Category Archives: Radiohead

17 Year Old Chris’s Favorite Bands/Songs

I was shuffling through some boxes of old books and I found two lists I made in what I can only imagine is roughly the Summer of 2007. Here they are:

101 Favorite Artists

1) The Beatles
2) Pink Floyd
3) Nirvana
4) Ramones
5) Rage Against the Machine
6) Tool
7) System of a Down
8) GlassJaw
9) Johnny Cash
10) Led Zeppelin
11) The Who
12) The Pixies
13) Minor Threat
14) Bad Brains
15) Frank Zappa
16) The Doors
17) Velvet Underground
18) Radiohead
19) Sonic Youth
20) Deftones
21) Against Me!
22) Descendents
23) Black Flag
24) Fugazi
25) The Clash
26) Sex Pistols
27) Iggy Pop/The Stooges
28) Lou Reed
29) Incubus
30) Black Sabbath
31) Simon & Garfunkel
32) Alice in Chains
33) David Bowie
34) N.W.A.
35) The Smiths
36) The Replacements
37) Bjork
38) Dead Kennedys
39) Anti-Flag
40) Misfits
41) Metallica
42) Pantera
43) Slayer
44) X
45) Fall of Troy
46) Daphen Loves Derby
47) Page France
48) Animmal Collective
49) Elliott Smith
50) Arctic Monkeys
51) Beach Boys
52) The Kinks
53) Beastie Boys
54) Smashing Pumpkins
55) Nine Inch Nails
56) Wu-Tang Clan
57) Cypress Hill
58) Talking Heads
59) Primus
60) Roy Orbison
61) R.E.M.
62) Bob Marley
63) Jimi Hendrix
64) Bob Dylan
65) Chuck Berry
66) Nick Drake
67) Marvin Gaye
68) Sly and the Family Stone
69) Run-DMC
70) Public Enemy
71) Grateful Dead
72) Queen
73) Neil Young
74) Credence Clearwater Revivial
75) Husker Du
76) Joy Divison
77) New York Dolls
78) The Cure
79) The Jam
80) The Buzzcocks
81) Dinosaur Jr
82) Eric B. and Rakim
83) Otis Redding
84) Helemt
85) Pavement
86) Parliament/Funkadelic
87) Grandmaster Flash
88) Janes Addiction
89) Faith No More
90) Jesus and Mary Chain
91) Mudhoney
92) Foo Fighters
93) Germs
94) Beck
95) The Strokes
96) Stone Temple Pilots
97) 40 Below Summer
98) Messhugah
99) Norma Jean
100) Chimaira
101) Psychedelic Furs

101 Favorite Songs (except there is only 41 listed)

1) Simon & Garfunkel-Mrs. Robinson
2) Beatles- In My Life
3) Lou Reed- Perfect Day
4) Talking Heads (Nothing But) Flowers
5) Kinks- Waterloo Sunset
6) Doors- The End
7) Jefferson Airplane- White Rabbit
8) Blondie- Heart of Glass
9) Tool- Aenema
10) Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb
11) Rage Against the Machine- Killing In the Name
12) GlassJaw- Lovebites and Razorlines
13) Against Me!- Baby, I’m an Anarchist!
14) Roy Orbison- Crying
15) Johnny Cash- Hurt
16) Terry Jacks- Seasons in the Sun
17) Radiohead- No Surprises
18) Bob Dylan- Mr. Tambourine Man
19) Bob Marley- Redemption Song
20) Sex Pistols- Anarchy In the U.K.
21) Ramones- KKK Took My Baby Away
22) Fatlip- What’s Up Fatlip
23) Lynyrd Skynyrd- Tuesday’s Gone
24) Led Zeppelin- Tangerine
25) The Who- I’m A Boy
26) The Jam- That’s Entertainment
27) Buzzcocks- Ever Fallin In Love?
28) Pixies- UMass
29) The Smiths- Shoplifters of the World Unite
30) The Cure- Boys Don’t Cry
31) New Order- Temptaion
32) Grandmaster Flash/Mellie Mel- White Lines
33) Janes Addiction- Ocean Size
34) Descendents- I’m Not a Loser (live)
35) Nirvana- Drain You
36) Black Sabbath- Iron Man
37) Elliott Smith- 2:45 A.M.
38) Grateful Dead- Truckin’
39) Tapes n’ Tapes- Mainitoba
40 Sonic Youth- 100%
41) Pantera- Walk

If I made similar lists today they would be dramatically different than seventeen year old Chris’s lists. But, at the same time with the exception of maybe one or two artists all enumerated here can be found on my ipod and I still enjoy listening to them very much.

CD Review: The King of Limbs [2011]


Band:
Radiohead
Release: 2/2011
Label:
Self-Released

1. “Bloom – B+
2. “Morning Mr. Magpie” – B
3. “Little By Little” – A
4. “Feral” – C
5. “Lotus Flower” – B
6. “Codex” – B
7. “Give Up The Ghost” – B+
8. “Separator” – A

Comments:
A quick examination of message boards and the like will reveal that this album isn’t universally agreed upon as excellent or anything like that. Three years ago, I was quite convinced that In Rainbows was fantastic (and that everyone thought similar), but upon reading plenty of diverse views, a lot of people suggested it was one of the band’s worst efforts. So here we are. From the start, I was struck with a Kid A vibe, something industrial and electronic. The drum beat sounds like machinery running. The bass line is pretty much kind of dub — I’ve seen it ‘post-dubstep’ thrown around, but what? — but that doesn’t really matter. It’s an ethereal song, perhaps best appreciated for what it is, rather than what it isn’t. It improves with listens, as you’ll gain new perspectives on exactly what is going on. Maybe the first time you missed the left panned vocals that precede each line of the last verse. “Morning” continues the tradition of very structured drum and bass and galactic environment. There’s nothing that makes the song a real standout, but it acts a pretty solid follow-up to “Bloom,” instrumentally at least. The rock ‘n’ roll side of Radiohead, which as of late has been accompanied by, at the minimum, a tiny bit of electronica, comes on strong in “Little By Little.” This tune matches up along side the standard fare of In Rainbows…just catchy, bullshit-lacking pieces of work. It’s always humorous how people interpret songs. On Song Meanings, a few people say it’s about corporate evil and greed (this is what we’d expect from Radiohead) while another equates “the one that broke the seal” to a dude who has had a lot to drink and needs to take a piss every ten minutes. As far instrumental, throw-away tracks, “Feral” isn’t too bad. It’s bad in terms of necessity/placement, but in the context of this LP, it somewhat works. We’ll settle for average. “Lotus Flower” and “Codex” are good, but are pretty in-differentiable if I had to say so myself. “Separator” is classic Radiohead, just a beautifully written song. The best on here, for sure. So at the end of this review, I must say a great ending followed an effective (but not the most captivating) mix of seven tunes. Good Radiohead, just not the best.

Grade: B (86)

Thee King of Limbs = Radiohead New Album

Cover art and release dates for an LP typically are announced a good two or three months before one can hear the damn thing so finding out about an (extremely popular band) album’s release five days before the actual day itself is pretty much unheard of. Radiohead has done some pretty unheard of things in the past and so here it is, their newest album coming in digital form on Saturday, February 19.