Immerse Your Soul In Love - The Radiohead Thread

Mather said:
That honestly sounds just awful. Send it to me and I'll burn it. We Mathers excel at that.
Click to expand...

I forgot the most upsetting part. In the track by track rundown, this is what he has to say about “Morning Bell”:

“The only track on Kid A you could possibly have sex to, even if the rhythm might accidentally knock your hips out of joint.”

I’m just kind of speechless that this is what pops into his head for that song.
 
Ericj32 said:
I forgot the most upsetting part. In the track by track rundown, this is what he has to say about “Morning Bell”:

“The only track on Kid A you could possibly have sex to, even if the rhythm might accidentally knock your hips out of joint.”

I’m just kind of speechless that this is what pops into his head for that song.
Click to expand...
🤢
 
Ericj32 said:
I just started reading that Steven Hyden book “This Isn’t Happening” and maybe it gets better but so far it’s pretty cringey to me, and I’m not sure if I should keep going. It just feels like he kind of misses the point of what makes Radiohead special, at least, to me. Here are some highlights from the first chapter:
  • He interrupts himself many times to quote italicized Kid A lyrics, like he’s telling you what they really mean. Ummmmmmm, yeah pretty sure they’re not meant to have meaning projected on to them by you, guy who didn’t write them. Like it’s fine to speculate, but don’t act like you’re any kind of authority on the meaning of Radiohead lyrics. Or that the lyrics are the point of Radiohead’s music.
  • At one point, he states, “By the end of the aughts, Kid A will be regarded by many as the best album of the twenty-first century’s first decade”
    • For one- dude, you already called the decade “the aughts” in that sentence - you don’t need to end the sentence by saying “the twenty-first century’s first decade.” Just say “that decade” - we’ll know what you’re talking about. He has this way of drawing things out to make it seem more grandiose and it’s just so unnecessary and annoying.
    • He follows that sentence by citing as proof of Kid A’s cultural influence:
      • The fact that Pretty Lights made a mashup song of “Everything in It’s Right Place” with NIN’s “Closer” and Nirvana’s “All Apologies”. OMG not a mash-up! Holy shit - those never happen unless a song is truly iconic and paradigm-shifting. Lol
      • He then cites the fact that that same song (EIIRP) appeared in the trailer for the Ben Affleck movie “The Accountant” and he ends that sentence by stating that this confirmed “that Radiohead has ascended to ‘thinking-man’s Smash Mouth’ status.” Wha? Why? These comparisons are just upsettingly odd.
      • And that’s it - those are the only pieces of evidence cited. Those are his cultural touchstones, apparently.
  • He kicks off a rundown of each track on Kid A on the next two pages of the chapter with this sentence: “Let’s quickly recite the track listing for Kid A like bros quoting the Dude at a Big Lebowski convention.” Or how about we don’t - since bros at big lebowski conventions are fucking irrelevant. Seriously, is THAT the lens that you want to look through to analyze Radiohead’s Kid A ?
  • The next few pages are all about him and his life and how Radiohead was, like, actually pretty influential for “63%” of his life. Cool story, bro. Super fascinating. Never heard of someone who thought Radiohead was super influential - glad you walked us through that.

Sorry, I just needed to vent. I hope it gets better. I can’t decide whether the issue is that I care too much about how people talk about this album or if he’s trying too hard to try to have an original take on an album that’s not exactly a hidden gem. I think at least part of my frustration is regret at spending $28 purchasing this book. To be fair, I don’t read many books about musicians or albums so maybe it’s just a hard thing to do and maybe he’s doing a better job than most here, but if that’s the case, that would just affirm that I shouldn’t waste my time with these kinds of books.
Click to expand...

Those sort of album eulogies are really hard to pull off in an article, nevermind in long form. And this guy sounds like a proper wanker too on top of it.

Ericj32 said:
I forgot the most upsetting part. In the track by track rundown, this is what he has to say about “Morning Bell”:

“The only track on Kid A you could possibly have sex to, even if the rhythm might accidentally knock your hips out of joint.”

I’m just kind of speechless that this is what pops into his head for that song.
Click to expand...

Well that’s unpleasant isn’t it!
 
Joe Mac said:
Those sort of album eulogies are really hard to pull off in an article, nevermind in long form. And this guy sounds like a proper wanker too on top of it.
Click to expand...

That’s the thing. He’s a pretty well-known and popular music critic here in the US. I’ve read bits and pieces of his stuff here and there over the years. There are some interesting facts, but it feels like he’s just also making a lot of assumptions and throwing out some weirdly lazy takes. That’s par for the course for articles on the internet that disappear after a few years, but just feels odd to read in a printed, hard-cover book.
 
