@@ivylearog Reminds me of depressing times. Not depressing for me personally but the song just feels so defeated, and really makes you feel hopeless. The way they composed this thing really unsettles you. Makes me wanna make a 1984 music video for it hahha
@@RayyanKhanRayyanKhan funny, i think this song has a real sense of humour to it more than anything. like, "why don't he remember my name? oh, i guess he does..." reads as really funny to me personally
@@pimposki6232 Yes I can see why.especially given the backstory abt what inspired it, and the fact that they wrote it in a very very short amount of time and declared publicly they thought it was a joke song and really fun to play and the popularity was unprecedented...I can totally get why it sounds tongue-in-cheek. But that eerie instrumentation is something else. So off-putting
@@YaoEspirito our generation also has "to pimp a butterfly" and "ants from up there." still plenty of music to please the critics, you just need to look for it
Its an amazing album for sure. Absolutely stunning. But there are albums that are even further ahead: check out Cardiacs Sing to God (1996). My fav "pop" album of all time and I have no qualms about that being the greatest album I have ever heard. It may take 45 listens, but once it hits, you'll never be the same. English too!
It's really unfortunate how music education TH-camrs have to worry so much about getting copyright strikes for trying to show people how awesome music can be
This stuff sells music. I think that's the part the copyright morons miss. No one is listening to this to steal music, they listen to it and then buy the music, if they don't already own it.
Yep. Imagine being 10-15 years old, you want to learn and you can’t find the info due to YT AND the music companies stupid rules. We’re literally stopping the next radiohead from even starting.
@@koolerking440 I don't think we are. Back in the day you had to listen to the record and work it out for yourself, if anything it gave rise to much more creativity and fun trying to work it out than being spoon fed on TH-cam vids. Anyway, just my two penneth.
This album is a masterpiece. It captures a moment when they had all reached some sort of magical perfection that rarely happens to any band. A perfect storm of talent and creativity.
@@RD-jr8nv I feel like The Bends is a perfect album too but OK Computer is next level genius. I like In Rainbows and think it's great but they started to lose me a little at that stage. I was getting cranky because it felt like every band started to go "electronic" around that time. I LOVE electronica but was growing tired of how so many bands were switching to that sound. It's just me being a jerk probably :)
I saw them play this live in 2001 at Pinkpop in the Netherlands. It had been dry weather all weekend. But when they got to the coda and Tom sung “rain down”, it started to rain..... Goosebumps galore!!!
I always found Radiohead to be quite boring at first. I never really wanted to give them a chance.....till I heard Paranoid Android. Now I'm listening to more of their music and I can say....I get it now, I really do.
CitizenErased 17 oh yes paranoid andriod was the song that got me into radiohead litteraly when those guitars start it’s a banger i remember i was in a friends house and he played it i was shocked of how great it sounded ik they had hard guitars but not like this one (i mean they have more bangers in the bends but this is before i got into radiohead) paranoid android is by far the best song of all time
Everyone I introduce to them is the same way. It always takes that one song and something finally clicks and they go "ooooohhhhhhh okay I get it now." It's a pretty cool thing.
Same here. My friend introduced me to them and I found their music so boring. Now Radiohead is my favourite band. It always takes some effort to get into somethig non-generic, as you're not used to it.
Radiohead is like a crossword puzzle for your ears. A dense jungle of sounds. If you just hack through with a machete the first time, you'll miss all the little stuff.
I agree. It tells a lot about the effort Radiohead puts into their music, that Rick explained the intracacies of the composition itself yet didn't have any time left to focus on production or recording techniques. I guess, if he did this video might be half an hour long.
Think you're getting a little carried away there. Most of this music will be forgotten soon enough, probably within twenty to thirty years, although my son did shell out for the vinyl of this and it was recorded before he existed. So this one might last as it's on a lot of best album ever lists. I hope you're right but I doubt it. Most teens haven't heard of the Beatles ffs
No. I don't think so at all. OK Computer can be listened to with a fresh ear right now, in June of 2018, and still sound like it JUST was released. It'll still sound like that in 2045 and 2075, and 2275. If Beethoven, and Brahms, and Bach and Haydn can all survive, why shouldn't a masterpiece such as this?
392Firepower I'm not disagreeing with you in fact I hope you're right. I just don't think so. As I said, if the Beatles are largely forgotten by the next generation, what hope will a band like RH have of being remembered much if at all? Maybe by very few, not many if any. Still you and I will never know, but my son will have that album for the next fifty years, he treasures it. But 90% of his friends have never heard of RH and many are musicians. God knows what they listen to!
Gotcha. I think we're sorta arguing different points. My point is, if some people come across "OK" in the distant future in an old pile of recordings, despite it being "forgotten", it will still sound "fresh", even then. Not that it will necessarily be "remembered". The Beatles are great, yes, and we all love their music (at least the sane among us do), but a listen to any of their stuff will always bring thoughts of the 60's and of "vintage". It just doesn't hold up as a "whole" sound, unlike what RH did with OK. So I think we are talking apples and oranges here.
I literally went to a far away island, to work, and did the thing where I take 20 CDs with me (it was 2000) and although Iʻd had OK Computer around, Iʻd not spent serious time with it. How vividly I remember laying on the living room floor of my house in the middle of a bird sanctuary in the middle of the Pacific, listening to this CD in the dark from beginning to end, and feeling everything shift. Forever.
It is, but you can hear hints of where they're going in The Bends. I think Planet Telex gives a bit of a preview of OK Computer. Same with Street Spirit (in its darkness). Still crazy though.
