They had released the awkward-ish, underdeveloped Pablo Honey in 1993, which gave us a band unsure of themselves, with some tunes for college radio, but no assurances that Radiohead wanted any part of that identity. I’ve never viewed it that way, though it’s certainly up there, and it’s a record that has aged remarkably well, but not for the reasons people tend to think it has.Īt this point, Radiohead are nine albums into their studio career, with OK Computer marking the signpost one-third of the way into the journey.
I think most people would say that OK Computer is their favorite Radiohead album. You don’t really think of it as a summer album, but something more autumnal, or wintery, or just from a future that hasn’t happened yet paradoxically surrounds us all the same, all the time. The Glastonbury set was from the time of the release of OK Computer, which now marks its 20th anniversary. Those guitar textures could do what a spot-on story by someone like Chekhov could, probing for your most sensitive nerves, and then enlivening them with a form of music that managed to be both an open and a closed circle: something you could step into, that would then enfold you. This attack had a lot of six-string-based violence to it, but the power also came from the band’s commitment to buffeting you with very precise emotions. If you’ve ever heard a recording of Radiohead’s Glastonbury set from June 28, 1997, you know that they were a guitar band who could part your head from your body with the ferocity of their attack.
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