@@Guitargate Yup they were the first major band to do it. And even with that model the album made more from digital sales than digital sales of all previous Radiohead albums combined according to Thom
@@Guitargate They pretty much invented the pay model and proved it could work. They put the album up for free on the internet and let people pay what they want if they wanted. I think the average was ~$5.
Literally all ive done for years . Things with 3 views pop up straight away on my youtube cos ive searched so much. Just watched a young american listening to ok computer for the first time. Im obsessed 😍
This was mostly written by Johnny Greenwood (they guy playing the keyboard). He is a full on composer, writing orchestral music and he has done the scores for movies like There Will Be Blood and The Master. This song originally started as one of his orchestral compositions titled Arpeggi that they then adapted for the band. So it sounds so complex and layered because the original was intended to be played by an entire orchestra, and somehow they condensed it down to be played by their 5 person guitar band.
From my favorite band radiohead to my favorite director and my favorite films of all time, the master and let there be blood!! Who is the constant, the f**king genius johnny greenwood!
Dude im so happy to see a musician who never dove into or "understood" Radiohead dive into Radiohead. They are truly the greatest band of the last 30 years.
"I feel like I am in a dreamscape and I'm not sure where the center is." - The best description of Radiohead I've ever heard and he does it on contact. Fucking phenomenal
Hahaha you said "watch them be childhood friends" and thats exactly what they are. Radiohead has had the exact same members since they were teenagers in english boarding school. Nobody has ever left the band or been replaced. It's incredible honestly
Yeah! I loved that too! It’s unbelievable. After 30 years of loving them I’m still stunned by the massive karmic, cosmic alignment that must have happened to bring 5 guys together who are this good, and all geniuses in their own right, but collectively beyond verbal description - AT SCHOOL.
@@kirkwarburton2277 Truth is, it wasn't the meeting of 5 masters, it was 5 passionate guys who all pushed each other to be masters, any of them would just be regular people on their own, but together they improved their craft and pushed each other to all become legends.
Actually, back when they were called On a Friday there was another member before Johnny joined in iirc. But yeah, as Radiohead, they've always been the same.
@andremartinez Yes it’s funny, Jonny was trying to get in on his older brother’s band, playing the recorder at first😂 Damn good job they saw fit to get him in properly.
The drummer is Phil Selway. Basically a human metronome with insane, super-crisp and accurate chops. This song is bananas, the band is bananas, and I’m so glad you’re discovering the majesty that is Radiohead. One of my all-time favorite bands.
@@EarleMonroethere probably is a click running through all their in ear monitors to keep it all together. Particularly in the section where he drops out. Don't get me wrong, Phil is a genius.
I think that’s actually Clive Deamer in the video, he was their second drummer starting in 2011 sayeth google 🤘 Phil Selway is a human metronome but so much more with his range of styles (Myxomatosis and Amazing Sounds’v Orgy etc) drums are my instrument. Johnny Greenwood is their 3rd drummer because he can play just about anything.
@@Julian.Castro nah, it’s all body language, they just do multiple takes, Thom is the perfectionist who probably drives them a bit crazy but makes them great. But… on Bloom live from the basement (much better than album version btw) you can just barely make out an electronic metronome sound, and that’s a very complex song with 3 drum parts, 2 syncopated, bassline and vocals, but the sound could just be a product of Thom’s guitar rhythm which is just a real bendy gcgcgcgcgcgc with echo (maybe not those two notes but it sounds like it 😂)
@@bryankelly3647 That’s definitely Phil and not Clive. This was recorded and released in 2008. But I was curious about Phil’s in-ears, and the guys at The King of Gear (who know WAY more than most about all the gear RH uses) say that Phil never uses a click. Ed said in an interview once that they had one small recorded bit on one tour, out of 60-70 songs they’d practiced for the tour. It might’ve been the glitchy percussion on 15 Step (pre-Clive because he plays it now) but Ed didn’t specify. TKOL basement show may have had recorded parts since that album is so sample heavy, but in general they create everything live each night. Someone has probably cataloged different live versions of songs and the tempos they played at on different night. There are some seriously obsessed Radiohead fans out there
The arpeggiation is purposefully random. Like when the sun sparkles on a lake. It's a texture that can't be achieved by writing out notes, only by deciding on behaviors. Very modern way of creating.
