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This Isn't Happening: Radiohead's "Kid A" and the Beginning of the 21st Century
A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020
"In this brilliant book, Steven Hyden goes deep into why Kid A matters—it's the fascinating saga of how the music turned into the symbol of a new cultural era." — Rolling Stone
THE MAKING AND MEANING OF RADIOHEAD'S GROUNDBREAKING, CONTROVERSIAL, EPOCHDEFINING ALBUM, KID A.
In 1999, as the end of an old century loomed, five musicians entered a recording studio in Paris without a deadline. Their band was widely recognized as the best and most forward-thinking in rock, a rarefied status granting them the time, money, and space to make a masterpiece. But Radiohead didn't want to make another rock record. Instead, they set out to create the future.
For more than a year, they battled writer's block, intra-band disagreements, and crippling self-doubt. In the end, however, they produced an album that was not only a complete departure from their prior guitar-based rock sound, it was the sound of a new era-and it embodied widespread changes catalyzed by emerging technologies just beginning to take hold of the culture. What they created was Kid A.
Upon its release in 2000, Radiohead's fourth album divided critics. Some called it an instant classic; others, such as the UK music magazine Melody Maker, deemed it "tubby, ostentatious, self-congratulatory... whiny old rubbish." But two decades later, Kid A sounds like nothing less than an overture for the chaos and confusion of the twenty-first century.
Acclaimed rock critic Steven Hyden digs deep into the songs, history, legacy, and mystique of Kid A, outlining the album's pervasive influence and impact on culture in time for its twentieth anniversary in 2020. Deploying a mix of criticism, journalism, and personal memoir, Hyden skillfully revisits this enigmatic, alluring LP and investigates the many ways in which Kid A shaped and foreshadowed our world.
"In this brilliant book, Steven Hyden goes deep into why Kid A matters—it's the fascinating saga of how the music turned into the symbol of a new cultural era." — Rolling Stone
THE MAKING AND MEANING OF RADIOHEAD'S GROUNDBREAKING, CONTROVERSIAL, EPOCHDEFINING ALBUM, KID A.
In 1999, as the end of an old century loomed, five musicians entered a recording studio in Paris without a deadline. Their band was widely recognized as the best and most forward-thinking in rock, a rarefied status granting them the time, money, and space to make a masterpiece. But Radiohead didn't want to make another rock record. Instead, they set out to create the future.
For more than a year, they battled writer's block, intra-band disagreements, and crippling self-doubt. In the end, however, they produced an album that was not only a complete departure from their prior guitar-based rock sound, it was the sound of a new era-and it embodied widespread changes catalyzed by emerging technologies just beginning to take hold of the culture. What they created was Kid A.
Upon its release in 2000, Radiohead's fourth album divided critics. Some called it an instant classic; others, such as the UK music magazine Melody Maker, deemed it "tubby, ostentatious, self-congratulatory... whiny old rubbish." But two decades later, Kid A sounds like nothing less than an overture for the chaos and confusion of the twenty-first century.
Acclaimed rock critic Steven Hyden digs deep into the songs, history, legacy, and mystique of Kid A, outlining the album's pervasive influence and impact on culture in time for its twentieth anniversary in 2020. Deploying a mix of criticism, journalism, and personal memoir, Hyden skillfully revisits this enigmatic, alluring LP and investigates the many ways in which Kid A shaped and foreshadowed our world.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
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2528 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 354 reviews
October 9, 2020
If any publishers are reading this, I too have writing skills and a favorite band. Call me.
October 21, 2020
Things I took away from this book:
1. You shouldn't read a book about something you think you know better than the author.
2. I think I know far too much about Radiohead.
3. King of Limbs is criminally underrated and in no way the 'worst' Radiohead album.
4. Everyone else in the world continues to be too enthusiastic about In Rainbows. It's a mess.
5. It is nice to be reminded of things. 'Kid A' (the song) from the 4/7/00 bootleg was such an incredible thing, and this guy gets it. 'Cuttooth' is indeed too good to be a b-side (and is in fact the best song they ever wrote.)
6. Whilst this book strays wildly and aimlessly from its topic and is kind of all over the place, the sort of thesis that 2000 internet was a beautiful thing and 2020 internet is a hellscape is entirely correct.
1. You shouldn't read a book about something you think you know better than the author.
2. I think I know far too much about Radiohead.
3. King of Limbs is criminally underrated and in no way the 'worst' Radiohead album.
4. Everyone else in the world continues to be too enthusiastic about In Rainbows. It's a mess.
5. It is nice to be reminded of things. 'Kid A' (the song) from the 4/7/00 bootleg was such an incredible thing, and this guy gets it. 'Cuttooth' is indeed too good to be a b-side (and is in fact the best song they ever wrote.)
6. Whilst this book strays wildly and aimlessly from its topic and is kind of all over the place, the sort of thesis that 2000 internet was a beautiful thing and 2020 internet is a hellscape is entirely correct.
July 27, 2023
2 ⭐
*Deep Breath*
Ok…
I would, first and foremost, like to make it clear that NO ONE is more disappointed about this rating than me! A book completely dedicated to Radiohead’s album, ‘Kid A’ and what it means in the context of (music at) the beginning of the 21st Century?! Merlin’s beard, sign me up, this is a sure thing!
WRONG!
I’m still unable to ascertain exactly what the author was trying to achieve here but it sure as hell wasn’t what one might expect from the title of the book. Well short of anything cohesive, the author Steven Hyden, whom I’m sure is a great guy I could speak to for hours about Radiohead over a few beers at the local watering hole (might be a bit awkward after this review), comes off as a complete ‘Scatterbrain’; It’s all over the shop! There is zero theoretical analysis of the music on the album which is arguably to be expected from a modern music critic and it is filled to overflowing with self-satisfied puns, poor analogies and references to 90’s pop (or alt.?) culture. One (completely unknown to me) reviewer’s personal opinions offered up as objective matters of fact. The arrogance (or perhaps just obliviousness) is astounding!
Various subjects covered include Radiohead’s Eno-esque experimentation, an extended chat regarding Linkin Park and the author’s favourite track from ‘One More Light’, a comparison between ‘Kid A’ and the film ‘Fight Club’ insomuch as implicit vs explicit (respectively) commentary on anti-consumerism, the “pay what you want” release strategy of the album ‘In Rainbows’, the author’s reasons for joining twitter and his early experiences with the platform (apparently his narcissism led him to become “Twitter’s bitch”), and some randomly sprinkled mini-reviews on albums such as King of Limbs (objectively Radiohead’s worst album – his words, not mine) and Yorke’s solo album ‘Eraser’. Confused yet?! I certainly was. To top it all off, I shit you not, at one stage he gives his own personal Kid A/mnesiac playlist, going through each song in the track listing justifying his selections! Mate, this is not a one-sided chat between two Radiohead enthusiasts; this is a professionally published book. Was the editor on vacation?
