Twenty years later, why OK Computer is my favorite musical masterpiece

Photo credit to Musikexpress

May 1997 was a special month for me. The main reason being I was born during that month.

However, just eight days after my birth, my favorite album released in Japan, making its world debut.

On May 21, 1997, my favorite band, Radiohead, released their third studio album, OK Computer.

Although I didn't encounter this album until I was about 16, it has become a musical masterpiece in my eyes.

Of course I'm biased. My favorite musician is Thom Yorke, Radiohead's frontman. My favorite band IS Radiohead and OK Computer is my favorite album ever.

However, that should not take away from this album being considered a musical masterpiece, as many music critics would agree.

In fact, in a 2012 article published by Rolling Stone, a total of five out of Radiohead's then-released eight albums placed in the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

OK Computer ranked third amongst Radiohead albums.

1995's The Bends (ranked 111th) and 2000's Kid A (67th), OK Computer placed 162nd. 162nd...in a list of the "Greatest Albums of All Time".

Although I disagree with The Bends and Kid A being ahead of OK Computer, although I love those albums too, OK Computer being in the Top 200 albums ever five years ago is significant.

Why is this album so special? Why is it the love of my life? Why both celebrate 20 years?

If Radiohead's promotion and release of OKNOTOK, a remastered version of OK Computer doesn't give a hint, you'll see why.

From a critic's point-of-view

OK Computer is beautiful. Simple and to the point.

However, what truly makes OK Computer great is its use of raw power and the band's collective musical talent.

On vocals, you have Thom Yorke who has a constant sense of desperation, dread and depression throughout the album.

On paper, that sounds like OK Computer would be a downer of an album to listen to, and some songs like "Let Down" would suggest that.

However, each song has its own character. "Airbag" is a sigh of relief as much as "Electioneering" is a shot of adrenaline.

Each song has its own playlist it can belong to, its own mood and its own effect on the audience.

There are some songs that are overwhelming. "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police", "Exit Music (For A Film)" and the aforementioned "The Tourist" have leagues of their own.

"Paranoid Android" is by far the most commercially-known example of this for you Radiohead novices.

The second track of the album has a wide range of instruments and musical sections.

Its pace is dynamic, building with the Yorke's swaying vocals, building to the chorus, alternating between slow and fast-paced sections.

There are multiple climaxes in this song as well, one starting with a hard guitar riff accompanying Yorke's vocals leading into a screeching solo by guitarist Jonny Greenwood.

Immediately afterwards, haunting vocals slow the tempo and an acoustic guitar and keyboard join Yorke.

This builds to the last minute of the song being an onslaught of guitaring by both Greenwood brothers (Jonny and Colin) along with Yorke and drumming by Philip Selway that conclude the track.

The variety of OK Computer expresses the evolution of Radiohead post-Pablo Honey and The Bends from the early and mid-90s.

The last album of the 90s for Radiohead is the last source of their music without great electronic influence, as seen in

Kid A, not to say that electronica and trance suppressed the band's talent.

Overall, OK Computer is an album that can follow you through life, through moments after an exhausting victory with "Karma Police" to troughs of bitter sadness with "Fitter Happier" and "No Surprises" to times of rage and expression with "Lucky" or "Polyethylene" if you include the 1998 Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP.

That's what makes this album so powerful and worth the Grammy nominations and wins, all the critical acclaim and fan adoration it received and continues to receive.

From A (Radiohead) Fan's Perspective

If you haven't caught on, I'm a big Radiohead fan. All their albums are on my Spotify, I know the words to most their songs and their logo is my phone's lock and home screen.

OK Computer is an album that I've grown attached to because of its significance in Radiohead's discography that spans more than 25 years.

Although Pablo Honey was the starting point and Creep was the headline single, although The Bends was the launching pad to stardom, OK Computer was the rocket ship that cemented Radiohead as one of the greatest rock bands in history.

As more of a rock fan than an electronic fan, OK Computer is the pinnacle of Radiohead's raw power as explained earlier.

The timing of the album also matters, and not just because of its proximity to my birth date.

This was the start of Radiohead's first major international breakthrough.

Although Pablo Honey and The Bends were Top 100 albums in multiple countries, OK Computer was a Top 10 album in seven countries and a chart topper in three countries.

This brought stress onto the band, most notably Thom Yorke who had major social anxiety at the time.

In their 1998 Grammy-nominated documentary "Meeting People is Easy", the physical and mental impact of such an exposure to the world hits the band hard.

This all came after OK Computer's release, while Radiohead performed 91 shows in 15 countries in seven months during 1997. The tour for OK Computer ended up being 114 shows.

This documentary made me appreciate the work that came during and after the album's recording, which makes the emotional power of the album more haunting, yet enjoyable.

The entire documentary can be found on YouTube here and I definitely recommend it.

From A (Music) Fan's Perspective

This album is exciting, considering the potential that was seen and later solidified in Radiohead's future work.

That being said, reflecting on 20 years after OK Computer's release, Radiohead did something only Radiohead would do.

Prior to the release of OKNOTOK, Radiohead converted their website to how it was in 1997, with artwork and endless cycles of links.

Also, in spirit of the classic Radiohead thing to do (which is to say releasing songs that you performed decades ago because fans have been waiting that long for a studio version), the band released three previously unreleased tracks, two of which, as of today, have music videos.

Previously named "Big Boots", "Man of War" (also titled

"Man-o-War") was released June 22, 2017.

"Man of War" has recordings as far back as a show in Italy in 1995, if not earlier. That is to say that this track, performed during the tour for "The Bends", was stored for 22 years without an official released studio album.

The same could be said about "I Promise", which has its earliest performance (as far as I know) in 1996 in a show in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

"I Promise" was released on June 2, 2017, nearly 21 years to the day of its performance in Mansfield.

Finally, one of the most beloved previously unreleased Radiohead songs, "Lift" was released on June 23, 2017 as OKNOTOK was released.

The origin of "Lift" is suggested to be from 1996 when Radiohead performed at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands.

What does this mean as a music fan?

This means things are waiting to come out.

Think about it in a perspective as a fan for your favorite artist, whomever it may be.

How exciting would it be to learn of old footage of your favorite artist performing an unreleased song?

Later, that excitement turns into anxiety as you hope one day you will hear the clarity of a studio version of that song.

You wait and wait until at last, years, maybe even decades later, the song is on the tracklist for an album or EP or anniversary album like OKNOTOK.

As my fellow Radiohead fans will agree, we have suffered that many times. In fact, there are enough unreleased, previously performed Radiohead songs to create an entire 10th album.

Most importantly, as Radiohead releases more previously unreleased tracks on anniversary albums like OKNOTOK or how they finally, after 21 years, released a studio version of "True Love Waits" on their latest album in 2016, we know there WILL be more Radiohead music to enjoy.

Until then,

We wait.