For those readers who are not aware, Radiohead is a highly acclaimed British band formed in 1985 and is still releasing music to this day. Following the wake of 1997’s ultra-successful Ok Computer, Radiohead decided to take a major left turn. After Ok Computer, the band was completely burned out, and front man Thom Yorke was suffering from depression. He felt as if his songwriting genius was desiccated, and he did not find the same joy in writing the unique guitar-and–vocal driven rock songs Radiohead was identified with. Thom needed to let the music take its course according to what he thought would be most fulfilling for himself and the band.  Though at first, Thom’s bandmates were reticent about the new musical direction he was taking, they soon trusted him. The work Radiohead did for this new album showed that they had the efficacy to produce highly memorable and groundbreaking material. The band was influenced by many different types of music and artists during this time. Such material included electronic music, hip-hop, ambient music, krautrock (a mixture of psychedelia, electronic music, and avant-garde), jazz, and 20th century classical music. Certain specific artists the band is cited to have taken influence from include Bjork, the Talking Heads, Aphex Twin, Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis, Blackalicious, DJ Krush, Polish composer Krzystztof Penderecki, and Olivier Messiaen (who influenced Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood’s use of the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument similar to a theremin). Inspired by these and other artists, the innovative rock group released their new album Kid A in the year 2000.   “It was all nonsense. All nonsense. But it sort of wasn’t as well. I don’t know why it meant so much to us,” Yorke mentioned in an interview. Well, if it was nonsense, it was ethereal, dark, textured nonsense-–nonsense that would become something of a cynosure for countless music critics and Radiohead’s dedicated fanbase over the course of two decades.  

The songs comprising this cold and processed yet apparently human record were the result of laborious and uncertain recording sessions filled with half-baked electronic mishmash––until on April 19, 2000, after a year of writing and recording, the mishmash came together, and the album was finished. I am going to give my opinion on each track of the album according to the order the songs appear on it, as well as a numbered score based on a scale of 1-10. Read until the end of the article to discover my personal rating of the album as a whole. 

Everything in its Right Place: Kid A starts off with the instantly recognizable “Everything in its Right Place.” Throughout this track, an icy, melancholy synthesizer theme is accompanied by robot-like vocal looping. The song interlards personal and impactful emotional themes with pure weirdness. For example, Thom repeats the phrase “Everything, everything in its right place” and “What was that you tried to say, tried to say?” while another repeated lyric is “yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon.” Though this latter phrase may seem random and bizarre, Thom Yorke explained that the line refers to people waking up with a twisted and sad expression on their faces in correlation to them being depressed. (He also wrote the song while going through a depressive period, and he is speaking for himself as well as other people.) It makes sense because when one sucks on a lemon, their face usually instinctively contracts. I interpret the song as the telling of the bleak story of a human wanting to express true emotion but is hiding behind a figurative curtain (further exemplified by the cut-up and looped vocals on this track) built up by the world or his own insecurities.

Score: 10

Kid A: The second track, “Kid A,” is in the same vein as the first song, though slightly less structured. It includes drums; heavily processed, abstruse vocals; and beautiful keyboards and electronic instruments, making for a mellow but weird experience.  This is one of my favorite songs on the album, because towards the end of the song, a soaring string symphony fades in and seems to encompass the whole atmosphere as Thom’s high-pitched, mournful vocals hide underneath this emotional and real wave (real; human in comparison to the previous sublime but non-human-produced part of the song). Three separate chords are sounded by the strings, and one (or at least I) cannot help feeling a positive emotional response stirring up inside of them on hearing the lovely sounds.

Score: 8

The National Anthem: The next track, “The National Anthem,” is the exact opposite of what one would think a National Anthem would be. Starting off with Colin Greenwood’s grating, rhythmic bassline, the song features Phil Selway’s breakbeat drums and Thom Yorke’s nasal falsetto. It is easy to hear Radiohead’s jazz and krautrock influences on this track, as dissonant horns slowly but surely build up to a rollicking, atonal “mess” that is unsettling but at the same time rewarding and fun to listen to. 

Score: 8

How to Disappear Completely: After this high-energy moment, the listener is almost immediately transported to a blatantly depressing, heart-wrenchingly beautiful plethora of strings (composed by my favorite Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood), acoustic guitars, plaintive vocals, soft drums, and a calm and slow walking bassline in ¾ time. Unlike the preceding three songs, Thom’s vocals in “How to Disappear Completely” are not processed at all. Singing lyrics such as “I’m not here, this isn’t happening,” the song mirrors Thom’s emotional and mental struggles, but in the context of the album, it gives a contrast to the underlying robotic sounds in the first three songs. This could be interpreted further as a progression from the previous songs. Thom may be feeling like he doesn’t have to mask his emotions anymore. He can openly feel his sadness and dissociation and state this without needing to hide it.