What else? Oh, an obvious man crush on Radiohead guitarist, Ed O’Brien, who must’ve once, regrettably, given the reviewer the time of day and unknowingly become his good mate in the process, and a strange comment on ‘Morning Bell’ being the only song from the titular album that you could have sex to…?? Tell us you’ve never had sex without telling us you’ve never had sex (This is non-sensical, I’m pretty sure he’s married with kids).
There is some MILDLY interesting discussion on how the album was ahead of it’s time and was shit-canned by a bunch of reviewers who have since changed their tune, not wanting to be known as the idiot who didn’t “get it” at the time. This is nothing new though. Radiohead were trying to escape the pigeon hole they’d been placed in after the release of album’s such as ‘The Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’ had established them as Guitar Rock Gods and there was the typical backlash from critics and fans alike. The same thing happened to Dylan when he dumped the folkey sound for electric on ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ and, earlier still, Beethoven was received less than enthusiastically by many as he single-handedly (E)volutionised (a phrase I attribute to composer and biographer Jan Swafford) Classical Music and provided the integral link between what we now perceive as the “classical” and “romantic” eras. In other words, true genius is rarely appreciated as much as it should be in its own time.
I would like to take a positive from this reading experience and an obvious one that comes to mind is my increased focus, over the last couple of days on Elvis Costello and Talking Heads (both mentioned on numerous occasions, for good reason, in the book). I was familiar with both but only with a kind of shallow, “best of” knowledge and have since listened to a couple of phenomenal albums by both. Talking Heads, in particular, feel like possibly the biggest oversight in all my long years of listening to music.
I don’t foresee myself reading any further on Radiohead, unless of course one of the band members decides to write an autobiography and given that the two I’d be most interested in hearing from are Thom and Jonny, this is unlikely to ever occur. Bye for now.
*Deep Breath*
Ok…
I would, first and foremost, like to make it clear that NO ONE is more disappointed about this rating than me! A book completely dedicated to Radiohead’s album, ‘Kid A’ and what it means in the context of (music at) the beginning of the 21st Century?! Merlin’s beard, sign me up, this is a sure thing!
WRONG!
I’m still unable to ascertain exactly what the author was trying to achieve here but it sure as hell wasn’t what one might expect from the title of the book. Well short of anything cohesive, the author Steven Hyden, whom I’m sure is a great guy I could speak to for hours about Radiohead over a few beers at the local watering hole (might be a bit awkward after this review), comes off as a complete ‘Scatterbrain’; It’s all over the shop! There is zero theoretical analysis of the music on the album which is arguably to be expected from a modern music critic and it is filled to overflowing with self-satisfied puns, poor analogies and references to 90’s pop (or alt.?) culture. One (completely unknown to me) reviewer’s personal opinions offered up as objective matters of fact. The arrogance (or perhaps just obliviousness) is astounding!
Various subjects covered include Radiohead’s Eno-esque experimentation, an extended chat regarding Linkin Park and the author’s favourite track from ‘One More Light’, a comparison between ‘Kid A’ and the film ‘Fight Club’ insomuch as implicit vs explicit (respectively) commentary on anti-consumerism, the “pay what you want” release strategy of the album ‘In Rainbows’, the author’s reasons for joining twitter and his early experiences with the platform (apparently his narcissism led him to become “Twitter’s bitch”), and some randomly sprinkled mini-reviews on albums such as King of Limbs (objectively Radiohead’s worst album – his words, not mine) and Yorke’s solo album ‘Eraser’. Confused yet?! I certainly was. To top it all off, I shit you not, at one stage he gives his own personal Kid A/mnesiac playlist, going through each song in the track listing justifying his selections! Mate, this is not a one-sided chat between two Radiohead enthusiasts; this is a professionally published book. Was the editor on vacation?
What else? Oh, an obvious man crush on Radiohead guitarist, Ed O’Brien, who must’ve once, regrettably, given the reviewer the time of day and unknowingly become his good mate in the process, and a strange comment on ‘Morning Bell’ being the only song from the titular album that you could have sex to…?? Tell us you’ve never had sex without telling us you’ve never had sex (This is non-sensical, I’m pretty sure he’s married with kids).
There is some MILDLY interesting discussion on how the album was ahead of it’s time and was shit-canned by a bunch of reviewers who have since changed their tune, not wanting to be known as the idiot who didn’t “get it” at the time. This is nothing new though. Radiohead were trying to escape the pigeon hole they’d been placed in after the release of album’s such as ‘The Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’ had established them as Guitar Rock Gods and there was the typical backlash from critics and fans alike. The same thing happened to Dylan when he dumped the folkey sound for electric on ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ and, earlier still, Beethoven was received less than enthusiastically by many as he single-handedly (E)volutionised (a phrase I attribute to composer and biographer Jan Swafford) Classical Music and provided the integral link between what we now perceive as the “classical” and “romantic” eras. In other words, true genius is rarely appreciated as much as it should be in its own time.
I would like to take a positive from this reading experience and an obvious one that comes to mind is my increased focus, over the last couple of days on Elvis Costello and Talking Heads (both mentioned on numerous occasions, for good reason, in the book). I was familiar with both but only with a kind of shallow, “best of” knowledge and have since listened to a couple of phenomenal albums by both. Talking Heads, in particular, feel like possibly the biggest oversight in all my long years of listening to music.
I don’t foresee myself reading any further on Radiohead, unless of course one of the band members decides to write an autobiography and given that the two I’d be most interested in hearing from are Thom and Jonny, this is unlikely to ever occur. Bye for now.
October 10, 2020
How do you make a book about “Kid A” mediocre? In this case, spend only about a third of the book directly discussing its subject, include no information that couldn’t be gleaned from a few minutes at a fan site, and fill the remaining pages with opinionated and often incorrect tidbits about the rest of Radiohead’s career.
I was excited to read this, and it was super disappointing.
I was excited to read this, and it was super disappointing.
September 10, 2022
dnf @ 70% literally i know i was so close to the end but this man's genius annotation analysis of "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon" was my last straw. followed only by the bit where he makes a playlist combining kid a and amnesiac and feels the need to explain his track ordering like can you please do that on your own time......literally all of this could've just been a diary entry. it's obviously hard to write about music when it's so personal to you, but staking the entire thesis of your book on personal context does not a convincing argument make
also bc im not done complaining, other minor gripes: little to no original reporting whatsoever, writes like anyone under the age of 30 doesnt 'get' the year 2000/the history of the late 90s, endless annoying puns and unrelated tangents. like please either get an editor or structure this properly man cmon
also bc im not done complaining, other minor gripes: little to no original reporting whatsoever, writes like anyone under the age of 30 doesnt 'get' the year 2000/the history of the late 90s, endless annoying puns and unrelated tangents. like please either get an editor or structure this properly man cmon
Read
April 24, 2021wish I took anything as seriously as this guy takes radiohead
March 4, 2021
Diciamo che non è la storia di "Kid A" né un vero e proprio saggio musicale.
