Radiohead “Ok Computer” Album Review

Edited from my previous work, 10/21/21

Levi Carrico

In 1995, midway through their The Bends tour, English rock band Radiohead were commissioned to contribute a song to The Help Album, a charity compilation by War Child International. The band rushed to the studio to write and record their long “Lucky” in just 5 hours (the album was to be rush-released later that week) with help of long-time producer Nigel Godrich. The song’s slow, yet harsh experimental rock sound would eventually shape the band’s third album, Ok Computer. 

The band was given no deadlines, allowing them to work spontaneously at their own pace. To follow up their first two albums, the band band released Ok Computer on May 21, 1997, through their label Parlophone Records. This album included twelve tracks, one of which being their single from The Help Album, “Lucky”.

All twelve tracks each take on their own unique sound. “Paranoid Android”, the first single on the album, includes four unique parts with no definitive chorus. Track three, “Subterranean Homesick Alien”, holds an uncomfortable, futuristic ambience in its experimental guitar riffs. Track ten “No Surprises” is known for its eerie, lullaby-like sound juxtaposed with darker, more melancholy lyrics. These songs are each unique in a lyrical sense, too, with all of the lyrics in the album alluding to technology in some way (hence the album’s title, Ok Computer). This helps maintain a certain theme throughout the album, which, combined with the albums innovative sound, differed greatly from other art rock albums of the time.

Overall, Ok Computer is notably a great experimental rock album. It’s an important part of Radiohead’s history, too–  exchanging their generic, grunge sound for the innovative, avant-garde sound they’re known for today. Its lyrics seem to make more and more sense as we see new technological advances in our every day life, and its unconventional sound defines the album as ahead of its time.