I saw an article in some magazine again the "prog music awards", probably want to get a big band to come to make it noticed by the popular music press.

Ahhh okay. I don't think the band'll make a lot of fuss about it.

Well I bought and listened to Kid A last night. I'm itching to listen to it a second time.

I didn't like Kid A on the first listen at all. It came as a complete shock because I had listened to OK Computer, TKOL and In Rainbows and had been blown away. Naturally I had been looking forward to listen to it, especially with everyone praising it to the skies. Now I can't make myself listen to it again.

It's one of the hardest to digest. You'll appreciate it eventually.

You get out of Kid A what you put into it

I tried listening to Kid A at the age of sixteen, it wasn't so much that I didn't get it... it just didn't mean anything. I'm four years older now, with four years' more fear, resignation and hope inside me, and the album resonates properly. It's an icy, cautious, mournful friend that I know back to front, but still can't read its mind.

 

Radiohead could've had the world after OK Computer, but they turned it down, in favour of the art. That is the greatest thing an artist can ever do. It's the most dramatic reinvention in the history of music, and it's near flawless. Every second is calculated to a tee like a rocket-launch, and it bleeds emotion without speaking words or having to explain itself. It's simply, the most ambitious record ever attempted, and in my opinion, it's the greatest. Only Radiohead could've done that, only Radiohead have ever done Kid A, and only they could pull it off with such flying colours.

 

Go out at night, walk by a river, and play the album in its entirety. It's beautiful.

Radiohead could've had the world after OK Computer, but they turned it down, in favour of the art. That is the greatest thing an artist can ever do. It's the most dramatic reinvention in the history of music, and it's near flawless. Every second is calculated to a tee like a rocket-launch, and it bleeds emotion without speaking words or having to explain itself. It's simply, the most ambitious record ever attempted, and in my opinion, it's the greatest. Only Radiohead could've done that, only Radiohead have ever done Kid A, and only they could pull it off with such flying colours.

 

This sums it all up.

 

 

 

Btw, age doesn't matter at all, I'm fifteen and I understand it.

This sums it all up.

 

 

 

Btw, age doesn't matter at all, I'm fifteen and I understand it.

 

I find that really quite amazing. I had to absorb of a lot of life before I could understand bands like Radiohead.

These posts sum it up pretty well. Well done, guys. :smiley:

 

 

I think Kid A makes even more sense after watching MPIE. However, it's not a joyful watch but it explains why they decided to record Kid A.

I tried listening to Kid A at the age of sixteen, it wasn't so much that I didn't get it... it just didn't mean anything. I'm four years older now, with four years' more fear, resignation and hope inside me, and the album resonates properly. It's an icy, cautious, mournful friend that I know back to front, but still can't read its mind.

 

Radiohead could've had the world after OK Computer, but they turned it down, in favour of the art. That is the greatest thing an artist can ever do. It's the most dramatic reinvention in the history of music, and it's near flawless. Every second is calculated to a tee like a rocket-launch, and it bleeds emotion without speaking words or having to explain itself. It's simply, the most ambitious record ever attempted, and in my opinion, it's the greatest. Only Radiohead could've done that, only Radiohead have ever done Kid A, and only they could pull it off with such flying colours.

 

Go out at night, walk by a river, and play the album in its entirety. It's beautiful.

 

After I read this, I'm questioning what my opinion will be on this album a year from now...

The first time I watched MPIE, that scene with Thom wandering around the room, I cried haha

 

But, I don't really remember ever not liking Kid A though.. HTTT was harder for me to get into..

After I read this, I'm questioning what my opinion will be on this album a year from now...

 

How's that?

How's that?

 

It just leaves me curious how much I'll be into the album in the near future.

Kid A, still one of my all-time best albums...

 

Number 1 of course is Jedward :laugh3:

 

 

sorry looking at wrong list Jedward are top of my all-time worst albums I have had the mispleasure of listening to

 

I think it's all about interpretation really. Kid A will mean something different to each and every one of us. And it's with all albums, but especially one which confuses or gets you, I think. Kid A did this to me! But then you explore it and interpret it your own way, allowing you to understand it in a way which is just as valid as what the musician's ideas were when they were making it. That's my opinion, anyway.

ACL preview

^ Thom doesn't seem to be trying very hard.

I tried listening to Kid A at the age of sixteen, it wasn't so much that I didn't get it... it just didn't mean anything. I'm four years older now, with four years' more fear, resignation and hope inside me, and the album resonates properly. It's an icy, cautious, mournful friend that I know back to front, but still can't read its mind.

