The album that makes you feel every emotion - Ok Computer by Radiohead Reaction (PART 2) 

One of my favourite details on this album is how the final track ends with the lyrics "hey man, slow down!" and the first track (Airbag) is about a car crash. Fuckin love this band

Lucky was the first song on this album that Radiohead wrote. They made it for a charity album in 1995 to help kids in Bosnia, but decided to put it on OK Computer because they thought it was one of the best songs they had written.

(Sorry for bad English, I'm italian) The album in general is - as you said - about the fear of technological advancement and the alienation of the human being from society. I'll sum up the basic meanings of all the songs. Each line of every single song should be analyzed by itself one by one but I don't want this comment to be longer than it already is, so if you want to dive deeper in their meanings I recommend you to google it. Airbag: it's basically about a real event in which Thom Yorke had a car accident, but was saved by his airbag. So we can say that this song shows us the positive side of technology, which in some cases can be useful for us and even save our lives, and the reality check a near-death experience can give you, by making you realize how important and beautiful life truly is. Paranoid Android: another song inspired by a real thing happened to Thom Yorke. He was in a bar when he witnesses a fight between a drunk man and another guy, this song was also hugely inspired by a literary character in which Thom related to. Paranoid Android describes the emotions and fantasies a young boy full of hopes and will of life wants to express, but he ultimately fails to do it because of the world around him, constantly oppressing his actions, which only gives him paranoia. Subterranean Homesick Alien: this song is about the feeling of isolation from the others and the feeling of being different. The metaphor of being an homesick alien portrays that sensation perfectly. Exit Music (for a film): as the title itself says, this song made for a film, Romeo + Juliet, and given this information the lyrics are quite obvious: it's about a boy who wants to escape with his lover. More generally though it could be about the generational contrast between parents and children and the oppressing froces limiting the young ones. Let down: hugely inspired by Kafka's Metamorphosis, this song is about finding your place in the world. The protagonist is targeted as a bug, hopeless, and histerical, but who is not in despair, because one day he is going to grow wings. Basically, Let down shows us that when the world sees us in a pathetic way, then we lost it all, but the positive thing about being let down is that you can only get better, and one they achieve freedom from all the labels and constructs society builds up. Karma Police: this song is about prejudices and destructive criticism. In particular it shows how some people tend to judge every action someone does but ironically can't stand when they are the ones being judged. Fitter Happier: this track is about being part of the society. Respecting the values and rules of life it imposed to be comform to the mass. Following strict and inexistent rules like a robot only to feel part of a community. Electioneering: this song is about politics and economical issues. On how a state, to egotistically become rich and powerful, oppresses another one instead of collaborating, and it nearly always ends up with the two nations declaring war to each other. Climbing up the walls: this is probably the most mysterious track on this album, since there is a serious struggle on what it can be really about, but I think it shows the mind of a person going insane because of paranoia and fear, and how sometimes the things that alters these people's brains derives from the society itself, which will end up targeting them as “crazy animals” anyways. No Surprises: this song is about wanting to have a quiet and simple life distant from an exhausting job, a terrible government, and all the other pains of life, and at the same time seeking this desire in suicide. Also, the instrumentals recall a lullaby because it makes us remember the times we were kids and free from all the problems that come with the adult age. Lucky: this song is about taking risks in life and learning to trust other people, beacuse life is unsure and unpredictable, and sometimes we need to take even the most doubtful way to get through our struggles. The Tourist: this last track is about the modern life, which we experience in a fast way as if it is a race or we are tourists with the time to only visit some places before we have to go back home. So in this song the band invites to slow down and enjoy life in all of its aspects without being too anxious for the future, because nothing at all is a waste of time. Hope this was useful!

hope you'll react to «in rainbows» next... but actually, all radiohead albums are worth listening to.

Climbing up the walls is about when the singer worked in a mental hospital, one of his patients would talk about something climbing up the walls or something like that

Fitter Happier is like the ginger between sushi rolls, it cleanses the pallette.

I saw Radiohead back in 1998 when they werw touring for OK Computer. It was exactly how you would expect them to be, phenomenal.