In an interview they said 'Pointillism', the painting technique where you only use small dots, was an inspiration for this song. Your analogy is on point.
When I was learning to play guitar, I went to my teacher one day and said "I think I"m done". He asked what I meant and I said "I just can't do this anymore". He dug deeper and asked what changed my mind since I was learning quite quickly. I explained that I listened to "In Rainbows" album and decided that I will never be able to compose anything like what I had heard, between Bodysnatchers or Jigsaw, I'd never be able to.... I'm done. He laughed and said "Jesus man... it's f'n Radiohead. What type of standard are you learning to? Your very first song you learned was Karma Police. Shut up and get back to practice. Nobody's going to be Radiohead except Radiohead". It was good advice, I still play. I still can't arrange like them. I'm ok with that.
Ed's background vocals are so underrated. Sometimes he sounds _just like_ Thom. It's uncanny. Jonny Greenwood is amazing and flashy, but I feel like Ed is the glue that holds the band together.
Agreed. It’s just beyond comprehension that something so beautiful was created. I’d love to see a brain scan of myself or anyone listening to this. Just to see how many parts of the brain light up. It just makes me feel so euphoric. “Let Down” had been my favorite until I heard this.
I have “I hit the bottom and escape” with the amnesiac Minotaur tattooed on my arm. It’s my favorite tattoo. Radiohead is my favorite band of all time and it was always the favorite of two of my best friends who passed away about a year apart. Also it means two things in reference to my life. It can either mean “I hit rock bottom of addiction and got clean and escaped” or “I hit the bottom of my mental health and ended it” It reminds me that I have a choice.
exactly, im just paralyzed listening to it. every time they come on, this song particularly, i have to just sit cause they somehow make you use every part of your sense with just sound.
Reaction wise, this is my favorite MP video. His looks are priceless 17:20 "get the fuck out of here.." 17:30 "Imma 'bout to lose my shit" 18:04 brain implosion, shit officially lost 😂
Once he said "I'm gonna lose my shit" and went back once, I was eagerly anticipating his reaction to the last segment. And he just gave up and listened to the chaos like a regular person lol.
I’m a music teacher in a rock band performance program and we’re doing weird fishes this weekend! Putting it together is a challenge but these kids are nailing the feeling and navigating this chaotic landscape beautifully! You’re right though, we did not break out the one page chord charts for this one. The three guitar players have pages and pages of notes. But you know what’s cool? The kids that chose this group really love Radiohead. The people who like music like this find eachother somehow and now there’s a new generation reverse engineering it, can’t wait to see what these kids do next fueled with the lessons infused in learning this song and playing it live
My son at age 14 comes to me and says, "Dad, I've got to tell you something. I've really got a problem..." Oh God, what can this be...? "I only want to listen to Radiohead." *sighs* "Son, we've all been there, and some of us never come out the other side..." Still, it shows there is hope in this bleak and beautiful universe
@@ununderstood working on it, the school has the videos and there’s all this liability around posting the video publicly, if they ever do, it will be from an official account owned by the school, but if it happens, I’ll try to remember to post a link here. They killed it at their show, I was so proud!! Also side note, the first song I ever wrote, recorded and mixed on my own was called “understood”
Radoihead's catalogue is amongst the finest in rock music history. Conceptually, technically and finally deeply emotional connectivity. They have it all.
always thought of them as the beatles of the 90/2000s. I say this as a huge nirvana fan too haha. My nostalgia might be biasing me but hearing OK computer in 9th grade changed my life as a musician and a person
The guitar layering in this song is some of my favorite ever. Michael, you should really just listen to the entirety of the “In Rainbows” album because it’s a masterpiece.
