Life goes on, the numbers are rising at a snail’s pace, everything is slow, and the doubts are growing more and more each day. It’s precisely for this reason that I want to talk about a band that helped me a lot during one of the most depressive periods of my life: middle school. The band is none other than Radiohead!
The first album of theirs I bought was “OK Computer”. I loved “Karma Police” because they constantly played it on MTV, All Music, and Rete A. I didn’t get “Paranoid Android” at all; in fact, the video gave me anxiety, seeing that guy pull out an axe and start hitting the streetlamp, then mutilating himself out of exhaustion, with the sirens coming to get him and bandage him up… it always left my head in total confusion! And then there was all that violence in the guitars, bordering on noise! I wasn’t used to that kind of aggression. I appreciated “No Surprises” more.
Paradoxically, at the time, I liked “Airbag,” “Let Down,” and “Electioneering,” and the others left me indifferent. Today, “Airbag,” “Paranoid Android,” “Electioneering,” “The Tourist,” and “Lucky” are the songs I connect with the most at the moment! I hate the others. Back then, “OK Computer” made me want to delve deeper into Radiohead.
I bought “The Bends.” I detested “Planet Telex,” “Fake Plastic Trees,” and “Nice Dream.” I was more into easy-listening songs like “The Bends,” “Bones,” “Just,” “My Iron Lung,” “Sulk,” and “Street Spirit.” Now, I would listen to the album without skipping any song for a reason that goes beyond the beauty of the songs—it’s what I associate them with: those afternoons playing SNES emulators! I was older, maybe 16, and whenever I started playing “Golden Axe,” “The Punisher,” or any other Super Nintendo platformer, “Planet Telex” would start. Every time I hear it, I think of my character throwing knives, or the barbarian riding a kind of bipedal raptor bird with a tail, and I can’t help but love that CD because during that period, despite everything, I was happy, carefree, and looked at the future with optimism. Most importantly, the worst was behind me.
Logically, I also bought “Pablo Honey,” and I remember at the time it was the album that struck me the most—I liked all of them! Right now, I would listen to “Anyone Can Play Guitar,” “Ripcord,” “Thinking About You,” and “I Can’t.” The others would leave me indifferent, but the beauty of life is its dynamism, so tomorrow I might go crazy for “You” or “Creep,” which I deeply detest. Who knows?
In any case, Radiohead is a band I have to thank for thousands of hours spent soundtracking my PC gaming sessions. In contrast to the themes and aggression of many of their songs, they made my life happier because what they played was what I wanted to communicate at the time. There was a band that was as annoyed with life as I was, which is why I saw myself in them.