Radioheads Kid A: Reviewing the Album Altering Mainstream Rock

March 1st, 2024 | Album Review

Behind Radioheads Kid A

Few albums have impacted my life to the degree of Radioheads 2000 release Kid A (Parlophone Records). In high school I was an edgy Nirvana fan who denounced all forms of electronic music. I began listening to Radiohead in my sophomore year (early 2020) after hearing them played throughout my childhood. OK Computer was a quick favorite for me due to its rock elements, but as March came around and quarantine began, the atmospheric electronic sound of Kid A really spoke to me. I fell in love with it, spending many late nights lying awake in my bed listening to it. Its mysterious and quieter feeling fit the isolation that I, and many people around the world, were experiencing at the time.

Following their 1997 album OK Computer, Radiohead embarked on an intensely long tour which drove the band’s lead singer Thom Yorke into a deep depression and writer’s block. Yorke wanted to drop the guitars that defined the band, quite a shift given they had three guitarists. They turned to synthesizers and drum machines, slowly creating tracks influenced by ambient electronic artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre.

This created a experimental album unlike the traditional rock of Foo Fighters ‘Everlong‘ or the riff centered ‘Under the Bridge‘ by Red Hot Chilly Peppers. This experimentation lead Radiohead to innovate and use the internet as advertising instead of Radio, MTV or traditional press. Some critics and audiences applauded the previously guitar-driven band’s electronic effort while some accused it of being pretentious and intentionally difficult to listen to. It is not hard to see why some would have this complaint. Tracks like “How to Disappear Completely” and title track “Kid A” have long quiet stretches that do not have the immediacy of the band’s previous releases.

What in Radioheads Kid A Altered Mainstream Rock

Radiohead’s Kid A is hauntingly beautiful, putting analog electronic instruments and string arrangements front and center to provide atmospheric melodies that, despite their robotic sounds, carry the emotion of rock. Yorke loved that despite the genre’s distance from the people creating the music and their processed inhuman vocals. It still makes you feel as much emotion as any other genre, which drew him to experimenting with it.

Electronic music‘s ability to generate strong emotion is shown in tracks like “Kid A”, alongside“Motion Picture Soundtrack”. A gut wrenching song about heartbreak that really gets to me every time I listen to it. But my favorite song of the album is the opener, “Everything in its Right Place”.

Snippet of descending chords from “Everything in its Right Place“

The descending chords in the intro played on a Prophet-5 Synthesizer and Thom Yorke’s chopped up vocals give the viewer a sample of the processed sound to come with the rest of the album. Other notable tracks on this album (not to list the whole thing!) are “Optimistic” and “The National Anthem”. “Optimistic” is the closest thing to traditional rock on Kid A, with a guitar-centered sound accompanied by strong drums.

Snippet of guitar-centered sound accompanied by strong drums on “Optimistic“

It‘s more upbeat than other songs on the album. Flowing very well from the ambient instrumental track “Treefingers”, waking the listener from their trance. “The National Anthem” is a track inspired by Charlie Parker, and features strong elements of ultramodern free jazz. Jonny Greenwood’s uses a ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument from the early 20th century which he learned to use while making this album. This song, like “Optimistic”, is much more intense and organic sounding than the rest of the album, providing a breath of fresh air.

Where Radioheads Kid A Stands

While other Radiohead albums like The Bends and OK Computer are perhaps more commercial and well known. Radiohead’s Kid A indicated where the band would go for the rest of their discography and in my opinion is their best record. I could not give this album any less than a 10/10 as it is my favorite of all time.