In climbing up the walls, when he says 15 blows to the back of my mind he means that he thinks of death. 15 is a metaphor for death in some radiohead tracks like 15 steps, where he talks about it as falling from the 15th floor

Lucky is so underrated

If you want to get the essence of Radiohead they did a live from the basement session (actually they did 2) for the In Rainbows album that is legendary. It is free on YT and has no copyright issues which is great. Watching them perform all these intricate songs live and pulling it off flawlessly is incredible Thom Yorkes voice is perfect and the band has a blast doing it I would highly reccommend this show and I think any person who is seriously into music will love it.

Both Lucky and Airbag describe post near-death experience euphoria. Airbag is also about the duality of the fear of technology while that same technology can also save your life.

dude you are spot on about what happened when this album came out. people went back through their catalogue looking for hits that they had this album in them. then, a couple of years later, they released kid a and totally changed the game again.

I have always liked Lucky, but kida forgot about it a little bit, but when they kicked into that one when I saw them live in 2016 and was standing right in front of Jonny Greenwood when he kicked into those solo riffs. I had a religious moment and just started crying. It's so heart breaking. It is also hillarious that your standard for the best music is My Chemical romance!! I look forward to you experienceing music. There is a lot there that you have missed out on. My tip is also to react some Radiohead live, it's unbelievable to see how they do this live. ❤

First of all, good reaction. It's always good to see someone appreciate music that they aren't familiar with. OK Computer is excellent for broadening your musical horizons and is my favourite album of all time. I was similar to you in that I loved some of it on first listen and only liked the rest. However since then, I've grown to adore each and every moment more with each and every listen. It's definitely worth you returning to this album in its full capacity outside of your channel, doing so a few times is likely to give you a better understanding of its themes (some of which have already been explained to you in the comments, though there is much more depth to this record than you may already realise) and in turn it's likely to allow you to align with the perspective that so many others already have that this is one of the greatest albums of all time. (Btw your interpretation of the tourist is fairly similiar to my own and so I'd been inclined to agree. Though it's not only a message for the listener but the vocalist Thom Yorke himself). I would also like to add that if you would like to see the craftmanship you find in albums like this in a genre you don't think it exists in (rap) id reccomend Kendrick Lamar's albums because they are very conceptually dense and passionate.

Climbing up the walls is about mental health, anxiety (hence all the feedback in the tones of the music.) You absolutely nailed it just by your intuition "if this was about being uneasy, they nailed it" hahaha. Right? Better in the dark... i'm inside your skull, climbing up the walls ... damned powerful song

good videos, it was cool hearing your thoughts on this. I highly recommend listening to Kid A & In Rainbows, as others have already suggested. funny you mentioned Billie Eilish, as Thom Yorke, frontman of radiohead, is actually a big fan of her

The more you listen the more you will realise they are not using 'normal' time signatures or chord progressions/scales, they are without a shadow of a doubt the best band since the 70s, 9 albums and not one of them sounds like the other, they don't give a shit about being popular or getting radio airplay, there is not another band in history who have produced that many different sounding albums and all of them being critically acclaimed. There is a reason a huge part of their fanbase are artists or musicians themselves... Going by your reaction (I Might Be Wrong😉) you are not ready for Kid A (yet) lol. If you are going to try another Radiohead album I'd suggest The Bends or In Rainbows, they are more 'immediate'

I know a crap ton of people are telling you to react to In Rainbows, but I feel like listening to Kid A next is the better choice. It's known as "The Greatest Left Turn In Music History" for a reason, and lends to a better understanding of RH's future albums. Radiohead was known mainly as this rock band or whatever, but then Kid A happened.

Very much enjoyed your reaction. I always say to people reacting to them that you should follow all their albums, each is very different but always interesting and challenging. Im listening to them for 30 years - they still keep me entertained 👍