I think it stems from the fear that they were never going to be able to get past that one-hit-wonder that was creep. There was almost a desperate attempt to move away from that Pablo Honey sound and prove that they were so much more than that. Fear can be a powerful motivator, but pushing yourself that hard can come at an extreme cost - as it did with Thom.
@@schneebly8485 After dealing with the trappings of intense fame, success and the exhaustive touring during & after the OKC era, Thom pretty much suffered a self-admitted breakdown and had to recharge for a while. He's talked about having writers block and struggling to write music in general during that period. The band was in a bit of disarray for quite a while after this and nearly broke up. Thankfully they managed to pull together with Kid A and put out something truly beautiful.
I recently say Radiohead live. What really impressed me about them is they alter their set list every night so almost their entire library from OK Computer to A Moon Shaped Pool gets played on a tour, with a little from Pablo Honey & The Bends. That's a lot of complex music to have memorized and play to perfection.
Radiohead is the only band with a long discography that I can say without any doubt that I loved and love every single album, and weirdly for very different reasons. Radiohead it's not super consistent from album to album, but somehow they always deliver something brilliant, unique, original, well made, complex, compelling, head scratching, or even danceble
Rick, I freaking love your channel. I don't play music, I don't know theory, but I know what I like. The way you break down & teach music makes me appreciate the composition and artistry of it all. The sounds and rhythms stick in my head through the day. So... thanks.
I'm not a spiritual man but when this album came out, i vividly remember wondering if Radiohead somehow managed to tap into a greater, collective human soul. I just couldn't come up with another explanation to my overwhelming feeling of affinity to every sung word or chord progression.
@@EmilNCreative The Bunnymen and The Chameleon's were the only bands that made me feel this way, but Radiohead had all their powers and a singer with the vocal range of Freddie Mercury, which took things even further.
Whenever I've had the misfortune to involuntary catch any of what passes for the charts today it sounds like a machine programmed to overwhelm the part of the brain designed to appreciate music and vex the very nerve centres once soothed and uplifted by music.
@@roboi2241 it's insanely depressing. I listen to music on my headphones on the bus, but sometimes when I don't feel like having them on I take them off and I have to hear whatever is playing on the radio. Popular music now is so weird. You described it perfectly, there is just no creativity. I think people forgot what good music sounds like
When this came out, I had already been a fan of Radiohead for years, from the time I first heard Creep on the Radio in 1993. Listened to Pablo Honey and The Bends over and over and over. There wasn't a song on either of those releases that I didn't think was amazing. I was 23 in 97 when I first heard Paranoid Android and I can still remember how it made me feel. I felt like I had never heard anything like it before in my life. It, like the rest of OK Computer, was absolutely perfect. A masterpiece. That album was the soundtrack for my life in 1997/98. To this day, nearly 30 years later, I still get all worked up like a 23 year old when I hear OKC. Like the world is still an open road full of adventure just waiting to be had.
The lyrics go in surprising directions too. First time I heard it and he said, "When I am king you'll be ___" I guessed that line would end "...my queen". Nope. "...the first against the wall."
I flip-flop between OKC and Kid A. Two completely different experiences, yet both so good. Only other band I have a similar conundrum is The Beatles, with Rubber Soul and Revolver.
I was listening to this and the Bends the other night and had forgotten how great the albums were! Great choice and quality video on this, perhaps it's Gabriel, Nine Inch nails and Alanis which weren't my cup of tea, and not the series I was bored with after all. I didn't fall asleep anyway so all good Rick! ;-)
I have had the privilege of seeing them play this live twice, back in the late '90s. It's an unbelievably good, immense song, so hard to play, and they always nailed it live. Absolutely awesome, beyond words.
The D note in the Gm6, Dsus2/F, and the E7 make a very suspenseful chord progression because it's a major 7th, which makes one want to go right to the home note of the major scale, Eb, or down to the relative minor of C. It's AMAZING what the right use of notes and theory can do! Holy cow!
I feel an outcast a lot of times irl but when I come to this channel I realise there are hundreds of people who share the same sensibilities and taste in music. Where are you irl?
@@Just.Kidding I know it’s super popular but I can’t find the people who make it popular lol. Never have I met a Radiohead fan irl, or even a person who knows who they are…at least not that I know of. All my friends are into Shawn Mendes, Lewis Capaldi, 1 Direction, etc., which I would like to enjoy but I just can’t. My best friend is into 80s glam rock.
I have just discovered Rick's videos and they are exactly what I've always been looking for: a deep dive into the theory of rock/pop music. I also love the artists he picks and most of all his love and passion for music which bubbles up the the surface of every video he does.
People that don't like Radiohead despise the so called pretentiousness. While I see what they're saying, I feel like it's not pretentious if it's genuine and heartfelt. I feel like they are painfully so genuinely heartfelt.
I remember when the video for this was on repeat on mtv, and I didn't get it. Then a friend took me to see them in concert and this song blew my mind. Ticket was only like 15 euros or something and the venue wasn't even full.
I remember buying this cd, listening to it in the dark really stoned, and then telling my mates the next day - it's amazing, just don't listen to it in the dark really stoned
Radiohead: band whose music is so rich it gets more interesting with each listen. Great explanation Rick. How about Venus in furs by the Velvet Underground?