Ericj32 said:
I just started reading that Steven Hyden book “This Isn’t Happening” and maybe it gets better but so far it’s pretty cringey to me, and I’m not sure if I should keep going. It just feels like he kind of misses the point of what makes Radiohead special, at least, to me. Here are some highlights from the first chapter:
  • He interrupts himself many times to quote italicized Kid A lyrics, like he’s telling you what they really mean. Ummmmmmm, yeah pretty sure they’re not meant to have meaning projected on to them by you, guy who didn’t write them. Like it’s fine to speculate, but don’t act like you’re any kind of authority on the meaning of Radiohead lyrics. Or that the lyrics are the point of Radiohead’s music.
  • At one point, he states, “By the end of the aughts, Kid A will be regarded by many as the best album of the twenty-first century’s first decade”
    • For one- dude, you already called the decade “the aughts” in that sentence - you don’t need to end the sentence by saying “the twenty-first century’s first decade.” Just say “that decade” - we’ll know what you’re talking about. He has this way of drawing things out to make it seem more grandiose and it’s just so unnecessary and annoying.
    • He follows that sentence by citing as proof of Kid A’s cultural influence:
      • The fact that Pretty Lights made a mashup song of “Everything in It’s Right Place” with NIN’s “Closer” and Nirvana’s “All Apologies”. OMG not a mash-up! Holy shit - those never happen unless a song is truly iconic and paradigm-shifting. Lol
      • He then cites the fact that that same song (EIIRP) appeared in the trailer for the Ben Affleck movie “The Accountant” and he ends that sentence by stating that this confirmed “that Radiohead has ascended to ‘thinking-man’s Smash Mouth’ status.” Wha? Why? These comparisons are just upsettingly odd.
      • And that’s it - those are the only pieces of evidence cited. Those are his cultural touchstones, apparently.
  • He kicks off a rundown of each track on Kid A on the next two pages of the chapter with this sentence: “Let’s quickly recite the track listing for Kid A like bros quoting the Dude at a Big Lebowski convention.” Or how about we don’t - since bros at big lebowski conventions are fucking irrelevant. Seriously, is THAT the lens that you want to look through to analyze Radiohead’s Kid A ?
  • The next few pages are all about him and his life and how Radiohead was, like, actually pretty influential for “63%” of his life. Cool story, bro. Super fascinating. Never heard of someone who thought Radiohead was super influential - glad you walked us through that.

Sorry, I just needed to vent. I hope it gets better. I can’t decide whether the issue is that I care too much about how people talk about this album or if he’s trying too hard to try to have an original take on an album that’s not exactly a hidden gem. I think at least part of my frustration is regret at spending $28 purchasing this book. To be fair, I don’t read many books about musicians or albums so maybe it’s just a hard thing to do and maybe he’s doing a better job than most here, but if that’s the case, that would just affirm that I shouldn’t waste my time with these kinds of books.
Click to expand...
Hard disagree. I am a big fan of Steve’s writing style and found this book to be insightful, and above all, a fun read. I think you are wanting this book to be something it is not. Which is fine. Steve writes about music and how it fits into his story in relatable and humorous ways. It’s not a hard analysis of the album, His writing style reminds me of Chuck Klosterman’s and I understand it’s not for everyone. Still, it’s a bit surprising to see someone actively distain it as to this high of a level.
 
Last edited:
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Hard disagree. I am a big fan of Steve’s writing style and found this book to be insightful, and above all, a fun read. I think you are wanting this book to be something it is not. Which is fine. Steve writes about music and how how it fits into his story if relatable and humorous ways. It’s not a hard analysis of the album, His writing style reminds me of Chuck Klosterman’s and I understand it’s not for everyone. Stil,it’s a bit surprising to see someone actively distain it as to this high of a level.
Click to expand...
I'm a fan as well. I think this is a circumstance where expectations and the actual book are existing on separate planes. Hyden is insightful and relatable, but not overly analytic. He also uses humor frequently and comes from a Gen X perspective.
 
