also defined how post-production is approached by most modern rock bands. Radiohead manages to be epic in a sophisticated way. Bands who perform epic music (like Muse or Kings of Leon) sometimes sound a little pretentious as if the audience knows that the style they are performing in places more importance on the music than it actually deserves. OK Computer presents itself as epic and important in a completely unpretentious way. It has been said a million times, but this album really shows off the full breadth of how compelling and detailed a catchy rock record can be. If it wasn’t for In Rainbows I might even be able to call it the best album of all time.
I mean it’s incredible.
I've heard this a million times, its a generational defining album, it has different styles and something for everyone but the whole package is so technically on point it's bordering on perfection. A change from Britpoppyness to Flaming Lips outthereness and paired with their legendary Glastonbury set a few weeks after this was released cemented its legacy into the consciousness. I usually joke on Radiohead reviews that "It feels like another Radiohead album I'm supposed to like... And I mostly do, but sometimes I'd rather listen to The Bends, you know?" and I'd still rather listen to The Bends, but I adore this also as a foundational shift in my personal sonic landscape at the time.
It’s got a bit of everything, mathy, poppy, arty, thoughtful.
Iconic album some great songs
Always preferred The Bends but this is equally as great. A classic, not much more needs to be added.
Another classic album, and incredible how they managed to follow up the epic Bends with such a change of direction. It is full of great standalone tracks that work as singles but altogether it works as a thematic concept. Paranoid Android is an epic song that twists and turns and entertains. The only criticism I have is that it lead to the disappointing experimental stuff that was to follow.
I get that Radiohead are a bit marmite, but I was quite surprised that this album still has a fair amount of hate in the reviews particularly given it’s clearly their best album (your pants are on fire if you say to the contrary). Let’s face it, if you aren’t even remotely aroused by the chord progressions and time changes on Paranoid Android then I fear you are dead inside.
🗯 Beyond essential, if possible — transformational. Well, here’s a no-brainer. I’ve had a few during this project, but this one truly changed how I hear music. OK Computer shifted the culture and rewired listeners. Dystopian and human, intimate and alien, it predicted the anxiety of the digital age while sounding completely untethered to it. It felt like a line in the sand the first time I heard it — a clear before and after. It took the guts of alternative rock, fed them through a broken modem, and somehow emerged with something symphonic. It’s cold and intimate, mechanical and emotional — like a robot mourning its own circuitry. ‘Airbag’ opens like a car crash in slow motion. ‘Paranoid Android’ is a prog-rock masterclass for the disillusioned. ‘Let Down’ Is still one of the most devastating songs ever written about modern life. It predicted culture. That mix of isolation, overload, and quiet collapse? 1997 could’ve easily missed it, but we got it and, maybe we didn’t deserve it at the time, but we caught up and it remains one of the finest ever!
Sublime
Superb.
Deeply emotive and rich in melody. Somewhat melancholic but beautiful.
Nothing more to say…
“airbag” is a good opener but probably my least favorite track on this album (not counting “fitter happier” since that’s an interlude). especially since it is followed by “paranoid android” which puts every other song on this album to shame (relatively speaking). there is SO much creative liberty being taken with this song and i love how it feels like 3 different songs in 1. i love when it breaks into 7/4 time AND there is so much to dissect beyond that with respect to the music theory behind this song. the also electric guitar SHREDS this whole song so massive respect. probably my 2nd favorite radiohead song of all time. “subterranean homesick alien” really does a great job with utilizing electronic aspects to convey that otherworldly feel. it’s a really pretty song too. “exit music (for a film)” was one of my big introductions to radiohead and probably sits in my top 5 as well IF NOT my top 3. it’s very melancholy and gives me a really nice impending sense of doom which is what i love in a song. the drum break into the climax is SO satisfying (iykyk). i love the storytelling with this one too. even if you don’t really listen to radiohead you probably know “let down” from tiktok/reels edits! this is probably the prettiest track on this album. the final verse and chorus is HEARTBREAKING and usually makes me cry (sorry not sorry). if you listen to any of these PLEASE listen to this one because it is definitely a people pleaser. “karma police” is one of the more popular ones but not for me. it’s good but not great imo. “fitter happier” is lowkey REALLY good for an interlude… but at the end of the day, it’s an interlude and i’m not gonna go out of my way to listen to it. a really interesting commentary on society though. speaking of social commentary… the next song, “electioneering” is a very clear allegory for politics. i also really like this song, it’s upbeat and a LOT of fun. love the instrumentals on this one as well as thom’s falsetto. “climbing up the walls” is DEFINITELY the creepiest tune on this list. if you’ve seen yellowjackets there’s a really impactful scene set to this song and i can’t listen without getting reminded of that. regardless, a great tune which i adore. “no surprises” is probably somewhere in the middle of my ranking of tracks on this album MOSTLY because of the final verse/chorus. a bit repetitive but that’s okay. on the contrary, i REALLY like “lucky” (guaranteed sleeper hit). simultaneously hopeful with a tinge of “something’s wrong”. peak. now for the closer: “the tourist”. a super pretty ballad which contrasts the rest of the album and, in my opinion, ends the album perfectly. i didn’t like this one at first and now it’s one of my top 3 on this album. all in all, this album is currently a no-skip for me (which is rare) and has been a near no-skip since before i really got into radiohead (so i’m fairly unbiased). i also recommend as an intro album to this group. 5/5.
