“…for my family.”
Look, I am as sick of this as you are. I am aware that it is no longer 2007 and that 2008 is slowly creeping by. Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone that meant nothing to me whatsoever because I am a loveless black-hearted fool who is always obsessing about the year before. Musically right now I’m excited about a number of interesting things that have nothing to do with 2007. And most importantly, I have pictures and experiences that I’d like to post that have nothing to do with this inane countdown that nobody seems to be reading anyway.
And so, you might ask, why not just finish up? And so, I might ask back, is that really the way you expect things to run in my world? Of course you don’t… There are death flus and catalog copy and friends visiting and IDM from 15 years ago and all sorts of things that have commanded my attention in the interim. I even considered just not finishing the countdown, because it somehow seems strangely appropriate.
Earlier this month I made a point of establishing a distinction between favorites and the selections on this list, and by that standard the following artist has absolutely no right to be anywhere near the countdown, and really, nobody wants to hear me talk about them again after 10 whole years of hyperbolic fanboy blathering.
Radiohead keep breaking everybody else’s rules; I’m not sure why I expect them to adhere to mine.
Despite the three years of hype that followed OK Computer and the documentary film that I saw at the Music Box behind that big-headed guy and the complete immersion in Kid A that made me sound like I was proselytizing to everyone I knew and the traveling across the country to see the band perform at Liberty State Park and the downloading of a bazillion live bootlegs and the rapture that followed when “True Love Waits” was finally released on a record and 4 years of listening to one particular bootleg that contained an unreleased live track called “Reckoner” that was somehow reminiscent of Led Zeppelin “being pulled apart by horses,” I was convinced that Radiohead were done. It was taking far too long for them to record a follow-up to Hail to the Thief and Thom’s solo record oddly failed to affect me.
“Radiohead are done,” I told my friends, as many of you know. And if they weren’t done, they would surely suck. They would somehow unwrite the fact that “There There” still managed to qualify in my mind as the best single of 2003 and that if I had gotten my cat two years later I would have named her “Myxomatosis” and that “The Gloaming” is still in my head, always, every day, and that there are a LOT of inappropriate situations where you should not sing out loud, “They will suck you down to the other side.”
As you can imagine, it took me all of 8 seconds to decide I was going to shell out the $80 for the In Rainbows Discbox when the band made the announcement that changed everything.
You’re rolling your eyes.
But before you write off my comments as a true believer, please hear me out. I understand that the band’s “pay what you want” approach to downloading sub-par MP3 files was not really as cool as it sounded, and that the skeptics in the audience see it as not much more than foregoing the traditional avenue of distributing free promo CDs to stores and publications around the world. But Radiohead understood that the greatest, fastest form of spreading information was via the Internet, with which they came of age, and ultimately they didn’t need a dinosaur business industry to help them with this part of the task. Rather than just leaking their own album, they offered up an alternative that made people think about the value of music, the value of artistry, the future of the music industry, and the responsibility that goes hand in hand with an awareness of their own power.
In other words, Radiohead took the opportunity to show everyone in the industry that there are other ways to proceed rather than to simply adhere to a dying model. And if the record itself weren’t possibly the finest they’ve recorded to date, this fact alone might be enough to justify their inclusion near the very top of my 2007 countdown.
But, oh, that record…! I was sick as a dog the night it became available for download. Actually, it was about 8 in the morning in the UK. Knowing this, I went to bed early and got myself up in the middle of the night to download it as soon as possible. I transferred it to my iPod and carried it back to bed, and lied there mesmerized and feverish for 40 minutes, entranced, absorbing the whole thing.
What I recall from the haze: the shouts of the children at the end of “15 Step,” the unprecedented high note that Thom holds at the climax of “Nude,” the weird switch in dynamics 3/4 of the way through “Weird Fishes,” and the endless wait for the pile-driving guitar momentum of “Reckoner” to interrupt the swoony, sophisticated tapestry of noodles and bleeps and synths that was dominating the record, which of course never happened because “Reckoner” developed a soul and became something else entirely.
It's an awe-inspiring record by a band who has creatively surpassed themselves so many times now that I have difficulty understanding why anyone still considers the stalemated U2 to be the best band in the world. And my Discbox has proven to be worth every penny, as the vinyl is mastered at 45 rpm to allow for more information in its grooves and the bonus CD has a number of additional gems on it like "Down Is the New Up" (sultry, minor-keyed rock), "Last Flowers" (desolate beauty, like "True Love Waits" or "Like Spinning Plates") and "4 Minute Warning" (gentle, ghostly).
Then why isn't In Rainbows the best record of 2007? Because I think it hijacked the year somewhat. Radiohead are currently bigger than charts and countdowns; even their baby steps are noted by major news networks and cultural commentators. Despite my crazy fandom for a decade, I always felt that their music was somehow "mine." But not anymore; Radiohead truly belong to everybody.
So there's another record, by another artist, who defined 2007 for me so much more profoundly than this did...
(Oh, here's the marvelous clip for "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"...)
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