 

Radiohead could've had the world after OK Computer, but they turned it down, in favour of the art. That is the greatest thing an artist can ever do. It's the most dramatic reinvention in the history of music, and it's near flawless. Every second is calculated to a tee like a rocket-launch, and it bleeds emotion without speaking words or having to explain itself. It's simply, the most ambitious record ever attempted, and in my opinion, it's the greatest. Only Radiohead could've done that, only Radiohead have ever done Kid A, and only they could pull it off with such flying colours.

 

Go out at night, walk by a river, and play the album in its entirety. It's beautiful.

 

I like how you described it, but I simply cannot get into Kid A like others can, eight months later.

 

I bought it, for the sole reason of me enjoying the album like the rest of fanbase does. I tried and tried, but like I said, eight months later, I do not see why it is praised so highly. Yes, it's a great album and, yes, it's very artistic and dynamic, but I find myself enjoying pre-Kid A Radiohead considerably more.

I like how you described it, but I simply cannot get into Kid A like others can, eight months later.

 

I bought it, for the sole reason of me enjoying the album like the rest of fanbase does. I tried and tried, but like I said, eight months later, I do not see why it is praised so highly. Yes, it's a great album and, yes, it's very artistic and dynamic, but I find myself enjoying pre-Kid A Radiohead considerably more.

 

It's subjective.

 

I believe Kid A's the greatest simply because it's the most challenging record ever to be so, so brilliant. It's ambition that I regard highest in music.

 

But don't try too hard to get into it. Leave it until you need the songs, rather than want them, if that makes sense. Wait til you feel low, and play How to Disappear Completely. Wait til you're scared, and play Idioteque.

Interesting Kid A conversation. It's certainly not my favorite, but I appreciate it for what it is.

 

I've often wondered though if it would get as much praise if it didn't have the well-placed "transitions" between songs. Get rid of those small bits and the "flow" might not be anything to write home about. It certainly wouldn't feel the same.

 

Thoughts?

This is really really trite, and for that I apologize:

 

Kid A is my favorite Radiohead album just because of its ability to manifest itself in my head, and I associate it with a my maturation into who I've become. There were a lot of nights I spent in high school hunched over my shitty turntable, listening to Thom wail about cheap sex, sad films, cutting kids in half and scaremongering. It's just so damned relatable in an avant-garde kind of way because its lyrics are intense enough to engrain itself into your head, and just vague enough to apply to oneself.

 

Examples:

Red wine and sleeping pills

Help me get back to your arms

Cheap sex and sad films

Help me get where I belong

 

I think you're crazy, maybe

 

They use really blunt imagery and terminology, but provide a dichotomy in keeping it nonspecific so we all think that bits and pieces of it were essentially carved into something personal. So, lyrically, I think it's perfect.

 

Alluring also is the sound of the record, when it blends so well with the lyrics. In the title track, Thom essentially censored the words with voice effects because he thought they were so graphic. So this makes us question what the song means, and because Radiohead are so mysterious, we'll never really know. The lyrics are really vague:

 

I slip away

I slipped on a little white lie

 

We've got heads on sticks

You've got ventriloquists

We've got heads on sticks

You've got ventriloquists

 

Standing in the shadows at the end of my bed

Standing in the shadows at the end of my bed

Standing in the shadows at the end of my bed

Standing in the shadows at the end of my bed

 

The rats and children follow me out of town

The rats and children follow me out of town

Come on kids

 

This combined with the ambience and risk-taking they used in their sound was something new. So it's the coming-together of the implied and the insatiable that makes it a damned good record. Their other albums aren't as self-serving and didn't take that creative leap.

weren't Kid A's (the song) lyrics pulled out of a hat?

I think there are like 80 stories on the lyrics of Kid A

 

I don't know

 

But I have heard that one

It's subjective.

 

I believe Kid A's the greatest simply because it's the most challenging record ever to be so, so brilliant. It's ambition that I regard highest in music.

 

But don't try too hard to get into it. Leave it until you need the songs, rather than want them, if that makes sense. Wait til you feel low, and play How to Disappear Completely. Wait til you're scared, and play Idioteque.

 

I...just don't think Kid A is that incredible. I've always found myself getting tired of Kid A and Amnesiac - after multiple playthroughs - simply because the drastic change from the typical guitar, bass and drums ensemble.

 

Don't get me wrong, I can totally see its popularity and understand why it is so, but honestly, I just see Kid A as an abstract attempt to widen their sound, a quite-average one at that.