I could go on for pages about this album, I fear it'll be way long but F it. I was in HS and college for the entirety of the 90s, a true gift for a music lover and aspiring guitar player. We had the birth into the main stream of hip hop, Dre and Snoop, Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang, Pharcyde, Outkast, The Roots, NAS, Naughty By Nature - take your pick, the amount of incredible rap music being made was almost overwhelming in all the best ways, at the same time, Grunge came and turned 'rock' on its head and breathed life into it, and there were so many indie and alt/rock master works being put out - Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Portishead, Weezer - more main stream like Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day and Chili Peppers, whatever you wanted - The Prodigy and Underworld and Daft Punk were big names as the Electronica spark was lit and began to burn in the 2nd half of the decade - and I as a Pink Floyd lover and Classic Rock (back then that meant The Beatles, Elton John, and Zeppelin or The Doors, Neil Young, etc) I worshipped Stevie Ray Vaughan and blues music - it was just an incredible time...we'd have late night herbal sessions in my room with blacklights and lava lamps and every girl we could bring back from the college downtown, 7 nights a week, and mind expansion took place in my room - and then one day I saw the video for Paranoid Android, loved it, and bought the album, had no negative opinion but little experience with Radiohead except 3 or 4 songs I had really liked off their first 2, but this album - I thought after the first listen, this is a master work - by the 3rd listen, it was like my life purpose for a while there. And while Radiohead have 9 total, they have 2 other albums ('Kid A' and 'In Rainbows') which also get regarded as 'Best Album' of this or that and all are deserved in their own ways but such different sounds, but this one, OK Computer remains to this day my favorite album. The songs you thought were just ok, and I get its different when this isn't your main style, but over time, maybe maybe not, but I'd bet they unveil themselves to your mind and become classics - Radiohead is like that, some of their songs take many listens or many years before they click. To me the theme of the album, you need to get the time it was made both in the music world but also in the world itself - like, think about it like this, when I arrived at VA Tech (go Hokies, ha!) I had a pager, and an email took 4 hours to send then you waited 3 or 4 hours for the reply. If you went shopping for 3 hours, your house could be on fire and family kidnapped and you simply could NOT be reached - period. Kind of beautiful. Good old days. But by 1997, car phones weren't the size of shoe boxes any longer, videos were streaming, the original South Park 'Santa vs Jesus' clip was available, and we LEAPED forward so fast from say '93 to '97 it was insane, with the internet and communication and technology. This album takes on the themes of isolation in a more technological world, the aliens, the spaceships, the song with a computer voice, is meant to give that atmosphere, the lyrics back it up, they are sad even when the notes are so happy ('Let Down' and 'No Surprises') - a sense of desperation of what we might be losing as we charged forward - the idea you NAILED to "SLOW DOWN" (the song itself was inspired by the band observing tourists all racing through a beautiful city to see all the 'sites' and never stopping to experience anything in a meaningful way) it is placed as the closer for exactly the reason you mentioned. I'd never heard production like this, songs that were absolutely incredible, that had no verse chorus bridge verse chorus structures...and it didn't matter - guitars that were powerful without requiring some spotlit epic solo, just the most luscious textures imaginable, produced by 5 guys, and believe me, they are one of the greatest live bands of all time as you'd think how can these layered songs with so much happening ever be reproduced live - they do it, not just well, sometimes better than the studio, no tricks, just wildly incredible musicians. But yeah, the album - consumerism, globalism, fear of the government, unjustified wars and financial systems meant to erase the middle class...it is looked back on as almost a Nostradamus prediction of what the following 25 years ended being like, and boy did they nail it, and happened to utilize one of the dopest, most inspiring, near flawless works of music and collection of unique and moody and uplifting and sad songs, but all so well written - chord patterns and lyrics and the rest - just at a level, I mean, I stay open minded but I personally - and of course this is for me and me alone everyone will have their own reasons for loving what they love and the opposite - I still consider this the greatest album ever, for all the reasons from Thom Yorke's voice, to the spacey incredible guitars on 'Homesick Alien' to the unforgettable album cover, to the unusual chord progressions and instruments. I mean, this album was so good, the B-Sides album released 2 years later was nominated for the 1999 Alt Rock Album of the Year Grammy. It was a window into the future, and a statement like no other of the moment, and yeah - loved the way you took it on straight from the heart, kept it honest, and it was a lot of fun to watch. Gratitude to you my man! You have a cool channel.

13:33 i don't understand what thom's singing either, but the lyrics in spotify really help 😂 don't worry, you're not alone

omg! where have you been? i was waiting for a video yesterday and started to think today will be no reaction either :( so glad you're back! excited for part 2 🥰 thanks

Watching you descend into paranoia within the first 5 seconds of Climbing Up The Walls had me rolling

What's crazy is I've always said the same thing to my friends about this album, it makes you feel every emotion on the spectrum. On to In Rainbows!!!!!!!

