Which Radiohead album should we do next?

It’s cool seeing a younger generation connect with and appreciate Radiohead. You guys should listen to their entire catalog, but In Rainbows is my personal favorite

"let down" still destroys me every time .... Nearly 30 years after listening for the first time

your friend just looks like he's having an existential crisis during paranoid android

As I’ve aged, this album has somehow become more and more relevant. Is it safe to say Radiohead was ahead of their time?

Re: Fitter Happier- The whole album can almost be read as one big intrusive thought about the anxieties of modern life. We're not hunter gatherers anymore, so we have things like credit checks, and gyms and concerns about alcohol moderation. He's not saying those things are bad in and of themselves, but he's having a panic attack about the totality of all of those things combined. He's asking: is that all there is? Is there any more to life? To someone going through a dissociative, existential crisis, the idea that deriving meaning from working out or working hard to the benefit of people richer than yourself feels like a trap; another system of control. And again I'm not saying those things are bad in and of themselves. They're all necessary for modern living. The absurdity that they're necessary pursuits to begin with is what he's lamenting here, feeling like a pig in a cage on antibiotics; an unnatural compromise that ends in the same way for him or that pig. Dead in the ground, absent of any meaning.

I've seen Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Kendrick Lemar, Tycho, Tame Impala, Smashing Pumpkins, Run the Jewels, U2, Depeche Mode, etc.....but I've seen Radiohead 6 times and they simply operate on a different level thats transcendent. You'll take a look at the faces around you during a show and see the same stupified blissful grins. Sounds unreal but its magical.

We just watched dudes life change forever

i’m so glad you guys love no surprises and let down 😭 they’re some of my favorite songs ever

The Tourist, is my favourite Radiohead song, and I'm glad you had that reaction. Also, very glad you found it uplifting. Radiohead steer me through troubled times to better days. Peace and love to you fellas from Austraila. In Rainbows might be a good follow up for you.

The gravitas of OK Computer hits red hoodie pretty hard around "Let Down"

Guy in red when he looks back at this video in 5 years will be saying was I really such a douche bag

Its interesting that your interpretation of No Surprises is the exact opposite of its meaning. The song's about the suffocating mundanity of a life devoid of passion, not the comfort of a middle-class existence. I wonder if this is because your generation see's that lifestyle as out of reach now, and so something to aspire to, whereas mine saw it as something to rebel against. Thank you for a great reaction.

The word you’re looking for is “ transcendent.”

This album predicted the future, so ahead of its time.

Ain’t no way Radiohead is in regular show 😭😭 that would be sick as hell tho

This was actually a decade before social media was prevalent, but the computer age was coming into effect. So the band looked around and saw what was coming as ppl started to lose their humanity.

10/10 album, and IMHO they have 4 perfect albums, OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool, all 10/10.... and apart from Pablo Honey their other 4 albums don't dip below an 8/10. Incredible band, one of the best ever.

No more Radiohead until he’s read Romeo & Juliet 😂

"LUCKY" is just so immersive as fuck

I remember my first time listening to OK Computer. Life changing

As an old lady (in comparison) and a Radiohead fanatic, your reaction was like a trip back to my teenage years when I first listened to this album and the times it absolutely blew my mind to the point of knowing every beat of it by heart. Amazing stuff! For me, In Rainbows would be the most intriguing reaction to watch next, rather than making sense of the band and their development chronologically as some have suggested. Their whole catalogue is beautiful in its own right but still - would definitely want to witness your thoughts on In Rainbows next.

Frickin love these reactions!!! Keep em coming!!!!

Your reaction to it reminds me of the first time I heard it when it came out - its very very thought provoking, sad and beautiful at the same time but somehow hopeful too.

Great reaction! Funny that Lucky made you feel high, because it’s actually one of my favorite songs to do an acid trip to (together with Subterranean Homesick Alien and Everything In Its Right Place from Kid A). The sounds, the reverb, the trippy tremolo effects are just perfect for that. „I feel at peace with Death.“ Totally get what you mean. This is what a transcendent experience like this album does to you.

I know I’ve talked already but I’m so jealous that you get to discover them. It just gets better…like way crazy better…

Im an 41yr old dude who loved this album when it was released and i still do. Kinda cool to see that it's still captivating to you young folks, lul. (Gotta go now an find my teeth). Nice reaction. Guess it kinda makes sense to react to Radiohead Albums in chronological order. Kid A / Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief....

this channel is so underrated. I’m so glad I found it. Keep making great content

Subterranean Homesick Alien starts off as Thom being apart of the crowd and calling the outcasts around him "weirdos" or in this case "aliens." Then, as the song goes on; Thom becomes an outcast himself, he tries to go hang with his old friends, but is greeted with resentment and is alienated from them. This song is so incredibly beautiful the more you listen and understand it.

