by Robert Thompson Music Sales Corporation
It doesn’t feel like it has been 25 years since the release of OK Computer for many of us. Radiohead’s iconic third album became one of the most important albums of all time and still influences artists today.
OK Computer was greeted as an instant classic and somewhat of a concept album. The band’s label, Capitol Records, had wrongly declared “career suicide” before it dropped. It walked right up to the edge of the abyss and flirted with ideas previously untouched with pure bombast. It is a study of true musical complexity.
OK Computer’s reclaimed prestige for concept albums. Its influence has been seen in everything from Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” Janelle Monáe’s “The ArchAndroid,” The Weeknd’s recent album “Dawn FM,” and Taylor Swift’s “Folklore.” OK Computer opened the door for greater experimentation and musical diversity for acts of all genres.
Arcade Fire’s Will Butler has stated that he would listen to the album over and over at the age of 15. The influence is notable when listening to the band’s 2010 album, “The Suburbs,” and the amount of artistic freedom Arcade Fire brought to their concept work. “Ready to Start” has undertones of the vocal overlay of Thom Yorke throughout much of OK Computer.
OK Computer’s themes of urban alienation have carried through to influence artists like Car Seat Headrest, Muse, and Coldplay. While some artists, like Coldplay, try to distance themselves from any similarity to Radiohead, arguably, OK Computer opened a door for their comeupance. It created willing audiences for their music. In fact, Coldplay’s Chris Martin once stated, “Sometimes I feel like they cleared a path with a machete, and we came afterward and put up a strip mall… I would still give my left ball to write anything as good as ‘OK Computer.'”
The beauty of OK Computer is that it is a full-length statement album, and it has to be listened to all the way through. It opened the door for subsequent full-length statements unlike anything since Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The full-length statement album eventually became more commonplace in rap and R&B with records like Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” In fact, West has expressed his love of the band, considering Radiohead one of his few artistic rivals.
The influence of OK Computer crosses all of the musical boundaries one would think exists between various musical genres and proves that boundaries are only perceived and not real. That one album has influenced so many other artists across genres is truly an accomplishment and a testament to the brilliance of OK Computer. Many more concept albums are to come. Full-length statement albums will continue to deny that people only listen to individual songs on demand. We can thank OK Computer.