adiohead are the new Pink Floyd —
discuss. I was given this commission
by the music editor of The List because. a few weeks ago. sitting drunk as hell in the house in the early hours of the morning. I sent him a rambling text to the same effect after watching a documentary on the Floyd. The fact that I then went online and ordered umpteen albums from each band‘s back catalogue demonstrates two things: that I really was convinced about the veracity of this theory at the time. and that l was also clearly too drunk to be allowed near a computer.
Now. in the cold light of day. how does that idea hang together? Pretty well. as it happens.
The similarities between the two are probably more to do with their attitudes to making music. the music industry and life in general than in the actual sounds they create. although there are parallels there as well (more of which in a bit). Both bands emerged from relatively well—off middle class backgrounds. something which meant they didn’t have that hunger for fame that. say. Oasis or Led Zeppelin had (to pick an obvioust tnore commercial contemporary of each band). This. coupled with a fierce and restless intelligence. resulted in a willingness to experiment with sound and ideas. something which in turn has led to both bands transforming the music world around them as they ploughed forward in whatever crazy direction they felt like. unconcerned about maintaining a fanbase. shifting units or being the biggest band in the world.
Paradoxically. that independent attitude has only increased both bands' profiles beyond anything they could ever have hoped for. or indeed wished for. Their very reluctance to play the music industry game. both in terms of selling their product and the music they create. has seen them rise and rise in terms of stature and profile. At the same time. it has also established an unshakable loyalty amongst the fanbases of both outfits. to the point where the slightest utterance from band members is dissected to the point of ridiculousness. Try picking an argument with a Radiohead or Pink Floyd fan in the pub. and see where it gets you.
There are obvious parallels between both bands‘ career trajectories. After a fair-to- middling start. producing admirable but hardly earth-shuddering material. one astonishing. groundbreaking record each (1973’s Dark Side of the Moon and l997’s OK Computer respectively) changed the face of the music world around them. ensuring both bands places in the rock hall of fame. Both records provided a financial freedom to create whatever the hell they wanted to afterwards. having shifted discs in the millions. but those albums have also acted as millstones around the bands‘ necks. It is arguable that the subsequent work has been more inventive and artistically satisfying. but that doesn‘t amount to a hill of beans where the public is concerned.
Interestingly. both Radiohead and Pink Floyd had long gestation periods as bands before they reached the heights of fame. both starting as much more conservative rock acts. before eventually finding their respective voices. Pink Floyd started in 1964. their original incamation churning out rhythm and blues covers. And while the early Syd Barrett years of psychedelic bluster are much-touted these days. especially in the wake of his recent. sad demise. it wasn’t until nine years after the band
on COMPUTER ' d
had formed (and live years after Barrett left) that Dark Side of the Moon was released. changing the band's fortunes forever.
In a similar vein. Radiohead had been
together eleven years before OK Computer
burst into existence. and while their previous releases. Pablo Honey and The Bends were rightly lauded. they showed little hint of the groundbreaking experimental rock to come. These long gestation periods are another key to both bands‘ success. Bands these days are
IT'S HARD TO SEE
A PINK FLOYD OR A RADIOHEAD COMING INTO BEING IN THIS DAY AND AGE
simply not allowed to spend so long working on what they do. and it‘s hard to see the likes of a Pink Floyd or a Radiohead coming into being in this day and age.
It‘s fairly obvious that neither band is interested in singles. preferring to make concept albums that take the listener on a journey (corny though that sounds these days. it‘s true). The emphasis is on an organic. atmospheric whole. layers of weirdly wonderful sound either swirling around each
RADIOHEAD
other or breaking each other up. rather than the usual collection of verses and choruses. In this. it is arguable that both are prog rock hands. In the case ()I' the I‘iInytI. this is ohviutlst the case. so enmeshed in the music of the time was prog. Yet. the same eschewing of normal rock song structures (unashamedly a prog rock attitude) is evident in the work of Radiohead. both in ()l\' ('om/mter and in subsequent work. in which they continue to create new and exciting shapes of music.
.\nd the comparisons keep coming. Both bands have been heavily influenced by (and influential in) other arts spheres. notably film and animation. Radiohead continue to produce extraordinarily innovative videos for their music. working with cutting edge animators and filmmakers. while Pink Floyd‘s The Wall
in l‘)7‘) was a revolutionary amalgamation of
music. film and animation courtesy of the world-renowned cartoonist (ierald Scarfe. 'l‘hroughout their extraordinary successes. both bands have struggled to maintain artistic integrity in the face of a music industry seemineg designed to destroy such ideas in artists. and for that they should be applauded. So Radiohead *‘3are*‘2 the new Pink Floyd. If only all my drunken ideas panned out so well.
Radiohead, Beck and Deerhoof play Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Aug.
172/1 Aug 2906 THE LIST 1 1