Music Listening Session #4 – Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997)

Radiohead’s OK Computer arrived in 1997 like a quiet detonation, reshaping what ambitious rock could sound like. Blending alienated lyricism with shimmering guitar work, textural electronics, and an undercurrent of dread about a rapidly technologizing world, the album pushed alternative rock beyond the hedonistic Brit-pop and dour grunge-era templates. Its adventurous production, sophisticated songwriting, and fractured emotional tone helped usher in a wave of experimental, genre-blurring music in the late ’90s and 2000s where electronics co-existed with guitars. Today the album stands as a cultural milestone — one of those rare records that not only captures its moment but also alters the course of modern music.

Guitarist Jonny Greenwood on making the album: “I got very excited at the prospect of doing string parts that didn’t sound like ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ which is what all string parts have sounded like for the past 30 years..."

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New-ish series! At each session, we'll get together to listen to and discuss some of the greatest and most important albums of all time across different genres and eras. After each track we'll pause for a short discussion where we can share our thoughts and reflections or what the music has meant to us personally. We've had a great time discussing 3 albums so far.

I'll have lyrics up on Zoom's screen share.

For our 4th session let's listen to Radiohead's third studio album OK Computer, surely one of the most astonishing records ever made.

Albums we've previously discussed:

1. Nirvana's Nevermind (1991)
2. Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (1982)
3. Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush (1970)

Potential future listening sessions:

• The Beach Boys
• Massive Attack
• Joni Mitchell
• Bob Dylan
• Pavement
• Wilco
• The Beatles
• David Bowie
• Sonic Youth
• Kraftwerk
• The Velvet Underground
• Patti Smith
• Prince
• Marvin Gaye
• Lauryn Hill
• Aphex Twin
• The Pixies
• Sex Pistols
• The Clash
• The Smiths
• Joy Division
• Primal Scream
• Public Enemy
• Aretha Franklin
• Talking Heads
• Fleetwood Mac
• Arcade Fire
• Kendrick Lamar
• The Streets
• The Strokes
• Built To Spill
• Bjork
• Nine Inch Nails
• Sufjan Stevens
• ETC...