Radiohead - Idioteque (live on SNL)
As amazing as this performance is, it’s even better when you remember why it was significant. They played in October of 2000, Kid A had just came out to critical acclaim/bewilderment and the rest America still knew Radiohead as either the makers of “Creep” or “Karma Police.” The number one hit in America was Santana’s “Smooth.”
Thom’s dancing like a crazy asshole because he knows he’s participating in a giant musical sucker punch.
With no cable and lousy broadcast reception, my TV viewing options were pretty limited in October 2000, so I don’t think I had ever seen this before. I think I would’ve remembered it if I had, anyway. It’s hard to imagine a musician doing anything this far from most listeners’ experiences in front of this many people ever again. (No, singing cliches in AutoTune over comfortingly nostalgic samples doesn’t count.)
this is really happening.
I’m a little grumpy about Radiohead right now because I just got back from a cafe where I was having a lovely time and then they started playing Radiohead too loudly and I got inexplicably gloomy, but it’s worth pointing out that they did have the #1 album in the country at the time they played this show, so at least 200,000 of those viewers were probably not so surprised. It’s worth asking how they got to this point exactly and why it couldn’t happen again: is it because no act this popular would ever embrace such an unpopular sound, or because no act could ever get this big again in the first place? And if the former, why not? I remember being very baffled at the time why everyone was acting like this was some sort of cultural watershed—I seem to recall stories about the SNL people really patting themselves on the back about being brave enough to have Radiohead perform. It was nice, but it also seemed like a pretty obvious move (again, #1 album). I don’t know if this means that I’m cynical or that I’m optimistic enough to not see this as unusual. Or that it’s not unusual? It’s all a matter of taste, I suppose.
Anyway, here’s a dissertation about Kid A and Amnesiac that looks interesting.