It took me some time to appreciate OK Computer. I had listened to and enjoyed Pablo Honey and The Bends, but initially I didn’t get the new album, and I didn’t own it until the OKNOTOK re-release 20 years later. It starts with “Airbag”, about the lifesaving car safety device - good alt-rock with interesting ambient noise. But it is with “Paranoid Android” that OKC takes off - a mini suite of existential dread, a calling out of capitalism and consumerism; beautifully miserable and unfortunately prescient. “Subterranean Homesick Alien” built on shimmering piano and guitar, a lot of Pink Floyd influences, is similarly downbeat, Thom Yorke wishing that aliens would swoop down and take him away. The production is excellent, the sound expansive and immersive. “Exit Music (for a Film)” may be the most depressive sounding song on the record. I love it despite, or perhaps because, I find it hard to listen to without picturing Tommy Tiernan’s priest gradually succumbing to despair as it plays on the coach radio in the final episode of Father Ted. “Let Down” is gorgeous, emotional and sadly uplifting. Perhaps accepting disappointment is the natural order and we should get used to it…? “Karma Police” may be the key track anticipating as it does the rise of social media intolerance and shaming, the 1984-like rise of Big Brother’s thought monitors. It is astounding that it was released as a single. “Fitter Happier”, apparently voiced by a Macintosh computer, comes off like Stephen Hawking as a wellness guru. “Electioneering” calls out the politicians whose promises when seeking your vote disappear once in power. The almost jaunty track capturing the gladhanding perfectly. “Climbing up the Walls” is claustrophobic and oppressive. It builds to an almost unbearable, frightening climax, utilising strings in a cinematic way while also echoing The Beatles “A Day in the Life” “No Surprises”, another achingly beautiful melody, is the other side of “Electioneering” when the elation of change wears off and, as Pete Townsend pointed out 25 years earlier, ‘new boss, same as the old boss.’ The protagonist of the incredibly sad and touching “Lucky” is deluding himself that his ‘luck is gonna change’ and you can’t help but feel that he is ‘standing on the edge’ of something much worse than he thinks. The album ends with “The Tourist”, a measured exhortation to ‘slow down’ at odds with the underlying panic I don’t subscribe to the championing of OK Computer as the best album of all time, but it is excellent. The sounds, lush in places, bare in others, are haunting. The lyrics capture detachment and separation, confusion of living in a world where you feel you don’t belong. Sadly, more and more people are feeling that still, almost 30 years later. It is an album in which you wallow and often that can be cathartic, but it can be a relief when it’s over. I love the album but, like the young priest in Father Ted, it’s not one I need too often. Just often enough…
This album was really a game changer for me when it came out in my early 20s. At the time it really changed my perspective of what a standard guitar/drums/bass/keys rock band could sound like. It was weird and ambitious, but at the same time really accessible. I think the first half of this album where it really shines -- "Airbag" through "Karma Police" is just a great set of songs. Things get a little iffier on the back half with "Fitter Happier" and "Electioneering" being the chink in the armor. Thankfully, it does pick back up with the excellent "No Surprises". Highlights for me are "Airbag", "Paranoid Android", "Let Down", "No Surprises", "Subterranean Homesick Alien", and "Exit Music (For a Film)". 5 stars.
Brilliant Computers. This is as sure of an easy 5 star classic record of the ages as you can get. As sure as a pig in a cage rises like Olympus on antibiotics above the Serengeti. In terms of the great battle between this and The Bends, whilst both are 5s it’s clear that OK Computer packs more bangers and is just a higher form of art. Nearly every song is an exquisitely doomy and dystopian celestial high point with Fake Plastic Trees aka the best song on Bends still getting easily outstripped and there are just a few relatively lacklustre patches such as Let Down, Tourist and Electioneering that allow a few Bends songs to sneak in. planet telex vs AIRBAG 0-1 the bends vs PARANOID ANDROID 0-2 high and dry vs SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK ALIEN 0-3 fake plastic trees vs EXIT MUSIC 0-4 BONES vs let down 1-4 nice dream vs KARMA POLICE 1-5 JUST vs fitter happier 2-5 MY IRON LUNG vs electioneering 3-5 bulletproof vs CLIMBING UP THE WALLS 3-6 black star vs NO SUPRISES 3-7 sulk vs LUCKY 3-8 STREET SPIRIT vs the tourist 4-8 If this was Final Score being read out by Mark E Smith you would definitely have OK Computer being declared as the landslide victor.
ez 5 stars
Man I am getting good albums at the moment
This album was the center of my universe for two years, as an impressionable teenager. This arrived, seemingly, out of nowhere. Nothing like it existed prior and nothing has matched it since. It was a product of its time - an uneasy marriage of technology and paranoia. Easy 5 stars!
