The "OK Computer" poll

Airbag. I've grown off Paranoid Android and Exit Music over the years. Also hope The Tourist gets some votes.

LET DOWN.

aaaaairbag

Alien

"Show Me Love"

If Let Down doesn't win, my mind will implode.

I once listened through this album in a party while stoned. Though I think I passed out before the end of it. It didn't sound as awful as I'd thought. That's the longest exposure to Radiohead I've ever had.

^^^ the post that had to be made

Did it?

overrated

Reasons?

it's good but not that good. bit overwrought, bit too "isn't modern life hollow and alienating, etc, etc..." like we didn't know already. i was listening to big beat at the time, most of which sounds shit now, but was fun for a while back there.

I'm a huge Radiohead fan, so I don't agree with you, but you're not alone in feeling the way you do. I know what you mean by overwrought, although I'd use the word passionate. A matter of taste, I guess. In general, however, I find their music compelling, creative, and life-affirming, all about trying to grope around in the dark for a sense of meaning and stability that is always in sight but just out of reach.

The one thing I cannot stand, however, is the little cult of Radiohead fans who hang around At Ease and such and think every word out of Thom's mouth is gospel and every bum note the band plays is somehow inspired. They're fucking human, and they make great music, but no band should be *worshipped,* and that aspect of the Radiohead fan community is really disturbing. But, then again, that has little to do with the music itself and more to do with immaturity . . .

And the "Radiohead is the best band evah!" stuff has more to do with teenagers with a lack of a proper frame of reference or sense of history than anything else, obv. I mean, Radiohead are one of my favorite bands, but I don't think you can say they're the best band. I don't think you can say any band is the best band.

In conclusion, ranking music: dud.

Voted for "Airbag" - nice tight Magazine style pop song, great riff, Thom just absurd enough that he's not annoying, lays out their stall very well I think. Second and third tracks are good too, after that the record loses me a bit.

any band this lauded, this successful, this acclaimed by the british music press...

there has to be something wrong with them! ;)

Airbag GOOD
Paranoid Android STILL UNSURE
Subterranean Homesick Alien GOOD DESPITE ITSELF
Exit Music (For a Film) BAD
Let Down GROWER
Karma Police THAT'S THE SINGLE
Fitter Happier LOL
Electioneering RUBBISH
Climbing Up the Walls NEVER LISTENED TO ALL THE WAY THROUGH
No Surprises THEY *DO* HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR
Lucky GOOD
The Tourist TERRIBLE ABJECT SHIT

Lucky

lucky

You know, I nearly wrote the song "Lucky" myself.

This means I know what made TY write it, i.e what his inspiration was.

Lucky - T.Yorke, also M.Grout (my extra bit in brackets)

"I'm on a roll (with it)
I'm on a roll this time
I feel my luck will change"

Roll with it (N.Gallagher)
"You gotta roll with it
you gotta take your time
you gotta say what you say don't let anybody get in yr way (etc)"

Lucky, in a walk.

I saw RH on the OKC tour in the late summer/early fall of '97 in what I believe was a high school auditorium in suburban Cleveland. They opened with Lucky and, frankly, it was one of the most stunning openers I've ever heard -- the sound was incredible, the performance incredibly intense.

It's odd. I'm not really a "live music" fan, per se. But like a lot of faves, this song will always call to mind a brilliant live performance that makes the studio version that much better.

Karma Police, mainly because of the chord progressions. I've always thought that No Surprises should have been the final track on the album, with Lucky placed somewhere else in the running order and The Tourist dropped.

I just listened to this album the other day after not having played it for quite some time. I was reminded that, although the album is pretty good, I'm pretty much done listening to it after "No Surprises." Those last two songs, however good or bad they may be, have never really gotten through to me. The album is a little overwrought and that's why I think it could be done with "No Surprises." I also think I overplayed this album a bit too much in high school. Overall, this album will never be as good in my mind as Kid A/Amnesiac. It'll always be a precursor.

(And someone upthread said it right, "Electioneering" is rubbish, it's a really really annoying song.)

I've always thought that No Surprises should have been the final track on the album, with Lucky placed somewhere else in the running order and The Tourist dropped.

ahh someone else said it. OTM

"Electioneering"!

I always assumed I was the only person on the planet who liked "Electioneering." All those clangy guitars -- classic!

Looks like I'm the first to voice a bit of support for the magnificent 'Climbing Up The Walls' then...

"Electioneering" isn't much good but it's well-placed - a bit of gumption after four or five mid-paced hand-wringers.

Let Down

Can't believe The Tourist loathing. Don't pretend you never listen to Floyd guys.

"No Surprises," cause it reminds me of "Sunday Morning."

great reason.

Lucky/Tourist combo is among my favorite closing 10 minutes of any record ever. In this post-slsk world, the way I listen to albums has changed, and I have a hard time differentiating between songs sometimes. (Maybe it's just me getting old.) Anyway, "Lucky" and "The Tourist" blend in my head into a 2-part suite. Vote goes to "The Tourist," sorry haterz.

"The Tourist" here as well

Voted for 3, still like 1, 2, 8, 9 and 11. Looking at the tracklist kinda reminds me why I haven't listened to or thought about Radiohead for more than a few minutes at a time in the last few years, though, and that when I do I usually want to hear a song from The Bends. Didn't realize people actually like "Let Down."

"Climbing Up The Walls" is fantastic, people.

Yeah, it's my favorite song on the back half of the album. Saw a great version at the Tibetan Freedom Concert with Michael Stipe harmonizing on the chorus.

I have no idea how "Lucky" and "The Tourist" sound.

the D.C. one in '98? I was there, Stipe sang on "Lucky."

argh you're right

airbag

(I like Electioneering too...great cowbell!)

wot no 'annie, i'm not your daddy' :(
best hidden track ever.

lol

For me 'Paranoid Android', but I'm not a big fan of this album and don't know it very well.

