Radiohead
The King of Limbs

This is a cumulative review. Sure, it talks about "King Of Limbs" but actually concerns the artistic drift of a group from "Hail To The Thief" (included) onwards.

Brief history of the Radiohead: Radio Head is an English band active since the early 90s. Within the band, the rule is that the ugliest leads, obviously Tom Yorke, a sort of Gollum gifted with immense musical sensitivity, wins hands down. The fact that they are all certified losers allows them, since talent is present, to embody the anxieties, insecurities, and despair of a generation and, more generally, of an age, that of adolescence, and to represent all the freaks and the outcasts of this world. "Creep" becomes the anthem for those with more pimples than hair, for those who've just been dumped, and for those who, if they break up, it means they've lost the use of their hand, for those who, if you ask "do you like football?" they respond "of course, I love all the alkaline earth metals, although my favorite is Strontium". 

Then the 5 evolve from the alternative pop-punk-rock sound of the first phase to increasingly aggressive electronics functional to the new message. Now the theme, always of uplifting cheerfulness, becomes the artifice and alienation of the aseptic world of 2000. A synthetic malaise excellently captured by the heartbreaking and unrepeatable "Ok Computer", the perfect record at the perfect time, capable of telling an era, the zenith of a journey that also encompasses "Kid A" and "Amnesiac", seminal albums witnessing a band in its maximum creative phase.

And here, the depressed donkey falls. The success is enormous, Radiohead are liked by everyone across the board and music critics get exhilarated at every new note that comes out of the (repressed) synthesizer of the Oxford friends (gloomy city where it rains a lot).

Everything is permitted to our heroes, Yorke’s solo digressions are hailed as an intimate and poignant song from the heart (for the real definition of what happens after listening, read “Crack” on Wikipedia Italy) and the new albums of the group are seen as splendid experimental balancing acts. 

But the reality is another, the radio, by its accessible and understandable nature to everyone, has transformed into a huge, complex, convoluted mixer. The greatness of Radiohead was in their ability to convey deep thoughts in a simple way, being a committed and challenging group, but not impenetrable, first and foremost eager to communicate.

King Of Limbs is the opposite, a record made by Radiohead for Radiohead, experimental well beyond excess. Fake. Pretentious. Artificial. An exercise in style without spirit. 

For those, like me, who still remember the first time they got lost, on a beach on a warm summer's night, among karma police and paranoid androids, so real and vital in their non-being, listening to this contrived and barren album is a stab.

And the fear is that the drift continues, because among fan boys and “experts” everything they do is revolutionary, everything they do is genius-like, everything they do is so far ahead that it loops around and kicks itself in the butt.

The little hearted loser finally had the success he deserved, the problem is he has become an armchair alternative, even a bit snobby. 

Who knows if he still remembers those dwarves and dancers he gave a voice to. 

Anyway, I'm sure Father Maronno listens to Radiohead.