Wow who would’ve thought this album would be on here. In all seriousness though despite the album’s grandmaster npc status it deserves the praise it gets, it really is a one of a kind, super influential album with a perfect track list and run time, completely changed the British scene of music st the time and was super ahead of its time in its cultural and political theme present in its lyrics and overall message. I personally prefer Hail to the Thief (despite the fact I gave that 4 stars, wish you could change reviews on this) but this is definitely a close second and probably objectively the better one (HTTF is a bit messy in its track list and more stripped down). Also, I find it crazy how this followed the more guitar rock orientated the bends, that’s one of the great things in Radiohead’s discography, nit one of their albums are the same. Favourites: all. Overall, 10/10. (Nooo npc take).
"Kid A" or "OK Computer" ... hard to pick for me. Flawless albums that captured where we were headed as a society, pre-social media or everyone needing everything from Amazon.
I hear the influence on all the indie music I enjoy
It's an eerie and deep album. It's excellent, but it's also kind of exhausting. Musically, it's top tier. The compositions are ambitious and experimental and the production is perfect. It's a more modern take on progressive rock, they're still alternative rock but they mix and experiment with many different techniques to get a very specific and forward sound. They're very versatile too, mixing heavier tracks like "Lucky" with the almost-lullaby "No Surprises". Thematically, it's a deep, haunting album that reflects on society, loneliness and technology. For me this is what made it a bit exhausting, as even though Yorke's lyrics are kind of abstract, they're still pretty heavy to process. The compositions match the themes perfectly, making very cohesive and complete songs. For specific songs, "Karma Police" and "No Surprises" are tremendously popular as stand-alone tracks, but within the album they work even better. "Paranoid Android" is a modern prog rock epic, and it's outstanding. My other favourites were "Climbing Up The Walls", in which I loved the production and the chorus, and "The Tourist" which is the perfect closer, letting loose the tension and ending on a lighter note. I found that there were no worse songs in the project though, they all serve their purpose perfectly in the album.
Amazing achievement
great!
500. This is THE album
First time I listened to this I didn't understand all the acclaim, finally clicked for me
10/10 A manifesto
It’s a stone cold classic. They invented the 2000s 3 years early. They write indelible melodies with unmistakable edge/darkness on top. Radiohead are singular. This 10 year run from 97-2007 is up there with the best who ever did it.
Fun and varied
Klasika!
What can I say? It's a perfect fucking album, no skips except Fitter Happier when I'm not in the mood for robot voice. But on the whole, magical.
5/5 automatique <3
Perfect.
Comon bro it's Ok Computer. Free Palestine.
A masterpiece
One of the best albums ever.
liked songs: all Fantastic album. If you don't like this, you don't like Radiohead. Or being sad. 4.5
Fav: Let Down Least Fav: Fitter Happier Yeah this is straight up one of the greatest albums ever made. Every song has so much care put into it, and the themes of anxiety for the future as well as this sense of hopelessness are conveyed very well, and I am so glad I’ve heard most of these songs live as they’re very special to me. You’ll struggle to find many albums better than this
10/10 Monster album - it kind of felt Radiohead completed alternative rock and said everything they wanted to say. They never produced an album as good again, and nor did anyone else - at least, not in this "genre". Superb. Meant a lot to me as it was The Album of my A-Levels. Listening to it now, I can picture my teenage bedroom, my desk, my cd player.
Such a great album
Beautiful stuff
A masterpiece. A true body of work greater than the sum of it's components.
Classic album
Great album. It has the scope of a big concept album. And while I don’t think there’s any one single narrative through line, there feels like there’s a story happening. The music is just so cinematic, and the lyrics suggest a sci-fi dystopian world. The songs are perfectly sequenced too. To borrow the title of a Radiohead song not on this album, everything is in its right place. There’s a nice range of styles too. A lot fall under the umbrella of Radiohead’s signature proggy sound, but there are a few Britpop/guitar rock leaning songs, and “Paranoid Android” is pretty punk. I’ve always been a fan of the twinkling and melancholy “No Surprises” too.
Another Radiohead banger. It's got their usual layered songs with a lot of depth that take you for a ride (like "Paranoid Android", "Exit Music (For a Film)") , and it's got the big hooky pop alt art rock tracks ("Karma Police", and "No Surprises"). "Lucky" is a hidden gem. It's like a Pink Floyd track without the derivation. Beautiful use of that spacey trippy sound to create a track with great dynamic moments. "The Tourist" is a fantastic closer. It's absolutely huge, and I really do feel like a tourist with this album so the title is apt. I think this is my favorite Radiohead album. When I think of my favorite tracks of theirs, its' "No Surprises", "Karma Police", "Creep", "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", and "Everything In Its Right Place". And this album has two of them- while none of the others co-exist on any single album. It's got a classic great Radiohead album cover. Just like the music, it's artistic, memorable, and interesting.
