#12 - Phil

Radiohead

Kid A

2000

If you were playing Family Feud and were asked the question: “Name a band in the last 20 years that has become huge from critical acclaim,” you’d be wise to say Radiohead. The UK’s popular alternative rock band released some of the most respected albums of the 90s, including 1995’s The Bends and 1997’s OK Computer. As the new decade turned, anticipation for the group’s fourth record was sky-high. And instead of regurgitating what they had done in the past, Radiohead decided to move in a completely unfamiliar direction.

This led to the birth of Kid A, Radiohead’s electronic masterpiece. What’s interesting is that although Kid A is viewed as a landmark achievement today, critics were quite divided about it at the time of its release. Some were turned off by Radiohead’s “commercial suicide” approach, while others fell in love with its eclectic and hypnotic atmosphere. Perhaps I was at an advantage in that I had never listened to another Radiohead album before and could not compare Kid A to their previous work. It’s certainly an album that’s taken its time to become part of my listening rotation, but I believe my love and appreciation for it is stronger today because of it.

“Everything in its Right Place” opens the record with a slick synthesized line behind lead singer Thom Yorke’s muzzled, incoherent voice. It slowly climbs to a peak of fast-approaching sounds coming at the listener in all forms and from all angles. The song achieves its intention as it puts the listener in just the right place to experience the transcendence that awaits them. “How to Disappear Completely” sounds like Yorke is singing atop the mountains on the album’s cover, saying repeatedly, “I’m not here / This isn’t happening” while the surrounding instruments cover him like an unexpected storm. “Idioteque” gets me lost completely every time I hear it, with its instilling four-note loop mixed perfectly into an inducing dance beat. And the closer, “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” feels like an epic culmination to a journey where instead of answers, you’re left with questions about where to travel to next. -P.W.

While this album is consistently making #1 (or at least in the top 10) of every other top albums of the decade list, but Rolling Fork likes to keep things interesting. This was actually the last of the Radiohead albums I listened to and while The Bends, Amnesiac and OK Computer convinced me that these guys are rock gods and deserve there place as one of the greatest bands of our time. After their essentially perfect OK Computer, the band did something unprecedented. Not only did they follow it up with an record that is arguably better than their last but they had the balls to not slip into a state of complacency and create a challenging and experimental album. - Ryan

What the hell is there left to say about "Kid A" anymore? It's my personal favorite Radiohead record and actually the first album of theirs to truly resonate with me. As time has gone on, it seems popular consensus is slowly shifting from selecting "OK Computer" to "Kid A" as Radiohead's canonical triumph. While it's a toss-up with records as aesthetically thorough as these, I'll always stick with the electronic, gloomy nighttime sounds here rather than the guitar-strutting alienation of it's predecessor. Essential listening. - Steve