OK Computer

1997. At the gates of the 3rd Millennium. This is the era when hopes and certainties seem to crumble and fold in front of our eyes. When nothingness has its roots planted in society so much that nihilism at this point seems the only reasonable and logical solution. When internet starts to spread, a place where we give our personal data to a artificial brain, an algorythm, and everyone starts to seem more transparent and vulnerable. This creates anxiety, wether it is social or existential. Radiohead, after their sophomore album The Bends, are the biggest rock band in the world. This anxiety affects them a lot, and they are terrified by success. they are still the same teenagers that wrote Creep, and everything seems too fast for them. They are overwhelmed by this success, and can't handle it.

In 1997, they release Ok Computer.
Wait.
Doesn't this title sound familiar?
"Ok Google, tell me a joke" "Alexa, play Party in The USA by Miley Cyrus" "Hey Siri, what's the weather today?"
It's creepy, but they predicted this. Ok Computer. Two words that we use to turn on the AI that is hidden in our computers, phones, TV's, and hell, it can even control our houses.
This is the reality in wich we live right now. And it's masterfully described by Radiohead in this project. This albums tells the story of anxiety and terror, of hope and resignation, of anger and peace. But it also describes every one of us. These emotions are the ones that everyone of us can feel, at every age, location and social status.

Airbag: the impossibility of predicting the future, the existential crisis.
Paranoid Android: the anxiety that we feel constantly and the fear of everything, people or things, present or future, in one of the most iconic and beautiful songs ever made, the Bohemian Rhapsody of Alt Rock.
Subterranean Homesick Alien: the loss of every meaning in life.
Exit Music For A Film: the attempt to isolate ourselves from everything.
Let Down: the definitive capitulation to Nihilism.
Karma Police: another song that describes the anxiety in wich we are especially the social one.
Fitter Happier: something (politics and society) that tries to become our "God" and tells us of a boring life.
Electroengineering: the attempt to change this system with votes and rebellions, trying to escape.
Climbing up The Walls: the last desperate try to escape from this prison.
No Surprises: succumbing in front of the system, becoming part of it, but still having that voice, that "let me out of here", that leaves a glimpse of hope in us.
Lucky: the last expression of that hope, full of desperation and sadness.
The Tourist: that need of slowing down from this frenetic and manic routine.

This is the logical sequel of "Nevermind" by Nirvana.
In a society where there are no values, no religions, no truth, no goods or bads, we try unconsciously to feel this with everything we can, and everything and everyone, from a dictator to an influencer, can be your "God". Where politics and economy are the key of a system that has no direction and no interest for the individual. In a society more divided than ever, where we lost the idea of community to favor a selfish one where the others are only the public that comes to our show. Where anxiety, sadness, fear of the future, insecurity and depression are the norm, from middle school to pension, for everyone of us.

This is in my opinion the best rock album since the Pink Floyd Golden Era.
I could say lots of other things about this album, but i won't. I'll leave it at that.
HEEEEYYY MMAAAAAAN SLOW DOOOOWWWWWNNNNN