Happy 10th birthday, 'OK Computer'!

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Martha Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 07:41 PM EST

Hey "Onion" - yes, I was referring to the show on Notre Dame Island in the middle of the St. Lawrence. Cool that you were there too! My husband and I were celebrating our 5th anniversary in Montreal (up from Boston). Earlier that day we went to the Montreal Gay Pride parade and partied all day with a bunch of friends, then went to the show. It was not only our best concert ever, it was one of our most memorable *days* ever. Thanks for the scene description - happy memories! When they played "Fake Plastic Trees" at the end, it was one of those moments when you're viscerally reminded how good it is to be alive...

scott Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 03:24 PM EST

OK Computer not only made me appreciate radiohead and the art rock type of music genre but the album art got me into graphic design. it has inpsired alot of my designs at hotelseen.org. but more than that, it paved the way to Kid A, one of the greatest albums ever.

AJ MacReady Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 01:21 PM EST

I love OK Computer and think it's superb, but for me The Bends will always be their masterpiece. TRULY a no-track-forward CD. Just awesome; always gives me chills every time I hear it.
"Rock is not the devil's work, it's magical and rad. . ."

Billy Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 12:21 PM EST

I actually wrote one of my college application essays on Ok Computer. More specifically, how it enhanced my appreciation of art and helped me develop a more sophisticated way of consuming it. Basically, I rambled on about how it was the first album I listened to from start to finish, appreciating the complexity of the project as a whole and attempting to dig beneath the surface for whatever symbolic message or themes the album was trying to impart on its listeners.

My Favorite Onion Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 12:14 PM EST

MARTHA, are you talking about that outside show in Montreal -- Verdun,I think it was? I was there -- drove up from Vermont to see it. To this day, that show stands as the best live show I have ever attended. They made those Amnesiac songs sound perfect, pulled out all the classics, band was tight, Yorke's voice was in perfect form, floating out over the throng and down the St. Lawrence -- AMAZING.

Martha Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 12:03 PM EST

Radiohead is my favorite band ever - I have just about everything they've ever done. I first got into them just over 10 years ago, when I heard "Let Down" on late-night alternative radio in Hartford. (My sister had made an earlier effort, putting "You" on a mix tape, which I largely ignored.) "Let Down" is still one of my top 10 songs, although I agree with others that the album as a whole is amazing and so cohesive that I get freaked out if I accidentally put it on shuffle. Jason, were you at the Radio City concert in April 1998? If so, I was there with you, at the 2nd-best concert of my life. (Radiohead in Montreal, August 2001, was the best.) Strange to think it's been 10 years already...think it's too early to introduce these guys to my 4-year-old?

My Favorite Onion Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 12:02 PM EST

I lived in Spain at the time, having followed a spaniard to his homeland and his bed. The random spanish radio playlists featured countless spanish acts, dance, abba, old fleetwood mac, smashmouth, oasis and (THANK GOD) Karma Police every 20 minutes. Hearing it made me spend my tiny wallet on a cheap cd player and OK computer 5200 pesetas. And the remainder of the absdurdly hot Sevillano summer? All I remember is 115 degrees and no A/C, lying naked on the tile floor with the fan directly on me trying to stay alive, A half drunk 5th of Beefeater in a bowl of half-melted ice, and every amazing song on that CD being burned onto my cortex. "Lucky" and "Exit Music" still make my heart race like so many bumps at 4am.

It was a good year.

nay-lo Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 11:51 AM EST

Love Radiohead. Saw them in college. But I'm more familiar with The Bends than OK Computer so I'll give you a memory from that one...I recently got married and was honeymooning on Kauai where kmy husband and I drove up Waimea Canyon Drive. We saw some of the most beautiful sites we've ever seen. On the way down, he put on The Bends and I will never forget cruising down the canyon drive rocking out to my favorite song, "Fake Plastic Trees". I get chills everytime I hear that song now. What a great memory.

JenJen Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 11:48 AM EST

My boyfriend at the time (now husband) started listening to this CD in 1999 and didn't take it out of the CD player in his car for a solid month. I went from thinking it was oka, to absolutely hating it....and then it wore me down. I eventually fell in love with it.