Sembra di leggere un lunghissimo post di un blog musicale scritto da un fanboy dei Radiohead che troppo spesso finisce col divagare su altro.
La lettura comunque scorre bene e ha momenti brillanti e altri curiosi legati alla band inglese.
Sembra di leggere un lunghissimo post di un blog musicale scritto da un fanboy dei Radiohead che troppo spesso finisce col divagare su altro.
La lettura comunque scorre bene e ha momenti brillanti e altri curiosi legati alla band inglese.
September 26, 2020
Essential reading for the generation born 1977-83. Perfectly encapsulates our pre-millennium anxieties through this album – which we felt in our bones when listening to this band on albums and in mind-blowing concerts. Having spent this time following the band during this time, I feel this book is a great way for the new generation to experience Radiohead through its proper lens – as prescient hyper-sonic prophecies.
June 15, 2025
In the fall of 2000 I was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin. Me and my four roommates (Jill, Jill, Betsy, and Nick) were Radiohead fans. We had a giant Radiohead poster on the living room wall. Ok Computer and The Bends were in heavy rotation. And we were eagerly awaiting Radiohead’s new album, due that October.
It had been three years since Ok Computer and nobody knew what the hell Radiohead were up to. A few vague reports surfaced on internet message boards, and in tiny blurbs in Spin and Rolling Stone. Apparently they’d recorded with a jazz ensemble in New Orleans. And with a string orchestra. But none of the reports that I saw dampened my fervent hopes that they were about to drop anything other than Ok Computer Part 2, and I couldn't wait.
Ok Computer was transformative for me, expanding my conception of what music could be and what an album could accomplish. I had never heard anything like it: the chiming guitars, the compressed drums, the glitches and ambient noise, the creepy mellotron vocals. It was like Dorothy waking up in technicolor.
It’s difficult to convey to millennials, raised on Travis and Coldplay, just how revolutionary that album was at the time. The impact of any watershed moment in popular culture, whether it’s Sgt. Pepper or The Matrix, gets diluted by the legion of imitators that follow. Innovations breed imitation; originality becomes a cliche. But when it first hit shelves Ok Computer sounded like music from another universe.
One night in September, my friend Matt showed up at the door of my apartment, unannounced. We’d been listening to Radiohead since high school. In fact, I was with Matt the first time I ever heard Radiohead, when the video for “Paranoid Android” came on VH1 late one night, with cartoon bondage UN negotiators chopping their own legs off. That was a helluva introduction.
“Hey Pete,” he said, waving a blank CD in my face, “Do you want to hear the new Radiohead album?”
Kid A had leaked online, and Matt had burnt a copy. “Holy balls!” I grabbed the CD from him, marched to the living room stereo, and was about to fire it up, when my roommate Jill, overhearing the conversation, stopped me. “Wait, Pete. We want to hear this album too.”
The following fifteen minutes felt like an eternity, as my roommates summoned one another, gathered in the living room, deployed pillows and blankets on the floor, turned off the lights, lit candles, closed the curtains, poured wine, and settled in - this entire time with me in front of the stereo sighing audibly and bouncing impatiently from foot to foot, not unlike a child who has to pee but is told to wait for the bathroom.
Finally, we were ready. I hit play and curled up on the couch. The six of us listened to the entire album straight through, without saying a word. It was a nice moment, in hindsight the kind of moment that will (almost certainly) never happen again: surrounded by friends, each of us hearing for the first time this massively anticipated cultural artifact that was the focus of the world's attention.
I can’t remember their first impressions clearly. I think a few of them were blown away, but I was mystified. It definitely wasn’t Ok Computer Part 2. There weren’t any epic guitar solos or soaring vocals. I immediately liked “How To Disappear Completely”, though that high soft string tone in the background, like the hum of a broken refrigerator, was unsettling. And I loved “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” unreservedly, upon first listen. The rest of the album just confused me. I felt a bit “let down” (rimshot).
So when Kid A came out, a few weeks later, I didn’t buy it. My roommates did though, and it was in constant rotation in our apartment that fall. I probably heard it 40 times, without intending to. And a funny thing happened. It got stuck in my head. I’d find myself walking to class in the snow, humming “This is really happening, it’s happening!” Or “What was that you tried to say?” The album was catchy. It had earworms. I finally bought my own copy long after it came and out, and fell in love with it.
And I’ve never stopped listening to it. Even Ok Computer is kind of worn out for me. I’ve heard that album so many times that there are “no surprises” left (zing). I still love it, it’s genius, it’s easily in my top five albums of all time, and if pressed I would say it’s a better album than Kid A , and arguably the greatest rock album of all time. But I’m at the point where I only really need to listen to Ok Computer once per year. Kid A still feels fresh, and I keep the CD in my car in case my iPod dies because I am always in the mood to listen to it. It’s astonishing: that album is 20 years old but it could have been recorded yesterday. It sounds more contemporary than James Blake or Moses Sumney (artists whom I enjoy).
I never stopped hoping that Radiohead would release another rock album, and they sorta did, with In Rainbows. But every album they’ve done since has a few Kid A moments on it, for better (“Videotape”) or for worse (“The Gloaming”). I think they could have cut “The Gloaming” from Hail To The Thief, honestly, and improved the album.
I suppose I should talk about the book. It’s about Kid A. But it’s more about the buildup to the album, the way it was covered in the press when it first came out, the mixed reactions, and the cultural real estate it now occupies as a harbinger of our techno-dystopian, post-truth society.
I also read Your Favorite Band Sucks by the author and that was fun. Steven Hyden is similar to Chuck Klosterman, though Hyden is probably sick to death of that comparison the way Coldplay is sick of Radiohead comparisons, but while I dislike Coldplay I will read everything Steven Hyden ever writes if he keeps this streak up.
Here are some quotes:
“If Kid A rescued Radiohead from being known strictly as a ‘90s band, In Rainbows ensured that they would belong to multiple generations. The uniqueness of this achievement can’t be overstated. Virtually no other band from Radiohead’s peer group was able to pull it off. While there are fans of Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, and R.E.M. from younger generations, it’s generally understood that those are Gen-X bands. Their classic work was released during a relatively concentrated period of time, usually over the course of a decade. For Radiohead, there’s a similar span of time between OK Computer and In Rainbows. And yet that decade, which straddles two centuries, also represents a very long bridge between two completely different eras. There was no guarantee that a twenty-one-year-old in 2007 was going to care about OK Computer and Kid A. But In Rainbows connected that person to those records.”
