OK Computer

Released 21st May 1997
I bought it: Christmas 2000

Where I was…
A few months down the line, I was keen to prove myself to the cooler guys in our group. Having a few people round my house on the last day of school before Christmas, one of them brought OK Computer, so it went on in the background while they all beat me at Mario Kart (some things never change). On Boxing Day armed with many vouchers, I bought OK Computer and The Bends together.

What I thought then…
It came across as a chaotic but beautiful record. Not entirely cut off from Kid A in its themes and even its artwork. My most vivid memory connected to this album comes from the following summer when me and Dad flew out to the USA. This was prototype in flight entertainment that wasn’t on demand, you just dipped in and out of films, TV and radio shows as they played. There was a Radiohead channel that I must have played on a loop for most of the flight, and the first song I heard was Subterranean Homesick Alien. The opening of that song always makes me think of that journey.

What I think now…
Urgent from the off. Feels just a part of music in 2016 as Kid A still does. What can I say about this record that hasn’t been said already? It’s a tremendous cacophony, simultaneously reaching out and pushing away. These songs feel woven in to me somehow. 

It’s really interesting that the Moon Shaped Pool tour is borrowing heavily from this album on some nights, including the return of Let Down. OK Computer will probably always be seen as their masterpiece, and it is hard to fault. Recently I saw Easy Star AllStars do their Radiodread tribute and it was an amazing performance, these songs were a perfect fit for a reggae interpretation. Plus I was drunk in the sunshine which probably helped.

Next:
You, and no-one else...