Henry Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 11:36 AM EST

I listened to this album my senior year in college and haven't listened to it since. I don't know if it's 'cause I'm scared to do it or maybe I'm just not in the right mood or frame of mind to do it. But you mentioned the "No Need to Track Forward" Album. I was wondering: What other albums fit into that category?

jonathan Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 11:07 AM EST

my fondest, or rather, most disturbing memory of this great album came while at college in paris. after leaving my last class for the day and making my way to the metro, i opted to listen to OK. At the first intersection I came to and about halfway through the first track, I stopped to wait for the light to change and then to cross. In paris, there are bus lanes you can cross over and a concrete medium you can wait at. This can be rather dangerous because your basically standing in the middle of the street, protected only by a small concrete curb. Normally I would make my way across the bus lane and wait on the concrete. Instead, for some reason, I didn't this time. As I stood there, I watched a motorcycle try and weave in and out through traffic and instead hit this curb and the driver went flying through the air only to land on his cracked motorcycle helmet. Through the end of Airbag, I could hear his faint screams. Still get chills everytime I start the album.

Tim Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 10:55 AM EST

If 'OK Computer' sounded the death knell for albums in general, so be it. 'OK' has no flab, it's elegant in its execution, not a bit is unnecessary IMHO. A fitting end to the dinosaur 'album'. Honestly, I'd much rather have 4 to 5 great tracks then 10 to 12 of middling quality. One of the most valuable lessons to be learned by recording artists in the digital age is EDIT YOURSELF. Brevity is underrated!

anton has excellent spelling skills Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 10:16 AM EST

i'll be sure to not listen to those no-talent hacks any longer, thanks to anton's persuasive post.

"your kiiding?"

try, "you're kidding?"

spelling is not hard.

Andie Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 09:53 AM EST

I listened to OK Computer repeatedly my junior year of college when I was working on drawing projects for a figure drawing class. It's the only album that I loved and could as you said, "zone out to."

Tyler D Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 09:37 AM EST

Weird. I was just thinking of this album today. I always view OK Computer as one of the last cohesive albums ever made (though I guess Arcade Fire and The New Pornographers still successfully create albums around specific themes). Not that Radiohead hasn't tried doing so afterwards, but this one is probably their most successful attempt. This album makes me nostalgic for the days when albums weren't just an excuse to collect a bunch of singles for videos together. Sigh...

RTA Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 08:59 AM EST

I like to think of myself as pretty open-minded about music and at my age (late 50s) that's rare but I bought this cd about a year ago in an effort to see what all the hubbub was about this band and I failed to "get it." I'm glad the music was what you needed to hear at the time and the fact that millions of dedicated fans swear by this album indicates to me that it has considerable merit but it left me cold.

JAMBAJIM Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 07:44 AM EST

picked up this album after EW named it "LP of the Year" in '97. i being so terrified on my first listen that i didn't pick it up again for two months. but then, one day i randomly threw it on while doing math homework. in a pure movie moment, everything on the album totally clicked for me exactly at the final "DING" note on "the tourist."

anton Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 06:17 AM EST

your kiiding? this album was pure crap then, and now even more so. radiohead=no talent hacks!!!

Gavin Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 01:32 AM EST

In my opinion, each and every Radiohead album is a "No Need To Track Forward Album"...

kelly Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 12:57 AM EST

call me strange, but I even love the "fitter happier" track. I never skip it. Sure, it's not a "song" in the traditional sense, but it keeps with the tone of the album and really drives the theme of "losing your humanity in the age of technology" home as a concept.

Patty Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 10:36 PM EST

this album defined my sophomore year in high school. man I can't believe that was 10 years ago. i listened to it every morning while getting ready. one of my happiest moments was seeing radiohead perform paranoid android live in london...this little girl from texas having her dream come true. :)

Alicia Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 10:31 PM EST

Also, Ed O'Brien has said that he regrets "Fitter Happier" because it gave the album a track you'd have to skip through. I agree with him. It stinks things up, right in the middle of the album.

Alicia Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 10:27 PM EST

They played Chicago in 2001, not 2002.

Karlover Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 10:14 PM EST

My favorite album, my favorite band, my favorite concert (Chicago, August 2002)

I get chills and goosebumps every time in Exit Music at the huge crescendo near the end. Paranoid Android is the best song on the album.