Keeps getting better and better!

Great reactions. Love that your take on No Surprises is a dream life instead of how Thom is speaking about being unhappy with life and society and deciding to end it to reach a better place.

Listening to you unpack the ideas about losing our humanity. Dude, this came out way before social media was a thing. The first social media sites launched around 1999 and less than 1% of society had access to the internet. It was in its infancy. Thom Yorke predicted our current anxieties decades before they were fully realized.

I don't know how much you know about the mid to late 90s, but there was no social media. Not like we understand it now. There were no smart phones. There was no Google. People barely had the internet. Napster had not even happened yet. The writing was on the wall, but it gives you kind of a sense of how solidly Radiohead had their finger on the pulse of how society was moving.

Have to say that watching this absolutely made my night. 👊🏼 A loooongtime Radiohead fan, the first time I listened to this was laying in my bedroom with headphones & my reaction was just like yours. Mind. Fucking. Blown. In this crazy, fucked up world we live in it was just so beautiful to experience that first listen again through your ears - thank you, truly. The wonderment you felt is a constant thing with Radiohead - think you may dig some of the underlying political leanings in Hail To The Thief as well. I’m as at a loss of words in my joy of seeing you experience this as you were in experiencing it. Their musical genius & lyrical trips they take you on are indescribable. Cathartic? For sure. I’ve seen them a bunch of times , met them briefly once after a show and 1000% recommend you see them live whenever you can. That immersive exploration experience will give you goosebumps on your goosebumps.

Climbing up the walls is like the feeling of paranoia and fear saying the lyrics

Agreed with some others. I think Climbing Up the Walls is about someone with a mental disorder. I am the key to the lock in your house That keeps your toys in the basement And if you get too far inside You'll only see my reflection The "house" could represent the mind, and the "key" could mean that the person feels that the disorder controls their life. Also worth to note is that it's spoken in first-person, so the person believes the disorder is alive. "Keeps the toys in the basement" could be an allusion to childhood, and how the disorder has effected the person throughout their life. The person is afraid to dwell too much on their mind, however, as they're not sure where the person ends and the illness begins: "and if you get too far inside/You'll only see my reflection". The person is possibly delusional. It's always best with the covers up The person is hiding under their bed sheets, or possibly closing the blinds; maybe both. Paranoia is another symptom. Alternatively, the cover could by their mental shields against the world to avoid getting hurt. I am the pick in the ice The person tried to live normally, but the stress of life gets to them, and the disorder only serves to make the crack longer. Do not cry out or hit the alarm The person feels that nothing can be done to stop the illness. Perhaps they have tried before with negative results. You know we're friends until we die The person has accepted that the disorder is a part of them forever. And either way you turn, I'll be there Either way could mean a variety of things, but since the song has a feeling of desperation to escape, I think the two choices are: a) Get help, but I'll still be there. b) Don't get help, but I'll still be there. Open up your skull, I'll be there The person has tried therapy or learned about and recognized the disorder within themselves. A step away from delusion. Climbing up the walls The person feels backed into a corner with no escape. It's always best when the light is off A step back. The person decides to just let the problem be (or "turn a blind eye" to the situation). It's always better on the outside The external world will take the person away from the pain for a moment (i.e. TV, junk food, games, sex) Fifteen blows to the back of your head A fear of unsafe psychiatric procedures is enhanced by the person's paranoia. Fifteen blows to your mind The person is finding it increasingly difficult to go on as they are. So lock the kids up safe tonight Paranoia again, or possibly OCD symptom of fear of harming others. Constant rechecking on kids. Shut the eyes in the cupboard Another line about ignoring the problem . I've got the smile of a local man The disorder has been with the person so long that they feel it is close to them. Who's got the loneliest feeling The closeness, however, is not good. The disorder prevents the person from fulfilling life to the full standard, leaving the person with a feeling of lonely emptiness. Just my interpretation, of course.

I play “Exit Music(for a film); almost every week at least, on guitar and sing it loud in my place 😊it’s so rewarding to know how to play it, I can’t describe it ❤

All Radiohead is amazing for different reasons. So happy to see younger generations appreciate it!