Alf, "Lucky" is the one where he's singing, "So PULL ME OUUUUUT/Of the aircrash..."

'lucky' feels a bit out of place cos it was a single before the last single off 'the bends'.

"Lucky" is also awesome.

"Let Down", also didn't realize it was a favorite on ILM. No surprise for me, I love Air Supply.

lf, "Lucky" is the one where he's singing, "So PULL ME OUUUUUT/Of the aircrash..."

Yeah, I remembered after sampling it on iTunes. OK, so it's "Climbing Up the Walls" that's just ok.

bit too "isn't modern life hollow and alienating, etc, etc..." like we didn't know already.

I don't care about lyrics. The music is good, which is the important thing after all.

As for some of the mentioned tracks here, "Lucky" I feel would have been the highlight had it been part of "The Bends". On "OK Computer" it sounds a bit too much like an old song representing a style they had already sort of left behind (it was originally released on the 1995 "Help!" album mind you). It's GREAT, don't misunderstand me, but there are several better tracks here.

"Electioneering" is... Well... It's OK and all that. But nowhere close to the quality of the rest of the songs on the album. Not too keen on "Climbing Up The Walls" either, but from "No Surprises" onwards the album manages to pull itself together and come up with three great tracks in the end again.

Still "Exit Music" for me. The way it gradually builds and becomes more and more haunting - SO classic!

I used to be able to go through this album without skipping tracks, but I'll jump from "Karma Police" to "No Suprises" without a second thought, and I almost always turn it off before "The Tourist." Not that I hate the songs I skip, but I've worn them out and can't listen to them anymore. Also, every time I hear certain Radiohead songs I become reminded of high-school gymnasium styled dorm rooms lit by deathly fluorescent bulbs.

Lucky vs Let Down

Subterranean Homesick Alien is quite pretty.

Paranoid Android is insanely great though.

"How do you think I feel, being the only one to vote for "Fitter Happier"? Unironically, no less."

You're not the only one.

"Airbag" is always going to be my favorite on this one.

I always tend to skip tracks too, but I don't skip "Fitter Happier", which fits in perfectly as kind of a skit/interlude.

I prefer the RadioDread album.

lucky, closely followed by airbag

yeah whatever. 'let down' x-post

damn, airbag.

you know what? this is a pretty good album. things age for people for various reasons, i can see that, but there are some pretty great tracks on here. very of its time, i guess, but what isn't?

Luck fitting into The Bends better than OK Computer == crazy talk.

'Lucky', ahem.

Totally. The mellotron choirs would have stuck out like crazy on The Bends.

I always tend to skip tracks too, but I don't skip "Fitter Happier", which fits in perfectly as kind of a skit/interlude.

I gotta say, the one I always skipped was "Climbing Up The Walls." It always sounded like Radiohead was trying to beat Nine Inch Nails at their own game -- an easy target, and not a particularly satisfying one. Yorke's forced scream near the end is easily his worst moment on record.

You are wrong.

(i'd unhappily vote for the doesn't-compute-for-me'tall option but, as is always the case with this kid, it just isn,t there :(

LET DOWN FTW

The transcendentally ridiculous, overblown last 20 seconds or so of Climbing Up The Walls are pretty much my favourite on the record. But I still voted Airbag.

The transcendentally ridiculous, overblown last 20 seconds or so of Climbing Up The Walls are pretty much my favourite on the record.

otm

"Climbing Up The Walls" to me sounds more like a somewhat ill-advised attempt to sound like Portishead or Tricky.

Regardless of who Radiohead are "attempting" to sound like, even assuming that they are, "Climbing up the Walls" is nonetheless devastating. So, that's my vote. Just ahead of "Lucky" and "Airbag". Actually, now that I'm listening to it again, I don't get the hate for "Exit Music (For a Film)" either.

Let Down? Really? That's the second worst track! I went for Karma Police, Paranoid Android a close second.

Electioneering. The only one that runs rather than crawls. They're a rock band, not fucking Eno.

obviously "no surprises". was it used in a film/tv show/advert or something? i dont remember over playing it when the album came out, but when i listened through this album the other day for the first time in years it seemed much more familiar to me despite the time since i had last listened to the album than any other tracks.

let down is certainly not one of the worst tracks.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Let Down? Seriously?

Let Down better than Paranoid Android? 'Tae fuck!

How did "Fitter Happier" get more votes than "Climbing Up The Walls"? That is ridiculous.

RECOUNT.

I totally prefer Fitter Happier to Climbing Up The Walls

havent listened to this since i was 17, in bed, with headphones on, but i really find it hard to believe anyone on earth could like fitter happier more than pretty much any other song ever

also karma police + paranoid android should = letdown x2 at least

awesome......let down finally getting the praise it deserves.

NOT

--bstep

I like how the slow songs won this poll. They are the only reason I like OK Computer.

LET DOWN? That's one of their worst songs. I like the Radiodread version a lot though. Best? Karma Police.

hey I love repeating myself!

"Nude"

i know let down seems like a boring song but to me it has a beautiful ambivalence, like it's in between happy and sad emotions....

maybe im biased by my own feelings and memories of that song...been listening to okc since 4th grade

actually i think thats why let down won....its the song that has the most room for the listener to put his own emotions into the song, if that makes sense

the Let Down demo on the new white cassette is incredible... i hope more of thom's 4-track demos come out, double tracked guitars + vox, more intense singing

I read somewhere recently that the slightly out of time guitar on Let Down was a happy accident. I still find it extraordinary, the way it blurs and melts without losing an epic feel

The opened with Let Down when I saw them in Manchester the other week, surprisingly.

THEY opened...