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Radiohead's "OK Computer" To Be Archived In US Library of Congress


Joyrex

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http://pitchfork.com/news/58975-radioheads-ok-computer-to-be-archived-in-the-library-of-congress/

 

 

 

According to an announcement made this morning by the National Recording Registry, Radiohead's 1997 smash OK Computer will be preserved in the Library of Congress alongside the Doors' eponymous 1967 debut, Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Joan Baez' Joan Baez, Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate from 1949, and more.

 

According to the press release:
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), is tasked with annually selecting 25 recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old. The selections for the 2014 registry bring the total number of recordings on the registry to 425, a small part of the Library’s vast recorded-sound collection of nearly 3 million items.

 

Also making the annual list were Sly and the Family Stone's Stand! (from 1969), 20 songs compiled in 1995's Sesame Street: All-Time Platinum Favorites, and other spoken-word recordings including Steve Martin's second comedy album A Wild and Crazy Guy.

 

Via Pitchfork

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I just really don't get what qualifies OK Computer versus hundreds of other potential albums - was there really anything groundbreaking/special about it when it was released?

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I just really don't get what qualifies OK Computer versus hundreds of other potential albums - was there really anything groundbreaking/special about it when it was released?

For a minute there, I lost myself

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Best white dudes with guitars album of the 1990s.

 

pretty much this

 

though to be fair it is an exceptionally acclaimed album. it's been top rated on rym since forever. the white dudes from the 90s with guitars thing probably helps broaden that appeal.

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Yes.

 

You don't remember?

 

It was hailed as the best rock album ever made by all the music media back then

Honestly, I remember when Radiohead came on the scene with "Creep", and beyond that, I've only had a fleeting interest in their music. By then, I was heavily into electronic music and was setting the 90's guitar rock aside for the time being.

 

I guess I'll go have a re-listen and see what I missed the first time around.

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Yes.

 

You don't remember?

 

It was hailed as the best rock album ever made by all the music media back then

Honestly, I remember when Radiohead came on the scene with "Creep", and beyond that, I've only had a fleeting interest in their music. By then, I was heavily into electronic music and was setting the 90's guitar rock aside for the time being.

 

I guess I'll go have a re-listen and see what I missed the first time around.

 

 

Almost impossible for me to think about this album without being biased by the massive sense of nostalgia, and the great kinship I felt to it when it came out - but, that being said, on a purely musical level, definitely worth a re-listen. They made a huge leap between Pablo Honey and the Bends (which is one of the best straight up rock albums of all time), but some sort of quantum leap to OK Computer. There are few songs on this album that even fit into the typical verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorus rock structure, but they still feel like proper songs nonetheless, and there are all sorts of very interesting sonic things going on. It also feels very much like a complete ALBUM (like, say, Dark Side of the Moon, or Abbey Road). Every song has their place in the overall superstructure, and there is even a sense that everything loops back in on itself at the end (again, like Dark Side of the Moon).

 

Beyond the music itself, I think it probably ended up communicating a sense of dystopian dread and twin fascination/revulsion with the ever accelerating use of technology, a very real sense of economic collapse waiting in the wings due to the fallacies of neoliberal economic policies (and politics), and general sadness over the values espoused by modern western culture that promise perfection and happiness, but only deliver self-doubt and ennui. These are all things I think an entire generation (or at least some portion) resonated with (I know I and my friends did). It ended up communicating a lot of things that I think a lot of people were thinking, and feeling, in a way that just seemed "right."

 

Anyway, yeah, IMHOP totally worth it to give it another go - it's great!

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It really is a great album. I was about 11 when it came out and its been forced on me through out my life from entry level stoners, to "hip baby-boomers" , to hip hop heads first explorations into rock (thats usually KID A tho), to every music media outlet. I've also had my own moments with it -

 

 

Over the years I've come to rest on The Bends as being my favorite tho

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I got into it at 13 about a year after it came out after hearing Karma Police on Mark & Lard's Radio 1 show and Thom's vocals breaking my fucking heart.

 

It's an incredible album. It even led to seeing them live with my dad in Arenes de Nimes in 2003 which was a bit special.

 

I'd get into the nuts and bolts but T35513R covered nearly all of it eruditely.

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Yes.

 

You don't remember?

 

It was hailed as the best rock album ever made by all the music media back then

Honestly, I remember when Radiohead came on the scene with "Creep", and beyond that, I've only had a fleeting interest in their music. By then, I was heavily into electronic music and was setting the 90's guitar rock aside for the time being.

 

I guess I'll go have a re-listen and see what I missed the first time around.