Best album ever, great musical composition, evocative lyrics 5/5
Perfect album
Masterpiece! The best album by Radiohead and one in the top 10 in 1990s.
10
Album #37 and the easiest 5 stars so far! A lot of albums get hyped up to be something they’re not, however ‘OK Computer’ deserves the hype and then some. I can only imagine what it was like to hear this back in ‘97 and ‘Let Down’ is such an ethereal masterpiece of a song. So yeah, 5/5!
Amazing album
I'd not listened to this album in its entirety before. It was an album which, when it came out, some people were saying that I would love it. It started off, however, with a 'this is going to be a long ordeal' on my mind but it somehow transformed into a very cool listen. I enjoyed it.
Two 5/5 albums in a row! :') I have actually been listening to a lot of Radiohead lately since the YouTube algorithm is recommending me every single demo version of "No Surprises" for a reason. "OK Computer" is an achingly, hauntingly beautiful record. Radiohead's greatest work by a long stretch. "Exit Music (For a Film)" has the best buildup / momentum in musical history, "Karma Police" is cathartic and "No Surprises" might be the best song of 1997, capable of conveying feelings that I cannot write with words. Radiohead is truly a one-man experience.
This album has a special place in my heart. I remember borrowing the CD multiple times from the library and rocking out top to bottom. The singles got regular airplay on the local alternative radio station despite being weird and long. Holds up so well to this day as one of the best albums of the 90s. Every day it gets harder to listen to the band because of their terrible politics (how far they’ve come from their roots) but this album will always exist as a perfect time capsule.
★★★★★★
What an amazing album
Corta venas, seguro, pero ¿No es el retrato de los momentos que vive nuestra sociedad, y nuestra juventud?. A no quejarse y disfrutarlo con la lágrima en la mejilla. Musicalmente, muy buena.
Nothing better from that time period. Nothing.
Really great album.
i think this is my favourite album of radiohead's. it is really fantastic and so clever, and has aged so well.
Indie rock. creative, unique, beautiful and sad. Heartachingly beautiful passages.
Perfection
Never understood people who suffer in silence when you can play Radiohead
Iconic.
Ok Radiohead
Definitely one of the best albums of all time, almost every song is a masterpiece, every song is good
I will never forget being 13 years old and seeing the video for Paranoid Android on MTV. Blew my mind. This record has held up astonishingly well these last nearly 30 years. An easy 5/5.
even though this isn’t my favorite radiohead album, it’s still amazing
It’s Radiohead so yeah it’s getting another 5 from me. I’m loving the run of The Smile albums from Jonny and Thom but I would love to hear another Radiohead album.
One of my favorites from them. Instantly takes me back. I'll just go ahead and give this a 5.
A god-damned masterpiece. Perfect. Life-changing. Somehow approaching 30 years old 🥺 but it still hits.
This one takes me back. What a great album. I feel like once Radiohead started writing this kind of music (the post Pablo Honey era) this album is one of the most cohesive and digestible ones. It combines a dreamscape with the need to still not meander off too much and yet still give you some cool down to earth song structure. I wore this one out when it was released. I also saw them play some of these songs at Stone Mountain during this era and it felt other worldly.
Have heard this album before but it didn't hit the same this time. still pretty great! notable songs: Let Down, No Surprises, The Tourist, Man of war, Lift.
I had heard this album and loved it before, and this was no different. Wonderful varied album with great sounds, awesome melodies, stellar performances, and impeccable recording quality. I listened to it twice back to back -- five stars.
I get why people might not like Radiohead. I like them, but I get it. When I am king/You will be first against the wall, I've always loved that line. I hate to say this, and it's probably because I've listened to more Steely Dan in this project than anyone should ever have to, but there's definitely something reminiscent of some Steely Dan. Now I feel terrible. Coldplay heard this album and toned down the weirdness...the result was A Rush of Blood to the Head. This album is the working soundtrack for all Zach Braff's films. Karma Police, great song. No Surprises is an all-time great song. What a beautiful song and a great video too.
Forgot how insanely, unbelievably good this was.
There are some serious life lessons in this album. "A patient, safer driver." After many years, this is now me!!! Even though I prefer The Bends, this is still such a great album on so many levels. In a word, evergreen. Liked Songs Added: Airbag Paranoid Android Karma Police No Surprises Lucky
BEEN a classic
Its hard to overstate the impact this album had on my life.
no surprises, a masterpiece
One of my favourite albums. Thom Yorke is amazing, the band sounds so unique and powerful. The songs are really authentic and original.
This shit goes SO incredibly hard. Unsure if there is a bad song on this album. Let Down is a fucking transcendental experience every time - possibly one of the best songs EVER. The four song run of 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' into 'Exit Music from a Film' into 'Let Down' in 'Karma Police' is magical
I listened to this album for the first time a long time ago. It’s a good album!