“When you heard Radiohead, you were reminded that no matter how cool you looked in shades and a leather jacket, or how entertained you were by watching VH1 for five hours straight, it would not make the world any less frightening. The whole point of their records was that there were no answers, because the beasts at the door were vicious and defiantly post-logic. No rational argument or stirring protest song was going to quell them . . . Radiohead ultimately made it impossible to buy into rock music as a viable means of salvation.”
“If you’re in a band that has spanned multiple decades, and even multiple centuries, you will have accumulated a past that stretches as far back as the future once seemed when you were young. Which is why, as you get older, you start to care less about where you’re going. Instead, you’re more interested in figuring out how you got where you are.”
It had been three years since Ok Computer and nobody knew what the hell Radiohead were up to. A few vague reports surfaced on internet message boards, and in tiny blurbs in Spin and Rolling Stone. Apparently they’d recorded with a jazz ensemble in New Orleans. And with a string orchestra. But none of the reports that I saw dampened my fervent hopes that they were about to drop anything other than Ok Computer Part 2, and I couldn't wait.
Ok Computer was transformative for me, expanding my conception of what music could be and what an album could accomplish. I had never heard anything like it: the chiming guitars, the compressed drums, the glitches and ambient noise, the creepy mellotron vocals. It was like Dorothy waking up in technicolor.
It’s difficult to convey to millennials, raised on Travis and Coldplay, just how revolutionary that album was at the time. The impact of any watershed moment in popular culture, whether it’s Sgt. Pepper or The Matrix, gets diluted by the legion of imitators that follow. Innovations breed imitation; originality becomes a cliche. But when it first hit shelves Ok Computer sounded like music from another universe.
One night in September, my friend Matt showed up at the door of my apartment, unannounced. We’d been listening to Radiohead since high school. In fact, I was with Matt the first time I ever heard Radiohead, when the video for “Paranoid Android” came on VH1 late one night, with cartoon bondage UN negotiators chopping their own legs off. That was a helluva introduction.
“Hey Pete,” he said, waving a blank CD in my face, “Do you want to hear the new Radiohead album?”
Kid A had leaked online, and Matt had burnt a copy. “Holy balls!” I grabbed the CD from him, marched to the living room stereo, and was about to fire it up, when my roommate Jill, overhearing the conversation, stopped me. “Wait, Pete. We want to hear this album too.”
The following fifteen minutes felt like an eternity, as my roommates summoned one another, gathered in the living room, deployed pillows and blankets on the floor, turned off the lights, lit candles, closed the curtains, poured wine, and settled in - this entire time with me in front of the stereo sighing audibly and bouncing impatiently from foot to foot, not unlike a child who has to pee but is told to wait for the bathroom.
Finally, we were ready. I hit play and curled up on the couch. The six of us listened to the entire album straight through, without saying a word. It was a nice moment, in hindsight the kind of moment that will (almost certainly) never happen again: surrounded by friends, each of us hearing for the first time this massively anticipated cultural artifact that was the focus of the world's attention.
I can’t remember their first impressions clearly. I think a few of them were blown away, but I was mystified. It definitely wasn’t Ok Computer Part 2. There weren’t any epic guitar solos or soaring vocals. I immediately liked “How To Disappear Completely”, though that high soft string tone in the background, like the hum of a broken refrigerator, was unsettling. And I loved “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” unreservedly, upon first listen. The rest of the album just confused me. I felt a bit “let down” (rimshot).
So when Kid A came out, a few weeks later, I didn’t buy it. My roommates did though, and it was in constant rotation in our apartment that fall. I probably heard it 40 times, without intending to. And a funny thing happened. It got stuck in my head. I’d find myself walking to class in the snow, humming “This is really happening, it’s happening!” Or “What was that you tried to say?” The album was catchy. It had earworms. I finally bought my own copy long after it came and out, and fell in love with it.
And I’ve never stopped listening to it. Even Ok Computer is kind of worn out for me. I’ve heard that album so many times that there are “no surprises” left (zing). I still love it, it’s genius, it’s easily in my top five albums of all time, and if pressed I would say it’s a better album than Kid A , and arguably the greatest rock album of all time. But I’m at the point where I only really need to listen to Ok Computer once per year. Kid A still feels fresh, and I keep the CD in my car in case my iPod dies because I am always in the mood to listen to it. It’s astonishing: that album is 20 years old but it could have been recorded yesterday. It sounds more contemporary than James Blake or Moses Sumney (artists whom I enjoy).
I never stopped hoping that Radiohead would release another rock album, and they sorta did, with In Rainbows. But every album they’ve done since has a few Kid A moments on it, for better (“Videotape”) or for worse (“The Gloaming”). I think they could have cut “The Gloaming” from Hail To The Thief, honestly, and improved the album.
I suppose I should talk about the book. It’s about Kid A. But it’s more about the buildup to the album, the way it was covered in the press when it first came out, the mixed reactions, and the cultural real estate it now occupies as a harbinger of our techno-dystopian, post-truth society.
I also read Your Favorite Band Sucks by the author and that was fun. Steven Hyden is similar to Chuck Klosterman, though Hyden is probably sick to death of that comparison the way Coldplay is sick of Radiohead comparisons, but while I dislike Coldplay I will read everything Steven Hyden ever writes if he keeps this streak up.
Here are some quotes:
“If Kid A rescued Radiohead from being known strictly as a ‘90s band, In Rainbows ensured that they would belong to multiple generations. The uniqueness of this achievement can’t be overstated. Virtually no other band from Radiohead’s peer group was able to pull it off. While there are fans of Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, and R.E.M. from younger generations, it’s generally understood that those are Gen-X bands. Their classic work was released during a relatively concentrated period of time, usually over the course of a decade. For Radiohead, there’s a similar span of time between OK Computer and In Rainbows. And yet that decade, which straddles two centuries, also represents a very long bridge between two completely different eras. There was no guarantee that a twenty-one-year-old in 2007 was going to care about OK Computer and Kid A. But In Rainbows connected that person to those records.”
“When you heard Radiohead, you were reminded that no matter how cool you looked in shades and a leather jacket, or how entertained you were by watching VH1 for five hours straight, it would not make the world any less frightening. The whole point of their records was that there were no answers, because the beasts at the door were vicious and defiantly post-logic. No rational argument or stirring protest song was going to quell them . . . Radiohead ultimately made it impossible to buy into rock music as a viable means of salvation.”
“If you’re in a band that has spanned multiple decades, and even multiple centuries, you will have accumulated a past that stretches as far back as the future once seemed when you were young. Which is why, as you get older, you start to care less about where you’re going. Instead, you’re more interested in figuring out how you got where you are.”
