I thought I would make my first post a controversial one. Start as you mean to go on and all that right? Here goes. I hate both the Beatles and Radiohead.
Wait! Come back! Hear me out.
The Beatles. Yes, no one can deny their importance. Yes, they have spawned countless derivative bands. Yes, they ebbed and flowed with the times and, in many ways, helped to define a generation. But that was then. Its time to get the fuck over them. Especially you rabid fans out there – and you know who you are. There are so many others – Velvet Underground, The Ramones, Prince and even REM (to name a few) that are just as seminal, and more importantly, inspire people to make music, as opposed to encouraging hacky imitation. Think of the Beatles like that little totem of an ex that you keep for torturing yourself with. You need to acknowledge the demon and then set it free.
Radiohead. This is more personal than professional. Their first hit was a novelty song – which immediately gets my back up. Took me until 3 years ago to even consider that Beck may have a modicum of talent. When I realised what a big huge ass I had been for dismissing him on the flimsiest of criteria – I recanted with humility. I thought that perhaps I had been wrong about Thom Yorke and his crew, so I revisited this chestnut of potential further muso humiliation.
Turns out – I still didn’t like ‘em.
And I have tried. I put ‘Kid A’ on heavy rotation and was determined to ‘get it’. I never did. All my guy friends said ‘you need to listen to ‘OK Computer’ – that’ll learn ya.’ It didn’t. ‘Oh ‘The Bends’…that will convert you.’ Nope. It’s all too sterile, too in-the-head. It doesn’t give me anything to connect with. To me - it just sounds like guys who holed up in a studio and cranked shit out until their eyes bled from too much darkness/cigarettes/lack of human contact. One my friends got a new totally tripped out stereo system. He uses ‘Hail to the Thief’ as one of his ‘reference pieces’ to highlight how great the thing sounds. That about sums it up for me – boys and their toys.
Commence rebuttal. And bloodbath.