Score: 9

Treefingers: The fifth song on the album, “Treefingers,” is a quiet interlude heavily influenced by the ambient works of Aphex Twin and other artists. Though simple and not involved at all in any way, the song is memorable as it is the first time Radiohead experimented with ambient music. Guitarist Ed O’Brien recorded the song using guitar effects pedals to make the notes sound like they were being played on some type of keyboard with large amounts of sustain. 

Score: 7

Optimistic: The next song, “Optimistic,” is a dreary but high-energy rock song with a non-cookie cutter chord progression and a grating guitar texture I enjoy. Towards the end, drummer Phil Selway plays more heavily and executes fast fills that fit the song very well. This song is perhaps the only song on the album with a lighter lyrical mood. Thom Yorke seems to be encouraging listeners by repeating the lyrics, “You can try the best you can, you can try the best you can. The best you can is good enough.”

Score: 9

In Limbo: “In Limbo,” the following song, is my least favorite song on the album, but it is still a good song. It is very repetitive and assumes a mesmerizing quality as the cascading guitar lines and drums compliment the repetitive nature of the song.

Score: 6

Idioteque: The eighth track on Kid A is probably my second favorite song on the album. Jonny Greenwood, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, created a pounding and ominous drum-machine-generated beat almost reminiscent of some of the early gothic and new wave music in the 1970s and 1980s (bands like Bauhaus, New Order, Joy Division, and The Cure). Thom’s lyrics on “Idioteque” are among his rawest and most emotional vocal performances.  The gorgeous melody combined with a genius sample from Paul Lansky’s “Mild und Leise,” a computer music piece from 1973, contributes to the sonic greatness of the song. All the instrumental pieces on this track fall together to create a superb combination of electronic and human emotion.

Score: 9

Morning Bell: Next, Radiohead offers “Morning Bell,” a less memorable song than others on this album, though Thom’s high-pitched “release me” and the somber keyboards and guitars make for a pleasant listening experience.

Score: 7

Motion Picture Soundtrack: Finally, the album closes off with my favorite song on Kid A and possibly my favorite Radiohead song, though there are many contenders for that position. “Motion Picture Soundtrack” is a stripped-down organ song, almost like a church hymn, and is possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in my life. Okay, maybe that’s going a bit too far. But the sad organ chords, Thom’s voice, the angelic harps that enter on the second verse of the song, and the choir singing the last chorus with Thom for a dramatic and emotional ending, are some of the most impactful sounds that have ever entered my ears. The lyrics only add to the beautiful sadness. Lyrics like “Red wine and sleeping pills, help me get back to your arms;” “Stop sending letters, letters always get burned;” and of course, the overwhelmingly slow and beautiful chorus, “I think you’re crazy, maybe;” never cease to elicit a melancholy yet sublime and calming feeling in me. The ending to this song is almost unreal. Thom slowly croons the words “I will see you in the next life” as the harps and organs build to a climactic close. In my opinion, “Motion Picture Soundtrack” is the best ending to any album I have ever heard. 

Score: 10

Kid A is an extraordinarily influential and boundary–defying record. The instrumentation on the album is impeccable, especially considering the members of Radiohead had never experimented with electronic music to this extent before. The themes of alienation, hiding behind a façade to conceal emotions, and even pure weirdness are in keeping with Radiohead’s usual themes; however, the heavy use of vocal looping, filtering, and processing as well as electronic instrumentation further define the themes on the album. It comes as no surprise that the underground music community and even some mainstream artists and reviewers have fawned over this album, viewing it as a benchmark point and a groundbreaking musical advance. This album has even been compared to folk singer, poet, and Nobel Prize Winner Bob Dylan’s sudden shift to rock music. Its emotional and musical impact are still felt to this day. This is some of Radiohead’s finest work. The band defied the mainstream media and music scene and did the opposite of what the music industry would have regarded as a putative next step for the band after Ok Computer. Thom Yorke and his bandmates did not succumb to fame and the prospect of possibly making more money by releasing a more accessible rock album. Instead, they stayed true to themselves and made the music they wanted to make. 20 years later, those personal efforts have shown themselves to have paid off. Kid A is one of the finest and best-crafted albums of the 21st century.  

Album Rating: 10/10

Note: The album rating itself is reflective of the overall impact the album has on me. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a different opinion about my album rating or that of a song; I would love to hear different viewpoints.