For about 8 months or so I listened to almost nothing besides Radiohead and it saved me. It truly did. And while I don't listen to them so exclusively now their music will always be a part of me, a part of my soul. But that wasn't always the case. I've had a weird relationship with their music and somehow missed the chance to be a fan until recent years.
Many years ago when I was living on campus during my freshman year in college my cousin and I happened to be walking out of the cafeteria closest to my dorm. On one of the many bulletin boards was a flyer for REM tickets. All but one of the tear off phone number strips had been torn off and the concert was for the next day so I didn't think my chances were good. But for some reason the tickets were still available when I called. Turns out a girl had broken her leg and wasn't up for the 3+ hour trip to St. Louis for the show. And she was only asking for the ticket price. So, my cousin Clary and I were bad college students, ditched our Friday classes and took off for St. Louis.
I was already an REM fan so this journal entry isn't really about them. Rather, it's about the opening act that night: Radiohead. When they started playing I immediately knew they were good but I had no idea who they were. Eventually they played
Creep and everyone in the crowd, including me, realized who they were and started cheering like idiots. But all of their songs that night were great. I couldn't understand everything Thom Yorke was singing about but it sounded great and I resolved to buy some of their music. Unfortunately, the first Radiohead cd I found was Pablo Honey and, as I later realized, most of the music they were playing when I saw them live was from The Bends. And, as any Radiohead fan knows, those two albums are very different. Yeah, they both feature much more guitar work than their recent albums but their overall sound is much different. The levels of maturity and introspection are much greater on The Bends. If you don't know just give a listen to
Ripcord from Pablo Honey and Fake Plastic Trees from The Bends and you'll hear what I'm talking about. So, knowing the difference between the two albums perhaps you can understand my dismay and frustration when I put Pablo Honey on and it sounded nothing like what I'd heard at the concert. I tried to like it, I gave it a few listens but I eventually sold the cd out of disappointment. I was pretty pissed about the situation and must have formed a mental block about their music because they more or less dropped off my radar for a long time. I have a vague memory of seeing a little blurb about The Bends in a magazine but, amazingly enough, that's the last I heard about Radiohead for years and years. I don't even recall hearing about OK Computer which is still, by many accounts, considered one of the greatest albums ever made. It seems I was just so pissed about Pablo Honey that I either ignored or somehow missed hearing about Radiohead for ages.
Then came In Rainbows and the controversy regarding their decision to sell it online for whatever price the buyer chose. I remember that broo ha ha went on for what seemed like ages. But I still didn't bite. Then we got DirecTV that brought XM radio along with it. I naturally gravitated toward the "alternative" rock stations and began hearing some great stuff. I was especially struck by a little tune called
Paranoid Android, perhaps you've heard of it? There was also Street Spirit and Karma Police that caught my ear. Eventually I got my head out of my ass and learned that these were all Radiohead songs. I looked around the internet and, lo and behold, Radiohead was everywhere! And their music saved me. Even when I couldn't listen to music I knew it was within reach, it was my incentive to keep going. Although my life itself was hellish I was able to visit heaven simply by putting on some Radiohead. And the rest is history.
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