December 1, 2021
Overall a fun, easy read, though some chapters are much stronger than others. The writer is a Radiohead super-fan and his passion and excitement is infectious, though some sections, such as one where he dedicates multiple pages to detailing his fantasy track list for an album that combines songs from Kid A & Amnesiac, feel eminently skippable. The book goes fairly deep into the mythology around the band, and for a casual-ish fan like myself, these sections are very informative. So much so that at times, the book appears to completely abandon its own thesis statement - that Kid A functions as 'an overture for the chaos and confusion of the twenty-first century' - only to tenuously circle back to this in a way that across 10 chapters, can feel very forced.
The book is most compelling when exploring broader subjects like legacy and longevity in modern guitar bands, chronicling the gestation of Kid A and Radiohead's other more recent works, and contrasting the initially mixed reception to that album with its high cultural standing today. However, the attempts to tie Kid A's legacy and impact in with the age of the Internet feel vastly under-researched, mostly comprised of personal opinion and broad pop-cultural signifiers, and the author does acknowledge the limitations of this viewpoint repeatedly. It's a shame as there's definitely something to the idea, it's just not fleshed out enough to justify building a book around it.
Far from essential and quite flawed, but a fun read for the casual Radiohead fan.
The book is most compelling when exploring broader subjects like legacy and longevity in modern guitar bands, chronicling the gestation of Kid A and Radiohead's other more recent works, and contrasting the initially mixed reception to that album with its high cultural standing today. However, the attempts to tie Kid A's legacy and impact in with the age of the Internet feel vastly under-researched, mostly comprised of personal opinion and broad pop-cultural signifiers, and the author does acknowledge the limitations of this viewpoint repeatedly. It's a shame as there's definitely something to the idea, it's just not fleshed out enough to justify building a book around it.
Far from essential and quite flawed, but a fun read for the casual Radiohead fan.
June 29, 2022
The bad reviews make sense. It seems inevitable to me that Radiohead fans will hate a fellow Radiohead fan’s book – alienation’s the name of the game here, after all. It would almost be a badge of honour for a Kid A book to divide the fanbase, if it weren’t for the fact that that fanbase is already defensive, cynical, nostalgic, etc. (speaking from my own membership).
But if you can recognize that defensive impulse, and if you’re ok with several questionable tangents, then there’s a lot to appreciate here. Hyden is thoughtful and articulate, with a wealth of knowledge to contribute, even though none of his takes are super surprising.
I’ll say it’s worth your time, but don’t expect anything radical.
But if you can recognize that defensive impulse, and if you’re ok with several questionable tangents, then there’s a lot to appreciate here. Hyden is thoughtful and articulate, with a wealth of knowledge to contribute, even though none of his takes are super surprising.
I’ll say it’s worth your time, but don’t expect anything radical.
January 28, 2023
I thought it was going to suck, and then thought it was going to be great, then thought it was terrible and I have to conclude that.... it's pretty average. 2.5 stars
(sorry it's a bit of a rant)
I think Radiohead are brilliant. The first time heard Kid A I thought it was too weird, but now I like it. I watch the live videos, downloaded the Kid A Mnesia exhibition. I too have my ideas about what the songs might mean, how did they write that, how are they getting that sound, what makes this song particularly emotional sounding, like I thought I was a pretty invested fan. But this guy...
Obviously he feels a real connection with Radiohead which is cool, I guess, but so much of this book was his own opinions about it and a variety of very random comparisons to other bands and movies and stuff that happened to him. The first part of the book was how Thom Yorke had a mental breakdown over the stress of touring which I found really off-putting, I want to read about music not musician's personal lives. Then followed by a really long part about Pablo Honey and Creep which was totally unnessecary. At some point he says something like 'if you're reading a book about Kid A you've probably read this nutty essay about some conspiracy it's part of' (um no, I haven't), and yet still feels the need to tell us all about how much they hated creep and what a drag it was when we already know this. Even people who only know like three Radiohead songs know that they don't like playing creep. He could've talked more about Jonny Greenwood's use of synthesizer and drum machines, their use of both sampling and orchestration on Kid A, but no we got fifty pages about Pablo Honey which most people agree is kinda average anyways.
And then at some point he says about how Amnesiac was a bit disappointing because it didn't develop any of the ideas from Kid A at all. It was literally recorded at the same time. It's the same music. It says so on the back of the cd, 'These recordings were made on location at the same time as Kid A'. It two parts of the same concept. I know this was published in 2020, but in 2021 they both combined with the extra disc as Kid A Mnesiac which sort of solidifies that.
There were so many random side tangents which usually in a book I find fascinating but they were a bit disconnected, I don't know what the lead-ins to the Strokes, Linkin Park, the fight club movie, and the other random movies were but that felt like random filler. There was a lot about the author's life as well, in music books I don't mind a bit of that but there was a lot of it.
The 'beginning of the 21st century' bit I didn't understand. A lot of musing over y2k dread and the predicted rise of the internet and also a whole bunch of stuff I read without absorbing a single word of.
He also did the whole 'if you weren't between the ages of 18 and 25 in 2000 you won't understand, none of the music magazines understand, look we're so alternative and misunderstood' thing which was annoying. One of the reviews (of a live show including the new Kid A songs, Mojo magazine august 2000) he describes as 'scathing' when it's actually a pretty good review, if slightly bemused by some of the material, actually describes the songs pretty well. There were just a few comments about some of the jam-ier songs being a bit formless and meandering, which isn't actually always a bad thing, or wrong. "Radiohead are the most imaginative and powerful band we have" it says. Which is, you know, an endorsement. To be fair, the same journalist then changed his mind later and said he didn't like the album when it came out, but it's not for everyone. Lots of people don't like it and lots of people really do, but the author seems to take the position that people who don't like it just don't understand it, which is sort of pretentious.
However - the end did get better. A bit. More music talk less other stuff. I did learn some things overall, how the recording of In Rainbows was actually really hard which is surprising 'cause most of the record is so chill, the lyrics for Kid A / Amnesia are indeed cut and pasted out of everything that was written, that Thom bought all these virtually unknown electronic records after he got bored of guitar music. Weirdly the author didn't mention the influence of Björk, Portishead, or Massive Attack once, despite it being well known that they're influences, instead choosing to mention Aphex Twin over and over as the inspiration for using more electronic bits.
It could have been so cool. There were some bits I liked, but there were also some bits I really didn't. Sorry Steven Hyden.
(sorry it's a bit of a rant)
I think Radiohead are brilliant. The first time heard Kid A I thought it was too weird, but now I like it. I watch the live videos, downloaded the Kid A Mnesia exhibition. I too have my ideas about what the songs might mean, how did they write that, how are they getting that sound, what makes this song particularly emotional sounding, like I thought I was a pretty invested fan. But this guy...