This hasn't really been a story, but oh well.

iiggii Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 09:52 PM EST

I remember being in college in England when this came out. I hated the singles (Paranoid Android and Karma Police) at first - thought they were sooo pretentious. Needless to say a few months later I had eaten my humble pie and was playing this every day. I still listen a lot, and always skip Fitter, Happier, but every other song is pure genius. Lucky makes me feel sad, Climbing Up the Walls scares me, Exit Music gives me perverse pleasure at singing "we hope you choke", and Airbag just may be one of the best songs... ever.

Amber Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 09:23 PM EST

I have no idea why, but this album is the BEST music for getting over a breakup I've ever heard. Maybe it's Thom Yorke's voice... all I know is I listened to it in my car during 6 weeks of misery and it was the only music (only thing, actually) that kept me from crying. Love this disc!

MarkS Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 09:12 PM EST

I was entering my junior year at the small, liberal-arts mecca that gave me a college degree in Ohio, and I bought this album the day before I left for a semester in London. Princess Diana had just died. The Spice Girls were filming their crappy movie all over the city. But OK COMPUTER took me to a happy place that entire fall - to this day, whenever I hear "The Tourist" I think of whiskey and haggis in Scotland.

I can't believe Radiohead opened for Alanis Morissette during her 1996 tour behind JLP. Little did we know what awaited us.

This is an awesome record. Thank God we got it before iTunes.

emily Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 04:06 PM EST

I actually got this cd because at the time i was into coldplay and i heard that they were influence by them. I heard creep and remeber when Beavis and Butthead made fun of the fake plastic trees video. I heard a couple more songs by them on mtv2 when they acutally played videos and like what i saw. So i picked ok up as i heard it was there best cd. I begin to listen to repeatetly then the next day i bought the bends then kid a and so on. I dont have my coldplay anymore got sick of them but i still have my radiohead.

Why does it take so long for this band to release cds 4 years and counting since there last which was not bad. The band needs to stop trying to top this cd and just make good music.

Jack Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 02:46 PM EST

I had mind-blowing sex to OK computer the very first time I heard the disc. I hadnt ever listened to radiohead until then. They've been one of my very favorite bands ever since. Especially when shagging.

kelly Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 12:16 PM EST

I liked The Bends, but Bends was one of those albums which sounded great from your first listen, then had nowhere to go from there. I found myself going back to OK Computer and Kid A far more than The Bends because they were more challenging. Their treasures only revealed themselves upon many subsequent listens.

Lori Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 11:24 AM EST

OK Computer is my favorite album of all time. .. I was in my 3rd year of law school and this album saved me from intense boredom. 10 years later, 2 kids later, and I put this song on in the car, and life is good.

Alyson Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 11:11 AM EST

I was a freshman in college and one of my new friends was very into music. I knew absolutely nothing, so he was willing to teach me. The first thing he did was to buy me a copy of this album. I listened to it in the afternoons in the very hot spring. It still makes me want to look at green grass and blue sky.

Marmar Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 02:25 AM EST

I love me some Radiohead, but this is not a so called-no need to track forward album, the Steven Hawkings bit-annoying on so many levels, ruins the whole CD. The no need to track forward album-The bends, superior all around. Can still listen to The Bends every day and love it as much as I did the 1st time I listened to it.

Mary Beth Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 07:39 PM EST

I unfortunately didn't catch on to OK computer a few years after it came out. My sister got turned on to the Bends by her new boyfriend in the late 90's, and I borrowed her borrowed copy and also really liked it. But it wasn't until my freshman year of college (2000) that I finally bought OK Computer. It took me sometime to love it as much as the Bends since it was very different, but now I love it as much if not more sometimes. My fav track when i first started listening to it was Lucky, and I remember for a project for my 2-D art class drawing a girl standing on the edge of a cliff with an airplane crashing in the background because I couldn't get the song or the lyrics "We are standing on the edge....." out of my head.

joe Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 07:37 PM EST

great album, but prob my fav album of all time is Kid A - Never forget going to concert at Liberty State Park overlooking statue of liberty twin towers with future wife

Lloyd Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 07:15 PM EST

I remember when it came out, I rushed out to see whether Rolling Stone Magazine would give it the 5 stars it deserved...(this was back when I cared what Rolling Stone thought). They gave it 4 and 1/2 stars, saying that it missed perfection because Karma Police had "Throw-Away lyrics". I was so angry, but these are the same people who gave Nevermind 2 stars. It came out during my freshman year of college, and my friend and I went and bought it. I remember he turned to me on the way out of the store and said, "I feel so much smarter now that I've bought this album." Well said.

ikon Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 07:09 PM EST

Geez...this CD spent that entire summer in my car CD player. Just reading about it, it's going back in tomorrow. One of the modern classics...and spot on about not having to forward; not an unlistenable track on the CD.