Absolute genius how they get all this craziness to work. I’m not musically trained but have a few musicians in the family so I’ve been exposed to all sorts and I remember at the time when I was 17 thinking these guys are pioneering a completely new style of rock. Incidentally my wife went to the same school as Radiohead and I ended working in Abingdon. Nice to see appreciation from someone really respected 👍🏻
The most impressive thing is that Radiohead made a relatively complex song worldwide *commercial* . You have no idea how much talent and audacity it takes to do that (and timing too. Many people underestimate how important it is to know *WHEN* to release a song and exactly how "different" , or "innovative" to make it without being too much or too little. It's like hitting a fly with a bullet in mid air)
I am overjoyed you didn’t choose “Creep”. I am just getting into Radiohead and Creep is nothing close to Radiohead and the guitar on “Paranoid Android” is amazing
It's first album I think. They made a sort of standard(ish) heavier indie album first (which was still better than most of the stuff coming out at the same time), then the second was a bit more adventurous and had more of the soaring stuff, and then this album heralded their major shift when their songs got more complicated. It's a kind of halfway to their stuff from Kid A onwards which was another big shift into (not sure of the words to use) a sort of sparser and more electronic sound. Basically - they very quickly got away from 4 min standard sounding rock songs after about an album and a half. It's hard to believe this album is 23 years old now. I think it sounds very unique still because Radiohead are a hard band to do your own version of. Unlike some others who have a very specific sound and then a hundred imitators turn up.
One of my favourite Radiohead compositions, and I have a lot of respect for Radiohead in general. Reckon 2 + 2 = 5 would be interesting to break down as well
Wow Rick ! In breaking things down like you have, it's very easy to understand why this could be Radiohead 's best song. They're just so intricately amazing.
A portion of this was used in the ending credits of the amine series "Ergo Proxy" which dealt with androids coming down with a virus which gave them a soul as part of the story line. An excellent track and worthy of it's inclusion to something which demands deep thought. Beautiful piece of music!
Ok that's the chord progressions (and that first bit isn't easy), but every fn song has that. But makes it "great"? There's that whiny hook at the coda which is epic and raises the first section with it, but the middle loud section is a bit "bitsy", tacked on and not very inventive at all. Sounds like something of Led Zeppelin's first album, so it would be a ripoff So I kind of understand why the band hate it, because it's not that great at all and a little embarrassing in parts. They have much better recordings than this.
Rick, this video is a prime example of why I love watching your work. You are likable, relatable, and not at all condescending as many with less knowledge than you have are. Thank you.
Oh my god-- this song especially how you explain / decipher it is truly a masterpiece (it always was) and it's beauty and complexity makes me want to cry.
Holy Sh-t, this is fantastic! I'm a Radiohead fanatic and a very amateur musician - you nailed it. Makes me wish I continued my music studies....I admire your musical understanding. Thank you :) Radiohead is the only band I have ever listened too where I love every song - I even try not to....but they are too good. Really fun to hear your analysis.
When you play the 'verse melody' on piano (3:21) it showed me two things; Radiohead can do excruciatingly beautiful, and; you Sir, know a tune when you hear it.
Can someone explain why tears roll down my cheeks when listening to it? Not tears of sadness - I just feel so moved….and I don’t know why? This music clearly reaches into my very soul. Magnificent🙌🏼
@the only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need along with reckoner. And nude. And 15 step. And house of cards. Y'know what that whole damn album is a masterpiece.
Fun fact, this song was somewhat inspired by The Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun", in how it has 3 distinct parts, almost like a beginning, middle, and end.
I always wonder if musicians such as Radiohead are writing songs with the theory in mind or they just play and write music that sounds good to them. I mean a guitarist can mess around with lots of weird fingering combinations that just feel right or sound right and they build an awesome song. I hve to believe most rock musicians don't know how or why things work, they just do. I'm pretty sure I heard an interview with Jimmy Page saying he doesn't play anything that was difficult for him, it just came naturally. I'm guessing that goes for a lot artist. Wish Rick would speak to this. Anyways awesome job, Rick. Love these break downs!
@@skyblazeeterno not being able to read sheets had nothing to do with knowing theory. And their guitarist actually does know lots of theory, hence writing orchestral film scores etc.
Some do, some don’t. But even the ones that don’t still do in their own way. When you’ve played for many years without technically knowing music theory, you essentially learn theory without the words.
That's the song that made me a fan of Radiohead. The first time you're listening to it, you're thinking "What is this madness?" and then it ends and you want to listen in again. And again, and again.
Spotify has a series called dissect where they breakdown every song on in rainbows. each episode breaking down each song is like 45 minutes. For Radiohead fans it’s an absolute Pandora’s box.
I just recently found Rick on TH-cam and these song deconstructions that are brilliant. I wasn’t aware of his entire track listing of songs he’s done this to, but I immediately started hoping he had one of Paranoid Android. This song is a masterpiece (and I’m not all that into RadioHead). I wish he had more flexibility on this video with a four track recording and that RHead would let him show us all just how amazing this song is. Rick, thank you for choosing so many great tunes for this series!!!
The 1st time I heard this song, and it was on TV with its perfectly appropriated and amazing video, it was at breakfast when I woke up after my very first night in Amsterdam. I think they aired it just for me, that day. Amazing sound, puts your head into its own bubble. Thanks for your videos!
It's so hard to choose a song by Radiohead. They are otherworldly and have been such a major inspiration for me! When I had a tribute band to them, it took me a while learning to play the acoustic part and sing all together! Thanks Rick Beato!
I remember the first time I heard this song. I instantly knew it was one of the greatest songs I'd heard. After work that day I went out and bought the album. The only other time that's happened to me was after hearing Buckley's Hallelujah for the first time.
