Who's in the Bunker?

When OK Computer came out everyone wondered what the hell did they just do. I mean that album is amazing and you knew that Radiohead was a band not to be messed with. I think only Radiohead could have created OK Computer. I remember getting OK Computer and listening to it and not quite fully understanding it. I always wondered what they were doing in the studio to create this wonderful and yet challenging music.

I went to the tour for OK Computer and was so amazed that I knew that this band was one of the best in the world. Jonny Greenwood was my new guitar hero, and furthermore this band could do anything and I would listen to it. I also wanted to know how the song "Paranoid Android" was created. I mean this song could easily make prog-rockers proud on its different shift in speed and sounds that they blew anything that was out at the time. OK Computer proved that they needed no critics to bother them again.



The came the fall of 2000, my first year back at school. I was nervous, scared and had no idea what to do to shrug off this nervousness except join the radio station. At least I hoped I could get new friends that way. It worked, because I did gain friends. I had started a friendship with the people near me and also some down the hall and the music "geeks" downstairs. I even made friends that were classmates. In some way I felt better. Music is great because it can bring people together with shared likes and dislikes.

One day I was in my dorm listening to of all things the Flaming Lips when there was a knock at the door. I asked the person to enter. He did, we were introduced during orientation of our dorm. His eyes were wide open hearing me play the Flaming Lips. He was also intrigued that I was sorting my CD's and LP's just in case I did have a chance to do a radio show. He came closer to my collection and started looking at what I had in these giant tubs. In each tub was about 200 LP's. He saw I had OK Computer on record and he saw I had Miles Davis Bitches Brew and saw some Moby Grape, Talking Heads, Ornette Coleman, and others. Then he told me that the new Radiohead is on it's way to the station and was wondering if I would be interested in helping out and doing a listening party at the station. I agreed, and was ready for the followup to one of the best albums ever.

The day came when Kid A arrived at the station. I was in the lunch room and the young gentleman who came to my room that previous day came and sat next to me. He held a package in his hand. It was open and his eyes were beaming like a little kid who just got the best holiday present ever. "It's here," he said, "It's here!!!" He also told me to be at the station at 6pm sharp and If I run into some of the others to tell them the good news.



It took forever to get to 6pm and I was way to excited to keep it in. I went back to my room and put some Radiohead on to calm me. All of us had waited for this day. There was about 1o of us from the station and a few friends and a few from the school newspaper. One obstacle was a DJ who had a show on till 9pm and we wanted her shift to debut Kid A. She was reluctant, but she caved in. The person who lived in my dorm and who also showed me the copy got on the air. He told that listeners of the DJ who was just on will have to come back next week to listen to her stuff and the people who are here to listen to the debut of Kid A should crank their radio's up and get ready to enjoy!!!

A silence filled the room as we got thinks cued up and ready. We all looked at each other like this was the most important album ever. The first song started and a hush filled the room and all of us looked at each other like a bomb just went off. We had no idea what was happening, we even had no idea what to make of it. We knew it was cool, but how the hell did they do it. There was 50 minutes to this album and each song was a gift that we did not expect. The influences of what they listened to in the three years off was evident, there was Jazz of Miles Davis and Charles Mingus. There was influence of CAN, Neu! and most of all Faust. There was electronic of Aphex Twin and new electronic artists that I never heard of and then there was the 20th Century classical of Messiaen. Each song had some kind of mix of everything that they heard and Incorporated it into some beautiful masterpiece. Each song had us thinking so hard on what they did. I personally wanted to sit down with every member and ask the questions.

By the time album was over everyone in the room wanted to take it home and listen to. The buzz around campus was so wide spread it was The President of the United States was coming. We even made a special rule at the station, if you wanted to play it you had to ask permission to play it and when done you had to hand it to one of the directors of the station.

To me Kid A is an amazing piece of musical genius, and should be put in the proper spot of the evolution of music of the 20th Century. Each piece of this album is regarded and should be talked about the day Rock and Roll turned an enormous page. It's like seeing painting at a fine art gallery. People are still trying to do what Radiohead has done. It is an album that way in the future we will understand. Until then I wish anyone luck to tell what was that beautiful train wreck was.