Obviously he feels a real connection with Radiohead which is cool, I guess, but so much of this book was his own opinions about it and a variety of very random comparisons to other bands and movies and stuff that happened to him. The first part of the book was how Thom Yorke had a mental breakdown over the stress of touring which I found really off-putting, I want to read about music not musician's personal lives. Then followed by a really long part about Pablo Honey and Creep which was totally unnessecary. At some point he says something like 'if you're reading a book about Kid A you've probably read this nutty essay about some conspiracy it's part of' (um no, I haven't), and yet still feels the need to tell us all about how much they hated creep and what a drag it was when we already know this. Even people who only know like three Radiohead songs know that they don't like playing creep. He could've talked more about Jonny Greenwood's use of synthesizer and drum machines, their use of both sampling and orchestration on Kid A, but no we got fifty pages about Pablo Honey which most people agree is kinda average anyways.
And then at some point he says about how Amnesiac was a bit disappointing because it didn't develop any of the ideas from Kid A at all. It was literally recorded at the same time. It's the same music. It says so on the back of the cd, 'These recordings were made on location at the same time as Kid A'. It two parts of the same concept. I know this was published in 2020, but in 2021 they both combined with the extra disc as Kid A Mnesiac which sort of solidifies that.
There were so many random side tangents which usually in a book I find fascinating but they were a bit disconnected, I don't know what the lead-ins to the Strokes, Linkin Park, the fight club movie, and the other random movies were but that felt like random filler. There was a lot about the author's life as well, in music books I don't mind a bit of that but there was a lot of it.
The 'beginning of the 21st century' bit I didn't understand. A lot of musing over y2k dread and the predicted rise of the internet and also a whole bunch of stuff I read without absorbing a single word of.
He also did the whole 'if you weren't between the ages of 18 and 25 in 2000 you won't understand, none of the music magazines understand, look we're so alternative and misunderstood' thing which was annoying. One of the reviews (of a live show including the new Kid A songs, Mojo magazine august 2000) he describes as 'scathing' when it's actually a pretty good review, if slightly bemused by some of the material, actually describes the songs pretty well. There were just a few comments about some of the jam-ier songs being a bit formless and meandering, which isn't actually always a bad thing, or wrong. "Radiohead are the most imaginative and powerful band we have" it says. Which is, you know, an endorsement. To be fair, the same journalist then changed his mind later and said he didn't like the album when it came out, but it's not for everyone. Lots of people don't like it and lots of people really do, but the author seems to take the position that people who don't like it just don't understand it, which is sort of pretentious.
However - the end did get better. A bit. More music talk less other stuff. I did learn some things overall, how the recording of In Rainbows was actually really hard which is surprising 'cause most of the record is so chill, the lyrics for Kid A / Amnesia are indeed cut and pasted out of everything that was written, that Thom bought all these virtually unknown electronic records after he got bored of guitar music. Weirdly the author didn't mention the influence of Björk, Portishead, or Massive Attack once, despite it being well known that they're influences, instead choosing to mention Aphex Twin over and over as the inspiration for using more electronic bits.
It could have been so cool. There were some bits I liked, but there were also some bits I really didn't. Sorry Steven Hyden.
November 12, 2020
While Kid A is the heart of the book, this is really a career overview of Radiohead from Pablo Honey to Moon Shaped Pool. It's written in a breezy, conversational style by a person who knows a whole heck of a lot about Radiohead. In fact, this reads like a pub argument over Radiohead's merits, complete with quotes and reviews.
Usually, these types of books are an easy 3 star and done. Though I quibble with minor points (King of Limbs a bad album?), there is a lot of insight into the band without being hagiographic. There is a whole chapter on Ed O'Brien (the secret weapon of the band) as well as diversions (some good, some esoteric) into pop culture, politics, and other developments in music. The Strokes make an appearance in a direct comparison (it makes sense when you read it), as well as the relevant politics that Radiohead was railing against in the 90s and the aughts. While I can usually take or leave these types of books, I really liked this one. It's well done and Hyden is likeable even when I disagree. If you were interested by the title, and you love Radiohead, this book is absolutely worth the read! Could be devoured in an afternoon, preferably with Radiohead on your player.
Usually, these types of books are an easy 3 star and done. Though I quibble with minor points (King of Limbs a bad album?), there is a lot of insight into the band without being hagiographic. There is a whole chapter on Ed O'Brien (the secret weapon of the band) as well as diversions (some good, some esoteric) into pop culture, politics, and other developments in music. The Strokes make an appearance in a direct comparison (it makes sense when you read it), as well as the relevant politics that Radiohead was railing against in the 90s and the aughts. While I can usually take or leave these types of books, I really liked this one. It's well done and Hyden is likeable even when I disagree. If you were interested by the title, and you love Radiohead, this book is absolutely worth the read! Could be devoured in an afternoon, preferably with Radiohead on your player.
October 5, 2020
In a modern example of life imitating art, Hyden argues that the aesthetic of Kid A anticipated our collective discomfort with social media, and is therefore something of a work of prophecy:
And
Never mind that feelings of alienation from technology in modern society date back as far as T.S. Eliot, and say more about broader circumstances than the vagaries of a particular technology. Or that the glitchy, low-fidelity digitalism of Kid A doesn’t really aesthetically anticipate the slick gamification of Web 2.0 apps (look how stretched his examples are…). It is unavoidably true is that the emotional wheel of our culture today has turned towards paranoia, alienation, and powerlessness. And these feelings resonate strongly in Radiohead’s music.
Hyden seems to admit he’s working on a thin premise. Rather than develop any criticism of 2020’s web culture, the book quickly devolves into the usual Rockstar hagiography, even somehow fitting brief reviews of almost every Radiohead album into a book that was purportedly about just one.
When he gets around to a study of Kid A track-by-track, he eventually plants his flag in the one side of the literary criticism debate that gives him the most room to fit Kid A to his purposes:
Probably a more generous position is not that an artist’s intention doesn’t matter, but that we can understand their intention to be more emotional, and less conceptually precise, than a cultural critic would prefer. Hyden frequently points to the conceptually “shallow” political opinions the band members expressed in interviews, but he fails to explain that this is actually OK. Most instances of art, even arguably “political art”, don’t need an exact message. Sometimes their resonance with circumstances with later years can be purely coincidental.
Many of Hyden’s opinions tend to say more about the critic than his subject. Sometimes, his writing is so far-fetched (how could he know what Thom Yorke really thinks about his own career?) that it reads more like a projection of his own neuroses than anything to do with his subjects:
Because as much as Kid A enticed listeners in 2000, because it seemed to herald an exciting, shadowy future, we keep returning to Kid A all these years later, because it radiates like a beacon illuminating distant versions of ourselves.
And
When people hear Everything in its right place in the future, it won’t sound alien or cold or difficult. It will evoke glitchy cell reception and patchy Wi-Fi, and decontextualized social media updates, and the modern reality of omni-present technological interconnectivity, at the expense of genuine human connection. It will eventually seem logical, even the parts that aren’t supposed to seem logical. It will sound like screaming at your neighbors and never being heard, in an online landscape that is as dark, disorderly, and foreboding as a Stanley Donwood album cover.