I say the Peter Yorke has been left here by aliens from his home world and the notes are him calling his home world to come back and get him. Haunting and catchy but overall sad and I love it. Radiohead is a great band to listen to when you want to clean your room or explore the outer reaches of reality or just sing along to. Love these guys.
Radiohead might be the best band in the history of “rock and roll.” And yet you hear almost nothing about them anywhere in public, not since maybe 2004. Just an outstanding band far ahead of their time.
I love the claves on the offbeat in the intro too, just fills in the sound a little bit and makes it sound a little more acoustic, it just sounds really nice in there
YES, THANK YOU! I WAS WAITING FOR THIS :D Glad you chose Paranoid Android over Karma Police/No Surprises Edit: Awesome work on the tabs for guitar and especially on the vocal transcriptions! Your videos are getting better by the day
Radiohead is such an interesting band to review. Love to see you break down 'Pyramid Song'. Just a few chords and some diverting time signature changes... but what a song! The drums alone deserve their own vid. No true musician can learn to play this song. It's all about instinct. And genius.
Wow. Just going through your "What Makes This Song Great" playlist, and had no idea that one of my all-time favorite albums came out exactly 26 years ago today. That's weird, and now I feel old.
You could do a whole series just on Radiohead songs.
rkz warrenmusic has it covered.
True that.
Exactly!
Mnd0vrMnky lol that's just a whole channel dedicated to radiohead music.
Agreed
I thought this was the greatest song I'd ever heard in 1998.
I still haven't changed my mind.
Just reminds me of better days.
@@ivylearog Reminds me of depressing times. Not depressing for me personally but the song just feels so defeated, and really makes you feel hopeless. The way they composed this thing really unsettles you. Makes me wanna make a 1984 music video for it hahha
@@RayyanKhanRayyanKhan funny, i think this song has a real sense of humour to it more than anything. like, "why don't he remember my name? oh, i guess he does..." reads as really funny to me personally
@@pimposki6232 Yes I can see why.especially given the backstory abt what inspired it, and the fact that they wrote it in a very very short amount of time and declared publicly they thought it was a joke song and really fun to play and the popularity was unprecedented...I can totally get why it sounds tongue-in-cheek. But that eerie instrumentation is something else. So off-putting
You may be right.
Paranoid Android is legit one of the coolest songs I've ever heard in my life. No BS.
OK Computer still holds up as one of the greatest albums of all time!
It always will, how do you beat perfection, you cant.
In rainbows is better imo
Kid A is better imo
@@canorhan2903 your opinion is WRONG
A fin de cicale of twentieth century rock music. The song is extremely dense chord wise..
OK Computer is my generation's Dark Side of the Moon. Such a fantastic album, waaay ahead of what anyone else was doing at the time.
my generation have dj khaled
@@YaoEspirito our generation also has "to pimp a butterfly" and "ants from up there." still plenty of music to please the critics, you just need to look for it
I've used the same analogy
Sorry but to compare any Radiohead album to Dark Side of the Moon is an insult beyond measure
Its an amazing album for sure. Absolutely stunning. But there are albums that are even further ahead: check out Cardiacs Sing to God (1996). My fav "pop" album of all time and I have no qualms about that being the greatest album I have ever heard. It may take 45 listens, but once it hits, you'll never be the same. English too!
It's really unfortunate how music education TH-camrs have to worry so much about getting copyright strikes for trying to show people how awesome music can be
This stuff sells music. I think that's the part the copyright morons miss. No one is listening to this to steal music, they listen to it and then buy the music, if they don't already own it.
@@gr8kzoo copyright is copyright I think its silly but its there
Aidan Campbell what the copyright morons are doing is hijacking the video's revenue and redirecting it to the record company
Yep. Imagine being 10-15 years old, you want to learn and you can’t find the info due to YT AND the music companies stupid rules. We’re literally stopping the next radiohead from even starting.
@@koolerking440 I don't think we are. Back in the day you had to listen to the record and work it out for yourself, if anything it gave rise to much more creativity and fun trying to work it out than being spoon fed on TH-cam vids. Anyway, just my two penneth.
This album is a masterpiece. It captures a moment when they had all reached some sort of magical perfection that rarely happens to any band. A perfect storm of talent and creativity.
100%, and then they did it again with In Rainbows. For me anyway, I thought that was an incredible album too
@@RD-jr8nv I feel like The Bends is a perfect album too but OK Computer is next level genius. I like In Rainbows and think it's great but they started to lose me a little at that stage. I was getting cranky because it felt like every band started to go "electronic" around that time. I LOVE electronica but was growing tired of how so many bands were switching to that sound. It's just me being a jerk probably :)
oh No.... you didn't really say Perfect Storm did you?? Blasphemous to use that cliched term for Radiohead!!
@@roygumpel8415 I'm confident you will eventually, with help, get over it. God speed on your journey.
@@OhanaFilms nah fam, 'Rainbows' is immense; incredible. Hey we're all on the same team here ;-)
I saw them play this live in 2001 at Pinkpop in the Netherlands. It had been dry weather all weekend. But when they got to the coda and Tom sung “rain down”, it started to rain..... Goosebumps galore!!!
Getting goosebumps just by imagining it!
I always found Radiohead to be quite boring at first. I never really wanted to give them a chance.....till I heard Paranoid Android. Now I'm listening to more of their music and I can say....I get it now, I really do.
Same here. Now I find OK Computer to be a gift that keeps on giving.
