Let's be honest with ourselves, Radiohead owns us. This band is, without a doubt, the new Pink Floyd. The new Led Zeppelin. The new Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Radiohead is the band of our generation (this generation being everyone buying music since 1995) that has and will stretch and change the bounds of the music industry and popular music itself. Thom Yorke will in the future be looked upon as another John Lennon, and the rest of the band members will all go on to lead their own projects never to outlive the shadow and majesty that is Radiohead. Essentially, Radiohead is the most important band of the past ten years.
That said, Hail to the Thief is everything one should expect from a Radiohead album and nothing more. Instead of changing music the way they did with OK Computer and Kid A, the band settled in a niche that allows all of the musicians to do what they do best. This means that no one shines any brighter than the others, with the exception of Yorke who still plays messiah to the rest of the band's minor prophet. This also means that the stellar soundscapes that made Kid A so majestic are put aside a bit and the rocking out that made The Bends so listenable is given as much spotlight as anything else. Everyone in the band should be happy where he is. The songs are poppy without being pop, experimental without being noisy, memorable without being annoyingly catchy and don't even bother fighting to stand out above each other. This happy medium for Radiohead is bittersweet, a blessing and a curse. A blessing because there is not a bad track on the album, a curse because HTTT lacks the envelope-pushing spirit that has kept Radiohead so prominent in the music world without ever having a legitimate hit song since their first album.
Another unfortunate side effect to HTTT is that Radiohead's audience is starting to suspect the band may be a bit pretentious, or at least the band's frontman. For starters, every track on the album has an artsy subtitle, as does the album itself. Of course, most of the real track titles are just as artsy as the subtitle. It's hard to take a name like "The Gloaming" and "It Girl. Rag Doll." seriously because the songs take themselves so seriously. Thom Yorke may be warning us of the inevitable demise of our world into a dark post-apocalyptic media induced nightmare but we don't care because he sounds full of himself. He sounds good, just full of himself. There is a definite truth to his words (as there always has been) but it's all still rather silly.
Ok, maybe now that I listen again it isn't as silly. If I sit and dwell on each song, read the words and think about the meaning, it becomes scary how true the words apply to the world. Especially when I listen to Thom whine his way through his lyrics in a moan that could only be induced by the pain of bearing the burden of societal prophet. No one ever listens to a prophet until it's too late, so it makes sense that the words will be dismissed as silly and pretentious.
Anyway, the apocalypse described in Hail to the Thief isn't as shocking a revelation as it once was in the OK Computer era, but it is still hauntingly true nonetheless. Radiohead is still the most important band around right now and that mantle is in no danger of being lost.
A-
Other coverage for this album
The Rebel Base 2003Reviewed by Josh HurstIf nothing else, Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief, is a smart slap in the face to any detractors who thought the band had dug themselves into a creative hole with their last two records. Kid A and the subsequent Amnesiac were so avant-garde, so cutting edge, and so forward-thinking that some critics feared that Radiohead had no choice but to repeat themselves; leave it to Thom Yorke and…The Rebel Base 2003Reviewed by David MartinIf you're a Radiohead fan, then I probably don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway - someone closely associated with the band appears to have leaked working versions of the songs from their newest album to the Internet a full two months before its release. Having been tipped off as to where I could download these songs, I decided that I would share the proverbial wealth and let those of…The Phantom Tollbooth 2003Reviewed by Tim OdemFor the greatest band of their generation, Radiohead is in a rut. Their string of brilliant but difficult releases throughout the 1990's awarded them critical acclaim and a fervent fan base; both groups ready to unleash rivers of praise at every move the band makes and with good reason. Each album had been a progression in their sound and in their message. From their great pop debut Pablo Honey…The Phantom Tollbooth 2003Reviewed by Steve StockmanPart of me admires Radiohead though my fandom disappeared with Kid A. No longer would I listen for pleasure but for analysis and though some of that analysis is enjoyable and sometimes fascinating, there is a faint suspicion that is hard to admit in public that maybe they are just full of it. I imagine there are those who struggle to admit that they no longer enjoy the band and others who…The Phantom Tollbooth 2003Reviewed by Trae CadenheadIt's difficult, almost impossible, to sum up the significance of the influence that Radiohead has had on the music world as a whole over the past decade. Between the albums The Bends, OK Computer, and Kid A, Radiohead has developed a dedicated following few bands have enjoyed in recent history. Known for its musical innovation, every release from the band has pushed the envelope musically,…Opus 2003Reviewed by Richie DeMariaThe first time I ever heard Radiohead's new album, Hail to the Thief, was 10 months before it was released, when the band decided to test their new batch of songs for audiences in Spain and Portugal. And when I heard them, I was ecstatic -- I, like many other fans, was convinced that with such beautifully rocking songs as "There There," sinister ballads like "We Suck Young Blood," and the newly…Similar sounding releases
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