Alternative Rock: Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

76 / 100

OK Computer proves itself to be a strange but undeniable step forward in Radiohead’s evolution.

Only two months left in 2025, but what of it? There’s no AOTY system here, my friend. I’m just a beginner wanderer who started late, choosing to roam randomly instead of keeping up with new releases every day. It even feels a bit heavy to return to Radiohead this time with OK Computer—but that’s fine.

OK Computer was born in 1997, themed around dystopia, consumerism, capitalism, or whatever—I’m not really into digging into lyrics, so you can just check Wikipedia. What’s clear is that Radiohead moved toward something more experimental than before, though I almost wanted to throw the album away for sounding bad and realizing this band isn’t that great to my ears. Still, let’s see what I can catch here.

The songs that successfully earned VIP spots include “No Surprises,” with its music-box tone and soothing clean guitar plucks, and “Let Down,” both of which feel like perfect lullabies. “Karma Police” counts as a fairly emotional ballad with acoustic and piano touches plus echoing vocals, though it ends with noise that leaves an absurd impression. Another slow track, “Exit Music (For a Film),” briefly reminds me of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s characteristics, and then there’s “Lucky,” which turns out to be less emotional than “The Tourist” despite its ringing guitar sound.

“Airbag,” as the opener, features tremolo picking that makes it feel quite spacey, followed by similarly psychedelic tones in “Subterranean Homesick Alien.” Meanwhile, “Electioneering” is the most energetic, and Thom Yorke’s vocal style throughout the album often reminds me of Matthew Bellamy of Muse. “Climbing Up the Walls” offers the rawest and slightly noisy format leaning toward psychedelic/noise rock and even features the only part where Thom screams, between 04:01–04:06.

“Paranoid Android” could be categorized as art rock and feels somewhat isolated, as the guitar solo sounds messy but not exactly raw. The interlude piece also deserves mention, as it reminds me of a robotic voice from certain languages used in Google Translate later on.

Well, I ended up mentioning every song—and it turns out it’s not that bad after all. Now I’m not even sure which to pick as the best one. Lol.

Weakest tracks: Paranoid Android, Fitter Happier, Electioneering, Climbing Up the Walls, Lucky.