CitizenErased 17 oh yes paranoid andriod was the song that got me into radiohead litteraly when those guitars start it’s a banger i remember i was in a friends house and he played it i was shocked of how great it sounded ik they had hard guitars but not like this one (i mean they have more bangers in the bends but this is before i got into radiohead) paranoid android is by far the best song of all time
I have that with every new record they release, I have to listen to it at least 5 times before I "get" it
Everyone I introduce to them is the same way. It always takes that one song and something finally clicks and they go "ooooohhhhhhh okay I get it now." It's a pretty cool thing.
Same here. My friend introduced me to them and I found their music so boring. Now Radiohead is my favourite band. It always takes some effort to get into somethig non-generic, as you're not used to it.
Radiohead is like a crossword puzzle for your ears. A dense jungle of sounds. If you just hack through with a machete the first time, you'll miss all the little stuff.
I've been waiting for this one and it doesn't disappoint. Such a complex, sophisticated piece of music.
I agree. It tells a lot about the effort Radiohead puts into their music, that Rick explained the intracacies of the composition itself yet didn't have any time left to focus on production or recording techniques. I guess, if he did this video might be half an hour long.
Paranoid Android is a masterpiece. It's drugs for the ears.
The song was written in competition between thom and Johnny to write the song with the most chords.
Also, check out warrenmusic for tutorials of Radiohead songs. My go to channel.
Mnd0vrMnky Will do.
Radiohead has so many beautiful melancholic melodies in their songs.
One of the most timeless records of all time. OK computer will be played and still sound fresh 1000's of years in the future...
all future music will be Kanye rapping over midi black music
Think you're getting a little carried away there. Most of this music will be forgotten soon enough, probably within twenty to thirty years, although my son did shell out for the vinyl of this and it was recorded before he existed. So this one might last as it's on a lot of best album ever lists. I hope you're right but I doubt it. Most teens haven't heard of the Beatles ffs
No. I don't think so at all. OK Computer can be listened to with a fresh ear right now, in June of 2018, and still sound like it JUST was released. It'll still sound like that in 2045 and 2075, and 2275. If Beethoven, and Brahms, and Bach and Haydn can all survive, why shouldn't a masterpiece such as this?
392Firepower I'm not disagreeing with you in fact I hope you're right. I just don't think so. As I said, if the Beatles are largely forgotten by the next generation, what hope will a band like RH have of being remembered much if at all? Maybe by very few, not many if any. Still you and I will never know, but my son will have that album for the next fifty years, he treasures it. But 90% of his friends have never heard of RH and many are musicians. God knows what they listen to!
Gotcha. I think we're sorta arguing different points. My point is, if some people come across "OK" in the distant future in an old pile of recordings, despite it being "forgotten", it will still sound "fresh", even then. Not that it will necessarily be "remembered". The Beatles are great, yes, and we all love their music (at least the sane among us do), but a listen to any of their stuff will always bring thoughts of the 60's and of "vintage". It just doesn't hold up as a "whole" sound, unlike what RH did with OK. So I think we are talking apples and oranges here.
Paranoid Android is one of my favorite songs of all time and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorite books of all time!
I literally went to a far away island, to work, and did the thing where I take 20 CDs with me (it was 2000) and although Iʻd had OK Computer around, Iʻd not spent serious time with it. How vividly I remember laying on the living room floor of my house in the middle of a bird sanctuary in the middle of the Pacific, listening to this CD in the dark from beginning to end, and feeling everything shift. Forever.
How'd they go from The Bends to this is 2 years? It's crazy, Robert Johnson crazy.
It is, but you can hear hints of where they're going in The Bends. I think Planet Telex gives a bit of a preview of OK Computer. Same with Street Spirit (in its darkness). Still crazy though.
I think it stems from the fear that they were never going to be able to get past that one-hit-wonder that was creep. There was almost a desperate attempt to move away from that Pablo Honey sound and prove that they were so much more than that. Fear can be a powerful motivator, but pushing yourself that hard can come at an extreme cost - as it did with Thom.
@@57Rye what was the cost you speak of?
@@schneebly8485 After dealing with the trappings of intense fame, success and the exhaustive touring during & after the OKC era, Thom pretty much suffered a self-admitted breakdown and had to recharge for a while. He's talked about having writers block and struggling to write music in general during that period. The band was in a bit of disarray for quite a while after this and nearly broke up. Thankfully they managed to pull together with Kid A and put out something truly beautiful.
This song - like so many other Radiohead tracks - is absolutely timeless. It hasn’t aged.
I recently say Radiohead live. What really impressed me about them is they alter their set list every night so almost their entire library from OK Computer to A Moon Shaped Pool gets played on a tour, with a little from Pablo Honey & The Bends. That's a lot of complex music to have memorized and play to perfection.
Radiohead is the only band with a long discography that I can say without any doubt that I loved and love every single album, and weirdly for very different reasons. Radiohead it's not super consistent from album to album, but somehow they always deliver something brilliant, unique, original, well made, complex, compelling, head scratching, or even danceble
Rick, I freaking love your channel. I don't play music, I don't know theory, but I know what I like. The way you break down & teach music makes me appreciate the composition and artistry of it all. The sounds and rhythms stick in my head through the day. So... thanks.
Please don't stop making these!!!! Best series on TH-cam
I'm not a spiritual man but when this album came out, i vividly remember wondering if Radiohead somehow managed to tap into a greater, collective human soul. I just couldn't come up with another explanation to my overwhelming feeling of affinity to every sung word or chord progression.
I consider myself a spiritual man and I totally agree. They tap in to something profound, they sure do.
@@EmilNCreative The Bunnymen and The Chameleon's were the only bands that made me feel this way, but Radiohead had all their powers and a singer with the vocal range of Freddie Mercury, which took things even further.