@@the_oslovian It's not even Radioheads best album. It's a masterpiece though. Gotta be Kid A or AMSP though. In Rainbows is an easier listen for sure. AMSP is so gorgeous though its insane
Yeah, In Rainbows may not be their career peak, but there’s something about that album that makes it my go-to, more than any other. It’s an absolute delight, especially when it really was kind of under the radar at the time!
I sent this to my dad the night before he passed and I can’t help but wonder if he ever got to listen to it. He was an amazing musician and I would’ve loved to see his reaction.
He heard it as he entered the next world, whether or not he heard it in this one. It is the sound of angels. Angels arguing with devils and turning them back to the light
@hannah6505... i'm 57 years old and my daughter is 20. We've always had a strong connection through music and, in stumbling upon your comment here, I just wanted to send you some peace and light. Sounds like you had a very beautiful relationship. Hope you're healing from the loss.
Im so sorry for your loss. Music is something so special to bond over and I hope with my whole heart and soul that he heard it. This makes me cry for you. Like fr, my heart just broke and I'm in tears thinking about this for you and literally want to hug a stranger from the internet. I promise you he's with you. You may already know that. Call him to you, and if you feel him, tell him you want to play it for him and then play it. He'll hear it. Sending you sm love. My dad passed recently too, and we both play guitar and we had a little bond through that.
Your dad was a dude! He raised someone cool enough to send him something so accomplished for his deathbed!? I bet the relaxation of it all, just sent him peacefully……….. “Ah…….! My work is good.”
Radiohead's music is like a landscape. Every flower, blade of grass and mountain is perfect and you can look at each of them individually if you choose to - but it's the cumulative effect that washes over you.
Facts their music is organic always changing evolving and pushing to new heights. The planet has its own rules and laws and is rich and ever living. Straight magic IMHO
To me the two guitar arpeggios overlapping and clashing so vividly remind me of the ripples on the surface of the ocean, and how light refracts through water. So god damn creative and beautiful it hurts.
Awesome visual to describe the sound. Also goes with the lyrics on reckoner. "Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore" Also goes with the title too lol. 🐠 🐟
I experience it as a journey into deeper and deeper water, murky at first until suddenly a wonderful tapestry of sea-life reveals itself, but I love yours too!
The cool thing about Radiohead is they were able to have some huge hits early in their career which gave them the financial freedom to really explore their art as musicians and performs. This song is an example of this freedom and exploration, which has made them the Outstanding band they are. Artist in the highest sense.
There are a shit tonne of "legacy" bands that have had hits early in their career and could have went on to do unique stuff but havent. Radiohead are simply in a league of their own and it has nothing to do with how successful they were early. They just took the step to be different
@@dorkknight42 I think they're saying the early success gave them the financial freedom to pursue innovative music, not that the success itself was instrumental to their creativity or genius.
The best part of all this was your question at the end about how did they find each other... They all come from Abingdon in Oxfordshire which is a very small town south of Oxford. It's not some bustling metropolis where the likelihood of finding like-minded highly skilled bandmates is undoubtedly higher. It's a small parochial English town that has been around for nearly a thousand years. A place where the town tradition is throwing buns from the town hall roof when there's a Royal event. And it gave us Radiohead. 5 astoundingly creative and innovative musicians. All at once.
If you want to have this same experience again here are some songs: Paranoid Android (OK Computer), Pyramid Song (Amnesiac) and Jigsaw Falling Into Place (In Rainbows)
The Bloom video on RU-vid with Hans Zimmer is like a having a religious experience. Also Reckoner is phenomenal, especially Jonnys lemon playing skills
@@karinastafford7131 will forever be an advocate for bloom. their ‘from the basement’ performance of it is probably in my top 3 favorite radiohead live performances of all time
Yep! I didn't really find them until 2018. I mean i always liked them. But rhats when i out full albums on, by mysel etc.. Haven't looked back since. One of those bands j could listen tk over and over everyday as it's so unique.