Absolutely impressed with you 2 reviewers - great job. This album is life changing.

Im glad you guys appreciated Lucky on your 1st listen. I always thought it never got the love it deserved. Also Airbag will grow on you. To me Airbag and Planet Telex from the Bends are my 2 favourite opening tracks I have ever heard.

I think the basic message of the song No Surprises is that the supposed perfect middle class life, where you live in the suburbs with a good job and a family, is something no-one would actually ever want, because it would be a damning, boring life of no surprises. The lyrics are someone with such a life realising he has been unhappy this entire time and that this is the reason why. -"A heart that's full up like a landfill", I believe means unexpressed feelings (held in by this socially conformative life) -"A job that slowly kills you" A job where everything is so scheduled and unsurprising that it takes the remaining shreds of excitement away in his new life, slowly taking away what makes it a "life" -"Bruises that won't heal" Perhaps the narrator was hurt in ways before their adult life, but isn't willing to show that (they seem to be saying that these "visible" bruises aren't going away, a problem) because that would distance themself from their friends and "ruin" their life. -"You look so tired, unhappy" This person, realising the hell of this life of no surprises, is now looking at their personality, thinking they have become something so different from what they were originally "Bring down the government, they don't speak for us" This was one of the many slogans that youth in the 1990's would be hearing, and Yorke probably included this as something of a reflection on the life of an adult, living in this time, who has a life of boredom. -"I'll take a quiet life, a handshake, some carbon monoxide" The person, I think, attempts to go back to his original way of believing that this life is perfect with the first phrase. With the second, "a handshake", he refers, I believe to deception. There a lot of images of handshakes in the OK COMPUTER album, which Yorke chose as symbols due to the way they are intended to show trust and truthfulness, but a person can easily "go behind" a handshake. The line, in this song, refers to the way he deceives people into thinking he sees the type of life they all share as perfect, like them, despite him having seen the hell it really is. He gives up hope in the last line, "some carbon monoxide", and contemplates suicide. "No alarms and no surprises x3, Silent" In the chorus, he is either committing or imagining a death through carbon monoxide poisoning, which would supposedly be slow and peaceful. Considering that, he sees the irony in that he is trying to escape the life of no surprises, but this method of suicide is a perfect symbol of the way that the life itself is slowly killing him. -"This is my final fit, my final bellyache" This may refer to the earlier line "bruises that won't heal", he has experienced "fits" and "bellyaches", possibly metaphors for the feelings of sadness, and these will both be felt physically in his death. -"No alarms and no surprises x3, Please" The narrator he also realises that his death will bring no alarms and no surprises ever, so perhaps being dead would be no different to the way he lives (this also goes well with the line "a job that slowly kills you") -The instrumental solo is a build-up to the climax, and I belief is symbolic of him dying. -"Such a pretty house, and such a pretty garden" He sees his life flash before his eyes, and thinks about the life of no surprises, about how it may have seemed attractive and "pretty" at first, but it's really all meaningless. -"No alarms and no surprises x3, please" Having seen his entire life, the narrator now begins to die, and the song ends with an empty, mystical feeling, showing his death.

Climbing up the walls is actually about when the singer worked in a mental hospital and one of the patients would always talk about something climbing up the walls. Paraphrasing but you get the idea haha. Next album I'd recommend is definitely kid A :)

I've been subscribed to you for a bit and have been loving the new energy you've been bringing to the music I've loved. Had to come back to this one to make this comment, as it was the first I watched and also is one of my favourite albums of all time. I was 17 when it was released and it shaped me. Keep going! You are destined for great things!

New watcher here. Right at the start of lucky I feel like the guy on the left "got it". You just get swallowed by this album, and it just spreads it's tentacles inside you. Head goes down, eyes close, and you just get immersed in it. This is an album that gets better with every listen. I still remember driving home from school at 2AM in university 25 years ago, driving alone and night, with this album on. It's an out of world experience. Next thing you know, 2 hours have gone by. I love watching the next generation "get it".