OK KID Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 04:53 PM EST

I was 12 years old when I bought this album. I remember going home and opening it and having no idea that the songs within would go on to shape, shake and comfort me well on into my adult years. I turned 22 a few months back. Rare few albums stay with you.

Jason Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 04:52 PM EST

I've always thought Thom Yorke's voice is vaguely romantic, even if it's also mournful. OK COMPUTER is a classic for all of the production touches and of course Thom's vocals. My main memories of listening to it are from college when I had a crush on someone and would listen to Thom's yearning for hours because it matched my own. Even if OK COMPUTER is about the effects technology has had on society, I think it's just as much an ode to that society and it's why we tap into it.

Sabrina Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 04:04 PM EST

This CD was one of five in my CD changer that never came out for any reason...I played it like an anthem during that time...I was expecting my oldest daughter...It was a crisis pregnancy...very lonely...very uncertain...This CD represents growth for me...I still cherish it...My daughter is ten now and kinda grooves on it, too...We are in a much better place now, things turned out awesome for us...I wrote my first book of poetry while listening to this CD...on an ancient MAC at a friend's house...my baby was doing flips on the inside and my legs would occasionally go numb...my friend included a poem in HER book about listening to the same CD for the 200th time...we both published our books just OK Computer really defines a time and place for meafter my baby was born in...

Slammy Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 01:35 PM EST

The Bends is still better.

Kyle Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 11:57 AM EST

It's weird to see albums I bought when they were new elevated to classic status. I bought this when I was 14. I'm almost 24.

Stephanie Travitsky Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 11:35 AM EST

This is probably the most intelligent album of Radiohead's career, but I still say that The Bends is my favorite.

Derek Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 11:09 AM EST

The most important record of my lifetime. Has influenced everybody on from Travis through The K-Rex Struts to Bright Eyes. Amazing.

Brian Z Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 11:07 AM EST

I bought this the first day, still in high school, while my brother was visiting from college. I liked it the first listen but it was never a summer album for me. I wanted something more lively at the time. Soon as fall hit, I put it on again one day and the music flowed over me and I've loved the album every day since. One of my all time favorites.

Ben Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 11:06 AM EST

Someone left the CD in a practice room at school. I couldn't stop listening to it. It took me months to figure out who owned the CD, and who the artist was! They became one of my favorite bands immediately. I went out and bought "The Bend" and "Pablo Honey" immediately. Of course I gave the owner his CD back, too.

Maddie Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 10:41 AM EST

Well, it would be a No Need To Track Forward Album with the unfortunate exception of Fitter Happier...this gimmick of a song mars an otherwise perfect album.

jake Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 10:14 AM EST

This album came out the same day i started working at Sound Source, a local used cd store. I remember it also coincided with the release of Hum's Downward is Heavenward, another album with no need to track forward.

Ok Computer and its predecessor, The Bends are both albums that I still listen to from beginning to end on many occasions...

Jason Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 09:13 AM EST

For me it was released right before I left the south and moved to NYC. It was also the first concert I went to in the city, Radiohead at Radio City Music Hall. Brilliant.

krikky Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 08:51 AM EST

I was a late bloomer on this album, didn't discover it until 2004. But I listened to it on my first business trip to Paris, the one were I met my ex-French lovah. I would listen to it on the Metro on my way to and from his apartment afterwork. Tres romantique! I shed a silent tear now every time I hear "No Surprises".

Neffs Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 08:30 AM EST

For me (and I'm dating myself relative to you Annie) it was a divorce. It sounds like a lousy soundtrack for a divorce, but it was actually quite soothing and got me through a few days at work when I really didn't want to be there. I still think Thom Yorke's voice is very soothing.