Radiohead can do anything, oh yes they can?

for real.

Talk about missing the point.

me, too! and they're fans as well...
they all seem to lack it.
mostly you get a 'radiohead's gawd, and there's no way around it' sorta thing, which gets really old, really quick.

If someone like David Byrne or Mark Mothersbaugh had written a song with the chorus: "I'm a reasonable man, get off my case," methinks it would be regarded as witty/homorous/whatever. Plenty of examples of the same type of thing.

In general, though, the humor is in bizarre turns of phrase: "her hitler hairdo is making me feel ill" is damn funny. Not all humor involves punchlines. I'm not saying they're the next Jonathan Richman, I'm just sayin.

The main point I was making is that their rampant and admirable experimentalism might be also applied to exploring emotional tones beyond the already exhaustively explored nuances of alienation etc, and that being wildly successful and acclaimed for over 10 years might have, you know, cheered them up to the extent that they might feel able to musically explore different the lighter side of life without compromising their artistic integrity.

"However, the kind of emotional palette you seem to be talking about, a simple personal misery, they moved past years ago."

The recent material still sounds fairly downbeat and glum to me, sorry! Thing is, Thom has talked in interviews about wanting to celebrate both the “highs and lows” of everyday life, and I don’t really hear much celebration of the former, despite their having becoming the most acclaimed band on the planet.

"Does having millions of fans ease an existential or spiritual conflict?"

And millions in the bank don't forget - well, err, sorry but yes, I genuinely imagine it would bolster the ego somewhat, reconcile you to the world to certain degree, and generally take some of the edge off your existential angst – who knows, it might even nudge you towards the occasional joyful moment which you might then occasionally reflect in your music, rather than remaining emotionally monochromatic. Even if they weren't feeling on top of the world, they might want to try writing something joyful just for the hell of it, just for the sake of experimenting.

Re the supposedly funny/humorous aspects to Radiohead's music/lyrics - I must confess bafflement. I love comedy, and indeed the darker the better eg Monkey Dust and Peep Show, but the supposed 'humour' in their work is clearly too subtle for me insofar as it doesn’t make me laugh. That is what humour is supposed to do, right?

FWIW just in case anyone interprets this as random hating, I should make it clear Radiohead are easily my favourite band, and that I just wanted to voice an honest criticism.

I'd like to suggest that the fact that they don't have scantily-clad girls singing in unison on their refrains doesn't mean that they don't do pop songs anymore but I'm afraid you'd hit me.

How many bands really sing about being happy and joyful anyway?

No, it isn't the same as emotionally depressing either.

There is humor, but I prefer the dark and subtle strains of it, the vaguely absurd.

I don't see what the point of aiming for actual laughter would be. It would just be distracting and weird, some goofy or overly joyous song sitting in the middle of one of their albums.

Radiohead themselves are pretty silly though, and I'm absolutely sure they don't take themselves nearly as seriously as most people seem to think they do.

They find joy in the act of exploring and creating interesting music, I think that's enough.

(x-post, no)

not song, album, band, genre, music can be everything anyway.

not that i'm a big fan of RH, but what sort of criticism is it to say that a band doesnt experiment with enough emotional variety (even if it WAS true in this case, and it may not be)?

"Good Radiohead song" = Thom Yorke's dystopian mewling subsumed by atmospherics and ugly-loud guitars.

When did they last write a pop song? Something that a busker could cover?

Change my previous statement to "when did they last write a song that someone could and would do at karaoke?", which I'm sure will wind people up even further.

tis fair enough to say, but doubtful...as having run into more than my fair share of RH fans/fanatics, i can say w/ some amount of experience that NONE of them had any doubts about the direction of RH @ any point, nor did they think ANY joke pertaining to RH was funny in the least.
i'll admit, i don't see almost ANY humor in them. unless it's packed tightly amongst the b-sides i've never sat down and listened to. (and i've been subjected to a huge slice of their catalog, unfortunately)

perhaps it's just this guy's opinion (in fact, it IS!), but RH are pretty much w/o a smile anytime i've ever seen them!

and yes, the millions in the bank, the critics hanging on they're every bleep/bloop, the fans fawning over them like earth-bound godlings that just got outta bed- all this should amount to some sort of 'good tidings' and cast out a portion they're constant dread.

all that said, maybe they should just all pick up some guitars and hang up the political blather they're so fond of, for just a second maybe?

There There
Drunken Punchup At A Wedding
Go To Sleep
We Suck Young Blood
The Gloaming
I Will
Myxomatosis

Maybe you should offer the band your consulting services.

To echo what Melissa said - surely no one who's seen them live in more recent years (since the Kid A/Amnesiac era, anyway)could mistake them for miserable bastards.