"Nude" was perfect to lift up the veil. "Weird Fishes" is excellent to discover their dynamic qualities, both rythmically and melodically. I think "Pyramid Song" captures their dreaminess in words. It is a challenging one, but loved by most, once you get it. At 14:33 you wonder who/how they write their songs just when you have the most complementary duo, Thom and Johnny, in the frame. If you want to feel their comforting melancholic vibes, go to "How to disappear completely". Musical madness with "Paranoid Android" and etherical bliss with "Reckoner". Also please note that although this 'from the basement' performence is excellent, their album sound is astounding as well. "Everything in its right place" is a fine example. Very interesting approach to reacting to Radiohead, man!
I don't play music. I just know how much I love Radiohead. I don't know the truth you're speaking behind the music theory, I just know the truth in my heart. I'm not watching this to learn the theory either, but to watch you fall in love with them. You tapped into a new audience you probably never intended to. Radiohead is so beautiful.
This is by far the best RU-vid video I've watched in a long time. As a lifelong Radiohead fan (almost pre-fame, small room 500 person venues), and having had a love affair with them for ever, watching you (who I only just discovered) - discover them and fall in love with them is so heart warming. I don't understand your technical musicology, but I love to watch you unpick it (or try to) and talk about what you're hearing. It's making me fall in love with Radiohead for a second time. Thanks for your channel. You've got a new fan, right here.
You're going to be told by about 100,000 comments "You really should do a video on How To Disappear Completely". And all 100,000 of those comments are correct. That song is effing majestic. Like straight-up timeless composition.
Totally agree - and just to call out the fact that a knowledgeable guy called Barnaby Martin has published an a remarkable video essay analysis of "How To Disappear Completely" on his @ListeningIn channel. His detailed analysis of the complex harmonies & structure from a composition perspective reveals the hidden beauty and power of this unique RH masterwork ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-o4MIxTm0FWQ.html
Yeah but it's not really a "guitar song" for a guy that does mostly guitar(from what I've seen). I personally feel like he would have more fun with a song like "Body Snatchers", or "Just". But at the same I do love "How to disappear completely". Just not sure if it's right for this channel.
I am a gigantic Radiohead fan and this is my favourite Radiohead song. To have someone who loves music and the details and the complexities of it do a detailed analysis like this if it, is basically better than Christmas and a birthday combined. Thank you 😊🙏 I hope you will notice Johnny's live sampling when we get to it. 😁 Radiohead have been playing since they were young teenagers together. They were very lucky to go on so long together. I think they just have magic. Jonny the guitarist with the sampling and the genius things is an academy award nominee for best classic soundtrack. He has serious training and has even made his own computer program to get the sounds he want. So yeah, a lot of what you hear is him, together with Thoms great song writing skills and the others ability to put on just the perfect parts on their instruments. 😍 Welcome to this journey. It usually takes me about a few months to get past the guitars and then move other to other instruments and then eventually the lyrics. Every song keeps giving for years. Good lyrics... Exit music for a film, Let down, Present tense, Glass eyes,and Videotape are up there for me.
I love this comment so much and I feel exactly the same about this song. I heard this live at Malahide Castle in 2010 (i think!). It was magical live. x
This is such a joy to watch. It feels like hearing Radiohead again for the first time through your ears. When you get to the lyrics you will understand that this isn’t only a dreamscape.. it’s an underwater dreamscape. In the modal textures and in the voicing of the chords, they paint fluid underwater images. Is it a stretch to imagine their arpeggios as so much vertical seaweed swaying? In a way similar to, say, Part of Your World from Little Mermaid or Sad Stephen’s Song by Duncan Sheik. One of the strengths of radioheads compositions is that they are synesthetic, simultaneously aural and visual, in a way that has always been so shocking to me.
As someone who is 39 years old and has been to jail multiple times for minor misdemeanors like possessing pot or trespassing to swim in a swimming pool (it was a holiday so the gym was closed and i cant go without swimming), I can say that this is above what I would even expect while in a jail or processing area.
