The 500 - #336 - In Rainbows - Radiohead

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 336

Album Title: In Rainbows

Artist: Radiohead

Genre: Art-Rock, Experimental Rock, Electronica

Recorded: 4 studios, including Radiohead's own studio

Released: October, 2007 (Self-Released)

My age at release: 42

How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes at #387 (dropping 51 places from 2012)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

Radiohead, the English alternative band from Oxfordshire, first appeared on my radar in early 1993. Like  many others, I was introduced to them through the hit song Creep, from their debut album Pablo Honey. At the time, I was living in Brampton, Ontario, while my wife-to-be completed her studies at nearby Sheridan College.

Our apartment - one of the few shots I have.

To make ends meet, I worked as a waiter at East Side Mario's restaurant, half an hour drive away in Oakville, Ontario. East Side Mario's is a Canadian-based chain of casual restaurants that "specializes" in Italian-American "cuisine". It is to Italian food what Taco Bell is to Mexican fare -- it's not authentic, or particularly good, but it is inexpensive and tolerable.

My almost daily commute.

In retrospect, those adjectives sum up my year in Brampton/Oakville -- the city and job just didn't fit. It wasn't an authentic representation of who I wanted to be but, in the grand schema of my life, it was bearable. I got by because of my relationship, exercise, friendships and music but, daily, I was languidly managing an emotional malaise. 

Angela (my wife) and me in 1993.

My melancholy state of mind was in sync with a song like Creep, which juxtaposed straining guitar arpeggios and abrupt, aggressive power chords with Thom Yorke's lyrical exploration of an inebriated protagonist's self-destructive obsession with a woman.

Radiohead's cover to the 1993 single release for Creep 

In Rainbows is the first of five records by Radiohead on The 500. It was the band's seventh release and, much like me, the five-piece art-rock collective evolved during their 22 years of performing. On May 1, 2004, the band went on hiatus. They had fulfilled their contract with EMI and completed an 80-concert world tour promoting  their sixth album, Hail To The Thief.

Radiohead (2006) (l-r) Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, 
Ed O'Brien, Phillip Selway & Thom Yorke 

The quintet were teenagers when they got together in 1985 at the private Abbington Boarding School in Oxfordshire, a county just east of London, England. When they disbanded, in their late twenties, they each had their own families and were exhausted from decades of recording and touring. Much of this is documented in the excellent 1998 documentary, Meeting People Is Easy. Rather than showcasing the band's nightly performances at massive concert stadiums, the award-winning film chronicles the exhausting grind of a mega-band's touring schedule. Spotlighting the absurd repetition of daily interviews and the isolation that comes with highly regimented travel.

Freed of their contract and touring obligations, the band enjoyed time with their families, took on solo projects and contributed to film soundtracks and charity recordings. Then, on October 1, 2007, guitarist Jonny Greenwood announced on Radiohead’s blog: "Well, the new record is finished and it's coming out in ten days and it's called In Rainbows." The post contained a link to inrainbows.com where fans could order a digital download using a "pay what you want" (PWYW) model...including the option of paying nothing.

Screen capture of the order page at inrainbows.com

The record was also made available as a physical copy, but the digital gamble paid off. The band reported that the average price paid for a digital version was $2.26 while the physical copy went gold (more than one million units sold) in the United States.

I downloaded a copy in 2007 (from another torrent/sharing site) and did not pay for it. I also didn't give it many listens. At the time, Radiohead wasn't connecting with me like it used to and I had moved on to other forms of entertainment.

However, after soaking up  In Rainbows’ tremendously entertaining playlist during the New Year break, I have become reconciled with Radiohead, particularly since playing the live From The Basement version, which is available on Youtube and Spotify.

Multi-instrumentalist Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, drums)

With four records to discuss in the coming years, this is not the end of my decades-long relationship with this extraordinarily innovative and talented band. We’ll chat again, in about 16 weeks, when we get to album #320 Amnesiac.