Can’t believe I literally watched whole one hour + video completely, you guys are so cool, I’d literally listen to your podcast, the way you perceived this whole album made me rethink about some things about ok computer. Also, about Fitter Happier, I think it’s about how our lives are controlled by devices like Siri, or smart House or something, it feels like they forsaw the reality we live in right now and they show us how a “perfect man” for society is being built and completely controlled by electric stuff, also, if you didn’t notice, the album starts with a song talking about a car crash and ends with a song mentioning “slow down”, so I assume this album represents never ending cycle, reincarnation, but the tragic thing is that every living person in every life they get a chance to live in have to face the problems that is shown in this album. I’m in love with this channel already and I would TOTALLY love if you’d react to In Rainbows as well, it’s totally fan favorite ( mine as well ) and would be very interesting how you’d perceive it as well. Thank you honestly, y’all made my day

In Rainbows is my personal favourite but all albums have many fantastic songs, so chronologically go through their catalog would be great, because their evolution as a band is so amazing, but if you plan to do only one more album I'd do In Rainbows, if you want the most challenging one, I'd do Kid A / Amnesiac. You guys should definitely watch the From the basement session from In Rainbows, a session indeed in the studio in their basement where they perform the songs live, but without an audience and they are amazing. Bottomline, they are all great lol

A real pleasure to watch you experiencing this album, I did the same thing listening with my best friend when it launched.

You guys are chill, i love radiohead its nice to see other people reacting

26:11 this album is such a good "backdrop" for long solo drives, just beware you might end up crying on the interstate

Hi! I'm new to your channel and a huge Radiohead fan! Excited for future reactions!!

Glad you enjoyed it! The whole album is about people becoming disconnected and numb and complacent in the modern world. For example, No Surprises is ironic, it's saying we trade our freedoms and our humanity killing ourselves doing jobs we hate, "but hey, look at my pretty house and pretty garden, right?". So long as nothing upsets our consumerism and "success", we'll accept anything. It sounds like a kid's lullaby because it's representing us being lulled to sleep by powers that like us exactly that way. Anyway, cheers! Nice to see the next generation diving into these classics.

subterranean homesick alien is simply divine for me

Such an experience. My first radiohead album I listened to.

Hey guys, really great video. I love your authentic chats and just natural feel of the setup. Just subscribed, hoping to help you guys grow your wings :) much love from South Africa 🇿🇦

Somehow there are a ton of these videos right now of younger people listening to ok computer for the first time. It's a trip. When I was around your age, listening to this when it first came out, most people either didn't know who radiohead was or thought they were whiny garbage lol very entertaining that so many people today are just now catching up to the genius of this album

I love that you referenced Regular Show. My son is 21 years old & I loved watching that show with him. I've bee a fan of Radiohead since I was in my 20's in the '90's. It's awesome to see y'all's reaction. Keep listening/watching & posting!!

One of the blessings of my life is that my son loves Radiohead as much as I do.

I was “old” when Ok came out (46). Liked it then. Love it now.

I love this video guys! For sure I gonna see all yours radiohead reacts 😅 (this is one of my favorites album of all time)

makes me so happy seeing this album touch people the way it touched me, greatest album of all time!

WIth no suprises, you have the meaning sort of backwards. Thom is saying is that the life i want to aim for, a boring life living in a nice house, with a normal office job, a family with kids. He thinks that that life would be hell, living the same day over and over again, with no suprises.

Won Best Album of the year in 1997 and one of the Top 10 Rock Albums of ALL TIME NO QUESTION

Interesting take on No Surprises because it’s based on the picture that is painted by the music alone. The lyrics go towards something very different, and this juxtaposition is what makes a lot of Radiohead songs brilliant. Some of them will tell one story in their words and another story in their music.

You are correct about Exit Music (For a film) - it was written for Romeo + Juliet. It was delivered late and nearly not used but they got it in - 7 weeks from the movie premiere. Which, in film terms, is very last minute. It's a reflection of the ending of the film where they both plan to run away but end up in a suicide pact - hence "we hope that you choke", as in: "look what you made us do with all your hate"

I can’t recommend to you the album ‘whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not’ enough! BANGER

The greatest album of all time

This is a new as hell channel, deserve some attention

Yesssss KZfaq algorithm finally works 😂😂 awesome channel you made my night

The song "The Tourist" was thought of when Thom was traveling places and he stopped to look around at all the tourists in a rush to get to all the attractions in the area. But that's when Thom realized that people need to just slow down and take in the moment. they traveled hours, some even days to get to where they are and don't even stop to take in the beauty that is around them.

Love that when it's all over ya'll just give each other a knowing smile

I remember going to Machu Picchu the last climb among the clouds listening to Ok Computer just weeping and so glad to be alive...