Please, please, please make a series of videos, or a whole new RU-vid account if necessary, where we get to watch you listen to and connect with every Radiohead song in their entire back catalogue. All of your first time listens. Please grant us that joy! 💗🛸😍🌟
So what's actually happening here, now that I can hear it clearly in stereo, is that you have two guitarists playing conflicting patterns of 8th notes. In the right speaker, you have one guitarist playing a series of 10-note repeating patterns. In the left speaker, you have another guitarist playing these moving 3-note arpeggios. All 8th notes, but beginning and ending at different times. Then, at the bridge, the guitarist in your left speaker moves over to the electric piano, where he continues playing 3-note patterns (a different one this time though) as the singer picks up a guitar and plays yet a third 3-note pattern. After the break, the guitarist in the left speaker returns with a droning e-bow melody with a pitch shifter. The singer plays the prominent melody on his guitar (panned center) and the guitarist in the right speaker is now using some kind of time warping/looping pedal to generate what sounds like a sped-up and backwards sample of the earlier 10-note repeating patterns. Gonna go put on some Bob Seger now or something, give my ears some rest
Bingo good job and not everything they make is like this but their entire calalog is filled with interesting ideas and there are a lot of good songs and melodies at the core. I think they are like my generations Beatles in that every album is so different from the previous ones but it is still their sound in a way. Check out this whole basement session and the other more out there (even more proggy?) one for The King Of Limbs they are both so great.
My favourite part of this video is at 8:02 where you seem to stop trying to figure it out and just enjoy the ride. One of my all-time favourite Radiohead songs, really blissful. As for the lyrics, my own take is that marine biologists find that the deeper you go in the ocean the weirder the fishes. Maybe that's how it is with human emotions, the deeper you go the weirder things get.
I am no musician so I have no idea what is going on. All I know is that this is one of my favorite songs that I have heard. It is a gotdamn portal to another dimension! The entire In The Basement performance of In Rainbows should be saved and protected so that it survives the apocalypse.
To be fair Thom is a bit more than a voice. But then the same could be said about all of them and still (somehow) SO SO SOSOSOSOSO Underrated. Someone said above that they're one of the best bands of the last 30 years - pretty hard to argue with that.
Lyrics for anyone curious: [Verse 1] In the deepest ocean The bottom of the sea Your eyes They turn me Why should I stay here? Why should I stay? [Verse 2] I'd be crazy not to follow Follow where you lead Your eyes They turn me Turn me into phantoms (Way out) I follow to the edge (Way out) Of the earth (Way out) And fall off Yeah, everybody leaves (Way out) If they get the chance (Way out) And this (Way out) Is my chance [Chorus] I get eaten by the worms And weird fishes Picked over by the worms And weird fishes Weird fishes Weird fishes [Outro] Yeah, I I hit the bottom Hit the bottom and escape Escape I I hit the bottom Hit the bottom and escape Escape
I love how towards the end, after they come back from "picked over by the worms and weird fishes," Michael's face changes and he kinda of stops trying to make sense of what's happening. I LOVE that about this song.
Yeah it’s like he perfectly verbalized the way I feel about the music better than I ever could or even thought about that deeply. I was laughing too in amazement.
We bow to the absolute musical genius of Johny Greenwood and lyrical and illustrative scene-painting of Thom Yorke. This song (and particularly the lyrics) has always made me feel like riding a massive ocean current from one side of the word to the other…passing coral reefs, deep sea trenches, shipping lanes...gorgeous, big and me revealing in my happy insignificance. There was an interview that Thom Yorke gave after OK Computer was released in ‘97 where he said that they wanted Air Bag to “feel like a car crash” and for No Surprises to “sound like a child’s toy” and that it was great that people picked up on that. I’ve looked at the band in a very impressionist light ever since - focusing on what the theme and feel conjures up.
Took me a long time to figure out what made Radiohead special. It used to be that Thom's voice was a hurdle for me to get over and kind of wrote them off for a long time. Their music is so diverse and complex, I can see how they appeal to musicians, such as myself. They are one of those bands that don't always appeal at first listen, but over time they grow on you.