Have heard this before but it never clicked. Totally clicked this time. Love how an album about isolation starts with sleigh bells. Electioneering feels out of place but thematically, I like how the most straightforward song is alienated on this album about being weird and alienated. Probably closer to a 9/10 for me but 5 stars because who am I to deny thommy
One of the rare cases where one of my favorite albums ever is also one of the most acclaimed
I was playing with the idea of being a hater since this album is, in fact, pretentious, but being pretentious doesn't preclude being good. It's up its own ass and lacks the urgency that I love about The Bends, but that also doesn't make it a worse album. It's a complete whole, with good individual songs that fit well together, and is an apex sad thoughtful teen album. It's also a little bit of a time capsule - it's been riffed on by later artists so many times that it's got a seinfeld effect going on, but stuck squarely in the 90s. As is often the case, could probably use a little editing! But that's look back 30 years, it probably worked better then. Still, between this The Bends, and Kid A, Radiohead's basically earned every self-indulgent tack they've taken since.
To a lot of people, one of the greatest albums of a generation still holds up today. I won't claim to be a huge Radiohead fan but they are a great band, and this album is top notch. Not a single song on here I wanted to skip. Karma Police and No Surprises still get radio play time today because they hold up so well. Excellent album that absolutely belongs on a list of albums you should listen to before you die.
Masterpiece
A classic
I’m a white recent post grad, so…
Selon la page wiki : "They distanced themselves from the guitar-centred, lyrically introspective style of their previous album, The Bends. OK Computer's abstract lyrics, densely layered sound and eclectic influences laid the groundwork for Radiohead's later, more experimental work." "The lyrics depict a dystopian world fraught with rampant consumerism, capitalism, social alienation, and political malaise, with themes such as transport, technology, insanity, death, modern British life, globalisation and anti-capitalism. In this capacity, OK Computer is said to have prescient insight into the mood of 21st-century life. The band used unconventional production techniques, including natural reverberation, and no audio separation. Strings were recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Most of the album was recorded live." Un album que jai écouté à plusieurs reprises, parfois très jeune (ado), parfois pas dans l'ordre, à divers degrés d'attention, parfait par fragments dans des films. Le casse-tête remis ensemble reste un chef-d'oeuvre de la même ligue que plus grands albums concepts (dark side of the moon, sgt pepper). À réécouter dans 2, 5, 10 ans.
Easily a 5, best album of the 90s
yeah classic.
masterp
Makellos, Perfekt, Genial
I love radiohead, and either this or kid A is the best radiohead album. Easy 5!
The best album of all time hands down.
i wanna cry
Excellent. So many great tracks. Played it back to back multiple times
9.3/10
Don't overthink it. Legendary album from a legendary band.
One of my favorite albums 9/10 beautiful my favs are parinoid android, electioneering, let down, airbag and ofc no surprises +exit music
One of the GOATs
It's a 5, but you already knew that.
It's not my favourite genre, but it's objectively a great album. It surprised me, so much so that I will gladly listen to it again.
If it was possible to wear out a CD in the 90’s, I probably would have with this one.
מה אני יכול לומר שלא נאמר על השיר הזה אחד מהאלבומים היותר טובים בכל הזמנים שיר מועדף - Paranoid Android
i mean, its fuckin ok computer. if this isnt a five for you then youre dead to me.
Great album. Mid 2000's on Radiohead I don't care too much for. Some say that In Rainbows is on a par with this. Nah, not even close IMO. This is a great mix of the unconventional but still holds on to 90's rock ideas. They hadn't gone too whiny and too far up their own arse yet. Just pretentious enough.
Perfect. 5/5
Still love this album
OK Computer set the tone for indie and alternative rock for the next century. It is an innovative record that has stood the test of time. The lyrics captures modern America's addiction to technology, consumerism, media consumption, and political scandal. This album represents a full break with the grunge sounds of Pablo Honey and The Bends, and is what I consider to be the electro art pop that is bold, true Radiohead. I’ve given fives to other albums, but this might be the one deserves it the most! 5⭐️
I have heard around half of these songs before, and listening to it altogether was really nice. I really like Radioheads sound and all of the songs on the album could be in my listening rotation. I loved this album.
Excellent album. My favorite album of Radiohead.
This project has made me realize that while I always thought OK Computer was my favorite Radiohead album, my favorite is actually The Bends. Don’t get me wrong, OK Computer is still amazing and “Karma Police” and “Paranoid Android” are some of my favorite songs, but I connected with The Bends so much more. But yeah, OK Computer is great and was always going to get 5 stars from me. I’m hit or miss with almost everything after this album, but they’re doing some of their best work here.