Try the album Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Rós if you want to hear a man play an electric guitar with a violin bow.

Don’t know if anyone brought this up. Exit music for a film was used masterfully in The Umbrella Academy season 1. Which we all know was created by Gerard Way. Leader my chemical Romance.

OK Computer is a masterpiece. It has no sense if i is "the greatest" or not. It's a masterpiece anyway. The work they did with those three guitars is simply beautiful, but what it makes it a masterpiece are two things: First, the sound. The sound of this album was something that felt that came from nowhere in the 90's. None band or artist sound like this at that time. Like the song with "Alien" in its name, the sound of this album is from another planet or from a far future. And the second thing that makes this album what it is, are the meaning of the lyrics, that talk about the terrifying future and modern life, that every year feels more accurate. This album was a creepy premonitory of many things that are happening right now with the cold life with social networks and technology controlling all of our life, in a cold society that makes you feel small. You have 800 followers on Instagram but you are alone. The jobs that consume people's life. The money. Capitalism. Consumerism. And just remember, 1997 was a year when Computers, internet and related were just beginning, and only few big enterprises has limited access to it. It was far away of being in the life of most people, and far away of being easy to use and access. They were talking about the future. The terrifying future. And they were right.

Lucky is actually a track about 007, James Bond, it's one of those tracks that once you know it transforms how you listen to it and makes complete sense, in particular the line, " the head of state has called for me, by name, but I don't have time for him. If you've ever seen the older Bond films, he's often occupied with other activities at the end of the film, often when the Prime Minister etcetera is calling to offer their thanks and congratulations on behalf of the nation, and Bond just ignores them and carries on.

Yes, slow down... all the time hurrying for somthing just kills us, don't let us enjoy our life and prevent us from being happy and live just in current point of time. This album is simply excellent, belongs to recordings which re-define rock music. Very emotional, very innovative, very heart and brain pressing... One of few recors which I can listen for thousand times and it's not boring. For me surely best 90s and one of few records comparable to Beatles. Simply awesome and honestly I don't understand why it's not so popular as plenty of other great music from 90s and underrated. It's surely breakthrough album as Revolver, Pet Sounds, Dark Side of the Moon, Doors, Nirvana etc. I can not express how much is touching me, it's impossible. And I'm happy for anyone who take a chance to listen to it as it would be big loss for anyone. Nevertheless it's not usually easy to get it into under your skin and be patient to give it 3-5 tries.

If you do end up reacting to In Rainbows, something you should know before going into it is that it is not like this album. Every album that Radiohead has made has been a different genre of music, and they have never repeated the genres.

not related to radiohead, but i recommend “sing along songs for the damned and delirious” by Diablo Swing Orchestra! they’re a metal band from sweden that mixes opera and other styles with a heavier tone really well :33

and! still waiting for «misadventures» by pierce the veil. this album is great 😍😍😍

You're right, it's a glokenspieler (i hope i writed It the right way)

Just dive into the rabbit hole man... The Bends, Kid A, In Rainbows, A Moon Shape Pool

are you doing ptv soon again?

Pablo Honey ... Ok, some interesting songs and yeah .. Creep... ... / The Bends... Eye opener such progress ... gems of songs . Potential there../ Ok Computer ... Game changer potential realised../ . Kid A . What is there more to explore... It was for me the top... That one u just need some good headset and eyes closed...

W reaction

Dude, repeated lyrics are the chorus and the others are verses. That is the structure of most songs.

I have nothing to say other than this is an almost perfect album.

Dude, it's a chorus.

Kid A 🔜 🤞

I don’t think it is fair to denigrate a whole genre of music. It is the artists that make music great. True there will be some genres you connect with more but that does not mean they are necessarily better than others.

Fitter Happier is the only track in all of Radiohead that I routinely skip. It’s interesting the first time…then it’s just a bit tedious. Greatest band of all time, and this track is poignant, but not enjoyable.

Let down is my least favorite on album

Stop bashing hip hop 😂