The idea of a consensus amongst a large group of people feels more like a fantasy than something we’ll ever see in person. Even outside of the phony socio-political arguments that flood your social media feed every time you decide to check an app, the large-scale music distribution platform that is the internet may be too inundated with releases for a singular album to stop the world in its tracks. Even wildly popular pop acts can’t seem to release new music without a slew of opposing opinions coming with it, making even the most celebratory releases feel like another day in the office.
There hasn’t been an album released since the dawn of the internet that truly captured music fans from every genre and bridged the gap between these worlds in decades, forcing music fans to revisit LPs released when there was a time of peace among music fans. Even then, roadblocks can be met, as even some of the classics can lose their glimmering “timeless” stamp as their respective genre progresses. A renowned classic is few and far between, but if we go back only 25 years, there is an album that has withstood the test of time. This album might’ve been slightly misunderstood at the time, yet it continued to push through and break barriers years after its release. On October 2, 2000, Radiohead released Kid A, and the world of rock music began to look a little different.
Radiohead’s fourth LP was anticipated, daring, and polarizing, yet even if you were on the side of the music world that discouraged the album’s experimental practices, it made you stop and listen. The 11 songs that make up Kid A not only proved that the band was willing to take risks, but they also thrived in them, dancing in the confused faces of rock purists still holding on to the 90s. Radiohead incorporated abstract, electronic concepts into their emotional rock music, tearing down the norms of the genre until they were unrecognizable and using the scraps to craft a monument to a new beginning. That new era was marked by risky artistic leaps that didn’t promise a safe landing, but Radiohead found their footing and parachuted themselves into rock history books.
Radiohead didn’t want any confusion on Kid A; they let everyone know this is not the same band you fell in love with on OK Computer. The opening track, the hauntingly beautiful “Everything In Its Right Place,” is a synth-drenched curtain parting, revealing a blinding spotlight that allows the robotic vocals to shine. With the tone set, Radiohead set up the listener for an unpredictable LP, and that’s precisely what they delivered. The hectic swells of “The National Anthem,” the chugging tempos of “Optimistic,” and the way the atmospheric outro of the nimble “Morning Bell” bleeds into the ambient bliss of “Motion Picture Soundtrack;” everything about Kid A is a painstaking labor of love meant to evoke hallucinations and color them with alien shades.
The bold maneuvers don’t stop at the sonics; Thom Yorke’s lyrics became metaphysical. Rather than laying his raw emotions bare, Yorke employed a vagueness to his writing that miraculously didn’t alter the emotional weight of the artist’s words. Even in ethereal moments like the loose yet vivid imagery on “In Limbo,” Yorke paints a portrait of longing that is camouflaged by hypnotic guitars and indistinct imagery. Ironically, the same internet that is causing a tear in modern music is the same platform that Radiohead used to release Kid A. The band shocked traditional music industry insiders by not releasing any singles, doing select interviews, and having almost zero promotional material for the album, adding yet another layer to the left-field decisions that paid off beautifully for Radiohead.
While it is easy to say that Kid A is fantastically earth-shattering 25 years after its release, upon its arrival, not everyone realized they were bearing witness to something special. The Guardian graded the album with two out of five stars, while Melody Maker gave it half a star less. On the other hand, Pitchfork gave the album a perfect score, while outlets like Rolling Stone and Spin also had few complaints about Radiohead’s adventurous album. No one is thanked for doing it first; that’s why looking back on creative landmarks like Kid A and relishing in the weirdness of it all is not only a cathartic release for the listener, but also a nod to the band that dared to create it.