Perfection
A masterpiece. One of a succession of masterpieces that managed to top the achievement of the last. I used to think I didn't like this album that much, as it marked Radiohead's turn away from the experimental, chaotic rock sound that I loved so much on the Bends, into desolate electronica that is just the sound of depression and madness. But really that turn didn't happen until Kid A. And Kid A is still objectively a great album. Whiny vocals, overly-complicated compositions, pretentious lyrics, there's a lot of stuff that shouldn't work. But it all comes together perfectly. My favourite individual songs are still largely on The Bends, but OK Computer is such an impressive listen in its entirety.
I went back and forth on this one. It's probably, like, a 4.75, which I'll round off to 5 stars. Excuse my musings below - I want to capture some thoughts. It's angry, earnest, and unsubtle, with lyrics I'd put into my AIM profile and use as a guide in my teenage life. That is to say: I really like music like this! Case in point: when I got to Fitter Happier, I searched up the lyrics and found a post on the Radiohead subreddit from a 19-year-old who was deeply unsettled by the song and seeking comfort about the adulthood that awaited them. There are only a few comments, but they're semi-helpful - "Yeah, the song is kind of accurate, but you'll manage" kind of thing. Honestly a rare glimpse into completely unpretentious Radiohead fandom. The post was from 9 years ago, and it looks like OP hasn't posted on Reddit since. Wonder how they're faring. If you just presented this album to me without context, I'd be extremely into it. But when you tell me it's Radiohead, I think, "Hm, but this isn't the best they can do, is it?" That's silly. I really vibed with this. 5 stars.
I wanted to give OK Computer a 4 because it is overrated and because the bends is simply better, but then I listened to it, and was reminded that 6 or 7 of the songs are great. Yes it’s overrated and the bends of better, but it’s still a 5:)
masterpiece
absolutely fucking great album
It's Radiohead, it's OK Computer - it's one of the best album hat tricks in modern music - snarky, depressing and now surprisingly guitar-focused for Radiohead - before they took their wonderful sharp left turn with Kid A. Undeniably an end-of-the-20th-Century classic. A retro-modernist-dystopian set of songs whose satire feels sadly naive and innocent coming from a pre-9/11 world.
SLAY
Actually OK Computer. Definitely the best Radiohead album.
This was always going to be a 5 before i even started listening to it. Radiohead are one of those bands I know well enough and have listened to their albums many times, but don't own any of the physical media. I would like to own this at one point along with their best album, the bends. No Surprises and Let Down are the standout songs
Pensaba que era demasiado cool como para que me gustara Radiohead, pero este challenge me está haciendo darme cuenta de que no soy más que otro tío más del montón. Este álbum es increíble. Combina el jazz avant-garde de Bitches Brew, los sonidos más experimentales de los Beatles, el krautrock, la electrónica de DJ Shadow, musique concrète, y veinte mil estilos más. Hay una enorme cantidad de instrumentos y efectos de estudio diferentes que crean composiciones de muchísimas capas, en las que abundan los cambios de ritmo e incluso los polirritmos. Y, a pesar de su complejidad, consigue ser un álbum accesible y casi comercial. Las letras son abstractas pero casi proféticas, hablando de la involución global en temas como tecnología o transporte. Un álbum seminal que marca la transición del Britpop hacia el rock más alternativo y multifacético de los 2000, como el post-rock, art rock o el indie electrónico. Y, más generalmente, determina el punto de inflexión entre la música popular de los siglos XX y XXI.
An anthem througout, phenomenal
Outstanding record, the songs have so much depth, lots of atmospheric layering, album flows from song to song as one unified piece.
Unsettling yet dreamy. Passionately angsty yet carelessly resolved. Some of the best individual song development, progression, and complex layering I have ever heard while still providing a masterfully crafted and cohesive album as a whole. Lyrically, amongst its abstractness, I felt at times as though Radiohead was eerily describing the exact alienating world we are unfortunately living in now almost three decades later. I won’t add anymore because I don’t think there’s anything more I can say to properly reflect the goodness of this album, just listen to it and enjoy it.
I'm not the biggest Radiohead fan, but their first three albums are pretty good before they started to get too esoteric for me. I really enjoy Paranoid Android and Karma Police off this one, but the rest is also pretty good.
I already knew I loved this one :)
Perfect from start to finish. A masterpiece that is socially relivant, smart and timeless. A master class of the form.
Their 3rd album. Airbag and Paranoid Android are two opening tracks that let you know this isn't 'Brit Pop'. The album stands up today with it's themes of media obsession, paranoia and dystopian technology. Karma Police is such an amazing track. No Surprises is also just wonderful. Fitter Happier is a glorious interlude. So alternative for 1997. Beautiful.
One of the greatest albums of all time. My number one radiohead album changes between this album, in rainbows and kid a.