So true!!!!
A glorious record!
I'm spiritual and I feel that musicians like these are divinely guided somehow.
Imagine - this was in the charts for eight weeks and got to number 3!
Can you imagine a song like this in the charts in 2022?
This kind of song right now won’t even issued as a single
Whenever I've had the misfortune to involuntary catch any of what passes for the charts today it sounds like a machine programmed to overwhelm the part of the brain designed to appreciate music and vex the very nerve centres once soothed and uplifted by music.
@@roboi2241 it's insanely depressing. I listen to music on my headphones on the bus, but sometimes when I don't feel like having them on I take them off and I have to hear whatever is playing on the radio. Popular music now is so weird. You described it perfectly, there is just no creativity. I think people forgot what good music sounds like
When this came out, I had already been a fan of Radiohead for years, from the time I first heard Creep on the Radio in 1993. Listened to Pablo Honey and The Bends over and over and over. There wasn't a song on either of those releases that I didn't think was amazing. I was 23 in 97 when I first heard Paranoid Android and I can still remember how it made me feel. I felt like I had never heard anything like it before in my life. It, like the rest of OK Computer, was absolutely perfect. A masterpiece. That album was the soundtrack for my life in 1997/98. To this day, nearly 30 years later, I still get all worked up like a 23 year old when I hear OKC. Like the world is still an open road full of adventure just waiting to be had.
The lyrics go in surprising directions too. First time I heard it and he said, "When I am king you'll be ___" I guessed that line would end "...my queen". Nope. "...the first against the wall."
OK Computer will always be my favorite Radiohead album. Great video.
yes, altough In Rainbows comes really close for me.
2nd best album, ever. First is Exile on Main Street.
I flip-flop between OKC and Kid A. Two completely different experiences, yet both so good. Only other band I have a similar conundrum is The Beatles, with Rubber Soul and Revolver.
I was listening to this and the Bends the other night and had forgotten how great the albums were! Great choice and quality video on this, perhaps it's Gabriel, Nine Inch nails and Alanis which weren't my cup of tea, and not the series I was bored with after all. I didn't fall asleep anyway so all good Rick! ;-)
Don't forget about the classic music video too!
I was born in 2002 and Ok Computer has always sounded fresh to me. Those guitar tones sound like the future, and yet it's 24 (close to 25) years old!
Best music show on TH-cam. This is the best most practical way to teach people music. Love you Rick.
Internal Dilemma be sure to check out warrenmusic for Radiohead tutorials.
I have had the privilege of seeing them play this live twice, back in the late '90s. It's an unbelievably good, immense song, so hard to play, and they always nailed it live. Absolutely awesome, beyond words.
The D note in the Gm6, Dsus2/F, and the E7 make a very suspenseful chord progression because it's a major 7th, which makes one want to go right to the home note of the major scale, Eb, or down to the relative minor of C. It's AMAZING what the right use of notes and theory can do! Holy cow!
All I saw was "Rick Beato" and "Radiohead" and clicked so fast I broke my mouse.
me too
I only watched his video about why he loves Radiohead yesterday, so it was top of my notifications - much appreciated, algorithm!
Agreed. But gotta say, if Rick said nothing and just played the track, I'd be like, job done.
I clicked so fast I broke YOUR mouse
SAME
I feel an outcast a lot of times irl but when I come to this channel I realise there are hundreds of people who share the same sensibilities and taste in music. Where are you irl?
Poushal everywhere, probably. p much all the music in this series is super mainstream. You wouldn't have any trouble finding people who like it.
Around Atlanta....
@@Just.Kidding I know it’s super popular but I can’t find the people who make it popular lol. Never have I met a Radiohead fan irl, or even a person who knows who they are…at least not that I know of. All my friends are into Shawn Mendes, Lewis Capaldi, 1 Direction, etc., which I would like to enjoy but I just can’t. My best friend is into 80s glam rock.
Radiohead's live performance of this song on 'Later' Jools Holland UK programme 1997 is absolutely outstanding, best I've seen. It's divine.
I have just discovered Rick's videos and they are exactly what I've always been looking for: a deep dive into the theory of rock/pop music. I also love the artists he picks and most of all his love and passion for music which bubbles up the the surface of every video he does.
Rick: "Thom Yorke is one of my favorite singers, lyricists, and melody writers in rock music."
Me: INSTANT SUBSCRIBE!
Miroslav Tadic I feel the same 😬
Steve Do you only like rock or something? Radiohead has continued to make great music after Ok Computer
@@seanmatthewking Exactly I like rock music, something I would never class Radiohead as being but In Rainbows & Moon Shaped Pool are superb IMO
Took you so long? I subbed two minutes earlier into the video :P
Such a good song, been waiting for this for ages, pity you couldn't get the individual tracks but still very much appreciated
I think I could watch you do this for Radiohead's entire library.
People that don't like Radiohead despise the so called pretentiousness. While I see what they're saying, I feel like it's not pretentious if it's genuine and heartfelt.
I feel like they are painfully so genuinely heartfelt.
There's so much talent and so much going on in this record. Saw it played live at Glastonbury '97. Blew my mind, best gig ever
Man I got chills hearing the verse melody on just the piano!
Really enjoyed this!
I remember when the video for this was on repeat on mtv, and I didn't get it. Then a friend took me to see them in concert and this song blew my mind.
Ticket was only like 15 euros or something and the venue wasn't even full.
this song is so convoluted with musical genius it would take a lot more than 15 minutes to go through it
I think "Paranoid Android" is a "Bohemian Rhapsody" of alternative rocks
I have always said the EXACT. SAME. THING.
