I was wondering, how many people were introduced to the world of indie music through Radiohead? I know I was, with OK Computer being my introduction to indie. I know a couple other people who were.

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Originally posted by a-light-so-dim:
I was wondering, how many people were introduced to the world of indie music through Radiohead? I know I was, with OK Computer being my introduction to indie. I know a couple other people who were.

It actually went the other way for me. I got really into The Notwist's album Shrink and Portishead's Dummy and my friend told me to stop beating around the bush. He bought me OK Computer and they've been my favorite band ever since.

yay, OK Computer was my intro to indie music as well (or at least the indie ethos, since Radiohead is a major label band). they have been my favorite band since then.

Radiohead was a big influence on my own musical development, yet I never listen to them any more. A couple months after "Hail To The Theif" dropped I just didn't have any desire to listen to their work because I was discovering a bunch of new and exciting music. If I listened to Kid A now, I'm sure the only thing keeping me from pressing eject is nostalgia.

for a while i thought radiohead was the most overrated band ever. i had listened to creep and karma police and i thought they were kind of good but not that great as to make radiohead the greatest band ever or at least of the 90s.
so i went out and bought ok computer to see what all the fuss was about. mind you i came in with a very negative attitude. the first listen tore down the negative wall of energy and the second, well, i fell in love.

radiohead, more than any other band, has introduced me to the world of music. not just indie music. but music that is moving and holds up to time. and persists on changing the current structure of music (traditional verse chorus veres). aka indie music.

I was actually introduced to Radiohead via Kid A.

I was with my friend in his brother's car (A black w/ black leather Acura TL) speeding to the movie theaters. He was blasting Kid A (the song), and I thought it sounded insanely cool.
I burned Kid A and OK Computer from him, and then eventually bought all the hard copies of Radiohead albums in one trip to Best Buy. Yea, I even bought "Pablo Honey", as this was in the days before I knew what music criticism was.
Some songs were automatically recognizable: Karma Police, Fake Plastic Trees, Creep, and High and Dry.

Today Radiohead is almost my favorite band, only surpassed by my loves, Modest Mouse. I find OK Computer to be the greatest of their albums, but I actually listen to Kid A more frequently. This is probably just because I've been on an electronic/noise/post-rock/experimental binge since 2007 started. I found myself briefly bored of the normal guitars and three-chord pop, and can't get enough of Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Four Tet, Manitoba, Talk Talk, Godspeed, Brian Eno, Dj Shadow, Avalanches, and...Kid A.

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Originally posted by The Friar:
for a while i thought radiohead was the most overrated band ever.

Ah, same same. I heard all the hype, the Pitchfork 10.0's and the AMG 5 stars, I finally got OK Computer, labeled all the songs perfectly the way I liked them, pasted the album art into the iTunes slot, set my speakers equidistant to my head, turned the volume just right, closed the curtains and was pretty bored the next several minutes. This is what everyone was whooping about? I got Kid A next, same thing, it fared (faired?) a little better, but I still thought they were definitely overrated. About a year and a half later I gave OK Computer another spin and thought "wtf was I thinking?" I got The Bends and it was equally impressive. Then a day or two ago I tried Kid A again and it was all way better than I remembered. I guess I just had to have the right mindset going in. So, I'm lucky in that Radiohead is still growing on me, I think a lot of you would like to live that again ;p

it definitely takes a few listens to grasp the glory of OK Computer and Kid A... i was less than impressed the first go through, but shelving them for a while and coming back with a more developed frame of reference revealed two of my favorite albums.

Radiohead indie? hhmmmff.
If anything Radiohead expanded me beyond indie into more atmospheric bands and on to more pop based upperclass british rock such as Mansun, the Verve then onto Ben Christophers and the Doves.

Radiohead is the best band of all-time.
Here's my proof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWDxUTue4xc

I honestly came close to crying.

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So, I'm lucky in that Radiohead is still growing on me, I think a lot of you would like to live that again

Yep, I would. I was 16 when I first really listened to Radiohead beyond "Karma Police" and "Paranoid Android", and I spent the next two years listening to a ton of them. As much as I still like their albums, I just can't get the same excitement listening to them anymore. Still, they're a very impressive band and I'm excited to see what their next album sounds like.

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Originally posted by less_success:

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So, I'm lucky in that Radiohead is still growing on me, I think a lot of you would like to live that again

Yep, I would. I was 16 when I first really listened to Radiohead beyond "Karma Police" and "Paranoid Android", and I spent the next two years listening to a ton of them. As much as I still like their albums, I just can't get the same excitement listening to them anymore. Still, they're a very impressive band and I'm excited to see what their next album sounds like.

I totally agree less_success. Do you find that Radiohead has become less significant the more you open your musical horizons? What I mean is, how impressive is "Treefingers" after you've heard the giants of ambient? Or how interesting is "Idioteque" when you've immersed yourself in glitch, house, and minimal techno? I know these two examples are both from the same album, but I find this kind of feeling permeates all of the Radiohead records I own. Sometimes I will tell myself: "hey, let's sit down with the old OK Computer again..." and usually after the first two amazing tracks I start to lose interest.

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Originally posted by a-light-so-dim:
I was wondering, how many people were introduced to the world of indie music through Radiohead? I know I was, with OK Computer being my introduction to indie. I know a couple other people who were.

ok computer did it for me as well. tough i had had alot of post-rock influences already.

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Originally posted by CouldBANyoneI totally agree less_success. Do you find that Radiohead has become less significant the more you open your musical horizons? What I mean is, how impressive is "Treefingers" after you've heard the giants of ambient? Or how interesting is "Idioteque" when you've immersed yourself in glitch, house, and minimal techno? I know these two examples are both from the same album, but I find this kind of feeling permeates all of the Radiohead records I own. Sometimes I will tell myself: "hey, let's sit down with the old OK Computer again..." and usually after the first two amazing tracks I start to lose interest.

I see you're point, but I don't entirely agree. I think it's true that musically Radiohead probably does not match up with the masters of "minimal techno", as you've mentioned. However, they've got the trump card with Thom Yorke on vocals. Another example would be "Life In a Glass House", which borrows heavily from the Cajuns. Surely many better songs have been written in Louisiana, but those songs didn't have Yorke on vocals, or have Nigel producing them.

"Treefingers" might not be a great example, since I'm relatively sure it wasn't meant to be a stand alone song as much as an intermission. Taken out of context I'd say it's a throw away, but it's in its right place.

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Do you find that Radiohead has become less significant the more you open your musical horizons? What I mean is, how impressive is "Treefingers" after you've heard the giants of ambient? Or how interesting is "Idioteque" when you've immersed yourself in glitch, house, and minimal techno? I know these two examples are both from the same album, but I find this kind of feeling permeates all of the Radiohead records I own. Sometimes I will tell myself: "hey, let's sit down with the old OK Computer again..." and usually after the first two amazing tracks I start to lose interest.

Some of their songs, over time, have lost some meaning and significance for me. For example, I used to love Subterranean Homesick Alien, but now I just think it's pretty good.
Some songs, however, never lose that feeling of being amazing. (How to Disappear Completely, one of the greatest songs ever.)

I'm closing this thread because we have MULTIPLE threads on Radiohead. Go here and find at least four threads (on the first page) on Radiohead.