Top stuff
Fantastic album
I love this album so much, to me it's the perfect blend of guitar and electronica. Every track fits perfectly where it needs to be, and there's not a single dud across the entire runtime. I used to drive back home after working away all week, and I would time this album to start around an hour from getting home every Friday. Never tired of listening to it, never fast-forwarded a single track. If I made good time, then I'd sit outside my house and listen to the end of the album before going in. I've struggled to connect with later Radiohead albums, but this one never fails to reward repeat listens. I love the sparse, airy feeling on many of the tracks, even though the subject matter is largely depressing. Actually, who am I kidding, the depressing subject matter seals the deal for me! Five stars for an almost perfect album.
Essential music for when you’ve got a really tall ice cream cone and one of the scoops falls off and starts melting on the ground
Amazing album from start to finish. The soundscape and production combined with Thom Yorker’s lyrics and voice create a bleak but hauntingly beautiful outlook on the world.
Amazing album of course, would listen to it again and again
Hell yeah
One of the best records ever made. Stands the test of time as well.
breath of relief
Having this album come up was like seeing an oasis while crawling through the desert. After 21 weird picks, I so earned this.
This is an incredible album. I wish I wouldn't have looked at the lyrics because they are a proper downer, one like I haven't experienced in a while. If only for the music this is a 5 stars though.
Makes me sad that I haven't managed to see them in concert...
Genuinely flawless record. Not a single bad song. In my top 10 of all time.
I've put this off for soooo long because this album is such an important piece of music culturally and sort of personally -- it's my dad's favorite album of all time or whatever! I've always been sorta partial to The Bends or In Rainbows, but OK Computer has some really excellent songs as well! Paranoid Android and Exit Music (For a Film) come to mind as some of my own favorites, and Karma Police is good too! But I never listened to this album very intently. Airbag: Sort of feels like if you blended every Radiohead song together and made a nice smoothie out of it. It's very loose and just plain good. I like his vocals on this just as much as the instrumentals, but it's not super remarkable. It's definitely a good opener, though, like it's introducing you to a new world. I like the sound effects (like you're going through a carwash or back in time or something) that make it sound like a nice lasagna. Lots of layers. Paranoid Android: Despite being long, this song is always something I'm willing to put on. It's so interesting and so cool with so many different parts. Like, the sort of rigid "ambition makes you look pretty ugly" part is so different from the slow, sulky, prayer of "rain down, rain down"... it's a very complex song that I'll always go back to. The music video is awesome. Subterranean Homesick Alien: Almost sounds like a Beatles song for a few seconds at the start? This weird psychadelic edge to the... guitar?? What instrument is that? I don't know. But it's nice and slow and interesting. It's sort of delirious and dream-like, or like you're on some farm on another planet? Does this make sense? no. Exit Music (For a Film): Very sad and very effective as a mournful love song. This numb, heartbroken vocal and the war-like(?) background effects succeed in making me really, really sad. I know this was made for the Rome + Juliet movie and it makes lots of sense! It's so tragic and sad and even more moving than the original story to me. That buzzing instrumental picking up with the vocals at the end is very impactful. It's actually crazy. "We are one, in everlasting peace/ We hope that you choke, that you choke" it's crazy oh my god Let Down: This is much brighter, almost like it could be a song from the Disney Channel or some airy breathy girly pop star with a different vocal. I don't know, it's almost a little Vanessa Carlton or Vanessa Hudgens or... something like that. At the same time, it's a little 70's easy-going rock. I like it. It's like a sunrise after genuinely the most hearbreaking night of all time (the last song). Karma Police: And we're back! Sad. One of their more famous songs, for good reason! It's soooo good. The chorus behind "this is what you'll get when you mess with us" is cool. Then the "I lost myself" and the sighing and the moaning sound (idk what to call it) + the static is a really good way to end to song as well. I feel stupid even calling this "good". It transcends good. Fitter Happier: I like this kind of stuff. It's like The Word Hurricane by Air or anything by Headache or We Want Your Soul by Adam Freeland, but eerier. It's spoken word by a computer... Ok, Computer. The sound effects are terrifying. Haunting. It's freaky but it's artful, which I'll always appreciate. Electioneering: It's the wild, wild, west. I hardly hear this sort of down-and-dirty, classic rock-n-roll sound from Radiohead so it's super awesome to hear, especially from the weirdest "song" on the album. But it still has that Radiohead sound to it in a certain way, with Thom's high vocals in the chorus. It's really good. The guitar is really good. Everything is very cool. A-how-how-how-how. Climbing up the Walls: Idrgaf that much like ok it's fine its kewl it's whateva it's emotional and slow and sad but there's nothing thats like WOW but it's lowkey pretty good just not that exciting? For this album, it's not one of the best but like 6.8/10 No Surprises: It's good and iconic, obviously, but I'd hardly ever put this song on. It's sort of like a lullaby. For some reason I'm just not super into it. It's like 7.4 but you have to be an 8 for me to really put you on, you know? But I'll super-listen if it's just on. It's good. Cute. Twinkly. And as I listen to it now, I'm starting to like it more. Hm. Lucky: Been really into the song Lucky by Britney Spears recently, which is lowkey better than this (sorry not sorry). I just don't particularly care about this song that much. It's like middle of the road but it's good. I could cry to this. The Tourist: Beautiful vocals. Not particularly compelling to me. But it's good. It's good to end the album on if you get really absorbed into it. I like that "ding" at the end. I like this album a lot. Almost every song is pretty excellent and innovative and uniquely effective in what it sets out to do. I think of it better now that I've listened to it a bunch. I like The Bends and In Rainbows still, but hm... could rank higher... it's rly good! I get you, Dad.
