Underground bands usually give away their music for free in the hopes of being recognized, but when a famous band like Radiohead does it, it causes mass amounts of debate over the future of the music industry and many questions arise. Is the CD dead? Is digital distribution legitimate? Is cutting out the label a viable option for bands? What will legally giving music away for free affect the music industry business model? These are just a few that have been thrown around ever since Radiohead lead guitarist guitarist Jonny Greenwood and singer Thom Yorke announced that their newest effort, "In Rainbows," would be available for download on Oct. 10.
The statement made a bigger splash when they said that those who decided to download the album could choose how much they would spend on it, fueling a "how much is our music worth to you" feud between fans. One notable option was to pay absolutely nothing for the album, an option most likely pursued by several who decided to check out the fuss behind the album. While this isn't the first time a band has offered their music online for free - Wilco did so when their label refused to release "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" a few years ago - its relevance is integral to an industry attempting to combat piracy and illegal downloading.
Radiohead's decision has started a trend, as other bands have announced that they are either considering or will definitely release their album digitally in the future. Nine Inch Nails will be following a similar approach when it releases its newest album online and allows fans to decide how much they want to pay for it. Oasis and Jamiroquai are also considering releasing material digitally for free online.
It's been four years, with the exception of Thom Yorke's "The Eraser" album, since Radiohead's last effort, "Hail to the Thief". So how does the music sound after this long hiatus? Fans expecting an experimental shift in the fashion of "OK Computer" to "Kid A" are going to be disappointed. Instead, "In Rainbows" plays out like an energized greatest hit list of Radiohead, with each song seemingly influenced by a different Radiohead album.
"15 Step" begins with a frenetic electronic beat with Thom Yorke tremulously crooning, "How come I end up where I started / How come I end up where I went wrong," a similar set up to that of Kid A's "Idioteque" and The Eraser's "Analyse".
The following song "Bodysnatchers," which is driven by a pulsing bass riff, is the most immediate of the collection of songs on the album, and is also the farthest away the band gets from its "Kid A" roots, and would fit in with Radiohead's pre-"OK Computer" catalog. After these two tracks, the album returns to the slower, more atmospheric Radiohead sound refined in "Hail To The Thief," with lyrics often reflecting a forlorn or dying relationship.
In "All That I Need," Yorke sings, "I am all the days that you choose to ignore," while in "House of Cards," he quips, "I don't want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover, no matter how it ends, no matter how it starts," all over a simple beat and guitar riff. These sorts of lyrics of disillusionment and disenchantment have been refined by Radiohead ever since their inception, and each album adds a different dimension to them. Perhaps Yorke is singing about a failed relationship with a person, but it is also possible that he is commenting on the status of the music industry itself. To deny fully realized and cohesive commentary like this - especially when it's for free - would be remiss.
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