An analysis of Radiohead’s OK Computer
Radiohead is an English Rock band that formed in 1986. The band members, Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien met at Oxfordshire’s Abingdon School and formed a band called ‘On A Friday’ where they went to play their first gig in Oxford’ Jericho Tavern (Nme, 2007). From there they became the band ‘Radiohead’ as we know and embarked on a journey to fame to be one of the greatest bands of all time. OK Computer is Radiohead’s 3rd released album that was released in the UK on the 16th of June in 1997 by the record label EMI. Unlike their other 2 albums (Pablo Honey and The Bends) they moved further away from guitar-based songs to an album full of densely layered sounds and electric influences (Wikipedia, 2024).
OK Computer has a range of different songs going from more uplifting and electronic songs to acoustic and shoegaze type songs which means there are quite a few different influences on the album. One of their inspirations for the song No Surprises was the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds where Radiohead incorporated their use of unorthodox instrumentation, for example bicycle bells and Coca-Cola cans. Schonfeld Senior states that Radiohead was also inspired by Queens Bohemian Rhapsody for their song Paranoid Android where it includes ‘four distinct sections, sudden changes, yowling guitar interjections and surreal lyrics’. The inspiration behind the song Airbag is from a car accident Thom Yorke experienced ten years before making OK Computer where the song explores the themes of feeling more alive than ever after experiencing a terrifying situation (Schonfeld Senior, 2017). Thom Yorke once said in an interview, “I was really frightened of cars back then, but “Airbag” was almost the opposite of that” (Contributors to Radiohead Knowledge, 2019). Sam Willet (2020) states ‘The settings of these novels are stripped of organic life, run by machines, and controlled by a malicious government. The people are manipulated by what technology tells them to believe, and, as a result, are completely invisible to many of lives and freedoms’ which is the whole inspiration behind OK Computer and is truly a ground-breaking topic to write about, especially in 1997.
The album cover for OK Computer was designed by Stanley Donwood who has been a long-time visual collaborator for Radiohead, Thom Yorke also helped design it. The photo on the album cover has been debated about where the photo had been taken however Christopher Hooton (2017) states that the photo is taken of the eastbound junction of I-84 (a.k.a. the Yankee Expressway) with I-91 in Hartford, Connecticut, just before it crosses the Connecticut River. The album cover itself symbolizes the unpredictability and vagueness of life, the way the image is crumpled and the image is blurred and the ink is smeared hints at this (Vrielink, 2021). Stanley Donwood met Thom Yorke at university, entering the world of Radiohead and leading the band’s identity through his collaborations with Thom Yorke. The two of them together then created Radiohead’s very own website in which shows the artwork and photography of Radiohead.
After releasing their album, The Bends, Radiohead went on a break to re-evaluate themselves and their music in which ended up creating an urge to reinvent their recording process to create a new and different album which includes unconventional sounds and topics. This album became OK Computer. It was early 1996 when the band had started rehearsing and recording tracks in the Canned Applause studio in Oxfordshire. Colin Greenwood said, “We had this mobile studio type of thing going where we could take it all into studios to capture those environments. We recorded about 35% of the album in our rehearsal space.” Those songs are ‘Electioneering’, ‘No Surprises’, ’Subterranean Homesick Alien’ and ’The Tourist’. Yorke had explained that the starting point of the record was the ‘incredibly dense and terrifying sound’ of Bitches Brew, a jazz/fusion album by Miles Davis. It was around this time where they took a break from recording to embark on a 13-day tour around America where they opened for Alanis Morissette, where they performed several of their new songs. During this tour, one of the new songs ‘Paranoid Android’ evolved from a fourteen-minute song featuring long organ solos into one closer to the six-minute album version. Also, whilst they were on tour, Radiohead got commissioned to write a song for the upcoming film Willaim Shakespear’s Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann. The band was given footage of the final 30 minutes of the film and began working on it immediately, this is how ‘Exits Music (For A Film)’ which got played over the film’s end credits. Yorke later said that the song helped shape the rest of OK Computer. They resumed recording in September 1996 at St Catherine’s Court where the group made much use of the different rooms and atmospheres: the vocals on ‘Exit Music (For A Film)’ featured an echo effect by recording on a stone staircase and ‘Let Down’ was recorded at 3 in the morning in a ballroom. By the end of 1996, Radiohead had 14 songs from the sessions, they took a short beak for the festive period and carried on in January 1997 where they expanded their instrumentation on their songs at Abbey Road Studios and the album was ready to be released (Music T.D.I 2022).
OK Computer was first released in Japan on the 21st of May 1997, it was then released in the UK on the 16th of June and the 1st of July in the US. According to Selway, their American label, Capitol, saw the album as ‘commercial suicide’ and lowered their sales forecast from two million to half a million. However, Radiohead’s British label, Parlophone, remained optimistic about the album when other label representatives were reportedly disappointed with the lack of marketable singles, especially as the album resembled nothing like their first hit “Creep”. Despite all of this, within the first week of the album being released, it debuted at number one in the UK with sales of 136000 copies as well as debuting at number 21 on the Billboard 200 in the US. The album was released onto CD, double-LP vinyl record, cassette and MiniDisc. By February 1998, the album had sold 2 million copies worldwide and by September 2000, the album had sold 4.5 million copies worldwide. The album ended up being certifies triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. Twenty years later after its release, OK Computer sold at least 6.9 million copies worldwide from tallying up American and European sales. (Wikipedia, 2024). Laura Stavropoulos (2017) says “OK Computer created a generation with a deep cynical streak and a healthy sense of paranoia and we’re forever thankful for it… With OK Computer, Radiohead were hailed as the saviours of rock’s future, but they were also herald the end of its domination of the culture and help usher in a new chapter of art-pop with their ambient follow-up Kid A”. This quote stands for all Radiohead fans, OK Computer is an album on a pedestal higher than any other, it’s so different from other albums of its time and stood out tremendously against other rock albums.
Radiohead are known for their experimental and innovative sound and the band has continually pushed the boundaries of music, exploring multiple different genres and production techniques. They have moved from rock to electronica to even incorporating classical music. Because of this, Radiohead has gone on to influence many artists from alternative rock musicians to electronic musicians. Some of these musicians being: Coldplay, Muse, The Killers, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, TV on the Radio, Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon, Interpol and Travis plus many more. Elliot Deubel (2023) says that “OK Computer changed rock music in several keyways, including expanding the sonic palette of the genre, challenging traditional themes and lyrical content, influencing the development of the alternative rock genre, and establishing Radiohead as a leading voice in rock music. Its impact continues to be felt today and remains one of the most influential and innovative albums in the rock canon”.
In conclusion, Radiohead’s OK Computer is possibly one of the greatest alternative rock albums in history that changed and developed the rock scene in a whole new way. The album was so new to what people were used to hearing. Radiohead’s use of influences like a car crash to a Shakespeare tragedy really brings the album together so well, from the intriguing lyrics to the mix of electronic and guitar it brought a whole new perspective to Radiohead and evolved their own and others music. The fact that the album was said to be commercial suicide to then sell 4.5 million copies just show how much of an impact Radiohead had on the world, especially to go on to inspiring big bands we know today. They’ve even gone onto inspiring newer and less known artists such as myself, which is why OK Computer has made such an impact.