Deserves all the praise it gets, a telltale sign of a great album is if a bunch of bands try to rip it off. Just like nirvana made a bunch of terrible copycats, I can hear all of the insufferable soft indie British bands that tried to follow in their footsteps. Fantastic.
A timeless classic.
the GOAT
BEST OF YHE BEST
10/5 I get it now
Absolutely love this album!
Classic
It's good innit. I have strong memories of the CD cover
Even miserable old blokes can come up with a classic sometimes
Amazing
Morning drive early doors for me allowed me the privilege to listen to this album in full. The shifts in tempo in Paranoid Android still blows my mind. Karma Police and No Surprises the other singles stand out but there are no duffers amongst this album. The track Lucky may have escaped my attention over the years but today it really did move me, that’s the sign of quality. I also love this album because you get glimpses of the future ….what Radiohead, & all the band members in all their guises over the coming years had, & continue to give. It’s a big fat 5.
Emotive Brilliance I can write a million words It won't do any justice To the greatness this album brings Absolutely essential
This album has been written about to hell and back, so I'm not sure I can anything new to the conversation. Quite possibly the most influential album in all of British music since The Beatles. There really is a before and after this release, and you can immediately notice the impact, in the way the 60s inspired britpop bands started adopting moodier and more intimate approaches to songwriting or fell off the radar altogether, giving way to a new wave of British band like Coldplay, Travis, and the like. To me, though, this album evokes a very particular feeling that I can't really explain. I get visions of a very sparse suburban neighborhood just as the sun sets and sky loses its brighter hue. Other, non-musical things also evoke this feeling, but I can never understand what they have in common. I think in the case of this album it has something to do with the arrangements and chords progressions, which are incredible all the way through. Key tracks: Airbag Paranoid Android Exit Music (For a Film) Let Down Karma Police No Surprises Lucky
The bass and drums . . .
Really good
A perfect album. Beautifully tragic and deeply emotional. An ingenious blend of rock and electronic elements and a display of Radiohead’s progression in their musical evolution. The purposeful excess of the electronic noise and the heaviness of the guitars never fails for the emotion and the feelings of the music to come through. Fantastic album.
Hard to find fault with this one.
So good!
10 outta 10, would recommend. Siskel and Ebert would probably give this one three thumbs up.
Kanske är väldigt tråkigt att ge detta albumet fem stjärnor men. Så får det vara.
Alright yeah I understand the hype behind this one. Night and day with the other radio head album on here.
Arguably one of the greatest albums ever made. There are albums that are fantastic and they are an imprint of the times they were made in and they were relevant at the time - and there are albums that are even more relevant decades later than when they were made. OK Computer is one of these albums.
This beautiful day was ruined by the knowledge that there is a user in this platform that gave The Beatles' Revolver a 1 and System of a Down a 4. As for the actual album, it's wonderfully moppy genius.
British
Finally. No reviews, it's Pure bliss for me
This is such a great album, and it deserves the acclaim. Listening now with fresh, critical ears the main thing that's struck me is just how exceptional the production on this album is. All the tracks have something interesting going on, be it interesting drum arrangements, layered atmospheric instruments, or unique sounds cutting in. The soundscapes in this are so fucking good, be it the lush kind of orchestration of Subterranean Homesick Alien, or the more manic moments in 'Climbing Up the Walls' - both songs I'd never really considered as highlights before, but they're both so rich and atmospheric in different ways. You want to play it loud with headphones and just lose yourself in it. I would point to particular song highlights, but this is a great example of something working so well as an album. It's all good and all one experience.
This is a massive album in every sense and one of the most important albums of my lifetime (I’m 61). It’s prescient in that although it belongs to the era before everything started falling apart, it prefigures post-millennial alienation and pessimism. It’s not prog; it’s not tortuously self-important or self-indulgent enough for that. The tempo changes and odd time signatures are used judiciously, off-kilter music for an off-kilter world. You need this album, especially if you don’t think you do.
Listening to this was a little bit just discovering the album around No Surprises which has been in my head since listening. I fear I loved it, definitely felt like a cohesive piece.
It's just the best thing ever.
All-Time great album. Electioneering is my favorite song on the Album
I’d hate this album on a sunny day. Good thing it’s cloudy
Great album from front to back. Not my first listen, but I'm pretty sure it's gotten better since the first time I listened to it.
The only Radiohead album I like. And I love it.
I’m just uptight Uptight Uptight