In 1997 Radiohead released their 3rd album in their discography, OK Computer, featuring many layers of instruments and abstract lyrics, leading themes of anxiety, paranoia, fear of motorised transport, conformity/ nonconformity, death and rebirth. This album is largely considered Radiohead’s most popular album, won 5X platinum and is widely cited as one of the “greatest albums of the 1990s” and while each song works incredibly well as a standalone piece, when placed all together, it tells the pessimistic story of a sad character living in an ouroboros of ignorance.
/Song 1. Airbag
The first song on the album introduces us to the attitude of our protagonist, even in the very first lyrics of the song he says “In the next world war, I’m a jack-knifed juggernaut” showing the power fantasy he has, to the violence and strength to fight in a war, as though nothing may harm him because he is an important character – this belief is further built upon when he says “I am back to save the universe” showing that our protagonist believes that he is a hero, who can save everyone from some kind of evil that he believes to be present in the world he lives in.
.S/ong 2 Paranoid Android
This song follows the protagonist of the album as he starts to power trip on this belief that he has, that he one day will be a figure of authority, and will be in command, he says “When I am king, you will be the first against the wall” , he starts to amp up and yell and says “why don’t you remember my name, off with his head man” which shows further that he thinks he is in control, and that people should remember who he is, before he comes to the conclusion “I guess he does”, thinking surely this person must be lying about not remembering our protagonist, he then seems to have a panic or anxiety attack (as shown by the lyrics “the panic, the vomit”) before coming to his senses and saying “god loves his children, god loves his children” and seemingly realising that he is as equal to all of “god’s children” as he is to them.
S.o/ng 3 Subterranean Homesick Alien
This song speaks of the protagonist’s mundane life and his yearning for the supernatural, with lyrics such as “I live in a town where you can't smell a thing” showing a lack of simple things that could give him such joy and “You watch your feet for cracks in the pavement” showing that the people around him are all keeping their heads down, and not interacting with one another but merely existing on the same footpath. The protagonist then talks about a world where aliens are looking down on him, and will take him into space to show him the secrets of the universe and let him see the world he wants to see, but he knows that no one would believe him, he says “I’d tell all my friends but they’d never believe me, they think that I’ve finally, lost it completely” and after showing him the wonder of the universe and even show them the meaning of life, they would put him away and he would just make his piece with that “They’d shut me away, but I’ll be alright”. It seems that he realises he is “uptight” and needs to do better.
So.n/g 4 Exit Music (For A Film)
This song follows a similar story to that of “Romeo and Juliette” as it was written by Radiohead for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the play. The song follows the story of a couple who should’ve run away while they had the chance to but didn’t, and it turn, ended with our protagonist (and presumably his family) being resentful of the other family and saying, “we hope that your rules and wisdom choke you”. The reason that the protagonist feels this way is not expanded upon but can be assumed that it is because overbearing family traditions coming from the group his family is opposed to stopped him from being with the person he wants to be, as is the story of Romeo and Juliette.
Son.g/ 5 Let down
The lyrics of this song show themes of being scared of public transport, how it makes him feel empty and sad and how he feels like he’s been “let down” by society, he says “One day, I am gonna grow wings” showing that he believes that he is going to change, become a better person and fly away from the world he lives in. The themes of fear of public transport would be consistent with the car crash he mentioned in airbag which could’ve have led to the trauma making him scared of vehicular mobility.
Song. 6/ Karma Police
Karma police follows the protagonist as he seems to indulge his bad side again, he seems to believe in people known as the “Karma police” who do as he says, and take out “justice” on people who the protagonist seems to not like or people who annoy him, “arrest this man, he talks in maths” “arrest this girl, her Hitler hairdo is making me feel ill” both seemingly people who he simply does not like and feels justified taking action against and asking the karma police to arrest them. As the song goes on the protagonist says “I’ve given all I can, it’s not enough, I’ve given all I can but we’re still on the payroll” which shows what I believe to be our protagonist trying his hardest to stop being this way to no avail, before he starts to repeat with a relieved sigh “phew for a minute there, I lost myself”, showing that he seems to have finally improved, as he continues to do in the next song.
