Thanks, buddy. I know those nice musty rooms in Oxford have really cool 16th-century books that American trash like me couldn’t dream of understanding but could you write a fucking rock song that slays me? Yorke, you must come through for us, I’m begging you, I’m on my knees, please, please, please!
But Love, who was pleading for the very mythologies that Thom despised, was in the minority when it came to other high-profile musicians and actors/actresses. Even Fred Durst, Love’s personal punching bag, enjoyed
Kid A
. Hell, Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland reportedly left the band in part because of his Radiohead obsession. From Tom Cruise to Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Anistonto Brad Pitt (who called Radiohead “the Kafka and Samuel Beckett of our generation”),
Kid A
attracted an unprecedented amount of attention. But none more so than from the music community: Pearl Jam, Pulp, Chuck D, Natalie Imbruglia, Beck, Matthew Good Band, Incubus, David Gray, Trent Reznor, and DJ Shadow all publicly lauded
Kid A
. While some of Radiohead’s inspirations weren’t quite as impressed (Aphex Twin, a.k.a. Richard D. James, called it “really obvious and cheesy”), John Cale (The Velvet Underground) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) both spoke favorably of it. Even the heavy hitters were on board: Tom Petty said he liked it; Bono said he loved it; and both Michael Jackson and Madonna, the King and Queen of Pop, cited
Kid A
as their
favorite
album of the year.
In fact, as 2000 crawled to a close, critics almost unanimously praised
Kid A
. The album appeared on countless year-end lists, including
Rolling Stone, The Times
(UK),
Q
,
Village Voice, CMJ, Magnet, NME, Uncut
, and
The Wire
. It reached #2 on
Spin, TIME
, Amazon,
USA Today
,
Rolling Stone
(Germany), the
Los Angeles Times
, and
Dotmusic
; and #1 on
Pitchfork, Addicted to Noise, Eye Weekly
, and
Lost at Sea
. And not that media outlets function as monolithic entities, but it’s telling that
Kid A
even placed on the year-end lists of its most vocal naysayers:
Mojo
placed it at #3,
Select
at #6, and even
Melody Maker
, who called it “tubby, ostentatious, self-congratulatory, look-ma-I-can-suck-my-own-cock whiny old rubbish,” nestled it in at #5. It was all capped off at the 43rd AnnualGrammy Awards with nominations for Album of the Year and Best Engineered Album (beat out both times by Steely Dan), and with a win for Best Alternative Album (which
OK Computer
and
In Rainbows
also won). Did I mention it charted at #1 in the US, UK, France, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand?
Even more significantly,
Kid A
’s popularity has only increased over time. In fact, it’s already being regarded as one of the most influential albums of the new millennium, topping decade lists by
Pitchfork
,
Rolling Stone
,
Stereogum
,
Stylus
, the
Times
, and
Tiny Mix Tapes
(the webzine I co-founded), and landing in various spots in publications such as
Paste
(#4),
Uncut
(#25),
Associated Content
(#2),
Gorilla Vs. Bear
(#5),
NME
(#14), and
Entertainment Weekly
(#3).
TIME
placed
Kid A
on its list of 100 “greatest and most influential” albums of all time, while the
Guardian
named Radiohead the “band of the decade.” Sure,
Kid A
might not have had the critical majority on its side in the beginning, but the continual reinforcement through lists and articles and dissertations and message board posts will surely canonize the album indefinitely, ensuring that the album indeed remains a “big deal,” regardless of your opinion of critics, regardless of your personal assessment of the album, regardless of Radiohead’s insistence that it wasn’t a “big leap forward.”
Don’t believe me? In mid-January 2010, nearly a decade after its release, the cultural reinforcement was so great, so ideologically convincing, so culturally invasive that
Kid A
re-entered the Billboard 200 at #100.
Kid Adaptation
If people don’t like it now, they will.
Albert Ayler
Kid A
had a lot working against it: the music
But Love, who was pleading for the very mythologies that Thom despised, was in the minority when it came to other high-profile musicians and actors/actresses. Even Fred Durst, Love’s personal punching bag, enjoyed
Kid A
. Hell, Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland reportedly left the band in part because of his Radiohead obsession. From Tom Cruise to Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Anistonto Brad Pitt (who called Radiohead “the Kafka and Samuel Beckett of our generation”),
Kid A
attracted an unprecedented amount of attention. But none more so than from the music community: Pearl Jam, Pulp, Chuck D, Natalie Imbruglia, Beck, Matthew Good Band, Incubus, David Gray, Trent Reznor, and DJ Shadow all publicly lauded
Kid A
. While some of Radiohead’s inspirations weren’t quite as impressed (Aphex Twin, a.k.a. Richard D. James, called it “really obvious and cheesy”), John Cale (The Velvet Underground) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) both spoke favorably of it. Even the heavy hitters were on board: Tom Petty said he liked it; Bono said he loved it; and both Michael Jackson and Madonna, the King and Queen of Pop, cited
Kid A
as their
favorite
album of the year.
In fact, as 2000 crawled to a close, critics almost unanimously praised
Kid A
. The album appeared on countless year-end lists, including
Rolling Stone, The Times
(UK),
Q
,
Village Voice, CMJ, Magnet, NME, Uncut
, and
The Wire
. It reached #2 on
Spin, TIME
, Amazon,
USA Today
,
Rolling Stone
(Germany), the
Los Angeles Times
, and
Dotmusic
; and #1 on
Pitchfork, Addicted to Noise, Eye Weekly
, and
Lost at Sea
. And not that media outlets function as monolithic entities, but it’s telling that
Kid A
even placed on the year-end lists of its most vocal naysayers:
Mojo
placed it at #3,
Select
at #6, and even
Melody Maker
, who called it “tubby, ostentatious, self-congratulatory, look-ma-I-can-suck-my-own-cock whiny old rubbish,” nestled it in at #5. It was all capped off at the 43rd AnnualGrammy Awards with nominations for Album of the Year and Best Engineered Album (beat out both times by Steely Dan), and with a win for Best Alternative Album (which
OK Computer
and
In Rainbows
also won). Did I mention it charted at #1 in the US, UK, France, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand?
Even more significantly,
Kid A
’s popularity has only increased over time. In fact, it’s already being regarded as one of the most influential albums of the new millennium, topping decade lists by
Pitchfork
,
Rolling Stone
,
Stereogum
,
Stylus
, the
Times
, and
Tiny Mix Tapes
(the webzine I co-founded), and landing in various spots in publications such as
Paste
(#4),
Uncut
(#25),
Associated Content
(#2),
Gorilla Vs. Bear
(#5),
NME
(#14), and
Entertainment Weekly
(#3).
TIME
placed
Kid A
on its list of 100 “greatest and most influential” albums of all time, while the
Guardian
named Radiohead the “band of the decade.” Sure,
Kid A
might not have had the critical majority on its side in the beginning, but the continual reinforcement through lists and articles and dissertations and message board posts will surely canonize the album indefinitely, ensuring that the album indeed remains a “big deal,” regardless of your opinion of critics, regardless of your personal assessment of the album, regardless of Radiohead’s insistence that it wasn’t a “big leap forward.”
Don’t believe me? In mid-January 2010, nearly a decade after its release, the cultural reinforcement was so great, so ideologically convincing, so culturally invasive that
Kid A
re-entered the Billboard 200 at #100.
Kid Adaptation
If people don’t like it now, they will.
Albert Ayler
Kid A
had a lot working against it: the music
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