List item: Listen to the 250 greatest albums
Progress: 225/250
Title: Kid A
Artist: Radiohead
Year: 2000
Position: #35
When this album first came out, I don’t think anyone would have expected it to become as acclaimed as it is now. Few publications championed it other than Pitchfork – who gave it a rare 10/10 – with many opting to completely trash it. Now, it is in the Top 50 of albums of all time. I know that time allows for re-evaluation, but this must be one of the most extreme pivots that I have seen on an album in my lifetime.
Me listening to it some 20 years later, now it has cemented itself as a classic and has been able to exert influence on music I know, is a profoundly different experience than what it would have been when the musical landscape at the turn of the millennium. Also helps that I know and love In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool.
Back in 2000, Kid A was inaccessible to a lot of listeners which was why it was trashed. Nowadays it is actually extremely accessible to newcomers and might actually be the first album of theirs to truly hit me hard on a first listen. I have not been able to stop listening to it, or at least some of the tracks, this last week.
This is the sort of album that scratches that same itch that Silent Shout by The Knife or Visions by Grimes does. This sort of dark distorted indie rock with veins of dance and electronica permeating – with the occasional lighter spot. Not traditional rock songs, but something more experimental, rewards multiple listens and would not be out of place at a silent disco.
Already ‘Idioteque’ and the title track have ended up as my most played tracks of the week and now I can already see other tracks are going to end up as favourites. This may end up being my favourite Radiohead album after a few more listens. Can’t wait to see what I think of the rest of their catalogue that I am yet to explore.
Before I Kick 