Never mind that feelings of alienation from technology in modern society date back as far as T.S. Eliot, and say more about broader circumstances than the vagaries of a particular technology. Or that the glitchy, low-fidelity digitalism of Kid A doesn’t really aesthetically anticipate the slick gamification of Web 2.0 apps (look how stretched his examples are…). It is unavoidably true is that the emotional wheel of our culture today has turned towards paranoia, alienation, and powerlessness. And these feelings resonate strongly in Radiohead’s music.
Hyden seems to admit he’s working on a thin premise. Rather than develop any criticism of 2020’s web culture, the book quickly devolves into the usual Rockstar hagiography, even somehow fitting brief reviews of almost every Radiohead album into a book that was purportedly about just one.
When he gets around to a study of Kid A track-by-track, he eventually plants his flag in the one side of the literary criticism debate that gives him the most room to fit Kid A to his purposes:
… it ultimately doesn’t matter what the artist intended. Meanings can exist whether the creator consciously put them there or not. Sometimes, an artist can put things into their work without realizing it. Or the audience might hear or see things that aren’t “supposed” to be there, but are made real because “we” put them there. In this context, even a lack of “meaning” is meaningful. Kid A unfolds exactly as the Internet does. It is obscure and inexplicable and moves relentlessly forward without bothering to explain itself, offering no context outside of our own personal biases, opinions, and limited consciousness. And yet… we understand it intuitively. We’ve all become postmodern interpreters of the world, gleaning meaning from the accidental juxtapositions of disconnected data that come across our social media feeds. Things no longer have to make sense for us to make sense of them. We can make our own realities. They report, we decide. In a way, listening to this album so much in 2000 prepared millions of brains for how to perceive “normal” reality as it would come to be defined in the twenty-first century. It’s why Kid A sounds like classic rock now.
Probably a more generous position is not that an artist’s intention doesn’t matter, but that we can understand their intention to be more emotional, and less conceptually precise, than a cultural critic would prefer. Hyden frequently points to the conceptually “shallow” political opinions the band members expressed in interviews, but he fails to explain that this is actually OK. Most instances of art, even arguably “political art”, don’t need an exact message. Sometimes their resonance with circumstances with later years can be purely coincidental.
Many of Hyden’s opinions tend to say more about the critic than his subject. Sometimes, his writing is so far-fetched (how could he know what Thom Yorke really thinks about his own career?) that it reads more like a projection of his own neuroses than anything to do with his subjects:
If you’re in a band that has spanned multiple decades, and even multiple centuries, you will have accumulated a past that stretches as far back as the future once seemed when you were young. Which is why, as you get older, you start to care less about where you’re going. Instead, you’re more interested in figuring out how you got where you are. You realize there are parts of yourself that you no longer recognize, or even remember once existed. The past is at once familiar and weirdly unfamiliar. If you delve deep enough, you might find that you don’t really know who you ever really were. You’ll also discover the ways in which you’ve never changed, even from the time you were a child, your very own Kid A.
June 10, 2024
not a single thing written in this book that i didn’t already know. FLOP
December 17, 2020
You don't expect to get a lot of laughs from a book with a title like This Isn't Happening: Radiohead's Kid A and the Beginning of the 21st Century. I had a literal LOL moment early on, though, when author Steven Hyden asked rhetorically, "Is it possible that I take Kid A way too seriously?"
There is, of course, virtually zero chance that anyone who would even contemplate cracking a book about the music of the 2000s would accuse any critic of taking any Radiohead album, especially that one, too seriously. Both Pitchfork and Rolling Stone named Kid A (2000) the greatest album of the decade 2000-2009, and there are still plenty of critics who would argue it's not as good as The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), and/or In Rainbows (2007). You're safe, Steve.
I reviewed This Isn't Happening for The Current.
There is, of course, virtually zero chance that anyone who would even contemplate cracking a book about the music of the 2000s would accuse any critic of taking any Radiohead album, especially that one, too seriously. Both Pitchfork and Rolling Stone named Kid A (2000) the greatest album of the decade 2000-2009, and there are still plenty of critics who would argue it's not as good as The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), and/or In Rainbows (2007). You're safe, Steve.
I reviewed This Isn't Happening for The Current.
January 27, 2021
The writing will not blow you away...kind of like a long article/blog...but the content is super fun and interesting for mega-fans of Thom and the boys. You will listen to Radiohead's catalogue with new ears after reading. Also, there is an interesting thread tracing the roots of our current/emerging dystopia.
October 21, 2021
It was harmless as a pedestrian Radiohead fan, but I was still bothered by how aimless this went and how corny the writing got. But I wanted to read about Kid A and I got to read about Kid A sometimes!
March 17, 2021
This one is far all the Radiohead fans. It’s not just a history of Kid-A, but goes through their whole discography along with social commentary
April 18, 2022
Kid A or OK Computer? That’s a hard call
June 12, 2023
I’ve been doing a deep dive into Radiohead’s music recently. I’ve often listened to Kid A, but not spent time with other albums. Music reviewer Stephen Hyde places Kid A as a turning point not only for the band but for popular music as it was released on the cusp of downloading and streaming music (as opposed to purchasing physical copies of a recording).
Hayden marks the trajectory of the band, noting what makes each album unique and how the recordings build on each other. It’s a personal journey for the author, and while I’m quite a bit older than him, I understand his enthusiasm and interest in facets of the band’s career, and how the band keeps tearing itself apart musically to move forward. Only a fan would write a book like this, but it’s not hagiography.
Almost as interesting as the elements that went into the making of Kid A is what happens to the band in subsequent years as members age, form families and begin to work on separate projects. This book isn’t Hammer of the Gods, and the band’s history and lifestyle aren’t particularly lurid. It’s all about the music, and that’s part of the band’s appeal.
This Isn’t Happening is a fascinatingly layered book that nicely captures the band’s place in music history and Hyde’s music life. Recommended, regardless of how you feel about guitar bands or art-rock (or prog-rock, if you want to start a conversation…)
Hayden marks the trajectory of the band, noting what makes each album unique and how the recordings build on each other. It’s a personal journey for the author, and while I’m quite a bit older than him, I understand his enthusiasm and interest in facets of the band’s career, and how the band keeps tearing itself apart musically to move forward. Only a fan would write a book like this, but it’s not hagiography.
Almost as interesting as the elements that went into the making of Kid A is what happens to the band in subsequent years as members age, form families and begin to work on separate projects. This book isn’t Hammer of the Gods, and the band’s history and lifestyle aren’t particularly lurid. It’s all about the music, and that’s part of the band’s appeal.
