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In 1997, Radiohead released OK Computer, an alternative rock epic warning against the effects of consumerism, illiberalism, and dependency on technology. Upon release, the album was critically acclaimed for its forward-thinking themes, atmosphere, and electronic instrumentation amongst the more traditional rock influences. It also achieved significant commercial success, eventually becoming certified 2x platinum (over 2 million copies sold) in the United States. After a year of touring, Radiohead’s frontman, Thom Yorke, was exhausted from the spotlight and disillusioned with rock as a whole, as he felt many rising bands were simply imitating his sound on OK Computer. Retreating from the public eye, he set out to create an entirely new image for the band.Yorke focused on using the voice as an instrument and incorporating it into instrumentals inspired by electronic artists such as Aphex Twin. Many of the album’s lyrics were written through a method in which the band randomly cut up many words and phrases, and used the resulting sentences as lyrics. Anticipation for the album was high; the band had just released an album that was already being hailed as one of the best of all time, but they were nowhere to be found.
On October 2nd, 2000, Kid A was released. Audiences expecting guitar-driven anthems, like “Karma Police” and “No Surprises”, were sorely disappointed. Kid A was filled with glitchy electronica, atmospheric soundscapes, and, most notably, a lack of guitars, many fans and critics were upset with the direction Radiohead was taking. The initial reception was split, with some calling it a masterpiece and others regarding it as pretentious. In retrospect, the vast majority of critics came to view the album as one of the boldest and most visionary of the early 2000s.
The opening track, “Everything In Its Right Place”, sets the stage for the remainder of the album, featuring swirling organ-like synthesizers and incoherent vocal loops in the background. This electronica track’s two-beat pick up is one of the album’s highlights, creating a vision of descent into a cold apocalypse. Written in the time signature of 10/4, the song attracts the attention of the listener with the juxtaposition of a conventional chorus-verse structure against nonsensical, almost hallucinatory lyrics, such as “Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon” and “There are two colors in my head/What was that you tried to say?”. The title track, “Kid A”, is undoubtedly the most experimental song on the record, effectively recreating the ominous tone of the album art through the layered electronic samples, while the second half of the track brings in a tragic string section that enhances the inhumanity of the vocals. The next song, “The National Anthem”, is the first to be reminiscent of Radiohead’s past work, anchored by a heavily distorted bass riff; however, the familiarity soon dissipates as the cacophonous horn section enters. “How To Disappear Completely” is a chilling acoustic ballad with wailing electronic flourishes. The lyrics are some of the most grounded of the album and reflect Yorke’s struggle with his newfound fame, as he repeats the mantra-like line “I’m not here/This isn’t happening”. It is one of the few strokes of humanity across the album, as Yorke’s vocals are almost entirely raw. This only serves to further the album’s atmosphere of a dying world overwrought with isolation, almost devoid of humanity.
After the ethereal but distant ambient interlude “Treefingers”, the album continues with “Optimistic”, which warns against the exploitative nature of capitalism and consumerism, foreshadowing the post-apocalyptic world that would come as a result of unchecked corporations and the growth of technology. The next song, “In Limbo”, creates a drowning feeling as the heavily reverbed guitars mingle with the slurring vocals. The centerpiece of the album, “Idioteque”, features phantasmagoric lyrics about a nuclear winter against a harsh IDM (intelligent dance music) inspired drum loop. The vocals are intricately layered, creating an overwhelming barrage of nightmarish phrases. Towards the end, shrieking samples emerge in the background, evoking genuine visceral horror from the listener. The most striking lyric of the album highlights the root cause of this harrowing demise of the world: “Here I’m allowed/Everything all of the time”. Yorke underscores how the complacency caused by convenience and our quest for instant gratification could ultimately be our downfall. The penultimate track, “Morning Bell”, seems to be another song that could occur before the apocalypse. The final song, “Motion Picture Soundtrack”, in my opinion, is the most haunting piece of music ever composed. At the center of the instrumentation is an organ whose audio track includes the clicking sound of the keys, creating an intensely intimate atmosphere. Yorke’s vocals are dirge-like in quality, highlighted by ghostly wails in the background that react incredibly well with the swirling harp. The lyrical content seems to be the unnamed narrator’s resolution that the world is beyond healing. The nuclear winter and lack of humanity present on Earth lead the narrator to give up all hope, lamenting, “I will see you in the next life”. This is reminiscent of the Big Bounce theory in cosmology, stating that the universe will inevitably contract on itself, initiating another Big Bang and ushering a new universe into existence. The narrator has given up on this world and can only hope that things will go better the next time.
Kid A is a window into a world devastated by nuclear winter. The tone of the album is incredibly distant, isolated, alien, ominous, and terrifying. There aren’t many albums that are so effectively able to create an atmosphere as immersive as this. The album art, seen above, looks like it could be a photograph directly out of this world. Kid A and OK Computer work terrifically as a pair, with complementary themes that create cohesion so tight that one is almost incomplete without the other. OK Computer warned of the pitfalls of capitalism and technology. Kid A is the world that did not heed to those warnings.