Best band in the past 20 years please do more for the culture 😩😩

After I heard this album in 2001, I was a radiohead fan forever

Something I never thought I’d hear about Paranoid Android as a Millennial: “That would be a great gym song!”

Damn I’m glad you guys did this one. It’s great to hear your analysis and how it relates to your lives. I remember the time before the actual internet, without cell phones, it’s like before social media x 100. We were all basically wild animals. All-analog, all-the-time. Playing outside, playing basketball, baseball, just getting into trouble. I was a baseball player too I can tell my man on the left is a hard thrower. Now? I’m a software engineer, probably look at a screen for 12-15hrs a day. Sometimes I feel like music is all they left us.

Those last two tracks…Wowee fuckin wow wow!

Album is a masterpiece. It's really worth checking out the Easy Star Allstars reggae version of this album too, for a completely different take. I love their versions of Let Down and Electioneering in particular. Radiohead themselves are also fans of that album too I believe.

I like the environments of your guys videos!

Yes guys, Im 58yo and only realised 10 yrs ago (Back then I never understood their music) just how great their songs are and mean so much in different ways to folk, and its so great to see that you younger men are understanding Radiohead before me.

I will sub for anyone who decides to check out Radiohead, who I think is the last great rock band from the era of bands which sadly is gone and we have mostly singles and single artists no longer do we have 5 guys working their asses off to create great art.

I’m a little late, but first of all I just wanted to let you guys know how much I enjoy your channel. You guys are doing some awesome stuff, so keep it up. I also wanted to explain my interpretation of “fitter happier”. All of the things he describes are things that “perfect” people do. While fine in moderation, when we obsess over becoming so optimized that we are “perfect”, all of the humanity is removed from these activities and ourselves. Perfection is not inherently human. We make mistakes. By trying to become perfect beings then, we become like androids who are programmed to never “mess up” or “malfunction” and less and less like real people

I think the word you’re looking for to describe this experience (from what I saw of your body language) is transcendent ❤️

First time I heard this I’d nipped into a video rental shop, they played the album and I stayed to the end. I was rooted to the spot.

welcome to town lads

Boys react to Radiohead live in the basment and you'll see a magic show (fyi you'll wanna listen to the next few albums up to In Rainbows In to get the full force)

Alright I'm way late and prob shouldn't comment but kinda feel compelled. If I have to pick, I call OK Computer my favorite album and Lucky my favorite song. Really enjoyed you two getting lost in that one in particular. That final solo in Lucky does something bodily to me, it picks me up by my heart within my chest and lifts me to a higher plane of existence. "I felt like I was at peace, I felt like I was levitating" well said. This album makes you feel like you've risen above the chaos somehow.

the way the dude on the left smiled right when Airbag started is all you gotta know

Its always a treat to watch people come to the realization of the powerhouse that is Radiohead.

Y’all would really fuck with The Bends. It’s not as good as OK Computer imo but it’s a damn good rock album. Probably the easiest one on the ears for new listeners too.

Just check out all their other albums in order, that way you get to experience the changes in their sound. Kid A will blow you away, it’s difficult to believe that it’s the same band!

never heard this before but it was awesome!!!!

Good to see the younger folk enjoying a classic from my youth.

climbing up the walls, subterranean homesick alien, the tourist, and lucky, are sooooooo amazing bro. by the way, my dad filmed a time he saw radiohead in concert and at the end of paranoid android, the whole crowd was waving lighters and singing the ‘rain down’ part so thom could sing the verse, it was sooo cool😭

Ohhhhhh my brother bought the vinyl and i just listened to it and its amazing!!!

“At peace with death.” Yeah, In Rainbows will be an instant favorite.

This by FAR, my most favorite album of ANY KIND of genre 😊

Ye gotta do Kid A, In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool.

Man, i wish you guys experienced the 90's like i did. We were so free of everything and enjoying the present time so much more. Everyone should have a taste of that, this is definitely a healthier way to life 😩

with Fitter Happier, the message that i got is - character in the song doesn't actually does anything he says, he just thinks that he will "fix" himself with all this "normal" things and activities. While not actually doing anything. Like that random motivation at 3 am, but way more deranged

What's funny is in many ways 'Kid A' the next album after this is a musical 180 based on the music tracks and minimal lyrics compared to OKC, but it brings across much the same vibe and emotional reaction when I listen. I'd say OKC is a more direct and tangible album while 'Kid A' is ethereal and on the melancholy side. Looking forward to how you react to the follow up.