U2 & Radiohead- A Constant Reinvention

Bond recently purchased his first Radiohead album, unexpectedly going for Kid A, not the more mainstream OK Computer. He's excited to listen to it, but I sent a word of caution, knowing his musical propensities. My experience with Radiohead's Kid A was much similar to when I began listening to U2 a few years before.



In 1997, U2 had just toured through Dallas supporting their latest album, Pop. Having been a casual listener to Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, I bought Pop which also happened to be my first compact disc purchase (I was a late-bloomer). The album was panned by critics and all but the most diehard fans. But the missed point about this is that Bono et al. were doing what they'd been doing all along- deconstructing their sound and building a new one.

U2 had only continued on the trajectory they had started 20 years before, by defining themselves only with their constant redefinition. Boy/War/Unforgettable Fire to Joshua Tree, then exploding into the 1990s with Achtung Baby. When listeners wanted the new album to sound just like the last (harkens back to the critics' screams when Zeppelin III wasn't just Zeppelin II, The Sequel), the band was intent on forging past the new sounds they had created, and doing the truly difficult thing- making newer ones.



As for the Radiohead album, a friend gave it to me in college while I had been a casual listener to some of the singles from RH's earlier days. To me, Kid A sounds like a Ridley Scott soundtrack- at times sparse then lush, with Thom Yorke's voice battered and bruised into new characters, as if he's finishing the job started on earlier albums, in songs like "Climbing Up the Walls." The band's usage of Phil Selway's drumming is sometimes as a full set in the studio, but on other songs just the rhythm track only electronic techno beats, a frantic student of Morse Code. With this album, Radiohead inverted the anthems of OK Computer into electronic dirges. Ding -dong the witch is dead.

The Point

I was introduced the both bands in the midst of dark periods of transformation (also after amazingly successful previous albums). Both bands have had continued commercial success, but by taking different paths. U2 has closed the loop by returning to its pop-driven late 80s and 90s music with "Vertigo" and "Beautiful Day." Meanwhile, Radiohead has continued downward on its deconstructing arc, stripping out its guitars and keeping most of its three-guitar-rock fans displeased. Be that as it may...

Enough ranting; Dave, have a good listen!