The fact that I can watch a musicians brain melt as he listen to this song, makes me feel like I am not alone as I listen to this song❤Thank you RadioHead
More! This whole set blew my mind. I always thought they were doing everything with crazy studio tricks, and then I saw this and nope, they're just effing wizards.
In Rainbows is one of the top 10 best albums of all time, no question.... Maybe even top 5. Everything song is perfectly positioned on the album, the production is 100% perfection and the music is 100% perfect. Cry every time I listen to it front to back. Agree?
100%, especially the crying part. Every time I think I’m good when I make it through Nude with dry eyes, then I hear “becaaaause we seeeparaaaate like RIPPLES on a blaaaAaaank shooore” and I I’m toast
I was just about to say, the emotions that well up listing to this song in particular and Nude... so powerful. I know that there has been turmoil in my life and I listen to this album in the dark and just melt into the chair I'm in.
What amazes me about these Basement performances is how they recreate this music live....if you watch Bloom it's so.incredinly complex...but they manage it.
I’m pretty sure these guys are time travelers. Their music doesn’t just improve with age, it feels like some of it shouldn’t have existed at all at the time of its original recording. Some of their songs made absolutely no sense to me until years later, almost as if my brain wasn’t mature enough to handle them at the time. This is the vibe that kids rock out to in 2050. Just for fun, let’s see what the public thinks of it in 2007. The raw emotions that hit me with their music are brand new to my system. The combination of tension, anxiety, frustration, despair and grief mixed with love, eternal bliss, new beginnings, positivity and hope all intertwined. They take you on a journey that can be uncomfortable at times but so worth it in the end. You become your better self just by listening and absorbing. Wow. The power of Radiohead. Pure genius!!
I'm having an uncanny feeling right now because I discovered this channel just half an hour ago and I was immediately hooked after your Radiohead video, told myself "I wish there was more of it" and refreshed the page. Great job on knowing what your audience wants! I'm stoked to watch more :) Edit: I love how you gave up at some point and just accepted Radiohead as it is lol. As for the new song suggestion, "jigsaw falling into place" is my fav song by them, probably followed by "paranoid android" which kinda changed my whole point of view aboout music, I didn't know music could be so free!
Love watching someone else geeking out to this "fun little secret" of a band, there's actually been times when I bust out crying at the beauty of the abstract melodies.
It's really nice that the first thing commented on is Phil Selway's drumming. Man is a machine. I've never listened to one of his lines and felt an inexplicable urge to play it, but I want just a fraction of his ability to keep time. They can be messing about with so much variation in the song and he's just... there, keeping the rhythm where it's supposed to be. The guitars and vocal melodies wander and you feel like you're floating in a dreamscape, and then there's a transition to bridge or chorus, and everything aligns with the drums and it's like stars exploding.
I absolutely love seeing someone who is so proficient in their knowledge and understanding of music hearing something for the very first time and being blown away by it. The expressions on your face and look in your eyes just made me laugh and smile so much. I've never seen you so dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and discombobulated at a song before and it's brilliant to see. I thank you wholeheartedly for bringing those emotions back to me as a Radiohead fan and appreciator of music.
They are friends from prep school/art school. The turning point in their sound from early albums to the later recordings was an incorporation in of electronic music (ambient, drum and bass, even dub). This was they can incorporate in more jazz and rhythmic textures than a traditional rock band. I also hear a lot of television in the divergent guitar lines. Glad to hear you are getting it!
The thing about their influences is that they all have drastically different backgrounds and inspirations. Phil's solo work sounds folk-adjacent, Thom dj's and is very much an edm/idm/hiphop fan, Johnny writes and conducts orchestral music, Ed's album was like some 70's Latin-American funk/soul, and I dont believe Collin has much solo work but I do believe it was him that was wanting hiphop producer Dr. Dre to produce Kid A. Quite the variety.
