And yet, the band's music is so adventurous I respect it, and some of it is so undeniably great. Kid A was really a daring album, I don't love all of it, but it definitely had some great moments. For all their "we're not a guitar band, we want to experiment, blah blah blah" songs like "Knives Out" and "Optimistic" would be great no matter what instrument you play it on.
I have to admit, I mainly slept on Amnesiac, and definitely didn't pay Hail To The Thief much mind. I wanted to love Hail, as it was a direct attack on bush II, but the thing is, if you are going to make a rebellious record like that, you should make it accessible. Wouldn't it be cooler there was a huge anthem like "Just" or "Airbag" that bashed an evil administration? A left field album that ultra-liberals stroke their chins to, it just doesn't have the same effect. If you're going to rage against the machine, as it were, then rage.
Back to the music: In Rainbows is probably my favorite Radiohead album of the decade, and the music got sort of overshadowed by the delivery of it. Yeah, the announced it eight days before it came out, let fans choose thier own price, put it out on their own, etc. and that was all great. (I actually didn't think that they thought out their plan as well as, say, Trent Reznor did for the last few Nine Inch Nails records), but the fact is, it was a great record.
I'm curious to hear what Thom Yorke does next: I guess he may be working with Flea on a new project, which I think would be great for him. But it will be interesting (in theory) to hear where Radiohead goes next.
More Best Of The '00s: Bob Dylan
Willie Nelson
Aimee Mann
Jeff Tweedy
David Johansen
Levon Helm
The Beatles
Jim James
U2
Steve Earle
Ben Harper
Alicia Keys
Norah Jones
Trent Reznor
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