RADIOHEAD PART ONE: Kid A

Just as I started school in the fall of 2000 I got involved with the campus radio station.  I wanted a show first and foremost.  I also wanted to spin some great music.  I was a Radiohead fan since almost the beginning.  As I told one of the DJ's one day I really thought "Creep" was either going to be a one hit wonder or the only song we associate Radiohead with. On both instances I was wrong and I'm glad I was because after Pablo Honey came out, they made some amazing music.  Don't worry guys at one point I will talk about OK Computer.  I do remember being asked what I thought Radiohead were going to do next.  How can they top a classic. In the three years they had off what where they doing?  What were they listening to and immersing themselves into.  Johnny Greenwood was vague in an interview what he was listening to.  "Classical and Electronic Music," he said.  I can only imagine what they were working on. To be a fly on the wall moment was what I wanted to be.

In April of 2000 we got word they had over twenty songs that were completed.  I got pretty giddy with excitement.  When I started school one of my future friends and dorm neighbor came and knocked on my door.  He said he had new music he wanted to share with me.  I naturally assumed he was sharing some of his.  He was a music major I was thinking he wanted to hear some criticism or feedback. He started playing some blips he heard on a website. He played it once, and I gave it some thought.  He played it again and I was still thinking.  His roommate came in and was just as giddy hearing this as I was.  I did not know what to think.  They asked my opinion.  A third person came in the dorm.  They played it again.  We looked at each other with confusion.  They wanted an answer from me.  It felt like a pass/fail option.  I liked it and it was totally unusual and very interesting.  One friend said to me to join him at the station after supper the next day.  He must have known something I didn't, so I joined him.

The next day our world changed.  He was at dinner and could not hold his excitement any longer.  He held up his hand.  In his hand was a promo of Kid A by Radiohead.  "Tonight he said," "we are taking over the airwaves at 8pm and playing this in it's entirety."  As the excitement grew I could only imagine what Radiohead's creativity was.  Three years is a long time.  Is this music going to be relevant, is this music going to be listenable?  Is this album going to be better then, dare I say, OK Computer?

When we got to the station and kicked off a fellow DJ to put this on the air, I kinda knew we were in for something special.  From the start of "Everything In Its Right Place" electronic keyboard parts and vocal samples I realized that this is no ordinary album.  Even more interesting where is the crunching of guitars and drums.  They are nowhere to be found.  Not only were they channeling electronic music, but also sighting Jazz and also using the music of the group CAN.  A band that I love.  There are so many music genres in just one song.  It was great, they kept the loyal fans engaged and the fan's of their early stuff scratching their collective heads.  We all at the radio station were speechless and all I wanted was a copy so I can give it a better listen back in my dorm, but that had to wait.  We certainly were buzzing with curiosity and if Radiohead point in doing that was just that then they did it.

The three year wait payed off and payed off well.  I did not get my copy to listen to back in the dorm, but a few us went in one of the other studios to give it another listen that night.  A flood of musical influences came to my head and some of the others.  As I mentioned above, hearing bands like CAN and Aphex Twin and other non mainstream type music was the core of this album.  Hearing later on that Thom York had writers block when they were working on this is an understatement.  How do you create something from scratch and then write words to it.  It was different and as I stated to the others I love it.  I think this will surely be considered one of their best releases. It's a musical mix of everything they like in styles, genres and influences and they pull it off only like Radiohead can.

The day of it's release I went to go pick it up.  I came home and popped it in the CD player and took some notes.  If I got a radio show, what would I play and how would I transition to another artist who is similar to this.  Also I was trying to break down each song,  How did they do this song in the studio, how will they do this live if there will be live performances of this.  Some of the music sounded chaotic and I could only say that doing it live would be just as difficult.  The other question was since they recorded over twenty songs, what are the ones they did not add to this album or just leave out in general?  The songs left out were they throwaways or not worthy of our ears?  We might never know, but then again this is Radiohead who are always up to surprising their listeners either live or in the studio.

I gave Kid A a listen every day to see if anything changed.  Yes it did change with each listen.  It changed because I could hear sounds and ideas with every listen.  As I eagerly waited for some kinda of press about Kid A it never happened because they did not allow it to happen. I gave the album more and more listens each day to really trying to figure out what they were doing.  It certainly took a while to figure it all out.  Every listen of the album made my mind open more and more.  I felt sorry for the people who were looking for "Creep 2" or "Fake Plastic Trees" and I welcomed the people who were in astonishment like myself. If there were over twenty songs, what did the leftovers sound like?

Radiohead took a lot of chances with this album and it payed off tenfold.  For me, beside listening to all the new music and sounds they wanted to do, it made me revisit or even check out some the music that influenced Kid A.  It took a lot of self directed research on other artists that Radiohead either named dropped or that you can hear in their style, sound or expressions.  It took a lot of work.  It was only with the right writeup and curious digging by the interviewer I got some of their thoughts.  This took a few months to keep my curiosity going.  Also thanks to whomever decided to put some early Kid A BBC sessions for some us to grab that was a big help too.  These BBC versions made the music more interesting and like the studio versions we could finally hear what they would sound like live at future shows. At some instances the live version was better then the studio version.

Kid A is an amazing experimentation that passed on everything it set to achieve.  I love this band and if you asked me if this was possible in 1993 or even after OK Computer if they could do something like this I would have shook my head no. There are many bands who try to copy Radiohead, but when Kid A came out, those bands kept rockin' or gave up.  The excitement of new music in 2000 is the same as the excitement when I hear Kid A today.  Radiohead created a new landscape that people who try to go on it, fail and if not they give up and turnaround.  I love that Radiohead can be daring and take chances.  You can't say that about a lot of bands.  If they like an idea, that formula is their blueprint for all their music.  Radiohead, it's different if the blueprint does not look right, then throw it away and make a new one.  Take chances, I love that about how bands or artists do that and like to risks.  Creativity is a big selling feature when I buy music or even listen to it.  They engage me, then we have a great relationship.  I'm glad after seeing Radiohead twelve times and owning all their music that I can say they have not only engaged me, but begging for more and more. Enjoy!!