Radiohead and the resistant concept album : how to disappear completely

254 Pages·2010·1.49 MB·English

by  Letts

Music “an objective yet provocative look at a
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challenging period in the work of one e
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of rock’s most adventurous bands.” t
s
Kevin Holm-Hudson, author of Genesis and
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway R
a
d
Searching for the diSappearing i
o
h
Subject in Kid a and aMnesiaC e
a
d

How the British rock band Radiohead subverts the idea of a
the concept album in order to articulate themes of alienation n
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and anticapitalism is the focus of Marianne Tatom Letts’s

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analysis of Kid A and Amnesiac. These experimental albums
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marked a departure from the band’s standard guitar-driven e
base layered with complex production effects. Considering R R ad i o he ad
the albums in the context of the band’s earlier releases, Letts e
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explores the motivations behind this change. She places a n d
i
s t h e
the two albums within the concept-album/progressive-rock
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tradition and shows how both resist that tradition. Unlike a R e s i s ta n t C onCe p t a l buM
most critics of Radiohead, who focus on the band’s lyrics, n how
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videos, sociological importance, or audience reception, Letts

focuses on the music itself. She investigates Radiohead’s C to d i s a p p e a R C o M p l e t e ly
o
t a t o M
ambivalence toward its own success, as manifested in the n
vanishing subject of Kid A on these two albums. C M a R i a n n e l e t t s
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p
t

a
Marianne Tatom Letts holds music degrees from the
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University of North Texas and the University of Texas at b
Austin. u
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$19.95
INDIANA
Profiles in Popular Music
University Press IN
Glenn Gass and Jeffrey Magee, editors D
Bloomington & Indianapolis IA
N
www.iupress.indiana.edu A
Author photo by Deanna Roy.
1-800-842-6796
RadioheadRCAmec2.indd 1 9/13/10 9:52 AM
R a d i o h e a d
and the Resistant ConCept album
Radiohead
and the Resistant ConCept album
Profiles in Popular Music
Glenn Gass & Jeffrey Magee, editors
how to disappeaR Completely
maRianne tatom letts
Indiana University Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of ∞ The paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of
Indiana University Press the American National Standard for
601 North Morton Street Information Sciences—Permanence
Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
www.iupress.indiana.edu
Manufactured in the United
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 States of America
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Orders by e-mail [email protected] Library of Congress Cataloging-
in-Publication Data
© 2010 by Marianne Tatom Letts
All rights reserved Letts, Marianne Tatom, 1970-
Radiohead and the resistant concept
No part of this book may be reproduced album : how to disappear completely
or utilized in any form or by any means, / Marianne Tatom Letts.
electronic or mechanical, including p. cm. — (Profiles in popular music)
photocopying and recording, or by Includes bibliographical references
any information storage and retrieval (p. ), discography (p. ), and index.
system, without permission in writing ISBN 978-0-253-35570-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
from the publisher. The Association of — ISBN 978-0-253-22272-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
American University Presses’ Resolution 1. Radiohead (Musical group)—Criticism
on Permissions constitutes the only and interpretation. 2. Rock music—
exception to this prohibition. England—History and criticism. I. Title.
ML421.R25L48 2010
782.42166092’2—dc22
2010018678
1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10
“Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there.”
Radiohead, “There There” (hail to the thief)

Contents
· Acknowledgments ix
· Note on Musical Examples xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Back to Save the Universe: The Reception
of OK Computer and Kid A 28
3 Everything in Its Right Place: Musical
Elements in Kid A 45
4 Cut the Kids in Half: The Second Death of Kid A 81
5 After Years of Waiting, Nothing Came:
Amnesiac as Antidote 114
6 I Might Be Wrong: Amnesiac and Beyond 144
7 We Are the Dollars and Cents:
Radiohead as Commodity 177
· Notes 199
· Bibliography 215
· Select Discography 223
· Index 225

aCknowledgments
My heartfelt thanks go to the many people who helped me during the
process of completing this manuscript: Jane Behnken, my patient edi-
tor at Indiana University Press; Jeff Magee, series editor; Kevin Holm-
Hudson, Dai Griffiths, and an anonymous reviewer, for their insightful
comments; various people who read drafts along the way—Jim Buhler,
Andrew Dell’Antonio, David Neumeyer, Byron Almén, Fred Maus,
Mark Spicer—and those who offered comments at the Society for
Music Theory, American Musicological Society, International Asso-
ciation for the Study of Popular Music, and Experience Music Project
conferences; copyeditor extraordinaire Emma Young; managing editor
Miki Bird; project editor Brian Herrmann; indexer Megan Giller; prog
enthusiasts Bryan Sale and Steve Bonham; Nick Sibicky and Christine
Amos Linial for Finale assistance; the Flightpath coffeehouse; Ruth
Tatom, Marian Tatom, Richard Letts, Marmite, Esme, Tallulah; and
dance friends both near and far.
ix