Rolling Stone chose Radiohead's Kid A to be the album of the decade and I am fully aware the bonfires of irascibility ignited all across the musical gamut over Rolling Stone's decision. Radiohead hipsters themselves are up in arms, griping that Amnesiac or some obscure b-side only released in Okinawa was their golden opus. How ever you cut it, if you think your favorite album shoulda been numero uno, we have to consider a few factors. Thom Yorke felt it was time to reconsider the genre. In his word's from the
Rolling Stone article, "I find it difficult to think of the path we've chosen as 'rock music"(obviously, the "we" referral being music in general)." Rock had become a tired genre clinging to the schematics of a bygone era, using the same formulas while listening audiences grow bored and wander. For many, stuck in these ancient definitions, Kid A was a mockery of Rock n' Roll, to some offensive and to a few borderline obscene. A jolt of smelling salts or an ice bath can be whats needed and Kid A was exactly that glorious morning bell on Rock's dismal horizon. Some songs failed to have the proper song structure while others had no structure at all. The first two tracks were void of sounding as if Radiohead were even a rock group -"Did Radiohead hijack the New Age section?" Cross-pollinating in the new synth saturated drum machine realms of electronic music, chopping vocals, manipulating what we think are vocals, removing the human signature from guitar riffs, eliminating riffs all together, they gave us a new proposal that rock n' roll did not in anyway have to be the way its been.
Like in every action movie, when our hero struggles to deactivate the detonation device leaving only a few seconds left on a timer ticking away the final moments of humanity, Kid A cut the red wire on a sound poised for self destruction. Just a few months into the decade and Rock had received new marching orders, or at least some new suggestions.
So if my allegiance with this Rolling Stone opinion (trust me, this doesn't happen often) vexes you, here are some lovely Radiohead remixes as a token of my devotion(to you, not the Rolling Stone).
videotape like you've never heard it.
RADIOHEAD_videotape(xaphoon's dubstep remix)
This is one of Thom's tracks, from his solo project remixed by xxxchange
THOM YORKE_The Eraser (the xxxchange remix)
making a dreary track fun is daunting, but I think Gigamesh pulled it off!
RADIOHEAD_everything in its right place (Gigamesh discotech remix)
a party rawker from our friends at Hood Internet. A little In Rainbows love and Eve!!
RADIOHEAD n EVE_tambourine reckoning
