“Rip it Up” music magazine from New Zealand is currently celebrating its 25th birthday. They conducted a poll of its reader for the best 25 Albums of the last 25 years and OK Computer came in @ #2 behind “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness” and ahead of “Nevermind” and “Joshua Tree”. The Bends came in @ #12.
{thanks to Jordan}
The message from Phil Selway was sent out to w.a.s.t.e. members today:
Before we start work on the next Radiohead album, I will foolishly be running in the London Marathon 2002, on Sunday 14th April.
I am writing to ask if you would kindly sponsor me for this event, and help me raise much-needed funds for The Samaritans.
The Samaritans are a UK-based charity who offer twenty-four-hour availability and support to people who are going through a period of crisis and who may have suicidal feelings.
They are part of a worldwide organisation called Befrienders International.
I’m hoping to run the Marathon in four hours. In those four hours, The Samaritans will take around 2,200 calls from people who are in need of emotional support. The Samaritans will listen to them, giving them the time and space to say how they are really feeling.
I’m aiming to raise 4,500, but hoping that the total will be much higher.
All sponsors will be entered into a draw to win the drumkit which I used on various tracks on OK Computer, including Exit Music and Paranoid Android. The kit is a five-piece cherry-red Premier XPK, complete with cymbal stands and a bass-drum pedal.
The ride and crash cymbals and hi-hats are made by Zildjian, and were also used in the OK Computer sessions.
To make a donation please use the link below where you can choose the amount to sponsor me.
http://www.waste.uk.com/SponsorPhil/index.html
Please be sure to give us your full name to add to a visitors book. We will then use this to pick the drumkit winner.
Thank you for your time and support.
With blisters on my feet,
Philip
OK Computer was selected best record of all time by customers of one of Norways biggest record store chains “Platekompaniet”. The Bends got #23 and Kid A got 85th.
For the full list, please go here.
{thanks to Andr? & Trond}
There is an interview with Roger Waters in the current issue of Rolling Stone where he mentions Radiohead. Here they are:
Have you heard Radiohead?
My son Harry gave me OK Computer. I really liked it. I thought it had two or three really great songs on it. Then a friend gave me a newish album with a red thing, I can’t even remember what it was called —
“Amnesiac”?
Yeah, Amnesiac. That was beyond me, I have to say. I listened to it once in the car and went, “Well, OK, guys. Good, but you’ve left me.” You know, where’s my Neil Young? Where’s my John Lennon album?
It’s very difficult to write “Breathe, breathe in the air, don’t be afraid to care,” without people going, “Fucking wanker!” [laughs]. And I think that’s what Radiohead and these other bands are attaching to. There is a purity in those records.
{thanks to Brad, Syd, Andy, & Emily}
Radiohead made it to # 15 in Spin magazine’s 50 Greatest Bands of All Time. Here’s the excerpt from the article:
On 1995’s The Bends, Radiohead were a compelling young Brit-pop band, but with follow-up OK Computer, they spooked rock fans into a new level of obsession. The album’s brooding minor chords and white-noise buzz grew more claustrophobic with each track, even as Thom Yorke’s personal-yet-impersonal lyrics made songs about car crashes and crushed insects somehow moving. Newer bands began to cop Radiohead’s paranoid but confessional, slurry but catchy approach. In response, they sighed deeply and recorded Kid A, somehow transforming glitchy prog rock into classic pop.
INFLUENCED: Travis, Sigur Ros, Coldplay, Clinic, JJ72, Doves, Elbow, Wes Borland
CLASSIC ALBUM: OK Computer
Chris Martin of Coldplay had the following to say about Radiohead: “When I saw Radiohead, I thought ‘Wow, maybe you really can do what you want and get away with it. They did exactly what they wanted and people responded…not everyone wants to listen to nonsense rock.”
{thanks to Lou}
Radiohead was included in the VH1 UK 100 Greatest Albums list with The Bends coming in at #6 and OK Computer at #11.
See the full list at VH1 UK.
{thanks to Marcel}