 

 

Almost impossible for me to think about this album without being biased by the massive sense of nostalgia, and the great kinship I felt to it when it came out - but, that being said, on a purely musical level, definitely worth a re-listen. They made a huge leap between Pablo Honey and the Bends (which is one of the best straight up rock albums of all time), but some sort of quantum leap to OK Computer. There are few songs on this album that even fit into the typical verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorus rock structure, but they still feel like proper songs nonetheless, and there are all sorts of very interesting sonic things going on. It also feels very much like a complete ALBUM (like, say, Dark Side of the Moon, or Abbey Road). Every song has their place in the overall superstructure, and there is even a sense that everything loops back in on itself at the end (again, like Dark Side of the Moon).

 

Beyond the music itself, I think it probably ended up communicating a sense of dystopian dread and twin fascination/revulsion with the ever accelerating use of technology, a very real sense of economic collapse waiting in the wings due to the fallacies of neoliberal economic policies (and politics), and general sadness over the values espoused by modern western culture that promise perfection and happiness, but only deliver self-doubt and ennui. These are all things I think an entire generation (or at least some portion) resonated with (I know I and my friends did). It ended up communicating a lot of things that I think a lot of people were thinking, and feeling, in a way that just seemed "right."

 

Anyway, yeah, IMHOP totally worth it to give it another go - it's great!

 

Right on! Also, love your avatar!

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It really is a great album. I was about 11 when it came out and its been forced on me through out my life from entry level stoners, to "hip baby-boomers" , to hip hop heads first explorations into rock (thats usually KID A tho), to every music media outlet. I've also had my own moments with it -

 

 

Over the years I've come to rest on The Bends as being my favorite tho

Either this one or The Bends, yeah. Kid A and Amnesiac might be innovative and all, they're still very uneven.

 

The problem with that band now is that they've reached such an aura that even if they're to make some shitty stuff under the guise of avant-garde (I wouldn't call TKOL shitty but... well...), they will be praised as a forward thinking collective of geniuses who are above everyone else. At least by the media. If you'd happen to think at least one of their songs is "meh", it would just be because "you don't get it man".

 

I like In Rainbows though.

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It's one of those albums that deserves its spot as One Of The Best Ever. I never thought Kid A was a masterpiece but OK Computer is like god level.

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It deserves it. Now let's get Kid A and Amnesiac in there, too. I feel that they are both very culturally and artistically significant records.

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Yes.

 

You don't remember?

 

It was hailed as the best rock album ever made by all the music media back then

Honestly, I remember when Radiohead came on the scene with "Creep", and beyond that, I've only had a fleeting interest in their music. By then, I was heavily into electronic music and was setting the 90's guitar rock aside for the time being.

 

I guess I'll go have a re-listen and see what I missed the first time around.

Almost impossible for me to think about this album without being biased by the massive sense of nostalgia, and the great kinship I felt to it when it came out - but, that being said, on a purely musical level, definitely worth a re-listen. They made a huge leap between Pablo Honey and the Bends (which is one of the best straight up rock albums of all time), but some sort of quantum leap to OK Computer. There are few songs on this album that even fit into the typical verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorus rock structure, but they still feel like proper songs nonetheless, and there are all sorts of very interesting sonic things going on. It also feels very much like a complete ALBUM (like, say, Dark Side of the Moon, or Abbey Road). Every song has their place in the overall superstructure, and there is even a sense that everything loops back in on itself at the end (again, like Dark Side of the Moon).

 

Beyond the music itself, I think it probably ended up communicating a sense of dystopian dread and twin fascination/revulsion with the ever accelerating use of technology, a very real sense of economic collapse waiting in the wings due to the fallacies of neoliberal economic policies (and politics), and general sadness over the values espoused by modern western culture that promise perfection and happiness, but only deliver self-doubt and ennui. These are all things I think an entire generation (or at least some portion) resonated with (I know I and my friends did). It ended up communicating a lot of things that I think a lot of people were thinking, and feeling, in a way that just seemed "right."

 

Anyway, yeah, IMHOP totally worth it to give it another go - it's great!

perfectly put.

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I just really don't get what qualifies OK Computer versus hundreds of other potential albums - was there really anything groundbreaking/special about it when it was released?

If you're a "rockist" who is familiar with the summer of love, Pink Floyd, psychedelic music from that era, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles, you know, that kind of stuff... Led Zeppelin...

 

Well, Radiohead was basically the 90s version of Pink Floyd. A huge, sprawling, rocking, album band. There were other groups who combined electronics with rock music, but they did it with the most finesse and intelligence (though I like similar groups like Massive Attack, Portishead, and Super Furry Animals more, depending on the day)...but none of those groups had a track like "Paranoid Android."

 

I can understand if you don't really like rock music or stuff with singing and guitars, but if you do, at all, OK Computer is quite simply one of the greatest recordings ever made.

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Yeah, it's a pretty great album. They really started to sound weird and quirky with this one. I hate Pink Floyd but I understand why people think it sounds a bit like them

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