It was just a relatively “normal” UK private secondary boys school (although I get that being private and for boys only makes it a bit less “normal”! 🤔😜). It wasn’t an art school and it wasn’t a “prep school” (in the UK that’s a school for up to 13 year olds and these guys were older than that when they formed the precursor to Radiohead together).
Its fun trying to watch someone so talented like Micheal trying to deconstruct natural perfection. It's why i'm introducing my young teens to this amazing music, as now its so base and computerized for them. Cannot dissect genius it is often impossible.
All the confused faces are when Jonny decides to go off and do his own thing, whilst Ed just stays with what they both started at the beginning, that's what makes this song unique.
Not a musician but “In Rainbows” is my fav album ever. Weird fishes might be my fav song on that album. Without understanding the complexity it has such a consistent drum groove that I get lost in while the layered guitars wash over me. I never ever get sick of it. Watching you break it down gives me a whole new way to appreciate something that I already appreciate so much. Do the whole Radiohead catalog.
I very much want to keep you going down the Radiohead rabbit hole. For the next one, I think you should do How To Dissappear Completely. It's Thom Yorke's favorite Radiohead song (mine too) and fits right into that "let's look at the lyrics this time" vibe you're looking for that you mentioned at the end of this vid. It was written during or about a nervous breakdown Thom had when they first got massive fame. Cheers!
This is not my favorite song of theirs, but you are right that it is an excellent choice for the next video and specifically the lyrics. Great suggestion.
The layering of arpeggios at different points of the chord; each of the three guitar players accenting at different points adds to your idea of soundscaping…more times than not…this is done in the studio and not live…the greatness of Radiohead…
19:50 I love that you worked out from this song that they must be ‘childhood friends … or complete strangers’ They met and started playing together in school, had their first hits right out of uni; this song is an evolution from their original dynamic.
They all graduated from college except for Johnny (the "lead" guitarist and keyboards who is the bass players younger brother). Johnny was at Oxford learning guitar under Iggy Pop's guitarist. He left school early to join the band. It has paid off. Johnny has also won a Grammy for a score he did for a movie.
'How To Disappear Completely' would be a fantastic song to react to. So trance-like and beautiful. I'd like to hear you give some insight as to why what they play has such an effect on the listener.
I agree but he is not giung to really feel the emotional impact of the song if he keeps stopping it I think a more groovt tune like Jigsaw Falling In To Place might be better.
This song gives me chills every time I hear it. I got to see them live at the Blossom Center in 2012. They played this and some of their greatest hits, and it was the best thing I've ever seen live.
"Like a metronome" is a fantastic way to describe Phil Selway. He's an absolutely incredible drummer, and I love that he's one of those drummers who, like Glenn Kotche and others, have raised drumming from "merely" timekeeping to its own artistry.
It's like witnessing an epiphany!! My favourite band for almost 30 years, so the stunned and wonderous expressions on your face made me quite emotional! Best Radiohead reaction I've seen. Very genuine. I sincerely hope you continue down this path. We'll gladly walk it with you.
Great reaction from Michael! His remark, _"I'm in a dreamscape,"_ was spot-on. They paint with music. Brilliant artists. Also, watch the young musician and hip hop fan Caveman Jack react to _Kid A_ - the Radiohead album he hilariously picked at random for his first experience of the band. It's a delight.
I always come back to this reaction, because there are so few of them. This is a symphony for 3 electric guitars, one bass guitar and one metronome drum 🙂 It is something special..well its radiohead..