Sorry but to compare Paranoid Android to Bohemian Rhapsody is an insult beyond measurement
@@petergreen2552 have you heard alternative rock before?
@@sigitprabowo363 Yes and I prefer the real thing to the "alternative"
@@petergreen2552 Paranoid Android is better in my opinion
I would love it if you made an entire episode on 15 Step, I love that song and it really shows how musical the band are together
I remember buying this cd, listening to it in the dark really stoned, and then telling my mates the next day - it's amazing, just don't listen to it in the dark really stoned
Way too late for that Climbing Up the Walls got me pretty well.
Radiohead: band whose music is so rich it gets more interesting with each listen. Great explanation Rick. How about Venus in furs by the Velvet Underground?
Absolute genius how they get all this craziness to work. I’m not musically trained but have a few musicians in the family so I’ve been exposed to all sorts and I remember at the time when I was 17 thinking these guys are pioneering a completely new style of rock. Incidentally my wife went to the same school as Radiohead and I ended working in Abingdon. Nice to see appreciation from someone really respected 👍🏻
The most impressive thing is that Radiohead made a relatively complex song worldwide *commercial* . You have no idea how much talent and audacity it takes to do that (and timing too. Many people underestimate how important it is to know *WHEN* to release a song and exactly how "different" , or "innovative" to make it without being too much or too little. It's like hitting a fly with a bullet in mid air)
I am overjoyed you didn’t choose “Creep”. I am just getting into Radiohead and Creep is nothing close to Radiohead and the guitar on “Paranoid Android” is amazing
Theres not much going on with creep lol it’s basically just 4 chords
High and dry
Radiohead dont even like creep so im glad he didnt as well
It is a good song admittedly but in terms of creativity it’s got nothing on Paranoid Android
It's first album I think. They made a sort of standard(ish) heavier indie album first (which was still better than most of the stuff coming out at the same time), then the second was a bit more adventurous and had more of the soaring stuff, and then this album heralded their major shift when their songs got more complicated. It's a kind of halfway to their stuff from Kid A onwards which was another big shift into (not sure of the words to use) a sort of sparser and more electronic sound. Basically - they very quickly got away from 4 min standard sounding rock songs after about an album and a half. It's hard to believe this album is 23 years old now. I think it sounds very unique still because Radiohead are a hard band to do your own version of. Unlike some others who have a very specific sound and then a hundred imitators turn up.
One of my favourite Radiohead compositions, and I have a lot of respect for Radiohead in general. Reckon 2 + 2 = 5 would be interesting to break down as well
That is a very complex song. The way Rick breaks it down is just downright amazing.
My fave too..takes you on a journey which is quite contemplative.. beautiful in fact.
This song has changed my life and has been a part of it since I heard it.
This song has so many elements. Amazing. It is unexpected but builds up to a very mesmerizing harmony.
Hearing this in 1997, or thereabouts, you just knew that Radiohead was miles above any other band at that time.
My favorite song of all time. Has a bit of everything in it.
Wow Rick ! In breaking things down like you have, it's very easy to understand why this could be Radiohead 's best song. They're just so intricately amazing.
@rickbeato please get Johnny and Thom for an extended interview. That would music gold
A portion of this was used in the ending credits of the amine series "Ergo Proxy" which dealt with androids coming down with a virus which gave them a soul as part of the story line. An excellent track and worthy of it's inclusion to something which demands deep thought. Beautiful piece of music!
This video was about 20 min too short
Space Ghost 54 You're dismissed, pleb...
You wish you had a nose.
54 kills in Vietnam I bet...😂
Ok that's the chord progressions (and that first bit isn't easy), but every fn song has that. But makes it "great"? There's that whiny hook at the coda which is epic and raises the first section with it, but the middle loud section is a bit "bitsy", tacked on and not very inventive at all. Sounds like something of Led Zeppelin's first album, so it would be a ripoff
So I kind of understand why the band hate it, because it's not that great at all and a little embarrassing in parts. They have much better recordings than this.
@@DC-js4gk Wait what Led Zeppelin are you thinking of?
Radiohead's melodies really are great, sometimes I'm surprised how they make simple chord tone stuff sound so good by putting it in the right context
Rick is killing it lately!
Rick, this video is a prime example of why I love watching your work. You are likable, relatable, and not at all condescending as many with less knowledge than you have are. Thank you.
Oh my god-- this song especially how you explain / decipher it is truly a masterpiece (it always was) and it's beauty and complexity makes me want to cry.
Holy Sh-t, this is fantastic! I'm a Radiohead fanatic and a very amateur musician - you nailed it. Makes me wish I continued my music studies....I admire your musical understanding. Thank you :) Radiohead is the only band I have ever listened too where I love every song - I even try not to....but they are too good. Really fun to hear your analysis.
Yorke's vocals still mesmerise me...staggering how he commits to this song...knives out is another killer track...the list is endless
When you play the 'verse melody' on piano (3:21) it showed me two things; Radiohead can do excruciatingly beautiful, and; you Sir, know a tune when you hear it.
Can someone explain why tears roll down my cheeks when listening to it? Not tears of sadness - I just feel so moved….and I don’t know why? This music clearly reaches into my very soul. Magnificent🙌🏼
Absolutely brilliant songwriting. Nothing at all like that in modern pop or rock-at least, not in mainstream hit music. Not even close.
Do Weird Fishes or Jigsaw falling into place please!!!
waterglass21 my two favourite tracks
@@itsallrobbish ;) the two are amazing
waterglass21 weird fishes for sure!!
