Radiohead could’ve proudly followed 1995’s The Bends with something markedly similar. After all, that sophomore collection surpassed predecessor Pablo Honey in nearly every way, with enough creative dynamism, commercial success, and critical praise to become one of the most significant alternative/indie rock records of all time.
So, why not just repeat the formula? Because Radiohead were never ones to rest on their laurels or sacrifice veracity, meaningfulness, or innovation for easily acquired fame and fortune. Instead, they crafted their prophetic art-rock opus: OK Computer. Released on May 21st, 1997, it was a riskier yet even more remarkable artistic leap that — while still feeling at home next to its predecessor — proved to be a game-changer in several respects.
By leaning on a broader array of compositional techniques, highlighting external concerns over internal confessions, and experimenting with song structures, the LP simultaneously altered the boundaries of rock music and anticipated forthcoming political, technological, and social malaise. Today, it endures as a sonic and thematic marvel.
Naturally, OK Computer was written in response to numerous things, including its precursor’s focus on inner gloominess. As reprinted in Radiohead: The Complete Guide, drummer Phil Selway felt that “The Bends was an introspective album… there was an awful lot of soul searching. To do that again on another album would be excruciatingly boring.”
Likewise, vocalist/wordsmith Thom Yorke told NME in December 1995: “You know, the big thing for me is that we could really fall back on just doing another moribund, miserable, morbid and negative record, like lyrically, but I really don’t want to, at all.”
Intending to look outwardly for their next project, the band sought inspiration from what they’d been experiencing and what they saw happening around them. For instance, the exhaustive concert runs and consumeristic promotional cycles for The Bends made them feel somewhat disengaged and inauthentic. “I was basically catatonic [while on tour]. The claustrophobia — just having no sense of reality at all,” Yorke admitted to Rolling Stone in 2017.