wmeugene said:
I'm a fan as well. I think this is a circumstance where expectations and the actual book are existing on separate planes. Hyden is insightful and relatable, but not overly analytic. He also uses humor frequently and comes from a Gen X perspective.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it’s kind of like hearing the punchline without the set up. Within the context of his prose lots of these lines made me snicker out loud and that is exactly the reaction he is trying to illicit.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
View attachment 119896Steve’s my favorite music writer over the past 15 years. Probably wanna avoid this one too.
Click to expand...
I came here to post this. He’s literally the only music critic that I care about. His Grantland columns were consistently entertaining. I haven’t read the Radiohead book, but Twilight of the Gods was really enjoyable. I also enjoy his podcast with Ian Cohen, Indiecast. He does regularly say cringe-y things but that’s par the course for a Midwestern dad in his 40s.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Yeah, it’s kind of like hearing the punchline without the set up. Within the context of his prose lots of these lines made me snicker out loud and that is exactly the reaction he is trying to illicit.
Click to expand...
Yeah i don’t know what I’m missing. It feels like maybe the joke is that he’s satirizing the way people talk about Radiohead - like he’s trying to sound pretentious for comedic effect or something. Maybe his tone would make more sense to me if I’d read his other books, but even so, I feel like there’s an awful lot of yuck in that first chapter.
 
Ericj32 said:
Yeah i don’t know what I’m missing. It feels like maybe the joke is that he’s satirizing the way people talk about Radiohead - like he’s trying to sound pretentious for comedic effect or something. Maybe his tone would make more sense to me if I’d read his other books, but even so, I feel like there’s an awful lot of yuck in that first chapter.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don’t know what to tell ya sometimes things just don’t click. I think Steve is kinda pretentious but I think he is also very self aware and owns it in a way that is very relatable to the way me and my friends talk about music. If you are curious of his other work, he wrote music reviews for the The AV Club, that’s where I first became familiar with his work. He also wrote for Grantland and Uprox. He does several music podcasts as well.

Google Podcasts is no longer available

podcasts.google.com podcasts.google.com

www.osirispod.com

36 From the Vault - Osiris

The definitive overview of the Dead's celebrated live show releases. Hosted by Steven Hyden and Rob Mitchum. Subscribe now.
www.osirispod.com www.osirispod.com

and here’s a piece I really relate with that was published back in his AV Club days.
longform.org

Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation? by Steven Hyden · Longform

A year-by-year walk through of the decade that birthed a mainstream culture called ‘Alternative’ and the bands that were deified and destroyed by it.
longform.org longform.org

I doubt any of these things will necessarily change your mind but maybe something might click for ya. He is my favorite music critic in a day and age where critics have become rather anonymous in an “everyone’s a critic” kinda way

He’s a great Twitter follow too if that’s your thing…
 
Last edited:
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I think Steve is kinda pretentious but I think he is also very self aware and owns it in a way that is very relatable to the way me and my friends talk about music.
Click to expand...

This makes me think of like a Father John Misty type persona (which isn’t really my thing). Am I getting warmer?

It’s weird because, on the one hand, he seems to be hyperbolic a lot of the time in stating how influential Kid A is on our current cultural landscape (maybe he’s being facetious, and I’m just not getting it). It’s one of my favorite albums, but it certainly does not define our culture the way Adele or Beyonce or Taylor Swift albums do. But, on the other hand, a lot of his comments seem like he’s negging Radiohead - like he doesn’t want to come off like every other fanboy, so he’s posturing like he’s got them all figured out and knows exactly how much their music matters and what conceptual boxes their songs and albums fit inside. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge or allow any magic or mystery when he’s talking about music - which is a level of arrogance that just kills the fun for me. Like it’s obvious to anyone that’s listened to Kid A that there’s a lot going on there that can’t really be put into words, and it doesn’t seem like he’s aware of that, but still, he’s the one trying to tell the rest of us what it all means by talking about a Pretty Lights mashup and Smash Mouth. Does he actually enjoy music or does he just enjoy scouring wikipedia articles for fun facts about songs and bands?

I’ll read Chapter 2 and see if things start to click.

The first sentence of Chapter 2 is: “You can put Kid A on now, at this very moment, and it will be brand-new for anyone who has never heard it.”

*sigh - is that supposed to be a dad joke?
 
Ericj32 said:
The first sentence of Chapter 2 is: “You can put Kid A on now, at this very moment, and it will be brand-new for anyone who has never heard it.”
Click to expand...
I don't find this sentence offensive to my sensibilities in the slightest. He's stating that 20 years later Kid A still sounds completely different and foreign to anyone who has never experienced Kid A. Like if someone started up another seminal release like Nevermind or something there is some similarities stylistically to other albums that came before but Kid A is a wholly unique experience.
 
I think the larger point he is making with Kid A is that it’s sits at a fairly unique position within the larger Pop culture sphere. It’s art rock almost to the point of being avant-garde yet it’s still mainstream enough to be included in the soundtrack for a mediocre Ben Affleck thriller.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top