ESSENTIAL ALBUMS: (#15) : Radiohead - "OK Computer" (1997)

Thom Yorke certainly isn’t a man to mince his words. In an interview, he expressed his disdain for OK Computer’s cover, which had been created by long-time Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood. “It’s pretty’ dreadful, but it's the best we could come up with at the time. But it’s awful, I hate it, it’s fucking rubbish.” To us, it's not really a fair assessment, as OK Computer's cover design proved to be every bit as experimental as Radiohead’s third album. 

Donwood began working on the startling cover early on in the production of OK Computer, slowly adjusting it over time. Wanting to create a bleached-bone look, Donwood created his piece of work using a tablet and a light pen. The only proviso? He wasn't allowed to erase anything. It sounds like madness, but the end result is a wonderfully abstract piece of work that proved to be just as eye-catching as his previous work on The Bends (he would go on to design all of Radiohead’s later covers, including the latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool). Donwood's magnificent work continues to the back cover and the two sleeves, with the gatefold being used to house the album’s progressive and sometimes depressing lyrics. 

Named after a line from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, and part-recorded in the supposedly haunted St Catherine’s Court, Yorke claimed ghosts spoke to him in his sleep in a Rolling Stone interview. OK Computer's inspiration came from a number of different sources, including Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, and the dislocation Yorke felt from the non-stop touring the band was doing in America. The end result is an album that is rife with dour, miserable lyrics or songs based around uncomfortable themes. Final single 'Airbag' was inspired by a car crash that Yorke was involved with in 1987, while 'No Surprises' discusses “A job that slowly kills you' and "Bruises that won't heal." 

The distinctive sound of OK Computer sent alarm bells ringing at Capitol, with sales projections changed from two million units to half a million, and there were concerns that there was nothing on the album that would match the radio-friendly hit ‘Creep', which had helped catapult Radiohead to fame in 1992. Ultimately, Capitol’s fears were unfounded, with OK Computer not only going on to sell over six million copies, but also drastically expanding the band’s international audience. It is seen by many as not only heralding the end of Britpop, but also inspiring a new generation of musicians, including Travis, Secret Machines and Bloc Party. It also marked a slight change in direction of Radiohead itself, with the band continuing to write experimental music that would further distance itself from its peers and help turn it into a worldwide phenomenon.

OK Computer was their third studio album, released on 21 May 1997. It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, Radiohead's highest album entry on the US charts at the time, and was soon certified 5× platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US.

TRACKLIST:

1 Airbag (4:44)

2 Paranoid Android (6:23)

3 Subterranean Homesick Alien (4:28)

4 Exit Music (For A Film) (4:25)

5 Let Down (4:59)

6 Karma Police (4:22)

7 Fitter Happier (1:57)

8 Electioneering (3:51)

9 Climbing Up The Walls (4:45)

10 No Surprises (3:49)

11 Lucky (4:20)

12 The Tourist (5:25)