Of all the eras in the history of pop music, the rising and failed stars of the late 80's through the mind 90's have the least to envy. All told, it was a pretty suffocating atmosphere. Where the late 70's and most of the 80's were a heyday for independent labels and a stunning amount of experimentation, the 1990's rise of corporate "alternative" music did more to stifle good bands than any previous cash-grab. It's hard to believe today that there was a time when MTV really was a media monster. Along with a couple notable magazines (Rolling Stone and Blender come to mind), that cable TV network was a platform that sold billions of dollars worth of records. The stuff that got on the air was almost guaranteed to succeed, while the stuff that didn't chart on the music video countdowns might as well have never been recorded. Looking at Radiohead's early days, it's a wonder that the band survived that toxic period of corporatized music.
After paying their dues in the English pub scene, the boys in Radiohead recorded Pablo Honey for a 1993 release. Inexplicably, their soon-to-be hit single "Creep" failed for its first several months on the shelves. It was actually interest from beyond British borders that launched the band to notoriety. The first place to really embrace Radiohead was, believe it or not, Israel. The band's first international show was in Tel Aviv following heavy Israeli radio play of "Creep". It was only after the full LP hit stores in England that the band had the beginnings of a career back home. That's not to say that anyone treated them like the great, pioneering artists they would eventually become, and with good reason. Pablo Honey is barely more than another grunge-influenced alterna-rock album. There are hints at what Radiohead would pursue later, like in the sweeping opener "You". Otherwise, it's very clearly an album of ideas but no commitment. In 1993, Radiohead could have turned into anything. A raucous rock band, a heartfelt bunch of troubadours, a soon-forgotten shoegaze act. All were possible.
- Planet Telex
- High and Dry
- Fake Plastic Trees
- (Nice Dream)
- Bullet Proof
- Black Star
- Street Spirit
As a retrospective, it's actually kind of frustrating to listen to 1995's The Bends. Radiohead comes so close to finding the revolutionary sound they eventually perfected on OK Computer, but they draw away before they cross that threshold. "Planet Telex" is about 75% of the way to "Airbag" before it leans on the easy tropes of regular, old rock. It's likewise maddening to listen to spacey, folk-tinged tunes like "(Nice Dream)" knowing just how close it gets to crossing over into "Karma Police" territory. Taken on its own merits, The Bends is still a mostly compelling album, but its obvious hesitation makes it sound like a late-period rehearsal for something so much better.
I've never done this in my "Artists Condensed" column before and it's not likely I'll do it frequently, or at all, in the future, but I can't bring myself to chop anything from Radiohead's game-changing 1997 album OK Computer. Though not all of its songs are equally good or revolutionary, they form such a beautifully coherent piece of art that it would actually diminish the individual parts to separate them from the whole. OK Computer occupies the elusive sweet spot between when a band strives to be commercially viable and when it wants to pursue more creatively fulfilling material. Most artists end up making a couple radio-friendly albums and then diving headlong into experimental noodling, but Radiohead managed to mitigate those opposing impulses and record one of the most important albums of 1990's. OK Computer set the bar so high for alternative music that no band ever surpassed it.
Following OK Computer, Radiohead did indeed indulge in their own experimental noodling, with some alternately incredible and forgettable results. I'll be back later this week to check out the band's work from Kid A to In Rainbows.
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