“My favorite Radiohead album is TKOL RMX” – nobody who actually likes Radiohead

I’m pretty sure Meredith Graves likes the sound of her voice more than I like looking at my own typed words. And that’s not healthy, Meredith.

Oh…Kozelek called. “Whattup, gwurl?”

I upvoted this by accident I want everyone to know that

Last minute cuts to the lyrical content of this song:

“Gurl, You fly like a bird.
I love you bunches. Word”

“I don’t care if you Swedish, Armenian, or Finnish
I’m gonna love you right. Imma let you finish”

Damn, a lot of “All I Need”s, but no “Reckoner”?!?

This is almost exactly like the conversations my Dad and I have about Foreigner. I’m alway like, “I dunno Dad, I’ve just never liked Foreigner,” and then he’s like “But ‘Jukebox Hero’ is the greatest song of all time!” And then the truck veers off the road for a hot second because he’s too busy air drumming to steer and he’s had seven or eight beers that afternoon. Maybe I’ll get a full transcript next time and you guys can publish it during Foreigner week.

Paul McCartney?

This is exactly what I think music criticism should be in the era of streaming, self consciously subjective discussions about how music effects us as individuals, not critics posing as taste makers. Before the Internet, we needed people to tell us whether something was good or not, because it was hard to hear music before you bought it . But now that we can hear anything anytime, we can make up our own minds free of charge. If music critics are going to have any value, it’s going to be with more in depth discussions like this. Not “Should you like this?” but “Why do I like this?” Take notes, Pitchfork.

My experience with my dad and Radiohead goes like this. I was coming out of a phase of deep depression in the summer of 2001. I’d flunked some college classes my senior year, on account of leaving school for awhile. They let me walk, but I had to go to summer school. I went to college in a very small midwestern town, so it went completely dead in June. I had like two classes a week and the rest of the time, I was just alone, staying in a small apartment within walking distance of campus. I was broke. I didn’t have a car, a TV or the Internet. I did have a massive stack of burned CD’s, a discman and access to the college library. I’m an introvert, so this didn’t exactly drive me over the edge, but it was still hard. I barely spoke to anyone face to face for months and I ended up listening to a lot of Radiohead. I think the isolation and the repetition made Radiohead seem larger perhaps than they were. I felt like everybody in the world must either be tuned into the Radiohead frequency or missing out on something monumentally important. I don’t think I would have said it that way, because I’ve never been the kind of Radiohead fan that evangelizes about the band. It was just something I felt in my gut. It had something to do with the end of my childhood and the 90’s being what they were, an in between time when it was hard for people to define themselves. In comparison to the 60’s (or how my generation romanticized the 60’s) and to the post 9-11 world we were about to find ourselves living in, there were no clear causes. The culture war was stale, and I didn’t want any part of it. The world still felt wrong, but it was a vague, unsettling feeling. There was a lot of ennui and not a lot of information, or rather there was a sudden flood of information that hit us like tidal wave of noise. Things were about to change, but nobody had a sense of how it was going to play out. For me, Radiohead’s albums up to that point chronicled the end of an era and the uncertainty about what comes next. So the albums feeling dated is, to me, massively important to what makes them successful. “The Bends” was about the sense of being disconnected from history, stuck between times. “OK Computer” was about technology and the uncomfortable flood of information it brought, which was somehow more disorienting than helpful. “Kid A” and “Amnesiac” were about the ennui that came out of all this. And somehow Radiohead communicated this through the textures in the music itself. It wasn’t just sad melodies and broody lyrics. It was the actual beats, the strange new instruments and the weird tenor of Thom’s voice.

When my dad came out from the East Coast to pick me up in August, I was a little nuts. Sitting around for months by yourself listening mostly to Radiohead will do that to you. One of the first things I did on the long drive home was put in “OK Computer” and skip to “Let Down.” Then after it played, I asked my dad what he thought. He said, “It sounds so tired.” I almost cried, because it was like yeah, exactly, I am so tired. I am so damn tired. I think my dad meant it as a criticism, but it was exactly why I needed Radiohead in 2001. I was beyond tired. My whole way of thinking and being was played out. I couldn’t sustain it anymore. I was running on fumes. If I was going to survive, I was going to have to change entirely. It was kind of a big moment for me.

Do you wanna see the list of musicians I asked who said they don’t like Radiohead? It is pretty long.

“This is pathetic. I’m 51 years old…but music sometimes just keeps you afloat doesn’t it?”

That’s some heart warming shit right there.

Ehh maybe create your own unique music from scratch like tons of other musicians do instead of stealing/”sampling” and this won’t happen. Crazy idea.

There’s also a strong possibility I’m just startin’ shit to start shit.

Wait…I’m pretty sure that’s it. And screw you for calling me out on it . 😉

Pimping a butterfly is the American dream? Idunno about that. According to the gentleman I overheard on BART a while back, I’m pretty sure messing with white women is the real American dream.

That song was hella gay(e).

No one can seem to appreciate where they are going! Love it already. Saw them in concert in 2013 and they sound exactly like their cd. Not many artists can do that in a concert!! Everyone has their own opinions like assholes and their own ear for what they like in music, but to come down on them that hard in this(SO CALLED ARTICLE)on their new release is childish and moronic?? Give them a chance. They are very talented and will be a round for a while. Keep up the great work MUMFORD!!!

“Even for a cynical old guy like me, this warmed my goddamn heart. I would be WEEPING like a little kid if The Wrens or B&S did this, personally. Downvote me away, but I’ll NEVER understand that f’ing Kanye guy” – brought to you by the Blochead comment generator.