@the only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need along with reckoner. And nude. And 15 step. And house of cards. Y'know what that whole damn album is a masterpiece.
Absolutely love those 2
Fun fact, this song was somewhat inspired by The Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun", in how it has 3 distinct parts, almost like a beginning, middle, and end.
Also bohemian rhapsody
I always wonder if musicians such as Radiohead are writing songs with the theory in mind or they just play and write music that sounds good to them. I mean a guitarist can mess around with lots of weird fingering combinations that just feel right or sound right and they build an awesome song. I hve to believe most rock musicians don't know how or why things work, they just do. I'm pretty sure I heard an interview with Jimmy Page saying he doesn't play anything that was difficult for him, it just came naturally. I'm guessing that goes for a lot artist. Wish Rick would speak to this.
Anyways awesome job, Rick. Love these break downs!
music that sounds good to them...thats ultimately why people like certain songs and not others
@@skyblazeeterno not being able to read sheets had nothing to do with knowing theory. And their guitarist actually does know lots of theory, hence writing orchestral film scores etc.
Their music is so freakin complex and the theory is way over my head, but my gut says that they’re just that talented and write what sounds cool.
Some do, some don’t. But even the ones that don’t still do in their own way. When you’ve played for many years without technically knowing music theory, you essentially learn theory without the words.
Steve you are totally wrong about that
I wore this CD out so much that I feel like I've become numb to just how good it is.
That's the song that made me a fan of Radiohead. The first time you're listening to it, you're thinking "What is this madness?" and then it ends and you want to listen in again. And again, and again.
As a drummer, the acoustic guitar part in this song makes me want to get more into playing guitar
Airbag is the one, imo. Such a strange, addictive song. And it packs a wallop if rolling down the windows and letting the woofers exercise.
11:42 funny to see how your enthusiasm causes you to go wild while playing along and you have to shout over your own noise :)
Spotify has a series called dissect where they breakdown every song on in rainbows. each episode breaking down each song is like 45 minutes. For Radiohead fans it’s an absolute Pandora’s box.
I just recently found Rick on TH-cam and these song deconstructions that are brilliant. I wasn’t aware of his entire track listing of songs he’s done this to, but I immediately started hoping he had one of Paranoid Android. This song is a masterpiece (and I’m not all that into RadioHead). I wish he had more flexibility on this video with a four track recording and that RHead would let him show us all just how amazing this song is. Rick, thank you for choosing so many great tunes for this series!!!
Excellent choice. Jigsaw Falling Into Place would have been amazing too.
God that’s a great song; I was late to the game on this one. One of the best bass lines ever.
You know you are listening to a real musician/producer if they have to yell their explaination over the track instead of lowering the volume :)
The 1st time I heard this song, and it was on TV with its perfectly appropriated and amazing video, it was at breakfast when I woke up after my very first night in Amsterdam.
I think they aired it just for me, that day.
Amazing sound, puts your head into its own bubble.
Thanks for your videos!
It's so hard to choose a song by Radiohead. They are otherworldly and have been such a major inspiration for me! When I had a tribute band to them, it took me a while learning to play the acoustic part and sing all together!
Thanks Rick Beato!
Hey Rick!! Remember me whining about Enter Sandman v Master of Puppets? I have absolutely ZERO complaints about this song choice.
Such a good song!
alright, I love your vids. when you put that splosion clip at the end of the bridge, priceless
This song, this album, this band, amazing
11:42 "Do I turn it down?... Naaah"
Insane 2nd verse melody. Great video, Rick!
I remember the first time I heard this song. I instantly knew it was one of the greatest songs I'd heard. After work that day I went out and bought the album. The only other time that's happened to me was after hearing Buckley's Hallelujah for the first time.
I've always told friends who don't know Radiohead (or Muse) that they are our generation's Pink Floyd. Such talented musicians!!
my fav track outta OK C is Let Down. Those guitars & the deep bass just makes me close my eyes throughout. And the solo? lt's like a 5 minute dream
I say the Peter Yorke has been left here by aliens from his home world and the notes are him calling his home world to come back and get him. Haunting and catchy but overall sad and I love it. Radiohead is a great band to listen to when you want to clean your room or explore the outer reaches of reality or just sing along to. Love these guys.
Can’t wait to hear Peter Yorke if he’s as good as Thom
@@iainprendergast8311 Lol. I used to get Thom Yorke's and Pete Yorn's last names mixed up. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
Radiohead might be the best band in the history of “rock and roll.” And yet you hear almost nothing about them anywhere in public, not since maybe 2004. Just an outstanding band far ahead of their time.
I love the claves on the offbeat in the intro too, just fills in the sound a little bit and makes it sound a little more acoustic, it just sounds really nice in there
YES, THANK YOU! I WAS WAITING FOR THIS :D Glad you chose Paranoid Android over Karma Police/No Surprises
Edit: Awesome work on the tabs for guitar and especially on the vocal transcriptions! Your videos are getting better by the day
Radiohead is such an interesting band to review. Love to see you break down 'Pyramid Song'. Just a few chords and some diverting time signature changes... but what a song! The drums alone deserve their own vid. No true musician can learn to play this song. It's all about instinct. And genius.
I don't know why Radiohead is not getting billions of views, but WAP is.
It’s great to see how this masterpiece is constructed work of pure genius no wonder they nearly went mad making the album incredible song
Wow. Just going through your "What Makes This Song Great" playlist, and had no idea that one of my all-time favorite albums came out exactly 26 years ago today. That's weird, and now I feel old.