oh my god i am so jealous of everyone who just discovered raidohead...and how many more beautiful songs they will hear and enjoy...so jealous. if only I could forget them and hear them again for the first time, how nice that would be
"I'm gonna lose my shit." LOL! Holy Fuck, when this song breaks out (into "Arpeggi?"), it takes off like a rocket. What a transition; so propulsive! I love the sound of them breaking thru all that mechanical precision. Can't think of anyone more qualified to deconstruct Radiohead than Michael! As he says, most bands use drums to anchor the rhythm and propel it forward. Radiohead, on the other hand, prioritizes harmonic & melodic interplay over rhythm. As a result, their drummer is purely mathematical; in fact, it's hard to imagine anyone conceiving that tempo prior to the advent of the drum machine - something that renders rhythmic interplay nearly impossible. (Check out Jojo Mayer for the ultimate in mathematical drumming!) Joy Division borrows from the same playbook, e.g., in their live take of "She's Lost Control," and "Transmission." However, the main difference btw them and Radiohead is Joy Division's instruments fall, mechanically, into lockstep w/ the beat. Radiohead, on the other hand - as Michael points out - uses drums as a foundation to elicit harmonic & melodic exploration, rather than a rhythmic one; a unique way to structure a song, provided you have the musicians to pull it off (as Radiohead clearly does!)
Maybe my favorite moment in any RU-vid video. You’re having a really good go of figuring out what’s going on, then around 8:04 just stop, eyes get glassy, and let the song move you. Absolutely amazing
Watching these two videos of you "get" Radiohead brings me so much joy. I've been a megafan for decades and I still make all the same faces you make when I'm listening to them. If you love music, listening to Radiohead is a wholly spiritual experience.
Watching johnnys riffs blow this dudes mind is so gratifying to see. I also don’t understand how he’s so good and plays the way he does. A wholly unique musician we are lucky to have in our world
Live version of Paranoid Android on ‘Later…With Jools Holland’. There are three weird mic artefact noises on Thom’s mic that you can clearly ignore, but it’s one of the very best live performances of one of the best songs I’ve ever seen and heard. It will blow your mind.
When it comes to the bands zenith, for me I always find my way back to OK Computer. It would be awesome to have Michael's input on that album, Airbag and Paranoid Android would be my top picks :) Lyrically speaking as well!
I’ve only met two other people in my life that love Radiohead as much as I do. I am always surprised that there are other people that understand how great they are.
Its interesting what they do to get that guitar texture in the beginning. This was actually the first song from Radiohead a friend showed me years back and the way he sold me on it was showing me the cool thing they did with the guitars. The guitars are playing regular 8th notes and the pattern is a 3 note grouping. Both guitars start playing in unison. but before long Johnny Greenwood breaks off into a new pattern which is still regular 8th notes but in a 5 note grouping. So they parts line up different every time while at the same time still changing chords right on beat with the bass line. Brilliant part writing!
In Rainbows is a masterpiece. Light some candles or dim the lights, alone or with someone you love. Listen from start to finish. It’s truly a transcendent experience.
This video is amazing. I'm a drummer and a massive Radiohead fan. I can understand how you can't even begin to play the guitar. The second the song starts you just listen, it paralyzes you. You can't do anything except listen. This is exactly how they play live no matter the size of the space. The timing is always dead on.
Watching the reaction of a first time listener of In Rainbows is incredible. Such a life changing album. The more times you listen, the more parts jump out at you, very captivating. The lyrics will blow you away. I find their main ideas revolve around politics. Thanks for doing these.
For me the reason why Radiohead’s music is so complicated and yet so fascinating and mystic is because of its astrological structure. Every instrument can be seen as a planet with its own quality orbiting around the sun in its own tempo. Instruments would clash or connect with other instruments depending on how their qualities align and their position with each other. The music fits because all instruments orbit around the same sun: every instrument has the same intention and meaning. For me this became most clear when dancing on the song Videotape. It feels like being pulled apart by the different instruments and rhythms. Although astrology has a bad reputation of being superficial, it does aim to explain the complicated dynamics which are part of our lives. We also move at different rates and we are also different in our own way. And yet we also are moving in the same direction and we feel connected. This perspective explains why Radiohead’s music feels to have so much space: there is! Because the instruments are not playing the same rhythm it does not feel like a crowded bus. Each instrument is like a planet moving through its own space.
There's nothing I love more than watching people discovering Radiohead. Sooo many songs of their I wanna see you react to, but continuing on with this session is a great place to be
