Baby's Got Depends

Baby's Got Depends, oh no

Radiohead - Planet Telex

Radiohead - The Bends

Radiohead - High and Dry

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

Today, we start to plan ahead for the forthcoming 90’s musical nostalgia cultural movement. You know it’s, like, totally just around the corner, and stuff. So, kind of like squirrels collecting all the acorns they can before winter blows in, you’re going to want to be well-stocked with all your 90’s faves that still sound good and have stood up to the test of time. (That means no Jesus Jones and no EMF, sorry.) Can ‘em, pickle ‘em, turn ‘em into jerky, whatever you gotta do to get yourself ready. And, where else should we begin in our 90’s retrospective than the best band to make it out of the decade alive: Radiohead. Is there any argument there? Take it to the comment section. Thom Yorke is the picture of the artist who can’t deal with celebrity (but hasn’t shot himself in the face w/ a shotgun). I saw a documentary of their OK Computer-era and Yorke and rest of the guys seemed absolutely miserable with all the attention they were garnering. But, they’re evidently coping with it, they’re still making good music

Radiohead has stayed relevant since their first album, Pablo Honey “Creep”-ed onto the grunge scene. Today’s selections are from their sophomore album, The Bends, which opens with 4 great songs that still sound remarkably fresh to me today. “Planet Telex” reminds me of Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips, although Yorke and Coyne are vocally pretty different. “The Bends” is fantastically bombastic Brit pop, this song wouldn’t sound out of place on Oasis’ first album (another revisit-able album). And, it probably sounds totally kickass live in concert, I can only imagine however. “High and Dry” could easily be a Shins song and it wouldn’t have been out of place on the Garden State soundtrack (by the way, a belated thanks is due to my man Buster for burning me both the Shins cds!). A great acoustical arena rocker, an angsty sing-along for the 20-something set. And, lastly, “Fake Plastic Trees” is that song that hooks the ladies, no doubt about it. A beautiful melody, a little touch of strings, and a video that made it onto Beavis and Butthead. Is it a ballad? I don’t know what classifies as one, but I could see lighters being lit when this song is played live. So, let’s call it a ballad, but a good one nonetheless. And, for whatever reason, I think Ben Folds was listening to this song a lot when he wrote that “She’s a Brick” song. Don’t they sound kinda similar now that you think about it?