/Song 7. Fitter Happier
This “song” follows the protagonist as he improves with his life, he says things like “sleeping well, no bad dreams, no paranoia” as well as things like “No killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants”, potentially feeling that he is somewhat of a hero, and demonstrating how he is “Careful to all animals”, yet as the song goes on, he seems to fall apart. He says, “No chance of escape . . . Informed but powerless” showing that his paranoia is starting to seep back in, and he is starting to become his old self, not long before he says; “Fitter, healthier and more productive, a pig in a cage on antibiotics.” Showing what he views himself as, and potentially paranoid again about his role in society. This mention of antibiotics makes me think that our protagonist is starting to have the paranoid belief that the government is trying to control him through medication, making him scared, and distrustful of the government.
.S/ong 8 Electioneering
This song shows the protagonist view on politicians as his paranoia grows, its filled with many anti-government propaganda and conspiracy buzzwords such as “voodoo economics, . . . cattle prods and the I.M.F.” before the phrase “I trust I can rely on your vote” driving home the point that our protagonists is distrustful of the government and is once again a paranoid figure.
S.o/ng 9 Climbing up the walls
This song shows the protagonists paranoia developing into schizophrenia, it turns into voices talking to him and saying such phrases such as “I am the key to the lock in your home that keeps your toys in the basement” Telling him; “either way you turn, I’ll be there” telling him to “open up your skull, I’ll be there”, feeding into his paranoia, telling him to do terrible things to himself, and making him feel more, and more scared of everything around him.
So.n/g 10 No surprises
No surprises finds our protagonist in a depressive state, he talks about his sad life and “a job that slowly kills [him], bruises that won’t heal” showing that he is broken, and doesn’t believe that he can ever be better, he seems to talk to himself he mentions how tired and joyless he looks, before he says” bring down the government, they don’t speak for us” again showing his distrust and paranoia toward the government. Shortly the protagonist says “I’ll take a quiet life [a hope for a better future wherever he’s going], a handshake of carbon monoxide [a hint towards the act of buying a plane ticket, leading to carbon emissions] , and no alarms and no surprises [a prayer for a safe flight, and to be able to fight through his fear of public transport]” which I believe to be the protagonist buying a plane ticket, and praying that nothing goes wrong. This point is further emphasised by both the context of the next song and the quotes “this is my final fit . . . get me out of here, get me out of here,” which I think shows the protagonists fear of public becoming justified, as the aircraft falls from the sky.
Son.g/ 11 Lucky
The song Lucky takes place in the wreckage of a plane crash that takes the life of our protagonist, seemingly as he is watching from above as he starts to pass on to the next life. He begs; “Kill me Sarah, kill me again with love” which shows him asking for the love of someone to surround his memory completely, potentially from the someone he had to part with in Exit Music. Our protagonist also asks for someone to “Pull me out of the air crash, pull me out of the lake [showing that he is watching from above, before saying] because I’m your superhero,” which brings back the attitude our protagonist had earlier in the story of him being an important, heroic and powerful figure, before saying “we are standing on the edge” once again bringing him back to the reality that is on the edge of the universe now that he has passed on. This seems not to bother him however, as he states; “It’s gonna be a glorious day, I feel my luck can change” which shows our protagonist feeling that if he gets lucky, he can do better, and be happy
Song. 12/ The Tourist
The final song in the album has a name that I believe to be that of the protagonist “the tourist”, but it seems not to matter anymore as he has now passed. He is now a tourist wandering across the planet as a ghost, as is evident from the lyric, “It barks at no one else but me like its seen a ghost.” Before a mention of sparks flowing, which I believe to be the name of a celestial being that the tourist talks to. The sparks tell him, “Hey man slow down, Idiot slowdown” telling him not to live his life in the miserable fast yet sad way he did, seemingly wording him up before he is “born again.”
/Song 1. Airbag
After the tourists interaction with the sparks he is taken back to be reincarnated, and is placed back where he was at the start of the album “In an interstellar burst,” he is brought back from the dead, because he is a chosen hero, he comes back, with his fear of public transport and says “in the next world war I’m a jack-knifed juggernaut, I am born again” showing that he believes that he is a powerful figure, a chosen hero, and he is “back to save the universe.”
IN CONCLUSION.
OK Computer is not just a masterpiece of composition; it is a masterpiece of story. Never before I dove deeper on this album, had I heard a recording with such a coherent yet hidden story, looping in such a way, and working so beautifully together, while having each piece stand-alone incredibly well. This is an album that I am very passionate about (believe it or not) and I hope that I may have sparked some kind of interest for you, thank you very much for reading.