This Isn’t Happening is a fascinatingly layered book that nicely captures the band’s place in music history and Hyde’s music life. Recommended, regardless of how you feel about guitar bands or art-rock (or prog-rock, if you want to start a conversation…)
July 2, 2024
It's very flawed, messy and full of tangents and questionable takes, but overall I still enjoyed it the second time around. What this book is not is an in-depth analysis of the dry musical elements of Kid A - for that I'd recommend Letts' How to Disappear Completely or Osborn's Everything in its Right Place. Rather, it is a lively and colourful account of how the album fits into, reflects and impacts on its cultural climate, which is just as (more?) important to this album's legacy and meaning as the music itself.
October 8, 2020
Great fanboy book about Kid A and how it’s a prescient artifact for a changing world. A few too many puns for my taste, but a fun read for longtime Radiohead fans.
January 16, 2024
This was enjoyable as a fan of the band, but the writing is a little hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes, it’s pretentious in the right ways (I am a Radiohead fan, after all). Other times, it’s pretentious in the wrong ways.
I don’t particularly enjoy the author’s humor, either.
This book does have some interesting commentary on the shifting place this album fills in our collective experiences.
Oh, and one more thing: I’m gonna need this man to cool it with his TKOL takes.
I don’t particularly enjoy the author’s humor, either.
This book does have some interesting commentary on the shifting place this album fills in our collective experiences.
Oh, and one more thing: I’m gonna need this man to cool it with his TKOL takes.
Read
August 20, 2024Need an account of In Rainbows now to counteract the dread and despair Kid A instills within me
October 9, 2020
I have never literally hugged a book after reading it until this one. Steven Hyden is a master with words and a true scholar of all things Radiohead. I learned a lot about my favorite band of all time reading this book, but it was also like looking through photos of my life. I hugged this book for the 13-year-old who heard "Creep" for the first time in her bedroom listening to the radio, for the 15 year-old who lost her mind when she first heard OK Computer, the confused and anxious 18-year-old trying to grapple with the series of events that occurred in the beginning of the new millennia, and the content 23-year-old who felt the eyes of a new and forever love turn her as they did in Weird Fishes. If my life needed a soundtrack, it would be all Radiohead and I'm so delighted there's a book out there that is able to translate all of that.
October 21, 2020
It is not a poorly written book.
But it is so... uninteresting.
I bought it clearly to learn more about the story behind "Kid A".
We all know, if we buy this book, who Radiohead are, when they recorded it, after which album, and I mean, some context of the years they were living in it's fine, but when over 200 pages just 40 are about "Kid A" and partially "Amnesiac" (oh, and even forgetting to speak about important b-sides such as "The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy" for example, or not reporting more the diary entries which were such a huge element to see Radiohead were going in and out from their crisis, instead of writing about how he felt because of "Anyone Can Play Guitar"), I really found myself pissed off.
The book spans through the whole career talking loads about "Pablo Honey" and "In Rainbows" because the author is a fan of such albums. Good for him - being born in 1983 I lived myself the times he was speaking of and I recall when "Kid A" hit the shelves. But this book in the end does not deliver the goods and is pretty much a waste of money. He could have done so much better!!!
If you want a much better book than this where the Radiohead argument is way more discussed, I recommend you Exit Music by MAC RANDALL.
There you find a much more detailed book about everything. Including Kid A and Amnesiac.
But it is so... uninteresting.
I bought it clearly to learn more about the story behind "Kid A".
We all know, if we buy this book, who Radiohead are, when they recorded it, after which album, and I mean, some context of the years they were living in it's fine, but when over 200 pages just 40 are about "Kid A" and partially "Amnesiac" (oh, and even forgetting to speak about important b-sides such as "The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy" for example, or not reporting more the diary entries which were such a huge element to see Radiohead were going in and out from their crisis, instead of writing about how he felt because of "Anyone Can Play Guitar"), I really found myself pissed off.
The book spans through the whole career talking loads about "Pablo Honey" and "In Rainbows" because the author is a fan of such albums. Good for him - being born in 1983 I lived myself the times he was speaking of and I recall when "Kid A" hit the shelves. But this book in the end does not deliver the goods and is pretty much a waste of money. He could have done so much better!!!
If you want a much better book than this where the Radiohead argument is way more discussed, I recommend you Exit Music by MAC RANDALL.
There you find a much more detailed book about everything. Including Kid A and Amnesiac.
January 27, 2021
This was a weird one for me. I enjoyed it while being disappointed? I figured no members of Radiohead would contribute, but I did think maybe I'd learn something new about the genesis of the album from the people who were around when it was made.. managers, studio engineers, etc. However, as the first chapters unfold, it becomes clear the author only has the same sources as the rest of us music nerds: Ed's online diary, bootlegs, and interviews from major music publications.
That's not to say the book isn't a good read (and a pleasant trip down turn-of-the-century memory lane for a younger Gen Xer like me). The hours fly by as we discuss the origins of the band, what a cool guy Ed might be to hang out with, and Y2K panic. At one point, we take a deep dive into the rise and fall of Linkin Park. I forget why that was relevant, to be honest, but it's all well-written and often funny. However, if you already know a bit about Radiohead, you probably won't learn anything new.
That's not to say the book isn't a good read (and a pleasant trip down turn-of-the-century memory lane for a younger Gen Xer like me). The hours fly by as we discuss the origins of the band, what a cool guy Ed might be to hang out with, and Y2K panic. At one point, we take a deep dive into the rise and fall of Linkin Park. I forget why that was relevant, to be honest, but it's all well-written and often funny. However, if you already know a bit about Radiohead, you probably won't learn anything new.
November 7, 2021
Si escribes un libro sobre un álbum, sería obvio esperar que quienes compren y lean el libro serán fieles apóstoles del disco. Pero no. Aquí el señor este divaga en lugares comunes y escenarios facilones, como si le estuviera explicando el Kid A a sus primos que escuchan Aerosmith y que una vez pusieron “Creep” en una playlist. El autor plantea referencias basiquísimas a U2, Coldplay, Travis y Muse para contextualizar el álbum; como si en vez de haber comprado un libro del Kid A hubiera puesto un especial en VH1. Para pegarse un tiro todo el pasaje donde vincula el disco con los atentados de las Torres Gemelas y (por Dios) con las películas de Cameron Crowe. Se queda con dos estrellitas porque al menos sí recopila algunas buenas anécdotas.
October 15, 2020
More of a biography of Radiohead that looks at their whole career (though purists will squirm at (the unremarkable) The King of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool being glossed over), though Kid A is more or less treated as the apex of their evolution. Something drier would probably be insufferable, especially for a band whose fanbase seems so insistent on keeping to a strict narrative but Hyden’s personal touches and humor makes for an interesting case for the album’s place in the greater musical world and surrounding social circumstances.
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