Radiohead and Philosophy - Brandon W. Forbes [22]
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Radiohead and Some Questions about Music
EDWARD SLOWIK
There’s an old joke about a stranger who, upon failing to get any useful directions from a local resident, complains that the local “doesn’t know much.” The local replies, “yeah, but I ain’t lost.”
Philosophers of music are kind of like that stranger. Music is an important part of most people’s lives, but they often don’t know much about it—even less about the philosophy that underlies music. Most people do know what music they like, however. They have no trouble picking and choosing their favorite bands or DJs (they aren’t lost). But they couldn’t begin to explain the musical forms and theory involved in that music, or, more importantly, why it is that music is so important to them (they can’t give directions). Exploring the evolution of Radiohead’s musical style and its unique character is a good place to start.
Radiohead and Rock Music
In trying to understand the nature of music, it might seem that focusing on rock music, as a category of popular music, is not a good choice. Rock music complicates matters because it brings into play lyrics, that is, a non-musical written text. This aspect of rock may draw people’s attention away from the music itself. (In fact, I bet you know many people who like a particular band or song based mainly on the lyrics—maybe these people should take up poetry instead!) That’s why most introductions to the philosophy of music deal exclusively with classical music, since classical music is often both more complex structurally and contains no lyrics, allowing the student to focus upon the purely musical structural components.
Radiohead is not your average rock band, needless to say, and their musical compositions have attracted the interest of many music lovers from the classical and jazz communities. As the composer Paul Lansky (whose electronic music directly inspired the song “Idioteque”) puts it: “There is nobody else like Radiohead, and the band’s work is interesting to many who are not among the cohort of rock fans, although these form its largest audience.”10 What is it about Radiohead’s music that draws such interest from outside popular music?
I think it’s safe to say that Radiohead’s first two albums, Pablo Honey and The Bends, have limited cross-over appeal to other styles since these albums fit more closely the traditional mold of rock or pop music. The songs have straightforward lyrics, and employ the standard rock instrumentation of lead and rhythm guitars, bass, drums, with the possible addition of keyboards or extra guitars. More importantly, the melodies, rhythms, harmonies, and other components of popular song structure also seem comparable to much popular music of the time, despite many strong hints to their later style. Beginning with OK Computer, the structure and “sound world” of Radiohead’s output grows increasingly more complex and experimental. Rather than employing the basic melodic format of most pop songs (verse, chorus, and connecting bridge passage), many songs have a much more elaborate structure that defies expectations. “Paranoid Android,” from OK Computer has so many different parts, and transitions to new material, you might think that it is three separate songs rolled into one.
In looking back, however, OK Computer may seem to be more of a transitional album for the group, since the album largely features the standard rock instrumentation that one doesn’t always find in their later output. Many